cheap laptop

[Soundguy]

The wife is a teacher, and finds herself with spare time here and there to take notes and make lesson plans. She wants a laptop pc to tote with her for just running microsoft works.. or even wordpad and saving here ideas and then copying them to disk.. or flashdrive.. etc. I know I've seen places that sell refurbs or older units.. like tigerdirect / heartland americe.. but don't really see anything good on those sites now. Anyone else got a line on other retailers on low end laptops.

Only needs to have win98, and basics.. like a floppy / cd.. usb would be nice.. probably any processor above 500 mhz is fine.. I'd guess no more than 128 ram.. though 4? maybee... Mainly need it on the cheap... and cheaper the better /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif as it will be a 'hardly' used item...

Any website / url's thanks

soundguy

 

[Amontilado]

Soundguy,

Have you looked on the major player's web sites(IBM,Dell) for "re-certified" and off-lease items? Bought an older IBM desktop from IBM, and after a few additions(can't help but tinker), it's my main system.

Steve

 

[California]

Chris, this is one of the few cases where I would recommend buy new rather than used.

Legend has it that there has never been a flawless used laptop sold on Ebay, ever.

I'm out at the ranch typing this on a HP 600 mhz laptop that I keep here to minimize theft risk. It cost over $300 used and has nagging problems. The ruined battery requires several boot attempts to get it going on wall power. Also the CD reads in DOS but is not found in Windows. I and a couple of professional techs can't figure that one out.

It's the third cheap Pentium portable I've tried here and the first that is really usable. The $50 Compaq had a bad display, the $200 Compaq keyboard went bad, and years ago the 486 and 386 Toshibas ran ok but were dog-slow. Younger daughter's $300 Dell portable she uses at college just suffered a row of dead keys on the keyboard. A new keyboard is under $30 and easy to install, but I had to loan her an external keyboard until I can get down there to fix it. This is what you are getting into.

I've had it with used laptops. My next laptop will be a $750 new Dell.

On the other hand the printer here is a 1991 HP IIp+ Laserjet that cost $2.99 in a thrift store plus a $10 output roller. It prints just as flawlessly as when they first got $2,800 for them. Used isn't always bad, just in laptops.

 

[SimS]

Soundguy;
Have you thought of a Pocket PC? For the low level stuff you mentioned, you could get a refurbed HP IPAQ for less than $175, for example. My .02
SimS

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Are you sure you want used and W98?
How about a new Dell laptop for $449? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[RoyJackson]

I bought my Toshiba laptop on eBay. Can't say it was particularly cheap ($800), but it came with the XP and Office XP CD-ROM's.
Mine did require repair, but it was covered under a Toshiba recall on these laptops.

Personally, I'd go to Tiger Direct.com and see what they've got. I'm a fairly frequent buyer from TigerDirect and must say, they're pretty good to deal with.

 

[LMTC]

Have any of you dealt with retrobox.com? I too am looking for a laptop for very limited but necessary usage. I have about reached the decision to bu a low end new one, just because of the troubles I have heard with used ones, apparently frequently "rode hard and put up wet".

 

[Inspector507]

Wayne,
If I remember correctly, RetroBox is a reseller for corporate purchased equipment. I wonder if they do any more than...
If it powers up, they wipe it clean and sell it.

 

[LMTC]

Thanks Jerry. I may end my misery today with a current Circuit City ad featuring some low end Toshiba units starting at $700. My eye is on a Satellite M45-S169 for $799 after rebate. 512mb of RAM, 80G 5400 HD, DVDRAM <font color="red"> (What the heck is DVDRAM?) </font> , etc. good through 11/5.

Link to Laptop Ad

 

[To20Chris]

Chris, I bought a used IBM years ago from:

http://www.laptopsonline.com/

It worked great, but we eventually wore it out (it runs every day, all day on the kitchen counter). I bought my wife a new one this fall. It's and e-machines M6805 refurb from TigerDirect. emachines dropped their line of laptops whne they were bought by Gateway, and it appears Tiger must have bought them all. If this unit was really used, I cannot tell. All the peel off covers were still on, etc. It was significantly above the range you are talking about, but a very good deal.

