Black Friday 2011

< $400 Laptops
O U R P I C K		Toshiba Satellite w/ X2 TL-60 Proc Model #: L305D-S5892 Processor: AMD Turion X2 TL-60 Memory: 3GB PC5300 DDR2 Display: 15.4" WXGA Widescreen TFT-LCD Hard-Drive: 160GB 5400rpm SATA Graphics: ATi Radeon X1250 Optical Drive: 8X DVD±RW DL Burner Operating System: Windows Vista SP1	$379.99

There were only two laptops in the $300 - $400 category and the Toshiba Satellite L305D-S5892 from Best Buy was $20 cheaper and came with more memory than Circuit City's HP Pavilion for $399.99. Outside of the $20 price difference and the 1GB memory, little separates the two and both of these would make good every-day use laptops. The Turion X2 TL-60 processor is not as powerful and energy efficient as the newer Intel Core 2 Duos, but this is a great, inexpensive laptop.

$400 - $500 Laptops
O U R P I C K		Toshiba Satellite w/ X2 TL-60 Proc Model #: L305D-S5893 Processor: AMD Turion X2 TL-60 Memory: 4GB PC5300 DDR2 Display: 15.4" WXGA Widescreen TFT-LCD Hard-Drive: 250GB 5400rpm SATA Graphics: ATi Radeon X1250 Optical Drive: 8X DVD±RW DL Burner Operating System: Windows Vista SP1	$479.96

Jumping up $100, the best deal is to "step-up" our $400 pick, the Toshiba Satellite L305D-S5893, and add-on an additional 1GB memory and beef up the hard-drive for an extra $100. Also included in the "step-up" upgrade are a laptop sleeve, wired mouse and Trend Micro Antivirus/Antispyware.