Back-to-School Notebook Deals for the Plundering, Pt. 2

If school hasn’t started for the student in your life, there’s still hope you can send them back to class with a top-notch PC for a good price.

Last week we skimmed discount electronics sites and online big-box retailers to find the best deals for back-to-school notebooks (in addition to our top ten list and other back to school round-ups). Sales change week-to-week, so for the new business cycle we’ve gathered more price-slashed laptops, each less than $700.

If you’re in the market for a student-friendly piece of hardware, look no further than what’s below.

Acer Aspire 5520-5156

This 15.4-inch Acer system is great for getting assignments scratched off the ole to-do list. It comes pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium and saving and archiving large files onto the 250GB hard drive or to data DVDs with the included DVD±R/RW optical drive will be a breeze. Conversely, kicking back with a relaxing movie screening will work just as well.

Find it here: TigerDirect

MSRP:$699
Instant Savings: $100
Bottom Line: $599

What it’s Packing:
15.4-inch Display
2GB RAM
250GB HDD
DVD and CD Burner
Windows Vista Home Premium

Gateway T-6836
Read our Review of the similar Gateway T-6828

Find it Here: Best Buy Online

MSRP: $799.99
Instant Savings: $200.00
Bottom Line: $599.99

This 14.1-inch Gateway comes with a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo processor, a whooping 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB HDD. That means this quick-loading machine has the volume to store programs, music, and video files and the power to do it fast. Throw in a DVD/CD burner, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, and the now-standard 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi support, and you’ve got a machine that’s well worth the discounted price.

What It’s Packing:
14.1-inch display
4GB RAM
250GB HDD
DVD/CD Burner
Vista Home Premium

Acer Aspire One
Read our review

Find it here: OnSale.com

MSRP: $379
Bottom line: $372.99

Onsale.com isn’t offering much of a discount for this mini-notebook with an 8GB solid-state drive, but with an MSRP of $379, the discount is already built in. Weighing in at just 2.2-pounds, this 8.9-inch netbook is great for easy-peasy portability. The installed OS is the impressive Linux-based Linpus Lite, but fret not, standard productivity software comes pre-installed, so taking notes and saving papers will be just as much of a no-brainer as buying this handy low-cost machine.

What it’s Packing:
8.9-inch display
Intel Atom
512MB RAM
8GB SSD
Linux Linpus Lite

HP Pavilion dv6910us

Find it here: Circuit City

MSRP: $779.99
Instant savings: $180.00
Mail-in rebate: $50.00
Bottom Line: $549.99

It was a little surprising to see this notebook hit the market for less than $800. Now that it’s priced at $550, we can’t help but recommend taking advantage of this deal. Here’s why: the thin-and-light notebook comes with a 200GB hard drive, 3GB of RAM, a 15.4-inch display, DVD/CD burner, and built-in webcam.

What It’s Packing:
15.4-inch display
200GB HDD
3GB RAM
DVD and CD Burner
Built-in Webcam
Microsoft Vista Home Premium

HP Pavilion dv9910us

Find it here: Circuit City

MSRP: $879.99
Instant Savings $180.00
Mail-in rebate: $50.00
Bottom Line: $649.99

With this deal, the HP Pavilion dv9910us costs just $100 more than the dv6910us but the gap in cost is filled by the presence of more robust features. The dv9910us has a 17-inch screen, a more spacious 250GB HDD, 3GB of RAM, a DVD/CD burner and comes with a webcam, microphone, and Bluetooth.

What it’s Packing
17-inch screen
250GB HDD
3GB DDR2 RAM
DVD/CD Burner
Built-in Mic and Webcam
Built-in Bluetooth
Microsoft Vista Home Premium

HP Pavilion dv2910us

Find it here: Staples

MSRP: $849.98
Instant Discount: $75.00
Instant Discount: $95.00
Bottom Line: $678.98

This 14.1-inch dv1910us has the same fixin’s as the above Pavilions but adds 802.11n wireless to the mix. It also comes with a free trial of Microsoft Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition and bonus perks like 3GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, and DVD/CD burning capability don’t hurt it’s strength as a strong choice for a budget thin-and-light notebook, either.

What it’s packing:
14.1-inch screen
250 GB HDD
3GB RAM
DVD R±RW Optical Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Home