Acer 14.1" Notebook with 2GB Memory, 120GB Hard Drive and SuperMulti Dual Layer DVD Drive $399.99

I try and keep an eye on nice deals for PCs and notebooks in case people are in the market, especially with some kids going back to school. Here's a price under $400 after rebate at Office Depot for an Acer® Extensa laptop that's loaded with some nice features.

The model is the Acer® Extensa EX4420-5239 14.1" Widescreen Notebook Computer With AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-57. It's priced at $524.99 and has a $125.00 rebate until August 16th -- plus shipping is free. That makes the cost a very attractive $399.99 (plus tax) for a much-more-than-bare-bones notebook computer.

It comes with 2GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 memory, rather than the 1GB you see on many lower-end notebooks. That extra gig can make a big difference in performance especially with the Vista Home Premium that's already loaded on the system.

Some other highlights:
- 14.1" (diagonal) widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) CrystalBright™ LCD screen
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor TK-57 operating at 1.9GHz
- 120GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive
- SuperMulti DVD drive -Double Layer support (reads/writes many format DVDs)
- Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g wireless LAN
- Ethernet network interface (RJ-45)
- 4 USB 2.0 ports
- 1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) port (not always found on lower-end laptops)
- 1 S-video port
- Fast infrared port
- Integrated 0.3-megapixel webcam, for video chat and still photos
- 5-in-1 memory card reader for SD, MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD
- ExpressCard/54 slot: also supports ExpressCard/34
- ATI Radeon X1250 graphics with up to 896MB shared memory
- High Definition Audio with built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers
...and even more.

Acer is one of the systems I've used and have been pleased with the quality and performance. PC's are such a personal preference that you should pick one that fits your own needs and style, as far as screen size, features and such; but for the money, this one seems to offer quite a bit.

To take a further look and see if this one's for you (or a student in your family), click the image below.