Inexpensive Laptop for my son

[Munkay]

;)

[SetBuilder]

Oh please.  Read the forum rules about trolling and flaming.  Don't try to draw me into a flame war.

Next time think before you decide to degrade yourself to insulting.  Is it really worth getting so heated over a discussion about computers?

I know it's sure not enough to warrant an equal response from me.  I've said my peace in this post.

Cheers,

Munk
[right][snapback]72983[/snapback][/right]

Flame? Not at all. Talking to one person on the phone who tries to tell me Word Perfect 11 is completely compatable with MS Excel (word processing with spreadsheets?), while having another try to tell me online that I don't know my own products and what they are capable of? Just frustration, mainly, and my apologies.

Yet you've proven my point. Your argument has no bottom. No support. You don't tell what your notebook actually has, you apparently don't understand the different functions performed by different hardware, and you also don't realize that I hate sales. Rather than trying to understand that before ever starting to work for dell, I "troubleshooted" 100's of "faulty" computers that had nothing wrong with them other than that they weren't set up correctly for their uses. Put purely, I HATE seeing people waste hundreds or thousands of dollars for something that they're just going to hate. Instead, you just quote one sentence, and tell me I'm trying to "upsell".

Do you tell your tech friend who told you that RAM is important for the first time the same thing too? As he and I are about the same. I haven't given out my number, and won't, and don't really care. I just want Alram to have the info he needs to keep from making a bad choice, as I want him to get a notebook that both he AND his son are satisfied with.

A video card makes about $50 worth of difference on a notebook. Why have you spent so much time trying to say I'm wrong? Especially when the performance of ALL programs, applications, and uses are going to improve drastically when you add it? And when on a notebook, you can't change your mind on the low end range, as on low end range, it's proprietary, and not made for upgrades. Whatever dude.

[Chaerophon]

hundreds or thousands of dollars for something that they're just going to hate. Instead, you just quote one sentence, and tell me I'm trying to "upsell".

I take heart in the fact that your job will most likely soon be outsourced to Burma.



Cheers, dude.

[Yrrek]

I take heart in the fact that your job will most likely soon be outsourced to Burma.


[right][snapback]72986[/snapback][/right]

Hey now, I am a tech too, and I don't want to move to Burma!

[Munkay]

Hey now, I am a tech too, and I don't want to move to Burma!

Yrrek, you're 17 and you don't work for Dell. I think you're safe! :lol:

But just in case,

It is awfully pretty.

Cheers,

Munk

[SetBuilder]

I take heart in the fact that your job will most likely soon be outsourced to India.



Cheers, dude.
[right][snapback]72986[/snapback][/right]

Sorry, was in the middle of doing something else while typing that. Hundreds OR thousands of dollars.

BTW, he was such a huge PR letdown. He was making such huge amounts of money working with marketing, then got caught doing that crazy #$%&.

On a side note, at dell, I am in sales, and outside of dell, I'm in higher demand than in. The type of sales I'm in is considered high value. Meaning I talk to people with huge amounts of money, who want to spend nothing. People like that won't talk to people in india. My job is secure.

However, all of Dell's Canada sales are worked out of india... (??)

And all of Dell's Software/peripheral phone supports are worked out of Canada... (??)

[Yrrek]

Yrrek, you're 17 and you don't work for Dell.  I think you're safe!  :lol:

But just in case,

It is awfully pretty.

Cheers,

Munk
[right][snapback]72988[/snapback][/right]

Hey, I may be 17, but I have had my own business for just a little over a year now. *scoff*

2) I agree that it is pretty, and I would like to visit, but I don't know about moving there!

Who knows, maybe some day I'll work for Dell!



.......


Nah. :D

[SetBuilder]

Who knows, maybe some day I'll work for Dell!
.......
Nah.  :D
[right][snapback]72992[/snapback][/right]

Nah, work construction. Much healthier for you. More likely to become an alcoholic if you work sales.

[Yrrek]

Nah, work construction. Much healthier for you. More likely to become an alcoholic if you work sales.
[right][snapback]72993[/snapback][/right]

Not interested in sales. Once I get my degree I am going to start an official business along with a few friends and do networking for small to mid-sized businesses. We are also considering a LAN-shack and holding weekly LANs.

We are still working things out. We will see what three years of college brings! :)

[Chaerophon]

Sorry, was in the middle of doing something else while typing that. Hundreds OR thousands of dollars.

BTW, he was such a huge PR letdown. He was making such huge amounts of money working with marketing, then got caught doing that crazy #$%&.

