New laptop for Christmas-any deals?

[mommyx4]

We would like to purchase a laptop for each of our boys for Christmas.  They are not gamers, but take a couple of online classes.  Next fall, they will be in 9th grade and we plan to have them take even more classes.  I literally know nothing about computers.  I have a laptop and a Kindle and use them, but I have no idea what to look for.  Ideally, I'd like to keep them around $300 per laptop.  Do you have any suggestions?  What should we look for?  When are the best deals?  Any future Cyber Monday deals you know about?

 

Thanks so much for your help (:

[Lanny]

Your boys would be well served with a Refurbished Dell Latitude E6400 ot E6410, from Blair Technology Group in KY (Blairtg on Amazon and eBay or on their web site blairtg.com).  Blair is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher and these units have a 1 year warranty in the USA (except on the battery). Blair installs a Fresh version of Microsoft Windows 7 or 8.1 and when you boot it the first time, you have the same OOBE (Out of Box Experience) that you would have with a Brand New laptop. The copy of Windows is completely legal. 2 of the units we purchased from Blair have Windows 7 and the last one (for DD) has Windows 8.1.  All work well. The only warranty replacement was the DVD drive in the laptop for DD which she replaced in about 30 seconds.

 

The advantage of these laptops is that they were built for Enterprise (Corporate) customers, so their design permits easy servicing and the components are probably much better than you would get if you purchased a laptop designed for and sold to the Consumer market (low end design and quality and low prices).   Replacement components are widely available at low cost on eBay.

 

If possible  try to get  8 GB of RAM and I don't think I have seen one of those models listed on Blair with 8 GB.

 

For an E6400, 8 GB of RAM is extremely expensive and none of ours (we have 3) has more than 4 GB.  In September, I won a Used (not Refurbished) Dell E6410 for my wife on eBay and it has 8 GB of RAM and an i7 CPU and an Nvidia card and it is *much* faster than her E6400.

We were lucky, and except for the keyboard everything seems to be perfect. I am hoping to eventually win another E6410 like that one for myself.  I have a replacement keyboard that should be delivered to our Receiver/Forwarder in Miami tomorrow, and when we receive the carton it is in, I can probably replace the keyboard in 2 or 3 minutes. Someone with experience can do that faster...

 

These were built for Business users so they are *not* designed for or optimized for Gamers, but my wife is a Gamer and seems to do OK.

 

They have Matte panels, so the user does not get glare from lights in the room, which is easier on the eyes.

 

None of the 4 laptops we have cost more than USD$200, including shipping to Miami.

 

These are workhorse machines.

 

Someone in Blair Support told me they actually have fewer damage claims from shipments around Christmas, because the trucks and aircraft are much fuller and there are not so many things bouncing around that might land on top of your carton. Surprised me, but that makes sense.

 

GL with whatever you purchase.