# Budget laptop **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062 "2017-02-28T20:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/1 "2017-02-28T20:36:25Z")
Hi, once again, Dopers. My wife will be consulting for her old job as we transition to our new digs. She will need to run Excel and Access, plus a proprietary database used for fundraising. Would like a nice big screen, would like it to be Windows instead of Mac, would like to avoid the touch screen options. Would like it to be on the cheap, preferably less than 700 clams. Any suggestions as to what sites to shop or what machines to look at? Thanking you! ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/2 "2017-02-28T21:29:08Z")
I’ll jump in. I’m not an expert, but I buy and sell lots of laptops and keep five in heavy rotation for work and home. The questions to consider would include: How large a screen is desirable? Is good sound important? Do you think you need an integrated optical drive? What type of keyboard feels best to her? From your description, it does not sound like she needs a lot of horsepower. For the past few years, I’ve spent more time actually trying different units to get a feel for their keyboards and touchpads than comparing specs. Personally, I’ve had good success with ASUS laptops. You can certainly get a decent unit for less than $650. I liked the feel, but not the color, of the ASUS F556UA-AB54. You should be able to get one for less than $550. When I want a slightly better unit, I usually look at Lenovos. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/3 "2017-03-03T23:41:09Z")
You’ve got a ton of room with $700. Pretty much anything off the shelf with the right screen size will work. I would recommend not avoiding touchscreen. Just make sure that you have other options, and have a keyboard. Hybrids are good, and make quick mouse navigation easy, without taking away anything. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/4 "2017-03-03T23:49:42Z")
Check out Costco for really good laptops in your price range. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/5 "2017-03-04T00:20:39Z")
Great, thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Chunkylord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Chunkylord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chunkylord)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/6 "2017-03-04T02:52:20Z")
Try and get a 1920 by 1080 resolution, IPS panel if you can. And perhaps one with a solid state drive instead of a hard disk drive, as an SSD will feel a lot snappier in performance. Shouldn’t be too hard to find something to this spec with $700. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/budget-laptop/781062/7 "2017-03-04T03:21:14Z")
This one should more than meet your needs and comes in for just $579 > **[Buy PC Computers, Laptops & Tablets - Microsoft Store](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/pc)** > > Find the perfect computer in the Microsoft Store. Explore PCs, laptops, tablets and accessories to power everything you do.