Need Cheap Laptop

DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">for work & school, not play</div>Well, i'm starting to actually do stuff with my laptop now, and boy does it suck. I really, really need to get a new one.

Its 450mhz w/ 184MB ram and only a lowsy 5GB. As you can imagine, trying to run development tools on it (Visual Studio, MySql Server, PHP, etc) is a pain. The worst part is the thing doesn't do any resolution besides 800x600.

Technical limitations aside, its also missing a battery cover, so the battery tends to fall out at random intervals. Also the battery is very old and so battery life of the laptop (when not falling out) averages about 30 minutes. Also the laptop took a drop off a desk last sememster and so now the little clip thingies for the monitor are broken. heh.

And now that I need Linux on there, I only have like 300mb free space after installing WinXP and a barebones Linux install...

So yeah. It was great getting a free laptop from my boss at my old job. And it was great when he forgot to erase his vietnamese porn collection from the hard drive before giving it to me. ;) But really I gotta get something that I can actually USE and not just toy around with...

The absolute biggest factor is cost. Its gotta be dirt cheap, as I have no money. :(

Being that I'm just gonna be coding or whatnot, I don't need like a 2.4ghz anything, but at least 1.4ghz. Also since Floating Point won't be that much of an issue, a Celeron or whatever AMD's equivilant is would be fine. I don't need a fancy graphics card, as this won't be for gaming.

Networking wise, a I have a 10/100 PCMCIA already but if it had that built in, or even had a built in 802.11g wireless, that would be a serious bonus.

Also, I don't want a bunch of crappy software that I won't use. I get a free WinXP license from the school as long as I'm a student, so ideally I'd want a laptop with a blank hard drive, so that I'm not paying the cost of software.

But again, the absolute most important factor here is cost.. Gotta be cheap, as I have no moneys. :/

Lemme know if you guys know any secrest, have any recommendations, or are wanting to sell yours.

Thanks.
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Comments

  • BigBullBigBull Join Date: 2003-04-02 Member: 15123Members
    <a href='http://shop.bizrate.com/buy/products__att259818--081934-106937,cat_id--462.html' target='_blank'>here</a>
    one for 309.00

    you could transfer ram over etc...

    Im sure you should just get a very very basic laptop and upgrade it. Alot cheaper.
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  • ThansalThansal The New Scum Join Date: 2002-08-22 Member: 1215Members, Constellation
    edited April 2004
    well, here is cheap for top of the line:
    <a href='http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-26381&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021' target='_blank'>http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.t...67&ccid=1291021</a>
    Toshiba Satellite. At 1K its not cheap at all.

    however it is very powerfull. Seeing how as I don't know what you need to run dev tools I will show you this atleast for referance sake.
    The satellite is also one of the top rated laptops out there.

    Also as a side note:
    Get a friken warenty no mater what. Laptops BREAK. The LCD Tech is still not all that good, bateries have a tendancy to bork etc (and these are coming from good comanies).

    So not matter what, get a friken warenty!
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  • RuByRuBy Join Date: 2002-12-12 Member: 10732Members
    Since you're not going to be using this for gaming I would seriously consider an Apple laptop. They are very nice, albeit a tad on the expensive side.
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  • MrPinkMrPink Join Date: 2002-05-28 Member: 678Members
    I'd check out <a href='http://www.cyberpowerinc.com' target='_blank'>CyberPower</a> and <a href='http://www.dell.com' target='_blank'>Dell</a>. Dell will probably be cheapest for low end, and cyber power for mid range.
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  • Cr-ckCr-ck Join Date: 2003-09-14 Member: 20873Members
    edited April 2004
    I think Dell makes the best 'student' laptops under 900$.

    Try to spend SOME money, because no-brand laptops dont offer you the same services a major brand would offer. Such as Dell, If you buy a 'student' laptop most likely they will include Office 2003 which is like 300$

    also Toshibia makes pretty nice laptops(cant wait for their 100gb HD to come out in may!) but they arent cheap. In fact im buying one from Toshibia in september with a 2000$ budget.
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  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    But I don't need ANY software. I'm gonna be running Linux on the thing mostly, with the aforementioned free copy of WinXP from the school. OpenOffice is gonna be my office suite. :P

    So far the cheapeast I've found is the Dell ones, but at $950 bucks that's still like, $500 more than I can really afford to spend. :/
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  • BigBullBigBull Join Date: 2003-04-02 Member: 15123Members
    Where does the constellation money go?

    <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • JimmehJimmeh Join Date: 2003-08-24 Member: 20173Members, Constellation
    Best i can find is <a href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000066HO8/qid=1082920723/br=1-2/ref=br_lf_pc_2//002-0000428-3512049?v=glance&s=pc&n=11072571' target='_blank'>this</a> but thats $650 and only 1.2ghz.
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  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-DOOManiac+Apr 25 2004, 02:19 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Apr 25 2004, 02:19 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> But I don't need ANY software. I'm gonna be running Linux on the thing mostly, with the aforementioned free copy of WinXP from the school. OpenOffice is gonna be my office suite. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    So far the cheapeast I've found is the Dell ones, but at $950 bucks that's still like, $500 more than I can really afford to spend. :/ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You're not getting a 1.4 GHz laptop for $450. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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  • CommunistWithAGunCommunistWithAGun Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-DOOManiac+Apr 25 2004, 05:08 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Apr 25 2004, 05:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> And it was great when he forgot to erase his vietnamese porn collection from the hard drive before giving it to me. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Do yourself a favor, and wash the keyboard...
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  • taboofirestaboofires Join Date: 2002-11-24 Member: 9853Members
    Plan on spending about a thousand dollars. Anything cheaper than that will have made sacrfices that you will find very unpleasant for a laptop. Even my $1600 one has some things that, knowing about before I got it, would have made me keep looking.
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  • DragonMechDragonMech Join Date: 2003-09-19 Member: 21023Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited April 2004
    Why pay for one? Enter Alienware's <a href='http://www.alienware.com/sub_pages/contests.aspx' target='_blank'>Area - 51m</a> contest. You could get a great one for free. (And if I win, you can have my old one - which is much better than your minimum specs - for 300$ and a PT spot on Espionage <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
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  • panda_de_malheureuxpanda_de_malheureux Join Date: 2003-12-26 Member: 24775Members
    can you even get custom laptops? if you can't its going to be a hell of a week trying to find a barebones with > 1Ghz, 5gig
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  • DragonMechDragonMech Join Date: 2003-09-19 Member: 21023Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    Custom laptops? Easily. I can give you 5 custom laptop companies right off the top of my head. Barebones laptops? That might be a bit more tricky.
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