I would not hesitate to by an older used machine, but go online and see what support the manufacturer offers for it first. Find out if parts and drivers are available. IBM is (was at least) very good in htis regard. Dell not so good (in my opinion). There are sites that sell parts for used laptops, but you'd be better of with a mainstream unit in that regard.

 

[thcri]

Having Laptops for about the last ten years Chris I would seriously look at the major manufactures and compare their refurbished ones with their new ones. In the last 5 years laptops have gotten a lot better and more reliable. I have seen new ones for as little as $500.00. I would watch refurbished ones from companies that are not affiliated with the major manufacture. The last 3 laptops I have bought have been Dells and all three are still running. And you may think your wife won't use it much, but you may be surprised, she may use it more than you think. Once she has it she may find more uses for it. But you could always buy a nicer one if she does use it.

murph

I actually am looking for just an old DOS based one to run a certain program. But find they are around $400.00 yet.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm presently looking at a stack of 14 dead laptops of various makes and models stacked on my workbench which has been declared the "secret laptop burial ground". If anything goes wrong with the display or mobo and the unit is over three years old, there is a good chance that the repair part is going to cost more than the price of a new laptop, if the parts are available at all. I just keep these units around to scavenge parts from. Unless you know the history of the machine, or get a factory refurb with warranty, beware. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( out if parts and drivers are available. IBM is (was at least) very good in htis regard. )</font>

While I did find a few refurbs in the 150-299 range.. they were pretty low end.

I took everyones advice and hit the 'big 3' looking for recertified units. I think I have settled on a 1.6ghz refurb from IBM for about 350$

That was slightly more than i wanted to spend.. but looks like it will have the best support.. and also not be so severly obsolete once delivered, as the other units would be. This weekend the wife went on a computer kick. As well as deciding she needed a laptop, she also decided her desktop is too outdated ( it is!.. it's a 400mhz amd ) We hadn't been in a rush to update either of our home computers as all we do is email / typing on them... However.. a few months ago my old 433 celeron unit died, and i got a new shiny fast compaq with all the bells and whistles, and I guess the wife finally got tired of looking at her old PC... which still runs.. but is just so slowww at this point.) We went to all the box stores.. OD, CC, BB, Staples, Target, Sams, and walmart. We wrote down all the specs for each machine .. dvd/cd burner or reader.. usb / hdd / ram / cpu / price

Made a matrix chart.. and came up with a 'cheapy' unit from walmart that scored overall highest features for lowest money.. I'm not specifically a low baller on computers as i know you get what you pay for.. but again.. wife just needs the desktop pc for 'at home' school work as she is a teacher.

As an added bonus.. she is taking her old PC to school, so the kids have computers to work on. We've been doing this for almost 10 years now that is.. taking our old PC's to her classroom and setting them up with educational software for 'computer learning stations' for the kids. I've even picked up a few 25$ and 50$ yardsale specials that were low end pentium etc.. and set them up in the classroom. Now, one entire wall in her music room is a row of pc workstations. I also set the wife up with a audio/video system, a few speakers, and other goodies like a wireless keyboard.. etc, so she can set at her desk or walk around and do presentations int he classsroom... setup has a few tv's chained together and a small pa system.. she also has a wireless headset microphone to save her voice. Neat little setup. Every year at 'employee' review time she always gets extra 'check marks' int he 'use of technology' section.. seems to make the principle happy.

I'm going to start a new thread about the review on the pc I bought at walmart.

souNdguy

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> As an added bonus.. she is taking her old PC to school, so the kids have computers to work on. We've been doing this for almost 10 years now </font>

That's awsome. Our kids' school's computer lab is twentyeight PII 166MHZ PCs. They function quite well with Win98 and open office software and mozilla. A company upgraded to flat panels and donated 28 matching CRTs to us. It all adds up and the kids benefit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif