Best Laptop for under $500 in 2013

When buying a laptop computer for less than 500 dollars in 2013, you could be looking at a brand new laptop with quite a few options.  Or there are those who will choose to buy a used or refurbished computer with their $500 budget because they want a bigger processor and more RAM. In most cases, you don't have to invest in new laptop just because it hasn't been used by someone else.

When it comes to performance, there are two things you need to consider in order to get value for your money. A lot of people mistakenly think that having a big hard disk space is the most important thing. The fact is, hard disks are of rather cheap to buy. Getting a faster CPU and a lot of RAM or random access memory are what will give you better performance. The amount of memory on the graphics card is to be considered.

So what are the best laptops for under $500 in 2013?

Asus is a well-known brand in the world of small laptop computers. This offering only offers an Atom 1.66 GHz processor and 1 GB Ram that can upgraded to 2 GB. That can appear to be disappointing when you think that you're not getting enough speed and enough random access memory. However, there is something rather appealing about this stylish laptop.

What will appeal to many users is the light weight and an 6 hour battery life. It comes preinstalled with Windows 7 and offers 320 GB of hard disk space. This is rather generous for such a small computer.

• 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N570 Processor
  
• 1 GB SO-DIMM RAM
  
• 320 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 10.1-Inch Screen
• Windows 7 Starter,
  
• 1.66 GHz Atom N570
• 3 USB 2.0 Ports
• Lithium ion battery with 6.45 hours Battery Life
  
• Weight is 2.86 lbs
• 10.39" x 1.22" x 7.13"
• 802.11bgn Wireless

If you don't care too much for touch screen and all you want is a powerful and affordable laptop, you can look at the HP Pavilion laptop. This is an interesting product worth buying because of the powerful processor. The AMD A-Series Dual-Core A6-4400M 2.7 GHz is decent and offers 4 GB of RAM which is not to be scorned at. For those who love to play a lot of games or watch YouTube videos, buying this HP computer will give you years of satisfaction.

Those are not the only features that will make you want to consider this laptop. It comes preinstalled with Windows 8. You also get a generous 5400 GB of hard disk space. For those who like to watch home movies on DVD, you get a nice DVD drive with burner. Basically you get a complete computer at an affordable price.

• 17.3" LED-backlit TrueBrite full-HD display
• Processor Intel Core i3-2330M 2.20GHz
• 3MB L3 Cache
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 640GB hard drive
• Webcam, 8-in-1 media reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Bluetooth 3.0
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• 6-cell lithium-ion battery for up to 5 h 13 min battery time

If you're familiar with the Sony brand, you already know that it is a good name when it comes to consumer electronics. This offering marketed as the E11 Series comes with an 1.7 GHz E-Series Dual-Core E2-1800 processor. It also has a generous 4 GB of RAM for a laptop in this price range.

For those who wants HP TV experience, this computer will give you value for money. You can also purchase the brand online at Amazon, Wal-Mart and at Target. The price from most retailers, especially here, is about $450. If you want free shipping, Amazon will be your best bet. Like most laptops, it comes with Microsoft Windows 8 installed.

• 11.6-inch LED-backlit display (1366 x 768 resolution) for native HD 720p
• 1.7 GHz AMD E2-1800 dual-core processor 
• 1 MB cache
• 320 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
• 4 GB of installed DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz; expandable to 8 GB)
• AMD Radeon HD 7340M graphics (integrated on APU)
• 8x multi-format CD/DVD drive
• Built-in stereo speakers and webcam (1.3 MP)
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port for connecting to a compatible HDTV
• Memory Stick Duo slot
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) and Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
• 4.25 hours of battery life at default brightness
  
• Dimensions 11.42 x 8.02 x 1.25 inches
• 3.32 pounds weight