Laptop info needed. Never used wireless LAN

[MJ]

Just to elaborate, through out my PC experience, I have only used laptops so I never got used to the mouse. I started with the small build-in touchball and that was a piece of cr*p. Then I got an IBM with their trackpoint. As I previously said, it was and continues to be the worse pointing device. My 3 year old Dell still has one besides the touchpad. Controlling it, used to cause me such hand tension that it would drive me nuts. Final, got the touchpad. With my medium hands has been a pleasure to use.

[OldAgePensioner]

If you've go the luxury of time, check here every day. http://slickdeals.net/

See some awesome deals from time to time.

And just about every laptop question ever invented is answered here:

www.notebookforums.com

[Indexter]

Quote:

Lost way too much stuff due to thumbs inadvertently touching the pad.

Go to the settings and turn off the option that allows you to tap the pad to simulate a mouse click.

Also, if you've turned on the option to automatically move the cursor to a default button, uncheck it. That's a convenient option, but sooner or later it will cause you to click something you don't want to.

I'm not a fan of the touchpad, but it's the lesser of two evils when compared with trying to use a mouse when you're on the couch.
What I don't like is not having my computer glasses when I use the laptop. I teeter it on the far edge of my knees, and it's still a strain on the old eyeball muscles.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indexter What I don't like is not having my computer glasses when I use the laptop.* I teeter it on the far edge of my knees, and it's still a strain on the old eyeball muscles.

I'd pay money for a monitor screen that's ground to 1.75 diopters (my current presbyopic subscription) so that I could play Solitaire research stocks without my glasses.

Considering their humorous imitations of my "Where the %&*# are my reading glasses?!?" rants, the rest of the family can suck it up.* They'll be at my prescription soon enough...

[thefed]

how about this toshiba for 399 after rebates!!

Intel
Processor Class: Celeron M Processor
Processor Number: 380
Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
Bus Speed: 400 MHz
Mobile Technology: Other
L2 Cache Size: 1 MB
Memory Speed: PC2-4200 (533MHz)
Memory Technology: DDR2-SDRAM
Installed Memory: 256 MB
Maximum Memory: 2 GB
Memory Slots Total: 2
Hard Drive Capacity: 40 GB
Drive Controllers: SATA-150
Rotational Speed: 5400 RPM
Optical Drives: DVD / CD-RW Combo Drive:

* Play a DVD-Rom at a maximum 8X Read speed
* Create a CD-Rom at a maximum 24X Write speed
* Create a CD-RW at a maximum 24X Rewrite speed
* Play a CD-Rom at a maximum 24X Read speed

Additional Drives: DVD/CD-RW Combo
Sound Support: 3D Audio
Video Chipset Brand: ATI
Video Chipset: RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP
Shared Video RAM (Max): 64 MB
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Display Size: 15.4 in
Display Type: TruBrite Screen Technology
Port Connectors: Video:

* 1 x RGB (monitor) output
* 1 x S-Video output

Audio:

* 1 x Microphone input
* 1 x Headphone output

Data:

* 4 x USB v2.0
* 1 x RJ-45 LAN
* 1 x RJ-11 modem

Card Slots: 1 x Type II / Type I CardBus
Network Support: Ethernet (10/100 Mbps)
Wireless Protocol: 802.11b
802.11g
Modem Speed: 56 Kbps
Input Devices: Keyboard
Touchpad
Battery Life (average): 1.5 Hours
Number of Batteries: 1
Installed Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition

[JB]

Looks good. If you want smaller notebook check out this Acer is pretty close to the system you're looking at and is on sale for $399. Don't know about shipping. The Travelmate is a 14" WXGA screen, which I prefer over the 15" XGA on the Compaq. The compaq has a 5200rpm HD which is nice. I don't know how fast the Acer's is. IN both cases you'll need another 256MB memory.

One thing you should consider is how long you want to use the machine. The cheapies might not be the best choice if you want the machine to last more than 2 years.

A few weeks ago Dell was offering incredible deals on machines w/ Pentium-M and Dual-core processors. You need to use the coupons on the notebookforums.com . These machines will have more longevity provided they don't break.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thefed Please find em a superioir machine for under 400...i bet you cant. If so, I will buy it! I've searched fatwallet already to no avail. And WTF is a WAB on dell?

