Recommend Cheap, Tough Laptop

Li-Ion battery died on my P3 laptop so I need a new "bruiser"

Ok so I've been looking around for a laptop in the 0-300 dollar range. Obviously used. Used mostly for the usual (web surfing, email, school work)

My emphasis is on:

• - Durability
• - Battery life (4 hours+)
• - Screen size (not a problem with most of the ones in this range)
• - Upgradability (i.e. buy cheap, trash parts, upgrade cpu/memory/hard drive)

After looking around [H] some of the top recommendations are:

• IBM X series
• Dell D600 series
• Compaq Armada series (pentium III around 1ghz)

Integrated WiFi a plus, but PCMCIA card wont cramp my style too much.

Also if anyone has any input on gaming, like if I upgraded my cost a little but maybe to 500/600 I could be able to play games like EQ / Half-Life on low settings.
I'm clueless as to how the mobile gpu market compares to desktop gpus.

Thanks a lot!

I would recommend IBMs... but I wouldn't necessarily go with an X series, I probably would go with a T series. especially in your price range.. finding a used T42 is great

My T42 is still chugging away just fine.

I recommend a T42 as well. Can be had for $300 if you go on Ebay.

Wow a used T42 for only $300? WTF!

Im using a T40p with 1gb ram and still runs like a dream. Dont expect gaming or anything, but for general usage and battery life, a killer.

Thanks a lot for the replies, Im looking into those right now.

edit: they seem to be more in the 500-600 range, unless Im not looking in the right area

I bought a new T43 with 3-yr warranty offa Ebay last month for $650, but I lucked into that. Got a friend a T42 in excellent shape with 1G last week for $685 with a bit of warranty left. I've seen some T42's for around $400. That range seems to get you fair condition; small cracks, maybe a ding in the LCD, no warranty. If cosmetic condition isn't that important they can be had pretty cheap. Of course you need to have confidence in the seller.

d600 are going for like $400 on ebay

I asked around and most sellers are saying the IBM gets 1.5 - 2 hours on a charge, was hoping for a little more.

Also D600s are going for 400, some even for 900, but there are so many. There were a few buy it nows within my price range.

Search T41 on ebay.. they're going for really cheap... 350 or so.

in my honest opinion, there's almost no differences between T42.