Article: Affordable portables: these four under-$1,000 notebooks deliver surprising features and performance for the money.(Dell Inspiron 1525, Gateway P-6825,HP Pavilion DV2660se,Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E)(Product/service evaluation)

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Not long ago, it was a given that notebooks with low prices were saddled with bland cases, dated components, and poky performance. That's no longer the status quo. As the laptop business continues to boom and more first-time buyers enter the portable market, the demand for low-cost notebooks is soaring. And manufacturers are responding, building out better-looking (and better-performing) systems at lower prices.

To step into the shoes of a budget buyer, we rounded up four low-cost laptops from mainstream vendors-Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony-to see how much notebook we could get for under $1,000. While we expected some ...

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