Any good, cheap laptops out there

[spidey07]

SOs laptop is dead (BAD KITTY!). I always see cheap laptops advertised in best buy flyers but it seems even the cheapest dell is 850 bucks.

So are there any laptops out there with desktop replacement functionality (in terms of ports, usb, firewire, etc) for under 800 dollars? She doesn't need much - just general web, office, e-mail and very simple web development/podcasting/iTunes.

I want her to get a mac, but it is out of her price range.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Dell has laptops starting at $499, and the Sunday paper is full of $400-600 deals.

Hot Deals forum, GottaDeal.com, fatwallaby, etc. for specific deals.

They all have USB 2, firewire is more rare but you can always add a card for it if she needs it for a video camera.

Even a cheap Celeron M is pretty fast, though of course the $800 Dell E1505 will be nicer with core duo and a big hard drive.

 

[spidey07]

Thanks Dave. I'll keep a look out, but she needs it fast.

I don't keep up with laptop (or pc technology for that matter), I figured the things to look for are the display and overall comfort of the keyboard/mouse. Since size really isn't a concern I thought a larger/more comfortable laptop could be had for less than something slightweight.

Now to try and find something that I can get the data off her hard drive with (enclosure/interface). I assume something exists.

 

[SparkyJJO]

external 2.5" HD case. You could then also use that as extra storage space later or as a way to back stuff up.

OT: what did the cat do to the old laptop?

 

[spidey07]

Kitty likes to play with water.

Big honking 32 ounce cup of water and powered up laptops left near each other overnight = bad mojo. It worked just OK for a few weeks but is finally dead. No power. Computer shop can't get power to it.

thank you for telling me what I need for the HD.

 

[DaveSimmons]

How long can she wait?

Office Depot $399 - but is built to order not ready for pickup - Hot Deals

^ that's the Hot Deal, but they have 2 lukewarm deals for in-store pickup, a Lenova Thinkpad (Core Duo 512MB) for $649 after $300 in rebates, and a Gateway (AMD Turion 1 GB) also $649 but with only a $150 rebate.

The Core 2 is faster and a better company, but the Turion has more RAM and a smaller rebate. See OfficeDepot.com for the weekly flyer