Cheap notebooks

TromboneAl said:
I made the mistake of making a side-by-side comparison of my E1505 with DW's refurbished $399 Inspiron 1525. Her screen is way brighter and better. Until then, I liked mine.
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cute fuzzy bunny said:
Everything looks great until you put it in a side by side comparison.

So...dont do that! ;)

The basic Dell screens are pretty mundane compared to some of the entry screens from toshiba and acer. Its not a bad idea to bump a notch or two for $50-75 where available.

But if you dont put it next to another computer, you'll probably never notice.
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Sorry - don't understand above -Acer is better than Dell ? Or other way around ? I'm looking at the Acer. Thanks.
 
My experience has been that the basic screens that acer and toshiba use are of the "better" quality, while Dell (in their bargain slabs) often use a "good" screen with the options for "better" and "best" for a small kick in the price.

I really liked my wifes E1705 screen until I set it next to my 17" acer's screen, then I noticed the acer was a little crisper.

Check the resolutions, the type of screen, and other info to make sure you've got an apples to apples comparison.

Then rest assured that unless you set one next to the other, that all modern first tier-ish laptops are going to have a pretty readable and usable screen.

If you've got really bad eyes, presbyopia (or whatever that religion is that Martha is always suggesting I join), you're setting page type or other specific eye issues, then looking for a higher resolution, higher quality screen might be in order.

Otherwise, dont sweat it.
 
The cooling fan on my 4+ YO Toshiba Satellite has started making a noise. It's intermittent now, and not loud at all, but this can't be a good sign. It looks like a used fan will be about $35 (plus shipping), and a new one is $90. The repair procedure looks complex ("pry off x to access Y . . . be careful not to ") with plenty of potential for a poor outcome. My present plan is to backup the info on my HD and start looking for a replacement machine. Any guesses on likely longevity given a fan with intermittent growling would be appreciated.
 
Somewhere between 5 minutes and 14 years.

Take a shop vac (or regular one if you arent equipped) and find what looks like the inflow vents on the bottom, sides or back...apply the vacuum liberally with the power to the notebook off.

Then do the same for where the air blows out.

The bigger the vac the better. You oughta hear the fans spinning backwards inside the case.

Vacuum the keyboard good too. Some notebooks draw air through the keyboard. At a minimum you might have a half pound of skin cells, dust and animal hair in there.

The good news is there are a ton of great laptop deals around...so many I havent even bothered posting any.
 
If you like toshibas, walmart has one for <$400. 120GB/2GB, dvd writer, 15.4" screen. No idea what cpu is in it. At that price it might be a single proc celeron.
 
I'm not a huge fan of Compaq machines, but if price is your primary consideration...

On sunday Office Depot will have a Compaq 15.4" laptop, pentium dual core, 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, dvd writer for $399 after two mail in rebates. I think its $549 in-store.

You might want to get there early, or go get it now and go back on sunday and price match it...check with the store manager to make sure you can do that first. Sometimes these el cheapo sunday circular items are only stocked @ 1-3 items and they're hidden away until the store opens.

For $100 more, a better machine and no rebates, that Toshiba machine in my last post is still available.
 
Generally pretty good machines. Good keyboards and screens. Structural integrity can be questionable at times...I've had a couple that when you picked them up they flexed an awful lot...but nothing bad ever came of it.

Stomper of a machine for $499. A bit better than the bog standard Dell machines for about the same price.
 
free4now said:
Be careful about Acer... when I was researching laptops they seemed to have significantly higher than average quality and service issues.

But they do have some great deals.
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I had an Acer. There are two glaring design faults. One is that Acer chooses too use way to many little screws that come loose. Two is that the hinge is plastic and easy to damage.
 
Some older acers were garbagy. I'm using a 17" one right now. Not bad, the case is pretty solid, it has a very good screen and keyboard, and I havent had any trouble with it even after more than a year of regular use and Gabe 'working' on it. The hinge is ridiculously solid...I have to use both hands to pry it open. For $599 for a 17" dual core machine with 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive and all the bells and whistles I cant complain.

Since Acer bought up some of the smaller, less financially happy companies such as gateway and packard bell, they've improved their quality. Much of it is close to Dell inspiron build quality...not as good as the latitude, the thinkpads or some of the sonys but good enough for home use for 3-4 years.
 
watch slickdeals and fatwallet as the holidays near....lots of great deals every few weeks....i almost grabbed a gateway from best buy, but will keep pushing this acer along til it dies....only been 2 yrs and its close
 
The "old fashioned" basic EEE...this is the 2gb/512mb/linux 7" version, $219...cheap enough for a 'why not?' road appliance...

Asus Eee PC 2G Surf - Intel Mobile CPU, 802.11bg Wireless, 512MB DDR2, 2GB SSD, 7" WVGA, Linux (Galaxy Black) EEEPC2GS-BK003 at TigerDirect.com

The more substantial 1000 model with a 10" screen, atom processor, 80 gb hard drives and windows XP have been popping up around $409-419 on sale since the 160gb version is coming out. Watch fatwallet for the daily clearances...
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
Some older acers were garbagy. I'm using a 17" one right now. Not bad, the case is pretty solid, it has a very good screen and keyboard, and I havent had any trouble with it even after more than a year of regular use and Gabe 'working' on it. The hinge is ridiculously solid...I have to use both hands to pry it open. For $599 for a 17" dual core machine with 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive and all the bells and whistles I cant complain.

