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 The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
Learn Morehard 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