I want to find a reasonably priced laptop

[nini]

Does anyone have a good idea of where to look for a decent deal.. I'm willing to spend 700-1000 dollars or so. I could go a bit higher if it's really worth it.

I don't need a printer or any of those extras.



Thanks!

[GOPisEvil]

1. Have you thought of buying a remanufactured one?

I just bought a half-decent laptop from a company that remanufactures Dell laptops. It's pretty no-frills, but it gets me on the internet and allows for the basics. I paid $400 for it. You can get a nicer one than I bought and still be under your budget.

[nini]

2. that would work....

where did you get if from???

It's for my new job if I decide to take the big leap :bounce:
(they already checked references and that went well - wooo hooo)

[GOPisEvil]

5. Woohoo!!!! Good news!

I bought it from a store here in Austin called Discount Electronics. I'm sure there are similar stores out there.

That job sounds SO exciting! :bounce:

[nini]

11. I'm about to pee my pants on this job thing!

So exciting and it sounds like they want me to start earlier than we had discussed.. I may be onboard during the holidays for 6-8 weeks.

I'll let you know - especially if I end up on a ship that goes to Galvaston.... ha..

thanks for the computer tips!


:pals:

[LynneSin]

4. I second that one. I bought my laptop through DPVTech

http://www.dpvtech.com/

The laptop has a 6-month warrenty on it and their customer service is awesome. When my laptop was shipped, the delivery guy dropped it off outside my apartment door. Needless to say the package disappeared. DPVTech sent me another one right away and it was even a better one than I ordered.

I highly recommend them!!

[nini]

6. Thanks!!

I'll check them out..

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. I did the same thing and I'm very happy

I got mine through an Ebay auction from a guy that does nothing but rebuild Dells. I've had absolutely no problems and he even e-mailed me a few times to check and make sure I was still happy with it. His name is Mark Gray and his e-mail is [e-mail]. Tell him that Paula from Texas recommended him.

[nini]

22. Thanks..

I'll check him out

[Speck Tater]

3. Start with EBAY

I've picked up a couple of good hand held PC's there, and there are lots of laptops available. Just pick from a seller with loads of positive feedback and you'll probably be very happy with the deal.

[nini]

7. I have considered Ebay.. good to hear you had success

I'll check it out.. thanks

[GOPisEvil]

9. I bought a laptop from eBay once as well.

I got a good deal, and the laptop lasted a couple of years before finally giving up the ghost. I replaced it with a desktop I bought on eBay. It was going strong after 2 years until a power surge killed it. :-(

[happynewyear]

16. eBay can be a good idea

I've bought two computer on eBay - one a new Aptiva with Windows 98 on it that still works (a desktop) and the other a slightly used ThinkPad. I bought the ThinkPad over 2 years ago and the little sucker still goes. I had to have it reformatted once which cost me $75.00.

eBay has worked out good for me! :D


:kick:

[CarolynEC]

8. Gateway M520CS

$699 after instant and mail-in rebates.

http://www.gateway.com/home/products/hm_ptb_m520.shtml?clv=Btn1

Just bought one. Pretty basic, as laptops go. But I needed a "spare" and the price was hard to beat.

[billbuckhead]

10. I've seen new Apple iBooks advertised as low as $699

They're hard to beat.

[nini]

13. I wasn't thinking about the mac.. if I could find an Ibook for that low

I'd go for it. There pretty nice.. a coworker has one and it's been very reliable.

[Ready4Change]

25. Love my iBook.

Some have a logic board issue, (mine did) but Apple is doing greate customer service on that. Had mine fixed and back from CA in a week, no charge. Can't say enough good things about it, and I'm an old time PC guy who likes building his machines from parts.

Unless you want it ultra-portable (like I did) I'd go with the larger screen. I do love my 12" iBook, but the screen is a tad bit "squinty" at times.

[nini]

12. oooohhh.. that is a good price

thanks!

[Claire Beth]

15. I saw an ad....

on TV just yesterday by DELL....They have laptops starting at $749.00. That's where I'd check.

[LynneSin]

18. Unfortunately those low price laptops have celeron

I'd rather get a used pentium than a Celeron. If it's an AMD Althon though, those are pretty decent!

[Ready4Change]

17. Avoid a Celeron processor and you're pretty much ok.

There are many laptops in that range, and except for the ones with Celeron processors they are pretty much all ok. The Celerons themselves aren't really BAD either, but for the same money you can have something much better.

If you're considering upgrades, look at increasing memory before hard drive space, as the memory is likely to make more of a difference over the laptops life. 256MB memory is good, 512MB best, 1GB probably more than you'll need.

Most laptops come with at lest a 20GB hard drive, and that's more than enough, unless you're working with a lot of video.

For CPU speed, more MHZ is better, but I'd give up a couple hundred MHZ CPU speed to gain a couple hundred MB's of memory, given the choice.

[nini]

19. I know the memory is an issue - especially with XP

I know for sure I'll have to upgrade that.

I wasn't aware of the celeron thing.. - Thanks!!

[LynneSin]

20. I'd give up MHZ just to avoid a Celeron

I had an AMD4 Althon and it was a great processor!

[nini]

23. I didn't realize you were such a techie

thanks for the input.

I'm a dork when it comes to the hard care hardware stuff.

[happynewyear]

24. my old Aptiva has an AMD procesor in hit

and it still works - just received a fax on it - bought new from ebay less than $700.00 delivered. Its a work horse of a machine no doubt.

The used laptop has a Celeron processor but it is a good back-up to my main machine here, another ThinkPad P4 with 256 RAM. I love it really. I got it from IBM but I got a deal on it luckily.

The one with the Celeron processor in it is very slow but ok once online (dial-up connection). However, it takes a few minutes to boot up and load. Slow no doubt.

[Az_lefty]

21. bought a Toshiba Satellite at CompUSA for $750

this was last Christmas and the price reflects $150 in rebates. I would keep checking with them as they seem to keep going on sale. BTW...it's a A15 model with 2.3ghz processor.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. I'll sit on your lap for free

Does that help? :evilgrin:

[nini]

27. ROFLMAO

leave it to you to come up with that comeback!

good one.


:hi: