Laptops are some of the greatest tools at our disposal. They are completely portable for those of us on the go, on average they consume 90 percent less energy than a desktop computer and they are gradually getting cheaper every time we turn around. What more could we ask for? How about a huge list of resources for laptop consumers, well here you go.

Laptop Buying and Selling Guides - Be informed before venturing into the marketplace.

There is a lot to consider when buying or selling a laptop. If you are looking into buying a new or used laptop, you need to consider pricing, hardware and software, manufacturers and everything else that goes along with the purchase so why not make an informed decision. Or maybe you just bought a new laptop and now you want to recoup a little money off of your old one, why not do a little reading and maximize your return on the sale. That is exactly what the resources below will help you with.

1. The Essential Buying Guide for Laptops by PC Magazine offers a ton of information on buying laptops. This guide is a great resource for buying cheap laptops, gaming laptops, business laptops, portable laptops and more. This is a must read if you are in the market for a laptop.
2. Laptop Selling Tips for eBay has some great tips that will help you determine whether a potential buyer is a scammer and gives you advice on how to manage your auctions from beginning to end to ensure a smooth selling experience.
3. The Laptop Buying Guide on Cnet helps you determine which laptop will be the best for you. Everything is broken down into specific user categories making it easy to determine which hardware and features will suit you best.
4. Geek.com wrote an article titled Laptop Buying Guide - Warranty, which as the title suggests covers the ever so important warranty of your new laptop. Specifically it helps you to determine what types of warranty to look for and what those warranties cover.
5. So You Wanna Buy a Laptop is a very informative 5 page article that covers everything from how to determine if a laptop is right for you to finding the best store to buy your laptop.
6. The Laptop Buyer’s Guide from LaptopMag.com breaks down different types of laptops into categories such as desktop replacement notebooks, ultra-portable laptops, multimedia notebooks and so on. This makes finding the right laptop very easy because you can see which laptop offers what features to function best for your needs.
7. Stop by Switched for Five Things to Consider When Buying a Laptop. You will learn more about laptop battery life, weight and more things to think about before spending your hard earned cash.
8. Yes, even eBay has a Laptops Buying Guide. It is a very detailed guide and caters towards those of you planning to purchase a laptop from the eBay marketplace.
9. Learn How to Buy a Laptop from PC World. Not only does this guide cover buying the right laptop, but it also offers some insightful advice for getting the best value and maximizing your purchase. You might also have a look at their When to Buy a Laptop article, to maximize your savings and get the best deal.
10. The article How to Sell a Used Laptop Online over at eHow.com offers some sound advice for selling on Craigslist and eBay, its worth a read.
11. Wayne University has A Comprehensive Guide for Buying Laptop Computers, that takes a little deeper look into the hardware and functions of your future purchase. Many consumers are not to sure about all of the hardware and components that make up a good laptop, so you might want to have a look at this article.
12. Best Buy also offers a Laptop Computer Buying Guide for those of you in the market. It is written to be a little more on the basic side of things but informative none the less.

Best Places Online to Buy and Sell Laptops

This is by no means a definitive list of laptop shops, but it is a nice list of some of the best places on the Internet. Remember that when your buying and selling any merchandise, you should be working with trusted sources.

1. Over at Ebay.com buy new, used and refurbished laptops from the worlds biggest online auction. Of course you can also setup an account and sell your old laptop for a nice profit.
2. Geeks.com sells both new and refurbished laptops at great prices.
3. SuperWarehouse.com sells new laptops, most brands are available and shipping is free on all orders over $299.
4. TigerDirect.com sells both new and refurbished laptops at decent prices.
5. Fry’s Electronics - Great prices on laptops from a well trusted store. They run rebate offers regularly which provides great savings.
6. Dell laptops are some of the most popular on the market and some of the cheapest, stop by their website to customize your own today.
7. Amazon.com - Amazon is one of the most popular online shopping destinations and rightfully so. You can find great prices on new, used and refurbished laptops.
8. Craigslist is a great place to find some cheap laptops and you can deal locally to cut out high shipping costs. You might also consider selling your laptop there for a quick buck.
9. USANotebook.com offers an easy system to sell your old laptop for some cash. They buy 1 laptop or a 100 laptops from both private sellers and businesses. You can also buy laptops on their site for cheap prices starting under $250.
10. PcConnection.com has some great prices on laptops, easy shopping and also sells a ton of other computer products including servers.

