Cheap notebooks

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Mine doesnt always take a long time to wake up from suspend. Usually it just pops up after a few seconds. Every once in a while I get "vista is waking up" or whatever the hell it says when its coming back from a suspend and it just sits there for a while, then pops up the password request. Many other vista users are reporting the same sporadic 'resume' problems. I have no idea what it is.

My network also periodically goes away. I'll get a little notification that I have limited connectivity and then a minute or two later it'll come back.

 

[W2R]

Mine doesnt always take a long time to wake up from suspend. Usually it just pops up after a few seconds. Every once in a while I get "vista is waking up" or whatever the hell it says when its coming back from a suspend and it just sits there for a while, then pops up the password request. Many other vista users are reporting the same sporadic 'resume' problems. I have no idea what it is.

My network also periodically goes away. I'll get a little notification that I have limited connectivity and then a minute or two later it'll come back.

NEVER had it happen, not even once. I know it's not my incredible technical genius - - probably it's just that Toshiba has optimized things somehow, maybe with better drivers.

My wireless network occasionally goes away briefly, but no more often than it did with XP. I think it's when I have too much stuff between the computer and the router. Like my purse. I don't know what it is about my purse, but it seems to be impermeable to wireless signals.

I am running Vista Home Premium 6.0.6000 build 6000. Maybe we have different versions.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Its pretty much the same stuff I saw with XP during its first year out, and better than the OSX 10.0 experience I had, for what thats worth.

 

[W2R]

Its pretty much the same stuff I saw with XP during its first year out, and better than the OSX 10.0 experience I had, for what thats worth.

See? It's not so bad. Maybe you'll decide you really like it, in time. Repeat after me, "Change is Good, Change is Good, Change is Good, Change is Good, Change is Good!!!" Drink the Kool-Aid.

 

[samclem]

Thanks for the ideas, CFB. I took the plunge and bought a Dell Inspiron for DW tonight after reading your post(s). Seems Dell is among the holdouts still offering XP (as you said), but only on some models. BTW, the online help folks would not promise that XP would be available in January, though last I read Microsoft wasn't going to pull the plug until the end of Jan). I got the Inspiron 530, comes with an Intel chip (of some description), 2GB of RAM and a 320MB HD. I went throught he fatwallet link, and the whole thing (no monitor, but with a Laplink program for exporting her current apps and settings) was about $550. That's not too bad in my book.

If Dell is smart they'll keep selling XP as long as they can legally do it. I've got a feeling there are a lot of curmudgeons like me who are not eager to join MSFTs Beta Brigade.

And, W2R: The Kool-aide tastes like NyQuill!! I'm going to partition the HD on this new machine and give a Linux distribution a whirl.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Sam...did it look like this one...?

http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/b...bx&cs=19&kc=11111&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

Looks similar to what you've ordered, with a larger hard drive, for $449.

If this is cheaper than what you ordered, you can cancel the existing order and then get this one going.

 

[samclem]

Sam...did it look like this one...?

http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/b...bx&cs=19&kc=11111&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

Looks similar to what you've ordered, with a larger hard drive, for $449.

If this is cheaper than what you ordered, you can cancel the existing order and then get this one going.

Drat! The one you've linked to is similar to the one I bought. After piling on similar add-ons (the Laplink software and adding a media card reader and a 1394A network card) the model you've suggested has a bigger HD (500GB vs 360GB) and a faster processor (E4500 with 2MB L2cache operating at 2.2 GHz vs. E2140 processor with 1MB L2 cache running at 1.6 GHz). The price of the two systems is identical: $534 before tax (shipping is free.)
Okay, I'm re-engaging with Dell.

The efficient information marketplace is a great thing, but not without it's own angst-producing potential.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

No trouble. Didnt know you were looking for a desktop, as we were yapping about notebooks. Dell is funny...depending on how you link to them and which things you click on, you might get five different deals and five different configurations. Some of these deals dry up in a day or two or change price, some are only good until xx are sold in a day, then reset the next morning. Some require funny coupons.

Saw some 530's in the Dell Outlet.

Dell Factory Outlet

One was a scratch and dent (probably has a little scrape on the side) with good specs for $399... # FCVK2ME8

Click on "inspiron desktops" in the stockroom dropdown, then "d530" in the model", then click on the 'price' header to sort by cheap to more expensive. Theres about 20 of them in there right now under $500.

