If you think the
$899 Surface Pro is too rich for your blood, don’t sweat it: there are plenty of cheaper quality alternatives out there.
Consumer Reports has been testing out several low-cost
Windows 8 laptops and has found that
they aren’t just priced well but that they perform well too. Among the winners were
ASUS’s (
2357) S56CA-DH51, a 15-inch laptop that costs $650 and that
Consumer Reports praises for “very good performance and excellent ergonomics”; Sony’s (
SNE) VAIO SVT-13122CXS, a 13-inch ultrabook that costs $625; and
Acer’s (
2353) M5-581T-6807, a $600, 15.6-inch laptop that
Consumer Reports says has “excellent performance and respectable battery life.” With so many quality laptops priced under $700,
Consumer Reports hopes that it’s a sign that “more inexpensive touch screen laptops are coming soon.”
