So you’re heading back to school and you need a new laptop—but you didn’t manage your finances over the summer. Your bank account is nearly tapped out, and you still need to buy text books and lay in enough ramen noodles to last through the winter. Yeah, we’ve all been there. Fortunately, Moore’s Law is still in play, so today’s budget notebook is yesterday’s workhorse. Pretty much any modern laptop can handle the gamut of productivity chores—word processing, number crunching, email, and the like—but all of the machines in this roundup can also tackle media editing and encoding sessions, and deliver respectable entertainment experiences. To strike the best balance between performance and affordability, I gathered the top five notebooks I could find for $650 or less. Benchmark busters they’re not, but they aren’t budget busters, either. CPU, memory, and storage specs Model CPU Memory Storage Asus VivoBook S550CA (Reference) Intel Core i5-3317U 6GB DDR3/1600 500GB 5400-rpm (+24GB cache) Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 Intel Core i5-4200U 4GB DDR3/1600 500GB 5400-rpm Dell Latitude 3330 Intel Core i3-2375m 4GB DDR3/1600 320GB 5400-rpm HP Pavilion TouchSmart 11z-e000 AMD A4-1250 4GB DDR3/1333 500GB 5400-rpm Lenovo IdeaPad Z400 Touch Intel Core i5-3230M 6GB DDR3/1600 1TB 7200-rpm Toshiba SatelliteL55Dt-A5253 AMD A6-5200 6GB DDR3/1333 750GB 5400-rpm I used several criteria to evaluate these laptops, including benchmark performance, storage capacity, weight,... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2013-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you want to do some serious reading to reflect on humanity and its many aspects, these 5 contemporary literary fiction books are for you, including A Burning By Megha Majumdar. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-05-28 10:38:00 UTC ]
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News and Events Mariah Rust and Xin Xu recently were named the recipients of the fourth annual translation prize for students sponsored by World Literature Today at the University of Oklahoma. Consistent with World Literature Today’s commitment to... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-20 16:07:11 UTC ]
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It’s no surprise that marketing budgets have been cut this year. With the upcoming months still being incredibly uncertain, many pubishers will be finding that their titles just aren’t getting the investment they wish they could. This time last year, countless titles were moved to the spring... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-16 02:54:26 UTC ]
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The ProQuest-NYU Libraries project is available to thousands of international students and scholars during its pilot until August 31. The post International Students, Scholars Have Access to NYU’s Pilot With ProQuest appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-04-07 04:12:31 UTC ]
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In an attempt to take the subject beyond March, this month’s audiobook recommendations shine a light on women’s history, known and unknown, heralded and not. Viewing the glass as half-empty, it’s dispiriting how many of these stories remain untold, forgotten, or misunderstood. But let’s be... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-04-05 08:49:04 UTC ]
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William Morrow preempts a debut novel by Liz Stein, Michelle Tea sells a memoir about the reproductive industrial complex to Dey Street, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The books we love coming out this week include new titles by Abby Jimenez, Jeff VanderMeer, and Paul Herron. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A first look at the new report on Europe's book publishing markets highlights the range of impact felt in the first year of the pandemic. The post Federation of European Publishers’ New COVID-19 Impact Report: Europe Closes 2020 Down 2 to 5 Percent appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-26 15:57:21 UTC ]
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Despite ample inventory available on other retail media platforms, brands still mostly turn to Walmart and Amazon. The post ‘The big guys are winning’: Digital media budgets prioritize Walmart, Amazon despite a glut of retail media inventory appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2021-03-23 04:01:00 UTC ]
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The Build America’s Libraries Act was introduced in the House of Representatives this week by Reps. Andy Levin (D-MI) and Don Young (R-AK) and would provide $5 billion to address decades of needed repairs, updates, as well as the construction of modern library facilities in underserved and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has laid out his budget, announcing £6,000 “restart” grants for shops alongside an extension of furlough and the business rates holiday. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-02 20:51:28 UTC ]
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This new form of mobility will be very different from our current reality, which provides some unique design opportunities. The future of urban air mobility is often represented in utopian images. A wealth of fanciful renderings show flying vehicles taking off and landing vertically from... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-02-24 08:00:33 UTC ]
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Manga, but make it fashion! Let's look at some of the best dressed manga characters to wow us with their couture. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-18 11:37:00 UTC ]
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Find powerful and compelling essays on race, politics, culture, and more in this list of recent small press essay collections. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-17 11:38:00 UTC ]
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“I needed help because I was the one who carried the psychic burden of our home, its physical state, all the time.” Laura Cronk considers ghosts and the gendered work of cleaning house. | Lit Hub Memoir Russell Shorto on realizing that his grandfather was a small-town mobster and (reluctantly)... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-05 11:30:52 UTC ]
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Exploring the diversity of The Atlantic’s original fiction: Your weekly guide to the best in books Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2021-01-29 15:30:00 UTC ]
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Call for inquiry into academic publishers as locked-down students unable to access study material onlineCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLibrarians at UK universities say students’ reading lists for this term are being torn up because of publishers’ “eye-watering”... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-29 12:00:00 UTC ]
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As a verb, one definition of essay is to try. As horrible as 2020 was, let’s pretend it means to try again. Audiobooks of self-contained pieces between twenty and sixty minutes seem perfectly suited for walks, commutes, and household chores. Essays might also be perfect for attention spans... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-28 09:48:07 UTC ]
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These beautifully narrated audiobook short story collections tell precise, polished tales about Black women, the fantastical, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-19 11:30:00 UTC ]
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At the end of 2020, sorting through my papers was a welcome reminder of the joys of a literary life Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-30 13:00:00 UTC ]
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