Nice part about the outlet units is that it'll probably ship out tomorrow or monday and you might get it next week.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Cheap deal on a vostro 1500 for $549

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Core2duo, 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, dvd burner.

If you want a trouble-free experience, you can add the three year full parts and labor on-site warranty, three years of damage insurance, and three years of direct access to north american 2nd/3rd level gold support and its $986 minus a $75 gift card.

Laptop with one year of onsite service, damage coverage and gold support is $747.

I'd buy it without any of the extra warranties, but those arent bad prices for someone who wants a lot of handholding.

 

[2soon2tell]

Thanks for the input on cheap make that inexpensive laptops.

I finally took the plunge and ordered a Dell Vostro 1400 with 2MB RAM, a 120 GB HD and a 128 NVidia video card for $599. It was chepaer to order it new with the discount rather than buying a refurbished model. Also took CFB's advice and ordered it with Win XP rather than Vista.

Happy Holidays,

2soon2tell

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Let us know how it works out for you. Always good to get feedback on how manufacturers are [-]screwing up[/-] doing as time goes by.

 

[mn54]

How do you get a coupon number for ordering from dell? Is that thru fatwallet? Is there any way to get free shipping? The vostro 1500 looks like a good value. Thanks for the help.

 

[2soon2tell]

Mn,

I did not use a coupon but ordered from Dell's online site. Shipping was free if you chose the 3-5 day delivery option. I strongly considered the Vostro 1500 but finally decided that I wanted something a little less bulky.

2soon

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Use that link to directly get the deal. By going to fatwallet, creating a fatcash account and linking to dell through the fatwallet cash back link, you'll get another 3% off for dell home and 1.5% for dell small business.

Use your 1.25% penfed visa, or if discover card has one of their discovercash deals that gives a discount or allows you to double your discover rewards, and you're getting somewhere...

$550 for the 1500 configured as such is a pretty nice deal, even without the extra hoopla to shave a few more percent off.

The way fatcash works is that its a referral bonus paid by Dell (and other merchants) to fatwallet. Usually the merchant pays the bonus to fatwallet and they in turn pay it to you. When you have more than ten bucks, you can request a check.

Seems kinda piddly, but I've found about half the companies I buy stuff from give anywhere from 2-10% cash back. I'm picking up about $200-300 a year. Heck, I've gotten almost a hundred back from sears, who is offering 5% cash back on purchases through the end of the year.

As far as dell home and small biz, I think you get better customer/order support from small business and I think you occasionally get better tech support.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

This isnt that good of a value, but its cheap for a thinkpad. Some people like the build quality and layout, and this isnt a bad price.

Lenovo - Customize - ThinkPad Z61t - Components

Use the code "USP1PAYPAL" during checkout for another 10% off.

About $539 with free shipping.

Core duo, 80gb hard drive, 1GB ram, 14" screen, XP, both touchpad and trackpoint, standard battery is pretty small at 4 cells, CD not DVD.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Very well made cheap notebooks on clearance. They're gonna go quick. Build quality is darn near a thinkpad. Good traveling machine for durability.
Dell Latitudes D520 D620 D820 D420 ATG Clearance Sale - Save Up to 50% @ Dell Small Business

14" D620 for $599
15.4" D820 for $679

 

[OAG]

Just bought a new Dell XPS 1330M. Discounts were $624, standard discount, another 10% off for XPS 1330 notebooks over $899, next was another 12% for 3/4 year At-Home service (I opted for 4 years for $90 more, and get a $80 gift card, so the net will be $10 for the extra year). Free Shipping (3-5 day) and will get another 4% because I opted to sign up for their Credit Card (0% Interest until 2009) and put the unit on the CC. Overall I think that will be about a 40% discount when all is said and done.

Notebook was not cheap, but WTH, it is fun.

 

[JohnDoe]

If you wait for Presidents Day, I believe Dell will offer 25% off Inspiron notebooks - like they did last year. You could get a awesome machine for about $600. Stepped up video, web camera, 9 cell battery, Core 2 duo...etc.

If you can wait, that's what I would do.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There are regular vostro deals in the $600 range. Vostro's are a pretty good build quality compared to budget notebooks, but Latitudes are a little more robust and come standard with better keyboards and screens.