You're in luck. I'm only charging $150 to look for a notebook for someone. This week only. Next week its $250. Better jump on this deal!

WAB is another user here, who I dont think i've seen on in a while. He scrounges the Dell Outlet, which is full of machines people ordered and then cancelled. Dell builds custom to order, so anything cancelled has to be sold as-is to someone else. Theres also some refurbs and "scratch and dents" with cosmetic issues. You plug in your minimum specs and keep hitting refresh until you see something you want at a price you like, then buy it. Quickly. Because people actually have scripts and racks of systems polling the dell refurbs for the best deals, scrape them up and resell them on ebay. Its a HUGE little microcosmic symbiotic business.

I nailed a pretty good looking machine for a great price after poking 'refresh' for a couple of hours over a couple of days, but when it was delivered, it didnt have some of the expensive options in it that were advertised. I asked Dell to take it back and send me the machine I bought, they finally agreed to eat the machine but told me i'd have to go back and play for another couple of hours in the outlet center until I found another machine that suited me. Oh yeah, this is after I sat on hold for a couple of hours in total, got disconnected or transferred to the wrong department a half dozen times, and just generally decided to never buy anything from them again.

Dell used to offer you money to keep the machine, as taking it back, refreshing it and reselling it costs a fair amount. Had they offered me a hundred bucks to keep it, I would probably have done so. Instead, it cost them almost that much to ship it both ways. Morons.

Perhaps you'd have better luck. Wab seems to have done well, so he says.

[kathyet]

We have a wireless laptop we have a 802 11g router (linksy) we also have a wireless mouse(bluetooth) just plugged it in and it works great especially if you play on line poker. the Laser mouse we had at first worked fine but it didn't last long at all.* We have a 15 inch screen and love it. We don't have it networked to our main computer but it can be done. It is great when we travel and we usually always keep the computer plugged in it only has a few hours of battery time so you might consider a second battery.

The only thing I would recommend would be to buy it somewhere that has a good service dept or someone that can build it to your specs you might spend a few hundred dollars more but it might be worth it.

we got ours at fry's and we didn't buy the service warranty big mistake it went down after 3 months* the hard drive was under warranty but it still had to be mailed back for replacement took almost a month..thank goodness we have a local computer company that took care of it for us but it cost us to have it repaired that is why I would recommend some one local build it. If you don't do that BUY a Service Warranty.

Good Luck
Kathyet*

[thefed]

Compaq Presario V5000Z notebook w/ AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.8GHz, 15.4in WXGA screen 1280x768, 256MB, 60GB, DVD/CDRW, 32MB Radeon 200M XPRESS video, 56k/NIC, free 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/125HSM, XP Home, 1yr warranty for only $725 - $150 off - $100 rebate (exp 8/29) = $475.

I can add a 512 of ram for 50 bux

Seems liek a better processor, bigger hard drive than previous models i've come accross

opinions?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Eh, its about the same performance processor. It'll do the job, but nothing to write home about.

Four or six cell battery? If its a four, battery wont last long.

[thefed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute n Fuzzy Bunnay Eh, its about the same performance processor. It'll do the job, but nothing to write home about. Four or six cell battery? If its a four, battery wont last long.

6 cell.

i've always heard amd processors trump intel. that was for desktops 2 yrs back, but i aSSumed it still applies.

i built my home pc from scratch 2 yrs back...i wish it was that easy with notebooks

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Actually in most analyses, the sempron is considered one of the worst processors currently in the marketplace, but since its got a little more MHz behind it its probably close to the celeron in the 1.4-1.6GHz range. The celerons nothing to write home about, but the celeron-m's arent that bad. I've actually used a celeron-m 1.6 machine and a simpron 3000 machine in the last year. Simpron seemed a little more sluggy but they were about the same for what you're going to use them for.

If you want something good, a pentium-M is pretty decent for price/performance. The turion's arent horrible and you can get a lot of bang for the buck out of them.

For about a hundred bucks, maybe a hundred and fifty, more than you're looking at with this machine, you could get the half gig of ram, an older pentium-m, a dvd burner, a 60-100gb drive and a 15" screen.