Eiji Tunsinagi

I need to be able to write in places other than my hot computer room, complete with the smell of burning plastic parts. Does anybody know where I can get a REALLY cheap laptop? Refurbished? No more than 250-300 dollars?? Reliable company? That'd be a BIG help.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

moonandsun

Hmmm, ebay is my first thought. If you just want to do writing on it, I'd recommened an alphasmart!

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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. "
-Groucho Marx

Eiji Tunsinagi

I dont buy stuff off ebay......bad experiences. And I'm not sure about the alphasmart, because I do want to have my laptop for some other functions.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

tcaptain

Well I can't speak for Atlanta but I'd check out the classified for ads by used computer stores.

My first laptop a few years back was a cheap P133 that I bought for 150$ Canadian (basically around 75$). I couldn't run much on it but I COULD run linux and a word processor.

Of course, once I was hooked I upgraded and eventually moved up to the machine I have now but I'm a geek by nature so...

Eiji Tunsinagi

I'd buy it online so it doesnt matter where I get it from, really----and by the way-----I DO go around looking for low priced memory and slightly outdated but low priced graphics cards and stuff like that.....I'd call my self a becoming-computer geek. I just cant find any damn abnormally cheap laptops!

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

daniela

Try this site. I have never bought anything from them before, so make sure you ask around and check the company out thoroughly.

--DM--

__________________
"When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable." - Mark Twain

Rayhi

DON'T DO IT !!

It's a waste of money. If you hear the term "you get what you pay for"....it's sooooo true with laptops. I did it and got burned.

REFURBISHED/USED LAPTOPS DO NOT LAST!!!!

Do yourself a favour and pick a company like 'Dell' or 'Gateway', or 'IBM' and get their super duper lowest priced computer with no frills. You're better off.

If you buy 'used or refurbished' you are buying some else's headache. No matter the price!

Bruce

P.S..........DO NOT BUY FROM EBAY!!!!!!!

tcaptain

Rayhi:

What are you talking about?

The P133 I was talking about I bought used, it was 5-6 years old and that in was 2000! in 2002 I sold it to my BOSS who still uses it TODAY! That's a tough little machine.

Since then I purchased a PII-333 again USED (made in 1997), kept it til last year, sold it to a close friend for a song...he doesn't have any problems with it, neither did I. The only reason I sold it was that I got a rather nice big bonus before Xmas last year so I bought me and my fiancee two brand new laptops.

Speaking of which, my fiancee bought a used laptop from the same little shop I bought my first one and kept it for 3 years (it was 3 years old) and when we got the new ones, she gave it to my sister (who had no PC at all) who still uses it and has no problems.

Brand new laptops aren't cheap, but if you shop well, you can find very good used laptops. Sorry if you had bad experiences but so far, all the developpers I work with who can't afford new laptops are doing exactly what I did...buying up old ones for a song.

kathyclarke

"DON'T DO IT !!

It's a waste of money. If you hear the term "you get what you pay for"....it's sooooo true with laptops. I did it and got burned.

REFURBISHED/USED LAPTOPS DO NOT LAST!!!! "

I SO don't agree! I got a laptop for 100 bucks and it was in great condition and still works beautifully after a year of use. I use it for writing only, it is an old '95.

daniela

I am sorry that you "got burned" Rayhi. However, with a little research, I believe that Eiji Tunsinagi will be able to buy a cheap laptop without any problems. Not everyone can afford to get a brand-new laptop, and even without frills, it will still cost quite a bit. I myself plan to buy a refurbished laptop when I have some spare cash. My desktop PC is a decent one and can do everything that I want it to, except for one thing--there is no mobility. Like the person who started this thread, I would like to be able to take my computer with me and write somewhere else. For those of you who would suggest good old pen and paper, some of us prefer to use a computer.

Eiji Tunsinagi: Let us know how everything turns out and if you find any good links, I would be very grateful if you posted them.

--DM--

__________________
"When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable." - Mark Twain

Eiji Tunsinagi

Thanks for the sites and comments.....but I'm still going to try my luck on a used laptop. I just cant afford anything over 250 or so right now.

I do have one question for someone smart with computers and such.......whats TrackPoint pointing device? B/c it looks like it has no motion system for tracking like newer model computers.

Thanks

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

daniela

On IBM notebook computers, the TrackPoint pointing decivice is that little red button between the G, H, and B keys.

--DM--

__________________
"When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable." - Mark Twain

Eiji Tunsinagi

So what do you use a mouse on the older models? They dont have the finger tracking device....do you have to buy a mouse?

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

daniela

The little red button is an early version of the finger tracking device. If you are looking at a model that does not have TrackPoint, then yes, you probably do have to use a mouse. Is a mouse really that bad though? You can get one of the little hand-held ones.

--DM--

__________________
"When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable." - Mark Twain

Eiji Tunsinagi

hows trackpoint work? Like a mouse? (sorry for all the questions...)

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"