Since Acer bought up some of the smaller, less financially happy companies such as gateway and packard bell, they've improved their quality. Much of it is close to Dell inspiron build quality...not as good as the latitude, the thinkpads or some of the sonys but good enough for home use for 3-4 years.
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I'm OK with your home use caveat. I carried mine 2005 Acer to school for a year, and I destroyed it.
 
For travel I'd get the asus eeepc 1000H for $449 . 10" screen, 80g hd, 6 cell battery that last a long time, bluetooth, win xp, and it's only about 3 lbs. Most of the other ultra portables come with a smaller battery. Anyone have one of these? Seems like the perfect travel computer.
 
JB:

Close to pulling trigger on the 1000h as well. My Acer lappie's about to bite the dust (2 good years, big screen, nice desktop replacement, but just 1 hr battery life [ouch])

Reviews on NewEgg for 1000h are dang good.

Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1000H 80G – Fine Ebony NetBook Intel Atom 10.0" Wide SVGA 1GB Memory 80GB HDD Integrated Graphics - Laptops / Notebooks

Thought about Dell's new Mini 9 (apparently well designed), but has no hard drive, and once you configure mini 9 with XP tis about the same as 1000h.

Will let y'all know if/when i get my 1000h.

- Stoop
 
As I mentioned above, those have been popping up for ~$409 here and there. Zipzoomfly had them for $409 yesterday and the day before, but they're sold out now.

Being clearanced in favor of the 160gb model coming along. I'm seeing $439 as the lowest current price, but I'll keep my eyes open.

Only thing I'd point out on this model is that the 80gb is a hard drive, not a solid state one, so the vibration/bang proofness of the EEE is not in effect on this model.

People with bad eyes might also want to see one before they buy. Even the 10" model was a bit of a strain for me to read with my glasses on. A complete no-go with them off. I can read my 17" laptop without my glasses. I havent seen the 7 or 8.9" models 'in the flesh' yet, but I'd imagine those are substantially worse for people with older eyes.

One plus for this model is that the ram and hard drive are extremely accessible for replacement and upgrade. Open a panel and there they are.
 
Hi Stoop, I read those reviews. The 1000H looks like a reasonable balance. I just saw the CFB post above, you might even get it cheaper. I was looking at these when I went to europe in the Spring, but this model wasn't out yet, and I wanted the bigger screen and battery. I'm hoping the dual-core will be out before the next trip. If you get one please report back. JB
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
Only thing I'd point out on this model is that the 80gb is a hard drive, not a solid state one, so the vibration/bang proofness of the EEE is not in effect on this model.
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Yeah, while it would be nice to have the SS disk, it also costs a lot more. 40GB SS version with linux is around $600. For me, having the extra capacity to save photos while traveling is worth the durability. Also, I think that the SS drive is implemented in two partitions, which is kind of a hassle.

I have to check the screen as my eyes are not as good as they once were.
 
Yep, the dual core Atom will be a hell of a processor for mobiles and I expect will find its way into a lot of low power, high performance applications.

The single core Atom isnt too shabby. I hear there are a few larger laptops that may employ it with a full size battery and offer as much as 20-24 hours of run time between charges.

That is, until a year and a half later when the battery craps out ::)
 
JB said:
Yeah, while it would be nice to have the SS disk, it also costs a lot more. 40GB SS version with linux is around $600. For me, having the extra capacity to save photos while traveling is worth the durability. Also, I think that the SS drive is implemented in two partitions, which is kind of a hassle.

I have to check the screen as my eyes are not as good as they once were.
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Yeah, Martha keeps trying to convert me to Presbyterian or some such thing when I talk about my lousy eyes.

I'm interested in one but it'd be for my nearly 4 year old. So I'd want the shock protection ;)

I'd still suggest that for a lot of people an SSD model and using a couple of SD cards or USB sticks to expand the storage as those become cheaper.

Its also cheating that I have an XP Pro full license sitting around that i'm not using...

The Dell units will also be worth a look, and a few other models from HP (etc) will be along shortly. If nothing else I'd expect more capacities and more price breaks from the Asus and MSI camps.
 
Anyone tried the new Dell 9" model. I was thinking basic system plus external CD/DVD drive, 1 GB Mem, 16 GB SD Drive (I have a lot of 8 to 16 GB Thumb Drives around to supplement the memory), and Ubunto 8.04.1 for a OS. Just a little "toy" to have around for Internet and Email. Cost at the site was $534 plus tax and shipping (-2% from Fat Wallet). Kind of pricey now but will look for discounts in the next few weeks. Seems like a good machine for under $600.
 
OAG said:
Anyone tried the new Dell 9" model. I was thinking basic system plus external CD/DVD drive, 1 GB Mem, 16 GB SD Drive (I have a lot of 8 to 16 GB Thumb Drives around to supplement the memory), and Ubunto 8.04.1 for a OS. Just a little "toy" to have around for Internet and Email. Cost at the site was $534 plus tax and shipping (-2% from Fat Wallet). Kind of pricey now but will look for discounts in the next few weeks. Seems like a good machine for under $600.
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I'm curious about this netbook from Dell too. Nice size & weight for travel...wonder how long the battery will last with a full charge?
 
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