Laptop Advice

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dauer

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Hello.

I need laptop advice. Some of you may have it. My priorities are: cost (no more than 1000 USD and preferably significantly less than that), battery life and a keyboard that is not too too awkward because I have large hands and, while my RSI is much better, it's still present and aggravatable. I'm not too concerned about processing power as primarily I just need it for word processor type stuffs, e-mailing type stuffs and casual web browsing type stuffs. Thank you for helping you computerly literate people you.

-- Dauer
 
First and foremost....Why you not using the Dellshalom 3000 that I has give yoo?

Second, if it is only for word processing and emailing... Yes, process0r is not important at all, to be honest neither is RAM... a gig is ample just for text and typing and so on and so forth, I think then it comes down to price, but also relability... Fujitsu Siemens, would be good... Would be very good... Seek the 'Xi 2528'.... That should be under 1k $. That also should be ample...
 
Alex,

the dellshalom is awesome but I ran into some technical issues when I tried to pay full price for a book I wanted on amazon and the call-in center staff only speak yiddish. I mean, really? In 2008? Your customer support team only speaks yiddish? It was bad.

I think fujitsu siemens' laptop line is called something different in the states. Everything by them is called a lifebook. Fujitsu Computer Systems - Notebooks Overview

I was looking at Asus earlier too. They've very cheap but I don't know too much about their products. Primarily the comp'll be for note-taking but I figure along with that'll go some light e-mail and web browsing.
 
lol Yiddish is a must, or the dellshalom 3000 isn't kosher! And yeah if you try and pay full price for anything without haggling... You will end up being refered to the help desk.


Asus ya say? Never heard of them making laptops... I am sure they have made some parts though like CD drives, HDD's and so on... Sorry just jujitss siemens came to mind as I has three of them and not one has gone bad yet.... Mirtsishem. I would suggest of course read others posts that will swarm here, but also look into reveiws on these Asus lappys.
 
Daur,

I just bought a Lenovo Thinkpad model R16e from amazon.com for $685 including shipping to California. I recommend it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
 
Nick,

That's not too bad. How's the battery life?
 
Wil,

Good idea! Thanks.

Nick,

Yikes! 2 hours would be too short for me.

--Dauer
 
Could buy a second-hand one..... off EBay..... with a less than 1 GHz CPU and 20-40 GB hard drive..... less than 1 GB RAM

That should be less than 500 USD

It should be able to run Windows XP

Look for a local pick-up so you won't be cheated..... but I suppose there are so many cities in the U.S. .....

Of course, you'd be buying a "dinosaur," but a dinosaur is all you need isn't it? (that's the term we use here for old systems)
 
Salt,

I have heard some horror stories about refurb computers -- aside from refurbed macs which I highly recommend -- and would feel even less optimistic about a used computer, especially where laptops can be harder to open up. I'm going to see if I can spot any decent deals over Black Friday.

At the very least, I know I could get an asus for 500 or less with 7 hours or so of battery life.
 
Dauer,

If you want to do this on the super-cheap, carry around 4 or 5 batteries. I know it is going to be a hassle doing so, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.
 
Nick,

there are actually cheaper ways to achieve my aims. I'm going to be settling on a netbook, just not sure which one yet. I may wait a couple of months since it seems a few more may be on the horizon. Right now I'm thinking I'll probably go with an MSI Wind:

Amazon.com: MSI Wind U100-432US 10-Inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery, 802.11 b/g/n+BT, XP Home) Black: Computers & PC Hardware

or a Samsung NC10:

Amazon.com: Samsung NC10-14GW 10.2-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery, XP Home) White: Computers & PC Hardware

I was considering an asus but it costs more for the same thing with a more awkward keyboard layout. So probably one of the above.
 
I decided eventually on the samsung. I got the blue version so that it won't look so dirty (my other option was white.) Ordered a 2 gig ram stick as well and a nice case designed for netbooks. Won't have it for a week and a half or so but looking forward to its arrival.
 
Okay so, my new netbook has arrived and it is teh awesome. It's small, lightweight and gets great battery life. The keyboard is large for a laptop keyboard. In the words of Tony the Tiger, it's Grrreeaaat. One issue I've run into though is the wired internet. Wirelessly it works great which I've confirmed with the help of my neighbor. I need to purchase a wireless router so I can use it on my own network outside of my living room.

I looked up the ipconfig. For the wireless adapter everything's filled in. For the local area connection the connection-specific dns suffix is blank as is the default gateway. Anyone know what that might mean? Do I need to fill in the info from the wireless connection there and if so, how do I do that? :O
 
dauer said:
Salt,

I have heard some horror stories about refurb computers --
Click to expand...

Horror stories? Let me guess. A ghost comes flying out when you open the lid.:D

It chases you around the house for hours non-stop and you miss out on half a night of sleep.

dauer said:
would feel even less optimistic about a used computer, especially where laptops can be harder to open up. I'm going to see if I can spot any decent deals over Black Friday.

At the very least, I know I could get an asus for 500 or less with 7 hours or so of battery life.
Click to expand...

Oh boy! I've got a bit of a confession to make . . .

Yes it's true!:(

I do have a laptop with a lid that's harder to open up, as well as keys that don't work. The other problem is that it only has one USB port!

I did have to buy a spare keyboard for it (I have a desktop computer as well, but don't want to have to keep disconnecting its keyboard), as well as a mouse, USB hub and a new battery. The hard drive also died a two or three months later on a hot day and I bought two larger ones to replace it. A lot of maintenance lol. I intend to get rid of it soon and buy a newer (used) laptop.

BTW, I've managed to bring back the laptop hard drive that died by storing it in a nice, calm and peaceful place for at least 12 months. I don't know how it happened; these things aren't supposed to heal, but maybe the materials that form the hard disk have a way of recovering.
 
Hi Dauer,
dauer said:
I looked up the ipconfig. For the wireless adapter everything's filled in. For the local area connection the connection-specific dns suffix is blank as is the default gateway. Anyone know what that might mean? Do I need to fill in the info from the wireless connection there and if so, how do I do that? :O
Click to expand...

I think the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" works well here. I think most things are automatic, and the router assigns the address. But if it don't........read the readme.:eek:
hope this helps,
Joe
 
Salt,

I've got an old laptop that sounds a bit like yours. I had it before I got my imac. The dock for the AC adapter got stripped and it just died like that. Wouldn't've been worth it to fix that at the cost. I did save everything on the HD that was important but forgot to wipe the HD so hesitating on recycling. D'oh.

If you're going for a refurb laptop I highly recommend a mac if it's in your budget. I've heard better things about their refurbs and you get the same replacement policy as the new computers, though it's still at a premium compared to other computers. Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (U.S.)

There should be better refurbs as well as price drops on existing stock after the macworld expo.


Joe,

Yeah, this is definitely one of those "it ain't workin" situations. Doesn't make sense to me. I figure if it was the NIC, wireless wouldn't work either. But in this case only the wired internet in my apartment isn't working. I pick up my neighbor's wireless no problem. I installed ubuntu and when I booted into it, same problem. I know the cable's fine because I pulled it straight from my imac and plugged it in. So I figure either there's some reason comcast won't recognize the computer without more information or there's something else weird that's going on, hopefully not a hardware issue. I'm going to try it at another location, wired and wireless, to see how it behaves.

-- Dauer
 
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