On a side note, at dell, I am in sales, and outside of dell, I'm in higher demand than in. The type of sales I'm in is considered high value. Meaning I talk to people with huge amounts of money, who want to spend nothing. People like that won't talk to people in india. My job is secure.

However, all of Dell's Canada sales are worked out of india... (??)

And all of Dell's Software/peripheral phone supports are worked out of Canada... (??)
[right][snapback]72990[/snapback][/right]

Changed it to Burma. It's got a funnier sound to it. Enjoy the moh hin gha.

[SetBuilder]

Not interested in sales. Once I get my degree I am going to start an official business along with a few friends and do networking for small to mid-sized businesses. We are also considering a LAN-shack and holding weekly LANs.

We are still working things out. We will see what three years of college brings!  :)
[right][snapback]72994[/snapback][/right]

Not too bad of a job to do. Have done (and still do) a lot of that. Made more money in one month of doing that (one month is what was required for just three small businesses) made me more cash than all of last year at dell did.

Only problem with that is, you work for yourself, and get sued (I never did), you lose everything. Largest network I set up was 35 workstations, three regular servers, and two dual system, quad proc, 16GB RAM servers. I built all systems from bare parts, and supported for all of a month. Then handed over to an on site IT guy, had fun, and played for the next 8 months. Was actually a pretty profitable experience.

[Yrrek]

Not too bad of a job to do. Have done (and still do) a lot of that. Made more money in one month of doing that (one month is what was required for just three small businesses) made me more cash than all of last year at dell did.

Only problem with that is, you work for yourself, and get sued (I never did), you lose everything. Largest network I set up was 35 workstations, three regular servers, and two dual system, quad proc, 16GB RAM servers. I built all systems from bare parts, and supported for all of a month. Then handed over to an on site IT guy, had fun, and played for the next 8 months. Was actually a pretty profitable experience.
[right][snapback]73000[/snapback][/right]

Did you have insurance? We were going to hit this full force with about 5 or 6 of us so we would have plenty of man power. Also we would do web design/hosting.

[Alram]

*****Main body of post removed for keeping te peace. Had a good point or two, but bad phrasing. Leaving next part, as it really is an offer****
(On a side note, Alram, if you want to spend $1000, I have an Inspiron 600M with 64MB dedicated video, 1GB RAM, Office Pro, Photoshop 7, a cd burner, and some other neatness I'd give for that. Is a neat notebook, but I don't go to school at this point, and don't have any other uses for it. Only downside is no wireless (but you can get a pcmcia wireless card for $10 from frys). Maybe not the programs he's used to, but the ones that work best with school. And so you know, if you say no, I definately won't be heartbroken. I don't really want to sell it, but I need to do something, as 5 computers is a bit much, and I like the desktops better. Oh, and the notebook (without the office and photoshop) would cost you $1800 new, so you know.)
[right][snapback]72980[/snapback][/right]

Thanks for the offer. As I mentioned, I am waiting until the end of the semester before I buy it. Right now I am just gathering info and input.

[Tal]

Get more money. You aren't getting a good notebook that will have everything he's going to need for college at $750. Maybe finance a computer?
None of our offers will deliver what you need. $750 will buy a basic bare-bones system. Like an inspiron 1200 or 2200. No dedicated video, no microsoft office, no security software, and not the largest amount of power.[right][snapback]72864[/snapback][/right]

Wow I must have done something REALLY wrong when I purchased my own Dell for $500 and got everything I needed for college. Dedicated video, microsoft office, etc with plenty of power for the applications I run on it. (Dreamweaver MX, Photoshop, Diablo 2, etc). Granted I bought it off of Ebay but that is beside the point. Alram was looking for a inexpensive laptop for his son, and listed what software it would run - in other words Office and security software were NOT a concern.

Normally if you are looking for a (relatively) inexpensive notebook for a college student, I recommend our inpsiron 600M Deal of the Week. Goes for about 1100, comes with security software. You just need to add MS Office, and you're set. Has dedicated video, is a light solution, has cd burner/dvd player, 60gb hdd, 512 RAM, 14.1" screen, 3 year onsite warentee. With Office Small Business (word + excel + powerpoint) would cost roughly $1350. That would stand a chance of lasting 3-4 years of college. Anything less hardware wise... Replace it in a couple years. And what makes that deal of the week on the 600m so nice is that it comes with the warentee. No charge.[right][snapback]72864[/snapback][/right]

I'll have to disagree with you here. We purchased a baseline Dell laptop for one of our directors. Person has been dragging it back and forth to work for 4 years. She purchased it from us and has since turned it over to her son who has been dragging it around college for 3 years. The damn thing is still going strong. And the last time I checked the baseline Dells were still getting recommended ratings in the magazines for college students.

