The first computer I have found that seems like a good deal in this regard is the Lenovo ThinkPad e420 at Office Depot for $529.

You can view it here.. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/780678/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Edge-E420-1141-A24/#reviewTab

Its basic specs are 14" LED-Backlit Screen & 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-2410M With Turbo Boost 2.0

with 2.3 GHZ processor, 500GB HD and 4 GB ddr3 PC3-10600

It would be replacing a friends VERY old desktop with small lcd screen so 14-15 inch is fine. Just need to see if people have any better options in the $400-550 range for them.

They would be using it for their home office and small business. Graphics and stuff like that don't matter so much as they have an iPad to play on for personal use.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Lenovo is pretty much at the top of the pile when you're talking about business-oriented computers. Their Thinkpad is their top of the line stuff; not only does it have nice specs, but it has good build quality, solid features, etc. things that don't necessarily show up on the price sticker's description.

It's got a decent core-i5, wireless-n, DDR3 RAM, LED screen, which are all pretty solid, nice to have. It will run business programs just fine. Go for it.

Lenovo is pretty much at the top of the pile when you're talking about business-oriented computers. Their Thinkpad is their top of the line stuff; not only does it have nice specs, but it has good build quality, solid features, etc. things that don't necessarily show up on the price sticker's description.

It's got a decent core-i5, wireless-n, DDR3 RAM, LED screen, which are all pretty solid, nice to have. It will run business programs just fine. Go for it.

To be fair, DDR3 and wireless N are both standard now.

Also, within the Thinkpad line only the T, W and X series are the high build quality / ultra durable machines. If you can stretch a few more bucks, the T420 would be the machine to look at. Keep an eye on the outlet: http://outlet.lenovo.com/laptops/thinkpad/t-series.html

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think they may be wanting to go with a Desktop anyways/after all! I thought this laptop was a great choice but they think of it as they already have a portable computer in the iPad.

I told them this computer costs less to run and takes up less space etc....