Dh wants a laptop, in the next two days!  There is a Toshiba with a 1 gig-$400  and a Sony Viao with one gig- $500 that are used at Best Buy.  He says if he's spending that, he'd rather get a new laptop for under $500.  It woud be mostly for email and music downloads, burning discs if possible.  Anyone have a very cheap laptop that they love/hate?  Any suggestions?  He wants to email home, keep up on his business option here.

I agree with dh, that with that kind of money, go with a new one. I bought my Compaq Presario last September and while I don't LOVE it, I make due (it was on sale at BB for under $500). That kind of money on a refurbished one when you don't know what was on the hard drive (virus)... I'd go with new so you know what you are getting from day one. Plus, new would have more updated features. 

Whatever you do, don't buy a refurbished Gateway laptop! In fact, I'd reccomend eschewing refurbs in general. I received a G-way refurb for my b-day, and it has been a white elephant. It's got a bad wireless card, and I have had one heck of a time getting the repairs promised by my warranty. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of problem I can fix myself. I am looking into getting a new, cheap laptop, too. From now on, I am just not going to buy used because the companies do not honor their service agreements for merchandise that has already been defective once.

Unfortunately, I don't have any positive reccs about what kind of laptop you should buy, but hopefully someone will chime in with tips about reliable brands and such.

 We got a new Compac Presario from Best Buy for $399, $427 with tax.  Dh is happy with it and we think we have a friend who can install more memory. 

Thanks for feedback, it's just a good to have the new, I guess, for that price.

Yours is cheaper than what mine was!! (I guess that answers the question I posted in the daily stretcher).

I  have lots of music on mine (9 cd's?) and have 6 videos that I made also on it... it holds alot (don't ask me size of memory). 

Think twice about the Toshiba (if it's a "Satellite" version).  I had one not too long ago and the motherboard in it warped, which made it quit working.  Due to the number of people who had this brand of laptop, there was a lawsuit over this (but I didn't get involved in the suit)  It worked great if I could twist the ends of the case in different directions, but then my hands were kinda too tied up for getting much typing done.  :)

Do not buy a Gateway, they are junkers.  My monitor went out within a month.  Best Buy grudgingly took it back.

We did buy the Compac, and the guy did say that it was the sturdiest.  I always ask for sturdy, thaat seems strange the Toshiba would not kind of gently bend back when you twisted it. Gateway's bottom line seemed flimsy by comparison, also.  I hope it lasts a while.  He's emailing me now, from another state-

 My fiance bought his Toshiba laptop at Circuit City for around $500 and he seems very pleased about it. An associate of mine at a tech school says that sony's are no good. fyi