Need a stupid cheap laptop

My laptop is fried. I'm hoping to be able to save the data from it, but I haven't been able to get it to boot past the orange q screen in days. Apparently one of the girls spilled something in it without realizing it.

Anyway, my needs are pretty basic:

Internet surfing

Word processing

Netflix/hulu/DVD

PDF shop manuals

Music/video storage/burning

Ability to run tunerpro rt.

USB port.

So, the one that I killed was five or six years old. When I bought it, I had the same requirement lust, and the guy at best buy said that a smartphone would do everything but tunerpro and CD burn, so he sold me the cheapest thing he had.

Anyway, I'm kinda rambling. About the only two things that I'd like my new laptop to do that my old one didn't is play fallout 4, and not be as slow as molasses. It would take minutes to open a new tab on internet explorer.

Windows only, and please don't go all it department on me. I really don't understand computers at all, which is why I'm asking here. I started a search with Google, but got so confused I had no idea what I was looking at anymore.

Find a 300$ asus. Go.

Hate to tell you, but cheap laptop and playing Fallout 4 will not go together.

Yeah, something like this if you give up on the Fallout 4 idea;

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-4gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-spin-pattern-in-black/4352000.p?id=1219735415083&skuId=4352000

The problem with that one & gaming is the graphics processing power is pretty limited. Fine for web, email, etc but not gaming. If that's a real requirement, then maybe something like this;

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?cp=1&id=pcat17071&nrp=25&qp=computergraphicstypesv_facet%3DGraphics%20Type~Discrete%5Ecategory_facet%3DAll%20Laptops~pcmcat138500050001&sc=Global&searchType=promo&st=computing-20151227&type=page&usc=All%20Categories&seeAll=

I picked that one because it's still at bestbuy.com and has a discrete graphics processor. Not built into the main processor that's doing everything, but a real on-purpose graphics processing unit for better performance. Notice the costs went up a lot; it's got a lot more general processing power, faster hard drive, etc. If you want to step more in that direction and away from the less costly, less powerful stuff, let me/us know and we'll figure out something a little bit more balanced.

Holy crap that's a price jump for fallout. We're going to write that off.

We are also not limited to best buy. I bought there last time because it was the only place I knew. If there is somewhere to go to get more bang for the buck, I'm game.

Also, windows 10: should work with tunerpro, right?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I went poking around Newegg.com and compared to the Asus at Best Buy, it doesn't seem like there's a lot more deals out there that get you more bang for your buck at that end of the market. It's also nice to have a local store to deal with in case there's problems.

I think any software that worked in Windows 8 will work in 10, and since 10 is the latest version, I'd stick with 10 (unless you're a curmudgeon like me and are sticking with Windows 7 as long as possible). Maybe someone else with first hand experience can chime in on that but I'd think you're fine there.

What an appropriate topic for today! I'm in the same boat, but also have needs with additional tuner products, like Haltech, HP Tuners, et al., and the need to buy Apple is strong to avoid being outdated in 3 mo.

What is it with the 4th to 6th gen Intel I-whatever processors and which is the one that is needed?

PS- Unless it is needed I'd rather stay with Win7. So much dislike for 8.1 that this machine uses for my current typing into this reply.... Win10 from what I see isn't pretty to use and the tuning stuff doesn't run on the newest OS yet, much less Win8..

Go to the pawn shop and be prepared to haggle. $100 should get what you need and more.

In reply to Junkyard_Dog:

This seems like absolute genius.

Why could it be a bad idea?

I'd go with something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834299404

It'll be a bit faster than the bargain basement Asus or whatever from best buy, and the Latitudes will run for a very long time.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

No idea how it's been treated & no warranty.

I like MCarp22's suggested laptop although refurbs always make me nervous. No first hand experience so take that for what it's worth.

pres589 wrote: I like MCarp22's suggested laptop although refurbs always make me nervous. No first hand experience so take that for what it's worth.

I'd trust that specific model as a refurb based on my experiences with them both as a Dell employee, and now that I work elsewhere in IT. Kinda on their own if they stray from that.