E-Machines 2400+ (m5310) PC Notebook

Pros: Great Laptop at a Great Price
Cons: Must get used to keyboard (takes only a week).

When searching for a laptop today, there are a few essentials. A solid hard drive, a CD-RW drive, a DVD player, and at least 256 RAM are necessities today. This laptop has 512 RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, a 24 by 10 by 24 CD-RW/DVD drive, and a 15.4 inch ...

Pros: Light, great options for the price, wonderful screen, and still cheap!
Cons: Wireless card will give trouble if left on during shutdown, shared video RAM

I purchased this laptop in September, 2003 and have been using it daily since then. The options that came with the system considering the price are wonderful. The built in wireless networking card works well, although if it is left on when you shut down ...

Pros: Very well built, fast, reliable and durable.
Cons: You need a bigger than average bag to carry, I use a Targus backpack.

I bought this at Best Buy for $1199 - $100 rebate. It was a steal. I looked at Dell, Compaq and HP with all being literally $1000 more for the same/similar features. I read reviews and most liked it. This laptop is VERY well built. All plastics on the outside are of high quality and thick. The machine is very fast. The widescreen is icing on the cake. I am a Dell trained service technician. I bought this over a Dell even with a discount and have no regrets. The battery life is a true 3 hours. I watched a 1 1/2 DVD (Fargo) on a flight from Dallas to Portland, Oregon. I had plenty of time after the movie to work on MS Word and play a game of solitaire.

Pros: 15.4 inch wide screen is great for 16:9 movies.
Cons: Shared video memory.

This machine has been a great investment. There is not much more that I could ask for with the price tag this one carried($1199), it is lighter than a dell with the same specs, even lighter than the comparable i-book. I have used this machine for everything from gaming, web design, even encoding video, with no problems. Sturdy machine with great features.

Pros: Price, build quality, features, wide screen!
Cons: Hot bottom, fan noise, made in china instead of California.

Bought this product at Best Buy with a $100 rebate. Actual cost $1000.00 +tax. E-machines website was sold out. So far so good. Halo plays slow with all the features set to high detail. But it plays well when you shrink things down. I bought it for work anyway... MS project and Excel are awesome on the wide screen. You can see a ton more of the plans. This machine will roast your leg in the lap! Also, the fan is a bit noisy. Nothing else compared for the price! Welcome to globalization! China please buy our products too!

UPDATE,
12/30/05 Just had the hard drive fail and I replaced it with a SEAGATE 60meg that is quieter and faster. So far it is still working. I did send it back to emachines as it kept overheating. They updated the cooling ability about a year or so ago and so far all is well.

Pros: Bigger screen, 60MB HD, Touchpad, Hotkeys, On deck volume control, DVD and CDRW.
Cons: Battery life. With the big screen I'm averaging about 2 to 3 hours.

I decided to buy a laptop as a second computer. I had a Dell Lattitude at work and when I compared this to that Dell I could not pass it up. Wide Screen, 512MB Memory, 60 GB Hard Drive. It is a bigger machine but I get the wide screen which I like, but the main thing was the Keyboard is a little wider than the 15" laptops so I don't hit the keypad inadvertently as often. I also like the speakers are in the front and it comes with hotkeys for volume control and an easy mute, music, mail and internet. I bought the Machine at Best Buy for $1249 and got a $150 rebate. So far it has performed like a dream. I compared it to Toshiba, Compaq, HP, and Dell Laptops.