Laptop Security - Information and products for a safer laptop.

Did you know that one out of every ten laptops will be stolen within the first 12 months of purchase? What’s worse is that 90% of those stolen laptops will never be recovered. That is a pretty frighteningly low number of recoveries. Why not invest in some of these security options to give you a little better chance of being in the 10% of people that do get their laptop back.

1. CyberAngel - After reporting that your laptop has been stolen, CyberAngel will lock and encrypt the data on your laptop and locate its position to notify the authorities. So far they have had great luck with recovering stolen laptops, and have been featured in the news several times.
2. Ever wonder How to Stop Laptop Theft? Can it even be done? This very informative 4 page article will get you a step closer to knowing the truth.
3. Inspice Trace not only allows you to track your laptop in the event of theft, but it can also unrecoverably destroy all of the data on your laptop remotely to prevent unauthorized access.
4. Stop unwanted people from accessing personal information on your computer with a Fingerprint Reader from Microsoft.
5. CompuTrace is a highly recommended suite of laptop security tools. Their protection plans include theft recovery, theft deterrence, data protection and more.
6. The PC Phone Home software enables your laptop to send an email with its location to an email address of your choice each time it access the Internet. In the event that your laptop has been stolen, as soon as the thief access the Internet, you can notify the authorities of its location. Have a Mac? Not a problem, try out Mac Phone Home instead.
7. Laptop security locks are one of the most popular devices due to their affordable price tag. While they serve more as theft deterrent than anything, they are still another viable way to protect your assets. You can find them through most stores that sell computer products.
8. Keep Your Hands on Your Handhelds will show you how to keep your laptop and other portable devices from being lost or stolen.
9. xTool’s Laptop Tracker offers the most recovery methods out of any tracking program by using the Internet, webcam, caller id and even GPS.
10. YouGetItBack.com provides a unique service for recovering your lost goods. Simply place one of their tags on your laptop and if it is found the finder can contact their 800 number and have it returned. They claim that 75% of all the lost merchandise with their tags gets returned to its rightful owner, not bad.
11. You can always stop by Doberman Security and pick up the Laptop Defender, a wireless alarm system for your laptop. Now those would be crooks won’t be touching your laptop anymore.
12. Interested in more lost item recovery services like YouGetItBack.com above? Well then why don’t you check these guys out:
    • TrackItBack.com
    • ArmorTag.com
    • BoomerangIt.com
    • zReturn.com
    • StuffBak.com

Tips for Increasing the Performance of Your Laptops Battery

There is nothing worse, than being on the road trying to get some work done and all of the sudden your laptops battery dies. Now, instead of getting some work done, you are looking around frantically for a place to plug-in, which of course is never around. Save yourself from the headaches, try some of these tips to maintain laptop battery life and performance.

1. Don’t allow your battery to discharge completely. Allowing a battery to completely discharge can have very negative effects on the overall performance and life of the battery. Often times we find that by draining the battery can in some cases cause complete battery failure or drastically shorten the charge capacity of the battery. What this means in plain English is your battery will die and/or not hold as much of a charge therefor draining quicker than it should.

   Many manufacturers recommend that your battery is stored and maintained at around half or 40% charge to maintain optimal performance. Always read the user manual that came with your laptop, or if it is a replacement battery read the included documentation