I still have a latitude from about 1999, a pentium II 366. I used it as a regular work machine for 2 years and then as my regular home machine for a couple of years, then my MIL used it for a month to see if she wanted to get a laptop.

It not only still works, but Gabe played with it for about 3 weeks and it took him almost two weeks to pry one of the keycaps off. Even after he kicked it around, whacked it, and dropped it a bunch of times, it still boots and runs...glerk....windows 98...just fine. Battery only gives about 25 minutes, but after all this time, i'm surprised it works at all.

You'd get better specs on a vostro deal. If I were going to be dragging a machine around in a bag or piece of luggage for 3 years and banging away on it for a few hours every day, I might go with a latitude.

I wouldnt buy any of the extras on these deals except for maybe the $30 120gb disk upgrade. You can buy your own ram for a lot less and upgrade it yourself.

Also note that these come with the 3 year warranty (mail-in) which can be upgraded to onsite for $99 for the 3 years, and gold tech support is only an extra $69 for the 3 year period.

The long warranty is a nice bennie.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If you're into Sony stuff, this isnt too horrifying. Needs another GB of ram to run vista premium and a bunch of concurrent apps, but rams cheap. Good size disk, decent screen, not that heavy for a 15.4", has the memory stick thing so you'll need a reader for SD cards.

$599+tax, and you can get a free printer and some other stuff at the same time if you like doing rebates. Looks like a basic all-in-1 printer, laptop bag, antivirus s/w, a wireless router and a wireless mouse (the mouse is 9.99 AR). None of this stuff is great, its all pretty basic stuff, but for a half hour of form filling, free is okay. Couple of options to get better stuff for a little more money.

Buy the Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210C/E 15.4" Widescreen Laptop Computer and other Laptop computers at circuitcity.com

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Ive built my own desktops. However never messed with a laptop. Can you upgrade the memory yourself on laptop? Im ashamed of my laptop ignorance

 

[twaddle]

Ive built my own desktops. However never messed with a laptop. Can you upgrade the memory yourself on laptop? Im ashamed of my laptop ignorance

Yes, most of them are easier to upgrade than desktops. Just make sure you get the right RAM. Mostly 200-pin DDR2 these days.

Dell publishes the service guides online for most of their laptops. A hackers dream. There are even OC'able mod'able gamer's laptops on the market.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Yes, most of them are easier to upgrade than desktops. Just make sure you get the right RAM. Mostly 200-pin DDR2 these days.

Dell publishes the service guides online for most of their laptops. A hackers dream. There are even OC'able mod'able gamer's laptops on the market.

Good deal then. Alot has changed since I paid much attention. If I remember correctly memory used to be not swappable. Now Im in the market for one I need to brush up on stuff.

 

[OAG]

Finally got a working well Dell M1330 XPS - not cheap by any means but a solid well thought out machine IMHO. First one arrived with a dead CD Player - Dell sent a new one with a tech and he installed it. Did not like the fact that he had to completely take the machine apart, several times, to get the job done. Called Dell and said thanks for fixing it but I want a new one - which they agreed to (helped to be within the 21 day return period). Second machine arrived yesterday and all works just fine. I did get a few upgrades (some of which are standard now). LED Screen (big improvement over TFT), SSD (small but no moving parts), Vista Ultimate, Office 2007 (Home and Student), 4 GB Memory, 7500 CPU, 128 Video. After all of the discounts it was about 40% of list.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Laptop memory can be easily upgraded, but you need to see whats in there and may have to remove the existing memory and replace it. Some machines have two ram slots and a pair of 512MB parts installed, so to go to 2GB you need two 1GB parts and those replace the two 512's. Some nicer vendors put a 1GB in one side and let you add another to the empty slot. Some have three slots.

They're usually behind a little door on the bottom, held on by a 1 or 2 screws. Occasionally I've seen a model where one of the slots is under the keyboard, although its usually a couple of screws to remove the keyboard and then its accessible.

Most manufacturers give you good documentation on where to find the memory slots.

Some laptops allow dual channel memory (improve performance, but frankly not a huge one), but both memory sticks have to be the same.

Generally within types (ddr2, ddr3), faster ram (like 5300 vs 4200) will work but offer no increase in speed unless the processor/motherboard has the ability to detect and switch to a faster bus speed. Some laptop makers (the real el cheapos) ship a laptop that can do 5300 with 4200 memory in it to save $10.