We need a laptop. Where to buy one?

[dalek2.0]

I have a thread on here somewhere about this problem but anyway. My girlfriends laptop broke and needs a new mobo. $$$$$$$ I'm looking to buy a used, refurbed or something lappy. I have never had a lappy before so I have no clue where to even start. I did try froogle though. LOL

What I am looking for: Nothing real slow but does not need to be really fast either. Price range: around $400 to $600 if possible. Decent size display, 12" or 14" or so. A CD-RW would be nice. It should run Windoze XP for her. I have not got her switched to Linux, YET. Wireless networking like in the hotels and such. 256MB of ram minimum but 512MBs would be nice. Just a 20GB hard drive would be fine. Some kind of warranty would be nice. The one that broke was just a few weeks out of warranty. A year would be nice.

She is taking a online course and she needs to be able to take it to work with her. The kids like to watch DVDs but if it doesn't have a DVD drive we'll manage.

If noone has any info on a used one, should I go with a Dell or Gateway? I have heard Gateway has some money problems and is sliding a bit. I'm sort of leaning to Dell a bit. This is if I have to get a new one. I don't keep up with this as much as I used to so maybe you folks have some info.

OK. I'll check in as much as I can so just type away. Links would be nice. Sure will be glad when I can get my Linux box up here. I miss my Linux a lot. I did install Mozilla here though. I couldn't do nothing with that IE thing.

Thanks for the help. Me needs it.

 

[Soichiro]

Dude, you're gettin' a Dell...

 

[turky4lunch]

Dell. I got a 2650 lappy a few years, worked great until my sister poured milk on the keyboard and banged it. I used to play games with a blanket smothering the fan port (before i knew any better) for hours, and it would never blow up in smoke or anything like that. Need to get that keyboard replaced..

 

[dalek2.0]

Looks like I need to get a Dell then. Is any one of them better than another? I don't know a lot about lappies really. I just know they are expensive and easy to break if you drop them, unless you get one of those "hardened" ones that is built like a tank.

I was looking at the XPS M140 for $799.00 which is more than I would like to spend really but it is a nice one. I just wish it had the Office stuff. Maybe Open Office would work. It's cheap and it is what I use on my Linux.

Ideas? Suggestions? Shoot me before I buy the wrong thing. LOL

 

[rhino56]

build your own. it would be a learning experience for you.

 

[dalek2.0]

build your own. it would be a learning experience for you.

I didn't know you could do that. I thought they were really propriatary as far as parts. If I could afford it I would love to build her one. Where do I find out how and where do I get parts to do this, especially the case part. Well, unless we could use the Gateway case. I built my Linux boxes though. The only thing I have that I didn't build is the Compaq Server with Quad CPUs.

Thanks

 

[acompdude]

There was an article in either CPU or Maximum PC awhile back about building your own laptop. If I find it I will post it in here. It is a good learnig experience and you should save a few $$$ too.

 

[Kendan]

Check out the deal sites for current dell deals:

http://dealnews.com/online-stores/Dell-Home/638/

http://techbargains.com

http://fatwallet.com

http://slickdeals.com

and the hot deals sections of the forums you visit, Here, Anandtech, and [H].

 

[Pinky]

I had a cheaper, smaller Averatec laptop that served me well. In that price range you could find a used one on ebay on the cheap. I had a 3200 series model. Some of their other models had issues.

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...00&fpos=12196&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=

 

[dalek2.0]

That looks pretty neat. Wonder how he does that. That is a pretty fast lappy. That's faster than my main desktop, which needs some serious upgrading since I run Gentoo Linux on it.

Thanks for the link Kendon. I sort of glanced at them and will go back and look more later. I'm about to starve to death. Went to the emergency room before supper and sat there for about four hours. I'm glad no one was stroking out the way they move. They be ready for the morgue when they got around to them. May be back to dust. O_O

Thanks