2. Take care of your battery and keep it clean. I should probably say this twice, but I won’t. Taking care of your laptop battery is crucial to its performance. Over time the metal contacts on the battery will build up gunk that can cause the battery to work harder than it should in its daily operation. So once a month, pull out the battery and wipe it down with a cloth, clean off the contacts and you will extend its life.
3. Add more memory or RAM to your laptop. Many people would speculate that this method will not help to save battery performance due to the fact that more memory requires more power to maintain. While this reasoning is true in part, if your laptop is short on RAM, your hard drive will be constantly running to make up the difference, via your swapping file, which in turn would use a lot more power and battery life. If you are using a laptop that has say 512mb of RAM, increasing this to 1gb should be more than enough to maintain optimal performance.
4. Turn off your Wifi while not in use. There is usually a switch to turn off your Wifi, however you may need to turn it off in the Wifi configuration panel. Your Wifi uses a lot of power when it is not connected because it is constantly searching for a connection, so it is a good idea to make sure it is turned off when not in use.
5. Set your laptop to hibernate rather than stand-by mode while sitting idle. While stand-by mode is great for saving on power consumption, setting your laptop to hibernate will allow the computer to completely shut itself down and still save your laptops state where you left off. Both options are good, you should at least be doing one of them, but hibernation will be the most effective.
6. Remove your battery while running your laptop on AC. If you are working from home and your laptop is plugged in to the AC, removing your battery is a good habit to have. Keep in mind that you do not want to store your battery completely discharged, but this method will allow your laptop battery to take a break while not in use.
7. Lower your graphics use. You can save a lot of power consumption by dimming your screen, lowering the screen resolution and removing the fancy graphics. Windows especially uses a lot of graphics on the menu’s and such, which is easily turned off and cut out a lot of the battery drain. The overall look may not be as pretty, but were going for battery life here.
8. Keep your laptops air vents clean. Laptops, or computers in general operate more efficiently when running at cooler temperatures. This is also why you see high end computers with water cooling systems. Anyways, by keeping the air vents clean you allow more air flow for the fans to run and the laptop will remain considerably cooler.
9. Optimal laptop performance causes optimal battery performance. Over all, the better your laptop performs the longer your laptop battery will last. It is very disruptive to your day when your laptop battery dies and you are constantly looking for a good place to plug in. So use the tips above to maintain your laptops battery at peak performance and life on the go should be a little easier.
10. Remove USB devices when not in use. Usb devices often require a good amount of power to continue running. If you are not using them make sure to remove them from the computer and this will help to save on battery consumption.

Does Your Laptop Have These Must Have’s?

1. There is just no way to start off this list without mentioning Firefox. If you haven’t already dropped Internet Explorer for Firefox, you are way behind the times. One of the best attributes of Firefox, aside from its superior performance, is how easily it is to customize the look and feel with the numerous add-ons available.
2. If you are looking for something a little different than plain old Windows, you might consider giving Linux a try. Currently, there are over 200 Linux distributions available to match your needs. If you need more information, you should have a look at 31 Resources for Installing and Running Linux on Your Laptop.
3. Keep in touch with your friends with GoogleTalk, a great IM (Instant Messaging) client from Google. If you prefer to talk in person, you might consider installing the Skype service on your laptop.
4. Unless you popped the extra dough for a Windows Business edition, you are probably lacking a suite of office tools, to keep you working on the go. The best option in this case is to go download your copy of OpenOffice.org, a free, open source office suite.
5. If you are in need of a solid, customizable email client for your laptop on the go, head over to the Mozilla website and download Thunderbird for all of your mail sending needs.

Laptop Repair and Upgrade Guides - Get that laptop running at peak performance.

Did you know that your laptop is about 30 percent more likely to fail than your desktop computer. Why? Because they get lugged around, beat-up in your carrying cases and often used in less than desirable conditions. Just knowing that information should make you a little more pro-active in maintaining your poor old laptop from it’s constant barrage of abuse. The resources below will help you protect and repair your laptop.

1. 10 Fast Fixes for Nagging PC Problems will help you with slow start-up times, slow Wi-Fi connections, broken keyboard keys and more, check it out.
2. PcAnswers.co.uk offers tons of great tips, advice and tutorials on many of the common and not so common problems that plague our pc’s.
3. Learn how to Make Your Old Laptop Wireless from Yahoo tech. Most new laptops come with wireless capabilities, but if you are still rocking that older laptop, this article may be helpful to you.
4. PC Troubleshooting and Laptop Repair from DailyInt.com includes advice on extending the life of your laptop battery, how to upgrade an old laptop and more information on laptop repair and troubleshooting. It is worth a look.
5. LaptopRepair101.com offers tons of helpful links to laptop service manuals, repair guides and more, this site is a great resource to have in your toolbox.
6. Have you been looking for Cheap Notebook Tweaks to Maximize Your Laptop? If your laptop hasn’t been running at its peak performance, you may want to have a look that article. You might also want to read these 12 Cheap Ways to Give an Old Laptop a New Life for more great tips.
7. If after reading all of the information above, you still can’t fix that laptop you might consider asking your specific questions at some of these sites:
   • Yahoo! Answers
   • Google Answers
   • AnswerBag
   • All Experts
   • Askpedia
   • Just Answer
8. You can also visit some of the laptop and notebook forums for more help.

While Dell is no doubt one of the most popular computer manufacturers on the market, there is still a large group of those that care to do nothing more than to bad mouth the companies’ budget priced goods.

We always recommend that any consumer shopping for a laptop should do their research in order to make an informed buying decision. But, having owned several Dell laptops in the past without any problems, we are happy to share with you some of the positives of buying cheap laptops from Dell:

• They are priced to be affordable. One of the biggest problems with laptops are their prices. Many people just don’t have the money to lay down $1500 or more for a computer so Dell did something about it and brought you a cheaper option.
• You can custom configure the laptop to your needs. This is one of our favorite features of buying from Dell. Everyone uses their laptop differently and due to this, what works well for one person will not work so well for another. Dell has decided to allow you to build the perfect laptop for you.
• You buy direct from the manufacturer, which means no fussing around retailers. Which coincidently is one of the reasons their prices are so much lower, because you don’t have to pay a middle man.
• If you order a custom built laptop, you are getting something that has just been built for you, not sitting on a shelf for the last year.
• Great Warranties. Many of Dell’s laptops come with a 3 year warranty and if that were not enough its usually in home, next day service. Here is a quote from Dell:
  

  Dell’s In-Home Service, Next Business Day1, Parts & Labor2 help keep you protected from costly computer repairs and puts a trained technician at your door, usually the next business day, to help solve issues that can’t be fixed through phone-based troubleshooting. Along with necessary parts and labor, you receive 24×7 access to support professionals who can use DellConnect3, to access, diagnose, and help solve PC issues via a broadband connection.

All of the above are great reasons to consider buying a cheap laptop from Dell, but please remember to do your research. If you use your laptop for work, graphic design, gaming and so on, you may consider going with a higher priced laptop that will perform a little better. One option for that would be Dell’s XPS Laptops.

The Toshiba Satellite T2330 is very similar to other cheap laptops we have reviewed in the past, such as the Compaq Presario T2330. This laptop is most efficient for light users that need something for basic Internet surfing, email and entertainment. We would not recommend that people running an online business, into heavy gaming or graphic design purchase this laptop, as it will not likely have enough resources.

But, with a cool price tag of only $599, this cheap laptop can pack quite the punch for everyday users. Here are some of the features included:

Windows Vista Home Premium Edition - Get your new laptop with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows Vista.

1gb of DDR2 Ram(memory) - In general, 1gb of Ram is more than enough memory to satisfy normal computer users, or in other words those of you that are using your laptop for basic functions such as Internet browsing, email and light entertainment. If you need to run large programs or games you may consider upgrading your Ram to a larger amount like 2gb, which is possible with this laptop.

Multi-format DVD and CD Rewriter - Imagine creating your own movies and music cd’s in the latest formats. This system also includes Ulead DVD Movie Factory, to make the process a whole lot easier.

15.4″ LCD Widescreen Monitor - This is a pretty standard monitor size for baseline laptops. It allows for easy viewing with a nice clear picture at a 1280 x 800 resolution.

Portable - While it is not the smallest laptop on the market, it has been made easily portable. This laptop weighs only 6 pounds and is 1.6″ thick, making it no problem to carry around or stick in your backpack on the way to school.

This Cheap Laptop Also Comes With:

• Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor w/ 1.6 ghz processor speed.
• 120gb Serial ATA hard drive.
• Built-in Realtek High Speed Wireless Lan.
• Microsoft Works 9.0, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Lithium-Ion Battery w.AC Adapter.
• 2 high-speed USB 2.0 ports.
• 1 year limited warranty for parts and labor.

