School Laptop

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loccdawg123

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Aug 13, 2005
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my college semester is going to start soon and im going to be needing a laptop. i was hoping one of you can suggest one for me. i will be using this for microsoft word excel and powerpoint and thats it. no games or video editing i have a rig for that. i would prefer it to be small to average size and i would like it to be cheap. also i would prefer i buy it from a reliable maker like dell or gateway.

thanks in advance :D

edit: my budget is around 500-600 dollars.
 
what exactly your budget?


see if you can snag a coupon from dell, and grab an e1405.
 
Your best bet is to scope out a nice budget lappy at best buy or CompUSA. The have some really nice cheap laptops with decent warranty.
 
i looked at alot of the coupons off ebay and they were all something like 20% off systems over 1000 and im not trying to spend that much.
 
loccdawg123 said:
i looked at alot of the coupons off ebay and they were all something like 20% off systems over 1000 and im not trying to spend that much.
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like i said Bestbuy and CompUSA is full of laptops starting from $499. That is your best bet at your budget.
 
I would check with your university, often times they have deals with manufacturers. I know my brothers university has like 6-12% off all Dells in addition to any other savings. My university just has special deals on certain preconfigured models.


For what you need it for, well any laptop will do. You can get a Dell B130 for about 500$. The nice thing about that one is it has one 512MB stick of RAM so you can upgrade it easily to 1GB in the future.
 
For your requirements an older used model would be fine. I'd suggest something thin and light over a multimedia powerhouse. Check ebay for some deals, just stay away from sony's.
 
loccdawg123 said:
my college semester is going to start soon and im going to be needing a laptop. i was hoping one of you can suggest one for me. i will be using this for microsoft word excel and powerpoint and thats it. no games or video editing i have a rig for that. i would prefer it to be small to average size and i would like it to be cheap. also i would prefer i buy it from a reliable maker like dell or gateway.

thanks in advance :D

edit: my budget is around 500-600 dollars.
Click to expand...
I've always been fond of IBM/Lenovo laptops. So in your case, a lite budget one would work wonders.
 
If you really just need it for MS Office I'd be tempted to look for a used ThinkPad T<something> or maybe a used Dell Latitude. Just be sure to budget for a new battery. Something thin and light. Just for running Office a P3 proc will do just fine. That's getting pretty damn old now though, so maybe a 3yo Pentium M machine. P-M 1.3 or something like that. Or maybe even a VIA proc or Transmeta Efficion. Nothing like a 1GHz power sipping proc for a lappy running nothing but basic applications. I'd make sure to get at least 512MB ram though so you can run XP decently on it. Even if it comes w/ 2K I'm not sure how much longer MS is going to support 2K.
 
rayman2k2 said:
yeah, check Ebay for deals on the IBM X40, even as low as the X30
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Lacks an optical. A T40/1 would be better, 42 would probably be out of budget. The T30 is too thick and gets shitty battery life.

I had an X31 (stay away from the 30 btw, 30 was p3-m - its not a bad chip, but go for pentium m or newer. The X30 also has craptacular video, while the X31 has a mobility radeon) and I felt like it was too damn small.

a used T40 is your best bet, IMO. they can be had for $500 on ebay.
 
I'd strongly reccomend you look at a small/light machine if you plan on carrying this all day. Personally, I carry an HP Compaq nc4200 around - under 4lbs, and 5.5 hours of battery life.
 
I strongly agree with BigDish. Go for a small lightweight. The weight really adds up if you have a laptop, papers, books (should you need to carry one), and whatever else. Plus it has a smaller profile.

My friend has a good time with his small Dell E1405 but it is slightly over your price range unless you have a good coupon or ebay.
 
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