Cheap or too cheap (of a laptop)

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>So Walmart offers this bundle: </p>

<p>Walmart.com:</a> Back to College Student Bundle with Laptop, Laptop Case, 4GB Flash Drive & Printer: Computers</p>

<p>I'm considering the Sony Vaio with the bundle which will come to about $610:
Walmart.com</a> - Sony Brown 15.5" VAIO VPCEE23FX/T Laptop PC with AMD Athlon II X2 P320 Processor & Windows 7 Home Premium</p>

<p>I have several questions.</p>

<p>Should I be suspicious that it is this cheap? I want the laptop to last me at least all four years of undergrad.</p>

<p>Does the material (plastic, aluminum, etc) of the laptop matter when choosing one? (FYI: The sony vaio does not specify. I don't want a flimsy model that breaks easily. </p>

<p>Lastly, does the battery life and durability matter? The battery life for the Vaio isn't so good and it's rather heavy. Do you guys carry your laptops around campus often? </p>

<p>I was originally going to get a light and thin laptop (the ones without an optical drive), but they're lacking in several areas. I'm still considering this one though:
[url=<a href="http://www.frys.com/product/6282050%5DFRYS.com%C2%A0%7C%C2%A0HP%5B/url"&gt;http://www.frys.com/product/6282050]FRYS.com&nbsp;|&nbsp;HP[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>Opinions?</p>

2

<p>Just remember that you can always get an external USB optical drive for ~$60.</p>

<p>Because of the wear and tear that a college student subjects laptops to, a consumer laptop will most likely not “last” all four years.</p>

<p>Look towards a lower-end business grade laptop. The light and thin ones are worth a consideration since they’re usually manfactured to “business-grade” durability.</p>

<p>Then, there’s the issue of the hardware getting too old to support software: unfortunately, there’s really no defense against that. Think of it this way: if you spend half as much now, you can get a nicer, newer laptop for the other half a couple years down the road.</p>

3

<p>The laptop looks good on paper. =)
Get it. It’s a good deal for that bundle.</p>

<p>I think all sony laptops are made out of plastic. Except for those $2000 + ones…</p>