I do have to ask what exactly is wrong with the baseline laptops that make them so unsuitable for college life? Does Dell now put out such poor quality laptops that you don't recommend them?

[goldfish]

Also, keep your eye out for sales.

I just ran into a sale at dell.com, today, with free shipping and a bunch of computers $50-$100 off.

I bought my wife a refurbished dimension desktop (2.4 ghz celeron, 40 gb, 256 ram) for $200. Yeah, it's not a high-end computer, but it's more than enough for her needs; it should even play D2 okay. They had others on the same sale, laptops and so forth. (Some laptops were in the $500 range).

Of course, if you buy it and they're not having a sale, you pay more, plus no free shipping.

So it pays to look around and get stuff when it's relatively inexpensive.

(I didn't click quite fast enough, but there was a 1.6 or 1.8, I don't recall which, which was selling for $139. $139! Comes with Windows XP. That means you're paying $50 for the rest of it, total. Alas, I didn't quite click fast enough to get that one).

[Jim]

Hi

I hope this Helps :D

Used notebooks Refurbished to excellent condition. Refurbished laptops and refurbished computer notebooks at very cheap wholesale prices with warranty. Huge selection of IBM Thinkpad, Dell Latitude, Compaq Armada, Toshiba Tecra and other laptop computers. Fast laptop shipping worldwide.

All Available Laptops from $600.00 and Up!

Toshiba Tecra 9100 
Intel Pentium-4 1700 Mhz
512 MB Memory
38 GB Hard Drive
CD/DVD/CDRW Drive
1.44 MB Drive
Preinstalled Win XP Pro
6 Months Warranty
Refurbished by USA Notebook

As Low As: $849.00

[Alram]

Well, he is going to get my laptop.
System Model Inspiron 8200
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~1994 Mhz
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB


This means I won't be able to play WoW anymore. So I am upgrading my desktop which he had been using with components I ordered from NewEgg. I made the selections based primarily on the Ars Technica Hot Rod recommendations together with some other info gleaned from several sources.
1 CABLE Y|POWER SPLITTER 5-1/4 - OEM
Item #: N82E16812101203 $0.00 $0.00
1 MB ASUS A8V-E DELUXE K8T890 RET - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131523 $145.00 $145.00
1 VGA LEADTEK GF PX6600TD-256 RT - Retail
Item #: N82E16814122203 $129.00 $129.00
1 POWER SUPPLY ANTEC NEOPOWER480 RTL - Retail
Item #: N82E16817103924 $115.00 $115.00
1 CPU AMD 64 3500+ ATHLON 64 939 RT - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103514 $267.00 $267.00
1 DDR CRSR 512MB X2 KIT|VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145440 $79.99 $79.99
1 CD MS|WIN XP HOME w/SP2 % - OEM
Item #: N82E16837102151 $86.95 $86.95
1 GIFT PEN DRIVE U2MQ2-0128NX-CA - OEM
Item #: N82E16800998606 $0.00 $0.00
Subtotal: $822.94


This puts me in slightly over budget, but he gets a really nice laptop and I get a substantial upgrade on the desktop. (currently 1 GHz cpu 25k RAM, 3 year old Nvidia card.)I am a bit nervous about assembling it as all I have done in the past with hardware upgrades is add RAM, PCI cards and hard drives. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted and probably ask for advice.

[jahcs]

Nice build there. Just a question, what was the price difference between XP home and XP pro?

And it looks like you found a good solution for the situation. Desktop hardware is so much cheaper and more upgradeable than a laptop.

[Alram]

Nice build there.  Just a question, what was the price difference between XP home and XP pro?

[right][snapback]76937[/snapback][/right]

$145.95 Microsoft E85-03013 Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 - OEM
$86.95 Microsoft N09-01152 Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 - OEM

[Walkiry]

$145.95 Microsoft E85-03013 Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 - OEM
$86.95 Microsoft N09-01152 Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 - OEM
[right][snapback]76946[/snapback][/right]

Alternatively, you could take a look at http://www.linux-laptop.net/ if you don't plan on doing much gaming. Using Linux and Open Office you can save quite a bit, and, funnily enough, Intel integrated graphics chips have excellent open source drivers.