Looking for a cheap laptop

Ok so I have been out of the computer sales business for awhile and I am not really up on the times with Laptops. I am on a very strict budget for a laptop but I really dont know who to go through. When I was doing sales this is what I basically went buy; Sony-good but paying a premium for the name, HP-Compaq-generally stay away as they are par if not subpar, Gateway-decent but still pay premium for something Gates, Dell-decent and usually the best of the afforementioned.

Now I have been looking at all these companies remanufactured/refurbished and generally Dell has the best deals but I have heard alot lately about how Dell's quality has gone way down.

Basically, my budget is to stick with less than 800. This will generally be used for internet and school work and the minor amount of gaming (basically online stuff for my girl). I have a 60gb ide laptop harddrive that I bought to replace one in my old lappy but it just doesnt work, so if it has a small IDE hdd I can replace myself. Can be either 14.1 or 15.4, atleast 512mb of ram, and preferrably DVD-Rom if not writer.

Thanks for your help.

There are a lot of Thinkpad T42's and T43's that are being dumped on the market recently in that range. I bought my wife a T43 for Xmas. 512 / 60G / P4M2.0 / XGA for $650 delivered offa Ebay. Came NIB, to my surprise with a warranty thru 7/09. Got a T42 for a friend, SXGA+ for $685 last week. Good solid machines...

Cool thanks for the info I will have to check those out.

Keep the references coming peeps!

Edit: I am very unfamiliar with IBM/Lenovo lappies what are the current models within the last say 3 years?

The T60/Z60/Z61 series are the latest. The T43's are about 18 months old or so and the T42's are a bit older than that. I suppose they're still overpriced relative to the bargain basement offerings out there, but then they are Thinkpads, which may or may not be that compelling, depending on your POV....

Do a quick Ebay search and you'll see lots of 'em out there. The cheapest are the XGA models, of course. My wife's is XGA. Not great, but perfectly fine for word processing and internet.

Dennis Gordon said:

The T60/Z60/Z61 series are the latest. The T43's are about 18 months old or so and the T42's are a bit older than that. I suppose they're still overpriced relative to the bargain basement offerings out there, but then they are Thinkpads, which may or may not be that compelling, depending on your POV....

Do a quick Ebay search and you'll see lots of 'em out there. The cheapest are the XGA models, of course. My wife's is XGA. Not great, but perfectly fine for word processing and internet.

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Thank Dennis you are much help. I dont know much about Lenovos and IBM laptops so forgive my ignorance on the issue. What is so special about them say vs a Dell or Gateway? I do not have my heart set on any brand, just want something that has a nice bright screen that wont give me problem and oh yeah has Wireless b/g integrated.

Some people will tell you that Thinkpads are just the best. Others may say they are overpriced and have gone downhill since being sold to the Chinese. The ones I've bought (including my son's Z61m) run great and the support has been very good. As far as screens go, the XGA (1024x768) models, while bright enough, certainly pale next to the SXGA+ and UXGA ones (vivid but much too small for my tastes). They're relatively light, thin and built very solid with excellent keyboards. That said, there are certainly plenty alternatives in the <$800 category. There's a site: www.thinkpads.com that has lots of info and links, if you're interested.

Thanks again Dennis. I will keep looking for the next few months as I will be buying it with my tax return more than likely.

A word of advice, avoid Toshiba laptops. I have one now and it's developing keyboard and video problems. Also customer support from Toshiba is non-existent and finding parts to repair the laptop is a pain.

Anyway, from what I've seen, IBM/Lenovo laptops are built solid. They may not have the highest specs for the lowest price but when you want build quality and stability, a Thinkpad is hard to beat. Hell I dropped my Aunt's Lenovo C100 by accident on a wooden table. Not a single scratch on the laptop.

Thanks. Yeah I have an old S302 Toshiba that I had tried replacing the aging 10gb hdd in with a newer 60gb and well that didnt go over too well. I would recognize a linux install but try to put anything else on there and it would not. I have been hunting around and found some cheap ThinkPads on Ebay. Hopefully I will get lucky and find a cheap one in a few months when I get my tax return.

I 2nd all Thinkpad/Lenovo votes here. Compared to my Dell (Inspiron 6400), my Thinkpad (X41tablet) feels better. The build quality is higher, it's less prone to scratches, and the keyboard... oh man, the keyboard feels like heaven. It's better than my $200 Logitech Dinovo keyboard. Warranty is pretty good as well. (Dell's was good at the beginning, then it went downhill). I say get a Thinkpad/Lenovo all the way, especially at those prices.