Low-priced laptops

By Jeff Bertloucci of Kiplinger

If you could spend $450 to $600, you will have a reliable portable computer with a decent-size screen that you can access the Web wirelessly, burn CDs or DVDs, and play movies.

These low-priced laptops from major companies, such as Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba, are built as well as systems that are more expensive. One reason that they're less expensive: the cheaper models use less powerful processor than their $1,200 counterparts.

Still, the processor has plenty of power for everyday tasks, such as word processing and Web surfing. But forget about editing videos or running the latest 3D games -- not enough horsepower!

Most come with just 512 megabytes of memory, which means you will be running Windows Vista Home Basic, the simplest version of Microsoft's new operating system.

You'll be able to listen to streaming audio from your favorite Internet radio station, but the hard drive will likely be too small for storing movies or TV shows.

Best buys

HP's Compaq Presario V6000T ($609; www.shopping.hp.com).

Its specs are pretty good. The Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2080(1.73GHz/1MB) processor is fast and powerful. The 80GB hard drive is spacious enough to store music and photographs. The 15.4-inch widescreen display is big and bright, and the built-in wireless networking is fine for most homes.

Weighing in at less than 6 pounds, the V6000T is light enough to move from room to room (and to lug around the airport for a short while). Its six-cell lithium-ion battery lasts up to two hours, and the CD writer is good for burning audio discs (it can plays CDs & DVDs and burns only CDs).

HP also offers the Compaq Presario C500T (lower price - $449; www.shopping.hp.com), which uses a different processor - Intel Celeron M440 (1.86GHz/1MB). Overall, these two laptops should perform comparably.

The Dell Inspiron 1501 ($549; www.dell.com) is similar to HP's low-end Presarios. Its processor is AMD Mobile Sempron 3500+ (1.8GHz/512KB). Weighing a little more than 6 pounds, its sleek look, crisp widescreen display and Wi-Fi capability make it a good buy. The 60GB hard disk is small, but you can upgrade to 80GB for an extra $35.


One last thing

Don't expect a multiyear warranty or on-site service with these laptops. The Presario and Inspiron models come with one-year, mail-in service plans, which means you'll have to pack up your notebook and ship it back to the manufacturer if something goes really wrong.