SLIDESHOW: Seven Affordable Laptops for Smaller Businesses

[Mercury]

Laptops are the workhorses of modern businesses, but smaller businesses can ill afford to commit big bucks to computing hardware that takes a beating on the road and in the office. At less than $1,000 each, these seven affordable laptops deliver business-class performance without breaking the bank

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[Lyte]

A laptop for $500?!

Simple, Straightforward, Customizable: Dell Vostro 1500

Dell's Latitude series is familiar on any corporate campus. Now Dell has a line specifically for smaller business: Vostro, combining the ease of IT support that made the Latitude a winner with many of the appealing features from the Inspiron consumer line. The Vostro 1500 starts at $499, delivering consistent, reliable performance for most business needs at a reasonable price. The magnesium alloy case can withstand a beating and the Mylar-sealed keyboard is as spill proof as they come. Where Dell really shines is in the ease of configuration and ordering. The most appealing option: skip the trial versions and other bloatware that come pre-loaded on so many PCs (when you first boot up, you can start working instead of uninstalling applications). The Celeron processor is standard, but you can upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo with a click as well as add Bluetooth, a 2.0 megapixel camera, or a host of other options to augment the standard 8-in-1 media card reader.

* Price: From $499
* Weight: 6.33 lbs
* Screen size: 15.4"
* Battery life: 5 hours
* Thickness: 1.65"
* OS: Windows XP Home Edition
* Processor: Intel Celeron M (1.86GHz)
* Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11g