Suggestions on budget laptop for video/browsing.

[BruceG87]

A friend is looking for suggestions on a laptop(portability required, will travel). I do not normally keep up on laptop developments, so I figured it would not hurt to ask the forum for suggestions.

Budget - $450 max
Resolution - Any, though 1080p would be a plus
Screen size - No larger than 15.6"
Region - US/CA appropriate purchase sites)

Primary use will include browsing and video playback. HDMI would be a plus, for the sake of the occasional hookup to a TV.
As always with laptops, battery life would be a plus as well.

[Biernot]

A friend is looking for suggestions on a laptop(portability required, will travel). I do not normally keep up on laptop developments, so I figured it would not hurt to ask the forum for suggestions.

Budget - $450 max
Resolution - Any, though 1080p would be a plus
Screen size - No larger than 15.6"
Region - US/CA appropriate purchase sites)

Primary use will include browsing and video playback. HDMI would be a plus, for the sake of the occasional hookup to a TV.
As always with laptops, battery life would be a plus as well.

With this budget, you can forget about higher display resolutions. The cheapest models you will find with anything more than 1366x768 are in the $700 range and up.

Acer V5-552: $399
- 15.6" 1366x768
- AMD A8-5557M (2.10GHz)
- 4GB RAM
- 500GB HDD

Acer V5-572: $480
same as above, but:
- Intel Core i5 3337U (1.80GHz)
- 6GB RAM

I have an Acer V5-572 myself (although with better parts: 1080p IPS screen, 8GB RAM and Geforce 750M) and it's a really decent model. It's not too heavy (2kg = 4.4lbs) and the quality is ok. Battery life is good (my model does the advertised 5 hours while WLAN surfing).
The above model with the i5 will be a bit faster in everyday use and will probably have a better battery life. But if he intends to play the occasional game, then the AMD would be better.

[BruceG87]

With this budget, you can forget about higher display resolutions. The cheapest models you will find with anything more than 1366x768 are in the $700 range and up.

Acer V5-552: $399
- 15.6" 1366x768
- AMD A8-5557M (2.10GHz)
- 4GB RAM
- 500GB HDD

Acer V5-572: $480
same as above, but:
- Intel Core i5 3337U (1.80GHz)
- 6GB RAM

I have an Acer V5-572 myself (although with better parts: 1080p IPS screen, 8GB RAM and Geforce 750M) and it's a really decent model. It's not too heavy (2kg = 4.4lbs) and the quality is ok. Battery life is good (my model does the advertised 5 hours while WLAN surfing).
The above model with the i5 will be a bit faster in everyday use and will probably have a better battery life. But if he intends to play the occasional game, then the AMD would be better.

It truly has been a while since I even had to look into a laptop. I realized shortly after making my post that 1080p was out of the question at that budget. Anyways, this particular friend won't be gaming at all. It's strictly for browsing/videos and a few other low resource applications. I'll keep both models in mind as I browse around a bit more.

[Deleted]

how about going for a netbook if all he does is browsing and playing youtube vids?

[BruceG87]

how about going for a netbook if all he does is browsing and playing youtube vids?

He wants a larger screen for the sake for the sake of video, which includes full length movies.