Where to Buy the Toshiba Satellite T2330:
You can find this laptop model at most computer retailers both online and off. NewEgg.com and BestBuy.com both offer this laptop for $599, while some other stores we found will range between $599 and $619. Both of the above retailers are highly recommended.

While there has been a slew of cheap laptops hitting the market here in the U.S., the Elonex One is the UK’s first sub £100(or $200) laptop and it is quickly gaining popularity across the tech front. The laptop itself has been designed for children to use in their studies as well as an aid to familiarize themselves with modern computing. Aside from being very small and portable, the One allows for wireless Internet access, spreadsheets, word processing, email and yes even MP3’s, because kids need to have some fun too.

When considering its target audience, the Elonex One is an excellent cheap laptop and we can only hope to see more of these types of kid friendly laptops introduced to the market in the coming years. Here are some of the features you will find on this laptop:

• 7″ High Definition LCD Display
• Mobile 300mhz Processor with 128mb RAM
• 1gb Flash Memory
• Wi-Fi(wireless) and Ethernet(wired) Networking
• Removable and Splash Proof QWERTY Keyboard
• Linux Operating System
• Integrated 3-cell Battery w/4 Hours of Usage

More Resources for The Elonex One Laptop

• The Elonex One Website
• Review of the Elonex One from the Times Online
• Review on Engadget
• Story on TechWatch.co.uk

Cheap laptops are great, in fact they are what we are all about here. But, what if you need more features on your laptop than what they offer? Refurbished laptops are the next best way to buy, you get a laptop that has more power and features than many of the sub $600 laptops at only a fraction of the price as buying new.

Here are some things to keep in mind while shopping for a refurbished laptop:

1. Make sure that the laptop has been Manufacturer refurbished. This means that the manufacturer has refurbished the laptop themselves and is what not done by a third party. Unless the company you are buying from is very reputable and well known, we would not suggest that you buy laptops that they have refurbished in house.

2. Check the warranty. Make sure that the warranty not only exists, but also allows enough time to test the laptop and catch any problems should they arise. Most refurbished laptops come with very good warranties that will protect you for parts and labor should there be a problem.

3. Refurbished laptops are a safe purchase. Don’t be afraid of buying refurbished, there has been a lot of work put into renewing and repairing the laptop to the manufacturer’s specifications. Chances are that when you use a refurbished laptop, you won’t be able to tell the difference between that and a new one.

Manufacturers that sell refurbished laptops:

Dell Outlet
Hewlett-Packard
Sony Outlet
Toshiba Clearance Section
Alienware eBay Outlet Store
Apple Refurbished Section

Third party websites selling manufacturer refurbished laptops:

NewEgg.com
Overstock.com
TigerDirect.com
USANotebook.com
Geeks.com
eBay.com
TechforLess

There are quite a few cheap laptops on the market, and we will be reviewing them all individually as we go along. There are a lot of people looking for reviews on the Asus Eee laptop, so here is our feedback.

The Asus Eee is not a good laptop for heavy users, but would suit the casual user very well. We would recommend this laptop for people interested in surfing the Internet, checking and sending email and other basic functions.

What we like about the Asus Eee -

Well, the first thing to mention here is that the Asus Eee is an amazing value for the very small price tag that comes with it. For only $399 the budget priced laptop runs on a Xandros based, Linux Operating System with a 900 Mhz Intel Celeron processor and 512mb of RAM.

The laptops extremely small size only 8.9″ x 6.5″ x 1.4″ and a mere 2 pounds, makes this laptop extremely easy to carry around, since it is not much larger than your favorite book. The lid hinges appear to be very sturdy and there is a 0.3 megapixel camera built in above the screen on the 4gb model.

Some problems with the Asus Eee -

Due to the laptops very small size Asus has had to shrink everything down to fit in the little package. For instance, the laptop is equipped with a very small 7″ LCD widescreen monitor, that in our opinion, tends to make extended use a little difficult on the eyes. They have also made the keyboard very compact, which makes typing a little more difficult, and will require some getting use to.

