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Is it good to buy a laptop computer for $428, $448, or $498 from Wal-Mart?

I am shopping for a brand new laptop computer for school at an affordable price. Preferably $400-500.00 bucks. After researching, I found that Wal-Mart has the most cheapest with the lowest at 428 and the highest in the four hundred range at 498. I went to look at the computers and they look pretty disent and are affordable. Brand new with windows vista home basic and premium. The one I was hoping to buy is $428.00 with Vista Home Basic, 80G hardrive, 512 mb ram, and a C7-M processor (never heard of that before). Here is a picture of it http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5673667 Would you buy this, is this a good idea? Seems pretty reasonable to me. Opinions please. I'm getting some answers saying you need a Gig to run Vista, but for Vista Home Basic, you only need 512 MB of memory. I've researched it.

Public Comments

1. Well If its cheap it could be because there not so good.
2. No, I wouldn’t buy any electronics from Walmart!
3. vista needs 1gig to run ok... 2gig is better but 1 gig is nessassary. bad idea.
4. Thanks for the idea, I am getting that one also. good luck to you.
5. i would buy the highest one i dont think there is much a diffrent of price range and you want a good computer.
6. I know that wal-mart has good prices, but they are monopolizers and are not worth it. you could get a mac which will last longer and not get viruses, yes it will be more expensive, but it WILL be well worth it when it lasts you 2 to 3 times as long. Wal-Mart SUCKS!!!
7. I wouldn't buy it... mainly because I haven't ever heard of the brand, the hard drive isn't big enough for my needs and there just isn't enought ram for me.
8. For a low end laptop that is an ok price I would suggest maybe looking into buying a used one that is a higher grade. P.S Vista SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stay wth windows xp it is much better/
9. I have never bought a laptop at Walmart, but all the electronics we have bought from there turn out to be crap. Like after a year or so they break or don't work correctly. They are cheap, but you get what you pay for.
10. Actuallly I would buy one for that price... but just to do basic reports and typing, and maybe basic internet access, and to carry around ALL the time, so if it gets stolen, not too bad.. I kinda have a strange way of looking at it. Because I would buy that really cheap laptop for carrying around, but then I would by an mac laptop for serious things. That one I would carry around only on trips or when I really need it.
11. If price is a major factor in your purchase decision the Walmart is a good place to shop.
12. um, no!! never ever ever buy a computer from a walmart or target period
13. I wouldn't shop at WalMart if you paid me to. Walmart is in constant violation of workers' rights, they use anti-union propaganda and intimidation on their own workers, and they've been sued and lost for overtime pay that they failed to pay their employees. Not to mention that they are famous for dodging property taxes and for not providing their employees with adequate health care coverage. Instead they recommend that their employees sign up for Medicaid and Medicare and ALL of those things cost the tax payers MORE. Sure, WalMart may have low prices, but it's the HIGH COST of having a Walmart in your town or city that you don't see that gets you. Your taxes would be lower if WalMart would just pay their fair share and do their part. If Walmart raised the price of everything in their stores by $0.01(one cent), they could give every employee a $1.00 (one dollar) raise! If the Walton's used 1% of their family fortune they could provide Health Care coverage for EVERY employee and stop using our tax dollars to do so.
14. To the asker and to the audience that's reading this discussion: It only took one sentence written by the asker to tell you all: DO NOT BUY THAT LAPTOP 512MB of RAM memory on a Vista will crap-up your laptop. It'll never work properly. Who knows what other specifications they have fed you, but anyway - I would recommend to go to DELL's website, and for $100-$150 more get something decent. (Vista needs AT LEAST 1GB of RAM; also make sure you have there and intel "core 2 duo" processor and at least 100GB of hard disk capacity. These are the minimum standards nowadays
15. Before you can decide whether or not it is good to buy, you should first consider what exactly you will be using your laptop for. What major are you going for? Some require a much more intensive system, such as graphics design. What do you want to use the system for? If your just looking to type a few papers and browse the Internet, even the smaller models will work for you. If you plan to do a lot of gaming and or design work, consider getting a desktop or a higher end laptop model. What System Specs should you look for? Once again, depends on your usage style and budget. If your just into the bare minimums of writing papers and internet browsing, the $428 model will suffice. While Vista runs much better with more memory, it will serve that purpose just fine at 512mb of ram. Where to get it? Check around at different stores as well as online retailers. www.newegg.com has some decent deals from time to time. Another option to consider is www.microcenter.com They often have laptops of similer statistics listed for around 350-399. Ultimately, the decision is up to your usage patter and your wallet. The more you want to do with the system, the more it will probably cost you.
16. Before you purchase any laptop, do your research. First and foremost, research laptops on sites like Yahoo Tech or PCMagazine, or even CNet. Then you need to decide if you are going with Mac or Windows. Then check out the major manufacturers like Apple, Dell, Gateway, HP, Toshiba, and Lenovo. Look to see if those companies offer refurbished notebooks since those are usually less expensive than a brand new one. A refurbished notebook is one that has been returned to the manufacturer by the user for whatever reason and the laptop has been fixed. Also, a refurbished laptop can be one that was once used for a store display but never purchased. Talk to people you know who have bought laptops in the past for their advice as well. Never buy a laptop just because it looks nice. You want to be able to use it for all of your needs. As for Vista, many people say it sucks. I purchased a laptop from HP with Vista Home Premium and so far, I have had no problems. For me, I'm trying to find an at-home job and am finding out that with many companies, their systems are not yet compatible with Vista. But that's okay, because it was the same when XP first came out. Not everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Many of the programs that are compatible with XP are also compatible with Vista. Vista does require at least 1 gig to run, so if you are looking at a laptop with less than a gig of RAM, then stick with XP. Just make sure that the laptop is Vista capable and that you can also upgrade the RAM. Good luck in your search.