All $299 and cheaper laptops dont have cd/dvd drive?

[JEDI]

when laptops went to $399 a year ago, i thought Sweet! it wont be too long till they are $299 or less.

well, they are $299 now, but dont come with cd/dvd 🙁

buying an external cd/dvd drive will add $ to the price, which defeats the purpose of sub $299.

An extreme case are Netbooks. 8.9" screen, 1gig ram, 8gig ssd drive, linux, and no cd/dvd for $199. ok, for $199, no cd/dvd drive is understandable.

but how the hell do i install stuff to it? how do i bootup in dos, and install my WinXP image?

 

[shortylickens]

You need an external optical drive with a USB connection.
Actually, I just copied over a bunch of stuff to my USB thumb drive and it installs fine.

What do you mean by "image"? If you mean an ISO of windows XP well then, you should already know how to install it without the disc, shouldnt you? 😉

And its getting to the point with most modern software that online installations are preferred to disc installations. I'm not saying I like it, but thats the way the industry is going.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

What do you mean by "image"? If you mean an ISO of windows XP well then, you should already know how to install it without the disc, shouldnt you? 😉

:laugh:

Originally posted by: JEDI

but how the hell do i install stuff to it? how do i bootup in dos, and install my WinXP image?

flash drives ftw. my netbook has windows and linux on it. check hot deals, you can get a 16gb flash drive for about 20 bucks after rebate, which is more than enough for an ISO, and all sorts of data later on 🙂

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: shortylickens

What do you mean by "image"? If you mean an ISO of windows XP well then, you should already know how to install it without the disc, shouldnt you? 😉

:laugh:

Originally posted by: JEDI

but how the hell do i install stuff to it? how do i bootup in dos, and install my WinXP image?

flash drives ftw. my netbook has windows and linux on it. check hot deals, you can get a 16gb flash drive for about 20 bucks after rebate, which is more than enough for an ISO, and all sorts of data later on 🙂

you can bootup from flash drive?

link?

 

[xSauronx]

http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/...xp-from-usb-thumb.html

unetbootin can be downloaded and used with a linux iso to create a bootable linux thumb drive as well.

 

[IlllI]

i guess jedi doesnt know how to use google

 

[Hacp]

Is there a way to boot from the PC/Express card?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Is there a way to boot from the PC/Express card?

*shrug* ive never tried, if its seen as a drive by the BIOS then you can check the BIOS drive and boot options and see if you can do it. I have an esata drive and card but the drive isnt bootable, and i never tried to see if I could select it as a boot option (and since I no longer have a lappy to use the card in, I cant, else id check for you)

 

[reallyscrued]

Originally posted by: JEDI
when laptops went to $399 a year ago, i thought Sweet! it wont be too long till they are $299 or less.

well, they are $299 now, but dont come with cd/dvd 🙁

buying an external cd/dvd drive will add $ to the price, which defeats the purpose of sub $299.

An extreme case are Netbooks. 8.9" screen, 1gig ram, 8gig ssd drive, linux, and no cd/dvd for $199. ok, for $199, no cd/dvd drive is understandable.

but how the hell do i install stuff to it? how do i bootup in dos, and install my WinXP image?

...The only ones that are sub 300 dollars are netbooks, not notebooks (or laptops in the traditional sense.) You obviously don't understand the point behind a netbook. Show me an example of a 300 dollar 15 inch laptop.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You missed the point JEDI -- these aren't the books you're looking for.

Netbooks are meant to be ultraportable not just cheap. They're $300 alternatives to the old $1500+ Toshiba and IBM ultralights.

If you want a normal 14+" laptop you need to be watching Hot Deals and the Sunday paper ads for the $400 laptops offered almost every week.

 

[orakle]

If you have an old laptop with a CD/DVD drive, you can make it into an external one by putting it in one of these:

http://www.tiger111hk.com/prod...nfo.php?products_id=53

$11 US including free shipping from HK. It took about two weeks to arrive and works beautifully. Plug and play.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Is there a way to boot from the PC/Express card?

That's an interesting idea. AFAIK ExpressCard34 (or whatever the smaller one is called) is basically a USB port, but the device ends up being internal instead of sticking out.

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You missed the point JEDI -- these aren't the books you're looking for.

LOL!

 

[ilkhan]

expresscard is actually a USB2.0 port + PCI-E x1 v1.x port in one connection.