Where to find more information on the Asus Eee -

LaptopMag.com

ArsTechnica.com

Engadget.com

HotHardware.com

Linux.com

Type the term cheap laptops into Google and you will get back over three million results, which might make finding the best deals a little difficult, so we are going to help you out. We have compiled this list of the best places to buy cheap laptops online, and it will surely save you the trouble of digging through all of those search results, so enjoy! Oh and don’t forget to bookmark this page so you can come back as often as you need to.

The Best Places to Find Cheap Laptops -

Geeks.com: This shop has a great selection of both new and refurbished laptops at very low prices. Depending on what is in stock at the time, you can usually pick up a major brand refurbished laptop for under $400.

NewEgg.com: NewEgg is a great place for laptop bargain hunters to shop. They always have low prices and run regular specials where you can see savings between $100 and $600 off their regular prices.

Overstock.com: If you have ever shopped at Overstock before, you probably already know that they have some really great deals. Cheap laptops are no exception here. You can find plenty of both new and factory refurbished models to satisfy your laptop hunger.

eBay.com: We all know about the prices on eBay as they are typically below believable which makes them a hot spot for finding cheap laptops. Prices are all over the board depending on who is bidding but some laptops sell for $50, it just depends on what you can find. We would suggest using a misspelled item finder for even bigger savings.

TigerDirect.com: While their normal prices are nothing to special, TigerDirect often offers large rebates on laptop purchases, with some of them in excess of $200 off the price. But here is the real secret, they also have an overstock section where they sell off excess laptops in their inventory for great low prices.

Amazon.com: Amazon can have great deals if you are there at the right time. Since the prices are generally determined by the individual sellers, they tend to vary widely, however this is still a great place to look before you buy.

LaptopOutlet.com: This website carries new, used and refurbished laptops with prices starting at under $300 for name brand used laptops. They have a large selection to choose from and great deals are found regularly, even on the new models.

Dell.com: Dell is known for their cheap laptops, or cheap computers in general, that is why they are as popular as they are today. Well their prices haven’t really changed, they still offer good products at incredibly low prices, so they are a good place to shop for cheap laptops.

TechforLess.com: They primarily sell open-box and refurbished laptops, but some of their prices can’t be beat. We found that some of their refurbished laptops prices were as much as $200 less than that of their competitors refurbished laptops.

uBid.com: This is another gem for finding cheap laptops. They are an online auction site much like eBay, that has a lot of regular sellers and many of the auctions start out at only $1.

While there are no doubt more great places to buy cheap laptops, these are some of the best. You might also consider using some of the various price finder or price comparison sites online and following valuable tips like these on cheap laptops. By the way, what tips do you have for finding cheap laptops?

We find a lot of people asking that very question, “Do cheap laptops have the features I need?” and we have got to tell you that it is a very tough question to answer. Everyone needs something different out of their laptop, we all use them for different activities and we all interact with them in a different manner, so to say yes without a doubt a good cheap laptop will work for you is virtually impossible. That is given that we don’t know you and your computing requirements of course. So the easiest way to provide an answer to this question is to break down several types of laptop users, and then you can determine which group you fall into, and determine the perfect laptop from there, so lets get started.

Basic home users: This is really the most common group of laptop users and it is also the group most suited towards the lower end or cheap laptops on the market. Virtually any laptop will suit a home user, as their computing needs are usually very little. Most basic home users, use their laptop for accessing the internet, sending email back and forth with friends and maybe playing the occasional computer game, which are not typically games that require tons of system resources. If you find that you fall into this group we have compiled a list of 7 cheap laptops that cost under $600, any one of the cheap laptops on that list should work just fine for you.

Home and office users: This group is actually quite similar to the basic home users with the exception of using your laptop for daily office/work needs. The first thing to point out here is that none of the cheap laptops we are aware of come pre-equipped with any office applications such as the Microsoft Office suite of tools. This is primarily due to the cost associated with such programs and including them would drastically increase the laptops bottom price for the manufacturer. That’s not to say that there isn’t a way around this, because there is. If you were to choose one of the cheap laptops in the article that I highlighted in the basic users group, you could then add a good free office suite such as OpenOffice and be ready to go.

