Good laptop for the money?

[mach158]

I'm in the market for a laptop again. My last one died a few years ago and never really had a need again until now so I am out of touch with the computer world.

I have looked at review of laptops at $350 and under and everyone complains of them being slow and to make sure they are upgradeable. Does a laptop exist that people are happy with or has more then 4 gb of RAM if that is the issue?

I am looking for something with a 15" screen that can handle having multiple windows open at a time and perhaps a minor game or two. I will also need to run engine scanning and tuning software. No need for touch screen either.

Does something exist for me in the $350 or under category or will I need to spend more?

I had been eyeing this one on amazon but several comments noted they needed to upgrade the RAM. Seems silly to spend $350 and turn around a spend money on RAM. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K1IO3QW/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1CHK09DL0JCIR&colid=3JF528FLYLXH5&psc=1

Can anybody steer me in a good direction? Brand has no relevance, just a good laptop is all I want.

 

[Gary S]

My suggestion is to get one with a solid state hard drive instead of a mechanical hard drive. My Wife has an HP laptop that is a few years old. It has the Intel i3 quad core processor. We changed out the old mechanical hard drive for a solid state drive and the performance increase was awesome. To me, the solid state drive is worth more than additional memory for increased performance.

 

[COPO]

Been using my HP G60 535DX since 2009. Great laptop with the 15.6” screen.

 

[tom3]

I would suggest looking for the Intel processor in anything you buy. 4 year old Toshiba 17" ran hot right up until it didn't' run at all. Not a cheap laptop either. Made a nice finger warmer in winter. Current Gateway was pretty cheap, running Win8, works fine, runs pretty cool unless I'm really loading it up. Big problem now might be Windows 10 with the Edge browser, pretty much just sucks.

 

[tom3]

Toshiba had AMD processor, current Gateway has the Intel b960, pretty ancient by now but still kicks butt.

 

[MoarThrottle]

I second what Gary S says about the solid state drive. The performance gain is only second to improving RAM. With a budget of $350 you're not going to get much but try and invest in a killer processor and a ssd. Most video cards can handle some light gaming at low settings. You can always upgrade your RAM in your own time later and its super easy.

 

[budro6968]

I bought both my kids ASUS which were cheap. Their first lap top. They have lasted 2 1/2 years so far. They are on them 24/7 if I don't catch them. Like 4 AM on a school night. They have been rough on them and often fight about crap and slam them shut.The body is getting cracks where the hinges are. that said they are windows 10 and run great. I can't believe they still work. sometimes the one complains that the screen freezes. But I think it is because it is a crack and messing with the ribbon type wire harness.

 

[lila]

My laptop Asus has been working for over 7 years and has never broken.