Can I get a decent laptop for less than $500?

[Penguin]

I just need a laptop (oh, I'm sorry, today's word is "notebook") for surfing, not gaming. Refurbished would be fine.


Where's the best place/website to look for one?

[yermom]

next year, i'm so buying one of these:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6246989.stm

[yermom]

you might try here though:

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=NBB

[DustySooner]

If you do decide to go new...Best Buy has one for $499.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat103700050018&type=category

[Okla-homey]

I just need a laptop (oh, I'm sorry, today's word is "notebook") for surfing, not gaming. Refurbished would be fine.


Where's the best place/website to look for one?

pawnshops?

[BeetDigger]

I thought they only cost $20? Oh, you said laptop.

[soonerboomer93]

dell refurbished online store (http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh)

I would stay away from celeron processors, but at that price range that might be all that is available

[yermom]

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

the Inspiron 1501 there looks kinda interesting, but i'm not that familiar with the model

the video card looks promising

[OK2LA]

I thought they only cost $20? Oh, you said laptop.

I was gonna say Sugars - they used to be 1/2 price on Friday afternoons.

[BajaOklahoma]

My Dell is officially dead. They are sending me a replacement. After 10+ service calls, and lots of money, I don't think they can afford for me to buy another Dell.

[SoonerBorn68]

I bought my E-Machine laptop at Walmart. :eek:

It's got a AMD Turion 64
512 Ram
64meg ATI Radeon
80 gig HD
Double layer DVDRW

$498.

[DustySooner]

I bought my E-Machine laptop at Walmart. :eek:


Dunno if it's true or not, but I heard e-machines couldn't be upgraded. That's why I never bought one.

[yermom]

define "upgraded" ;)

of course any laptop is going to be pretty limited on upgrades

they aren't really quality machines from my experience, but use standard enough stuff

i've had lots more problems with Compaqs or Sonys

[sooner_born_1960]

He means emachines cannot be upgraded to Dells.

[soonerboomer93]

sure they can, just mod a dell case

[GulfCoastBamaFan]

The biggest limitation for that price range is going to be memory.

If you're just surfing the web, a Celeron will do just fine but you should still pack as much memory into the system as you can afford. This wonderful new operating system, Windows XP, is a fugging memory hog.

OR, you could poke around and see if there's a spare copy of Windows 2000 or Win 2000 Server sitting around. That's a serviceable OS with less of a RAM appetite.

My kids' computer is a former Compaq Presario that that I Borg'ed together last year. It only has 128MB of RAM, but Win2000 runs like a champ on it. I wouldn't dare try to put XP on that machine. It would turn it into a boat anchor.

[yermom]

you can usually upgrade the RAM pretty easily, i'd be more worried about crappy integrated video and shared Video RAM

i'd think the Celeron should do fine for most stuff as well

[GulfCoastBamaFan]

Easy, yes. Cheap, no.

Who came up with the idea of shared video RAM?

They should be taken out and shot.

[Penguin]

I ordered this puppy. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-detailsInactive.asp?Sku=G153-MX6650)

I must have ordered the last one, because they are no longer available.

It has a Pentium 1.86GHz processor, 1GB memory, 100GB hard drive, a DVD-RW drive, and 15.4" inch screen. All that for $599. That was the best deal I could find. I know it was more than $500, but I could not pass it up.

[yermom]

the stats sound good, i'm not a fan of Gateway though

[yermom]

Easy, yes. Cheap, no.

Who came up with the idea of shared video RAM?

They should be taken out and shot.

word.

[Penguin]

i'm not a fan of Gateway though


I don't care if it was made by Mexican children held in slave camps, it's a pretty good deal.

[yermom]

some people swear by Gateway, but my exposure to them in action hasn't been that good

it's a fairly small sample size though, and fairly dated

[soonerboomer93]

It's a decent buy for that price. It has shared video memory, but it does have 1gb of ram which will help alot.

I have a 17" dell laptop. As much as I enjoy the 17" screen, sometimes carrying it around is the suck. I even use a back pack for it (which then I promptly overload with other misc ****.

[Penguin]

My order has been "pending review" for 2 days now. These dirty dogs don't trust me?

[soonerboomer93]

i would call them and find out. I had some problems ordering a power inverter to use on the airplane through them. I called and they needed to verify some credit card information with me because I had placed my order from Korea but was paying with a US card

[Penguin]

I had some problems ordering a flux capacitor to use on my DeLorean.


Well, dealing with Libyan terrorists can be tricky.

[soonerboomer93]

yeah, bunch of bastages sometimes

they actually expect you to pay them too

[Penguin]

Thank goodness. My laptop has been shipped.