Top 8 Laptops Under $500

Is the iPad overpriced, with its entry-level model selling for $500? That’s partly a value-judgment, but the availability of a gaggle of full-featured Windows notebooks below the $500 price point does give the budget-conscious prospective iPad buyer pause.

Laptop mag’s David Eitelbach notes that the price of Windows laptops continues to decline, with the average system costing just $456 as of December 2011, and he’s not talking netbooks or underpowered, poorly made “junk” that the late Steve Jobs famously maintained any sub-$500 laptop would have to be when you opt for a bargain-priced PC notebook. For example, you typically get a second-generation Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM (double what Apple gives you at twice the price with its entry-level 11.6″ MacBook Air), and a 500GB hard drive (the base Air has a tiny 64 GB SSD) in the sub-$500 price range

Eitelbach profiles his picks for the 8 best laptops currently available for less than $500, which include:

HP 15.6-inch, 2.1-GHz Core i3 HP g6t at $494.

Lenovo’s $439 14-inch 1366 x 768, 2.3-GHz Intel Core i3-2350M ThinkPad E420, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD

Dell 14-inch, 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3-2330M CPU, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, Inspiron 14R at $499

Gateway’s $419 15-inch 2.4-GHz Intel Core i3-370M CPU, 4GB of RAM NV55C54u selling as low as $400

HP 11-inch 1.65-GHz AMD Vision E2 CPU, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD Pavilion dm1 as low as $448 at Best Buy

Toshiba 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD Satellite P755 on sale for $499 at Best Buy

ASUS 14-inch, 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3-2330M CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD X44L at Bestbuy.com for $379.

Lenovo 14-inch, 1.65-GHz AMD Dual-Core E-450 CPU, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD B575 at $329 from Best Buy, includes an excellent Accutype keyboard, and a fingerprint reader.

Plenty of grist for price-jaded Apple devotees to ruminate on, especially with Windows 8 coming and Mint Linux available right now.

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