Super cheap laptop

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, then you'd get that watermellon seed thing again.

Got my keyboard ready for 'talk like a pirate day', which I'll be glad to see arrive as I'm tired already of "talk like a redneck month".

 

[lazyday]

Hmm, I predict that you will use it more and more, until you stop using your ThinkPad and buy a 9300 clone. (snip) try to find a Dell 9200 WUXGA on eBay. Basically the same machine with a matte WUXGA LCD.

Already 95% use hers when she's not around.
I've been holding out for a good hirez screen,quiet,trackpoint laptop so long now, her purchase will probably only delay my purchase, and shift my computer use to when she isn't using the 9300. It is hers though, so I need to make sure I'm never a nuisance keeping her from it.

Someday will buy my own. I know the laptop I want will be made. But probably by then, Dell will make one with an even better screen but no trackpoint.

 

[lazyday]

kept an old IBM AT style keyboard for a good 10 years, using several adapters to make it fit as the keyboard plugs changed sizes.

I remember early 90's at work we used to swap the new keyboards for the IBM keyboards from obsolete PCs that were going away. A coworker even kept a couple backups of the old IBM kb's just in case.

 

[lazyday]

I think IBM still makes an external keyboard called the "SpaceSaver" or something like that.

Thanks, I forgot about those. Almost bought one once, forgot what for. I like to keep the screen close to me, so not sure it would work out, but I might pick one up just to try it out, in case it works well just standing on top of the 9300 kb. IIRC they were only about $55 from a discounter, so may be worth it, even if it ends up in a closet, and perhaps someday used on a desktop after IBM stops selling them.

I like the pirate kb, th.

Hey, am I an official member of the triple post club?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yes you are! JG would be proud!

 

[lazyday]

IBM Spacesaver no longer $55. Cheapest I saw for US IBM with trackpoint was $99+shipping.

Almost ordered a $31.50 (shipped) Spanish version new from ebay, but noticed it has extra keys in funny places and some punctuation moved, so decided against it.

For now, I'll try to get used to touchpad, tho I know from prior experience it's unlikely. At least it forces me to learn more keyboard shortcuts I should have already learned. In firefox, you can type ' and then a few letters from a link, then hit enter to go to that link, or ctrl-enter to open it in a new window.
Or there's caret browsing, but that kills the spacebar to pagedown.
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/keyboard

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I have a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head doing a little caret browsing...

 

[lazyday]

Another $750 off $1500 coupon tomorrow. (See fatwallet as in earlier posts.)
You can get 17"WUXGA PentiumM 256MB 9300 for $875+tax free ship. +$50 to have 512MB.

 

[sgeeeee]

I have a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head doing a little caret browsing...

Th, have you ever thought about branching out to more exotic animals with food on their heads? Come to think of it, CT provides us with a lot of animal photos (although most of them are fish). Maybe you could teach them to wear pancakes.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Come on SG...those are fishcakes!!!

 

[Spanky]

Fishcakes are delicious. I like them deep fried and then slice them for won ton noodle soup.

 

[sgeeeee]

Come on SG...those are fishcakes!!!

I often wear fishcakes around the house myself. After a hard day of blowing milk out my nose and wiping it up with dryer sheets, I really enjoy dancing around the living room with a fishcake or two on my head.

 

[greg]

I often wear fishcakes around the house myself. After a hard day of blowing milk out my nose and wiping it up with dryer sheets, I really enjoy dancing around the living room with a fishcake or two on my head.

Up here in the northland, from May 1st to aboouuuut July 15th, we switch from berets to fishmuffs. It's the fashionesta in us. But it makes the lutafisk smell like fish.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Sg - work some bull sperm in there and you've got somethin'!

 

[KB]

Now that all these great deals have expired, my son has decided to go to college after all. Grandpa offered to pay for school like it was a ful time job.

If anyone knows of another great deal for a basic laptop, I'd appreciate it. He'll be a music major, so shouldn't need a really powerful laptop.

TIA

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nothing screaming at me right now.

You could go here http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/categories.php?catid=18 and snoop around, there are a couple of deals in the $550-650 range, all roughly the same thing...mobile celeron in the 1.3-1.4 range, 30-60gb drive, 256M ram.

