Time for the laptop expert to put it some info.
If you are insure of what laptop to get I would go to this website for help
What Notebook Should I Buy?
I have been a member on there for years and provide info to people all the time.
5 year warranties are only in place mostly for business class laptops like the HP elitebook or probook and the Dell business laptops (forgot the name). Most new laptops come with 1 year standard warranty.
If you are looking or a laptop you have to ask yourself what are going to do with it, gaming, basic stuff like email/homework or advanced editing with pictured or movies.
Most likely your searching for a laptop for basic things. I would into into an Acer or Asus. They have the lowest warranty issues according to a SquareTrade article that I read last year. SquareTrade provides extended warranty when the standard manufacturer warranty runs out. So these guys know what they are talking about.
Min specs for a basic laptop,
1. 250gb hard drive or more--the thing where all your files go or saved on including the opertaing system
2. your operating system has to be 64bit and not 32bit. 32bit OS will only have access to a max of 3.2gb of system memory, 64bit OS doesn't have that problem.
3. the min amount of system memory has to be 4gb or more, min is 4gb of system memory.
4. try to get windows 7 64bit or you can get away with windows XP but get the pro version of it (32bit), don't get Vista, just don't. But all new computers today come with windows 7.
5. get a min of a dual core processor, any speed will do.
As for the processor or cpu, in your price range I would search for a AMD processor since those tend to be cheaper and in cheaper laptops. I would search for the AMD fusion based A6 or A8 processor. AMD processors are not as fast as Intel based ones but there on board graphics chip in the Fusion is 4-6 times faster then the graphics on the Intel one. It's almost as fast as some low end Nvidia or AMD graphics cards.
As for the graphics cards, well you have 3 choices, Intel, AMD(ATI), or Nvidia.
And there is integrated and dedicated graphics. Integrated is when the graphics chip/processor is located on the motherboard or on the processor itself. Dedicated is when the graphics processor as its own board attached to the motherboard or its built into the motherboard.
The AMD Fusion has its own graphics chip located on the processor, oh and the integrated graphics tend to have longer battery life but the graphics is usually a lot slower then dedicated graphics. I would say the AMD Fusion is the best of both worlds if your not a gamer.
*edited--Ouch the conversion rate is $311 to US dollars.
ok for that much, ditch the AMD fusion processor but still go for AMD since they are cheaper overall then Intel based ones. I would also look into used older core 2 duo processor laptops.
Oh and I forgot to ask if you wanted a used, refurbished or new laptop and what screen size are you looking for? But still try out the link I provided.
Most laptop in that price range are used ones or small nettop laptops with screen size of 10 inches.
