Holiday gift guide: Best sub-$1500 notebooks

10 great all-round notebooks that won't break the budget
  • Elias Plastiras (PC World Australia (online))
  • — 26 November, 2010 11:38

Years ago, $1500 wouldn't have bought you a notebook with much speed and many features. These days, a $1500 notebook is full of great features and also offers plenty of performance. Sub-$1500 notebooks equipped with Intel Core i5 or Core i3 CPUs can tackle toughest of tasks, whether it is video editing to upload to YouTube, or converting video formats so that you can watch movies on your iPhone. Furthermore, some can even be used for gaming!

In this roundup we've listed some of the best sub-$1500 notebooks we've seen; most have 15in screens, but all offer great performance and can be used at home, at school or even in the office. Don't forget, we've listed the recommended retail price of each model, so if you shop around you should be able to find them much cheaper, and maybe even with more hard drive space or more RAM!

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Item:
7 / 10
Acer Aspire 5741-434G50Mn

Acer's Aspire 5741 comes in many guises, but the Aspire 5741-434G50Mn model that we reviewed is perfect for anyone who wants an affordable laptop that can be used for almost any task except serious gaming. It's a 15.6in notebook with a full-sized keyboard and a number pad and it feels comfortable to use on your lap. We just wish its screen was better.

  • Review Date:
  • Reviewer:
  • Manufacturer:
  • 27th Aug., 2010
  • Elias Plastiras
  • Acer
  • Rating:
  • Price:
  • 3.50
  • $ 1,099.00
  • Pros:
  • Inexpensive, good speed for office tasks and media encoding, doesn't feel heavy
  • Cons:
  • Screen has poor vertical viewing angles, no eSATA, keyboard keys a little stiff

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