If you find something, post it and Wab will tell you why it sucks.

 

[wabmester]

Yeah, TH's original super deal was $550 for an end-of-life'd notebook. You can currently get the laptops that replaced that model for around the same price or less here:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/inspn?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

The Inspiron 2200, for example, should be fine for somebody who only wants to use it for writing term papers and taking notes in class. A lot of the music these days is composed on the computer, so if you want to get him something with good sounding speakers and digital audio outputs, go with the Inspiron 9300 that I always recommend.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Except the 2200 configuration is specwise and build quality virtually identical to the setup I posted on originally...

Funny how a machine with more power than almost anything available 2 years ago is now restricted to writing term papers... :

 

[wabmester]

Yeah, it's called hedonics. I didn't realize you were siding with the BLS now.

Anyway, the main difference between the 1200/2200 and 1000 is the cooler/faster/longer-running CPU.

The main difference between the 2200 and the 1000/1200 is the LiIon battery, which will give you much longer battery life than the NiMH in the other two.

They all have plastic cases, tinny-sounding speakers, flexing keyboards, relatively dim LCDs, and a dirth of I/O ports. If you don't want those attributes, or you'd like faster CPUs, bigger displays, etc., then look at the 6000, 700m, or 9300.

 

[BUM]

Yep, then you'd get that watermellon seed thing again.

Got my keyboard ready for 'talk like a pirate day', which I'll be glad to see arrive as I'm tired already of "talk like a redneck month".

I wonder if Martha or DH could hook us up with "talk like a Minnesotan day" keybord? Do you use that Firecalc then? Ya? Ya, sure you betcha...got it all setup right next to the wood chippa.

 

[unclemick]

Yea you rite. Let's make groceries - pass by der house - axe hows your Momma and dem - berl some shrimps - make da chipper ta do landfill.

Our neighbor's sister is down from Michigan visiting - they are working on her - ta talk rite.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Anyway, the main difference between the 1200/2200 and 1000 is the cooler/faster/longer-running CPU.

Which is not that huge a difference and wouldnt be noticed by 98% of buyers. Any data on the temp/battery life differences between a mobile celeron and a celeron m?

The main difference between the 2200 and the 1000/1200 is the LiIon battery, which will give you much longer battery life than the NiMH in the other two.

Which wouldnt be noticed by anyone unless they run untethered for extended periods of time, and I'd dispute the 'much longer' claim. Any data to back that up?

They all have plastic cases, tinny-sounding speakers, flexing keyboards, relatively dim LCDs, and a dirth of I/O ports. If you don't want those attributes, or you'd like faster CPUs, bigger displays, etc., then look at the 6000, 700m, or 9300.

And pay a whole lot more for features a lot of people might not need for what might be a secondary machine or a primary for someone on a tight budget. You did notice the title of the thread?

 

[Nords]

Yea you rite. Let's make groceries - pass by der house - axe hows your Momma and dem - berl some shrimps - make da chipper ta do landfill.

Our neighbor's sister is down from Michigan visiting - they are working on her - ta talk rite.

And to think that people make fun of pidgin in Hawaii...

 

[Whakamole]

I ended up getting a laptop. $700, brand is Averatec (I know, who?)

But - it's loaded. 512mb of ram, 60gb hard drive, wifi, dvd burner, you name it. Plus it's light - only 4.5 pounds.

Lemme tell you, you don't want a 7 pound laptop.

It's useful for web browsing at work... hard for them to monitor me this way

 

[wabmester]

Any data on the temp/battery life differences between a mobile celeron and a celeron m?
[...] Any data to back that up?

TH, when you're right you're right.   And when you're wrong, you defend your bogus claims to the death!    Didn't you learn anything from watching the OJ Simpson case on TV?   Never ask a question for which you don't already know the answer.

From Dell's tech specs, the battery life for each model is as follows:

Inspiron 1000: 1.5 hours (mobile celeron + NiMH)
Inspiron 1200: 2.5 hours (Celeron-M + NiMH)
Inspiron 2200: 4 hours (Celeron-M + Li-Ion)

I would recommend getting a laptop with at least 3H battery life to allow you to watch a movie on your flight and still have enough juice left to check your email when you land.