Mid-level users: This is the group that uses their laptops a little harder than the basic users. Maybe you run a home based business or your work requires a lot of heavy applications that eat up the laptops resources. If you spend most of your day on the laptop performing various functions, chances are that you probably fall into this group of people. If you find yourself in this group you can still get a cheap laptop, but we would recommend shopping in the sub $1000 range rather than the sub $600. If you step up to the next level of laptops, you are going to find faster processing speeds, better functionality and an overall better system that is less likely to get bogged down by your constant use. If you choose to buy a cheap laptop under $600, you may find yourself having a lot of headaches and will probably be replacing or upgrading the laptop sooner than you would like to.

Power users: I unfortunately fall into this group and it is of course the most expensive one to be in. Those of us in this group tend to have very specific needs for what we do and that may be web design, graphics, pc gaming or a whole slew of others. If you find yourself in this group, chances are that there is not a cheap laptop in your future, but we can cut costs by buying cheap and upgrading them ourselves. That’s right, if you buy a cheap laptop and then perform the necessary upgrades yourself, you can usually save a lot of money and have a laptop that is custom tailored to your needs.

Whatever group you may find yourself in, you should now have enough knowledge to point you in the right direction when shopping around for cheap laptops. If you are in the mid-level to power users groups you might consider having a look at one of our other articles Turn your cheap laptop into a great machine for under $200, for some low budget ideas for upgrading your system.

Laptop bags are getting expensive. It would seem that a lot of professionals are looking for a nice laptop bag at a reasonable price that is both functional and at least slightly attractive at the same time. The problem is that cheap laptop bags are hard to come by, and when you do find one it is usually of poor quality.

Well we have done our research and came up with this list of cheap laptop bags that we think will serve your needs in style, quality and functionality at bargain basement prices so here you go.

The Targus 15.4in Messenger Notebook Case - This is a really nice bag that fits most laptops up to a 15.4in screen. It has extra protective padding in the notebook compartment and includes some functional features such as, media storage compartments, notebook accessory storage, two zippered file compartments and an adjustable padded strap. After checking around online we found that the average price for this bag is $27, but we hunted one down at ANTOnline.com for only $19.

The Case Logic Canvas Messenger Bag - Another nice, professional looking laptop bag for a budget price of $29.99. It has a padded notebook compartment, holds notebooks up to 15.4in and it has two internal and one external zippered pouches to carry your goods. We found this one online at Dell.com.

The Mango Tango Pink Canvas Stripe Notebook Bag - Here is a laptop bag for the ladies, no we didn’t forget about you! This laptop bag is sure to let you be seen and it carries laptops with up to 13.75″ screens. The average retail price for this bag is around $40, but we found them online at TheNerds.net for $32.

The Case Logic Lightweight Sport Messenger Bag - This is actually one of our favorites! It has a nice sporty look, but still professional enough to be carried in the office and it’s made of a heavy duty nylon so it stands up to the daily abuse. This laptop bag fits most laptops up to 15.4in it has zippered storage pockets, a padded carrying handle and a contoured shoulder strap. We found the average price of these to be $60, but Dell.com has them for $43 which is under our $50 budget for this list.

CalPak Messenger Bag and Laptop Bag - For only $49 this bag has room for just about anything you want to carry. This laptop bag has two large main compartments with extra padding, additional storage space on the bottom, a complete organizer inside the flap and a mesh accessory pocket on the front to get you going. You can get one of these online at Amazon.com.

The Kensington Saddlebag Pro Notebook Carrying Case - Kensington makes a pretty good product and this bag is no exception. Not only does this have the typical padded carrying handle and adjustable strap, but you can also convert it and where the bag like a backpack, really nice feature. It has a little side drawer for easy access to accessories, without having to pull everything out, and the bag is very professional looking. This is normally a $60 bag, but you can get it at BoomJ.com for $46.

Do you have a favorite laptop bag that you bought for under $50, share it with everyone in the comment section below.