Best laptop for under $400?

[Kaido]

I want to get a basic laptop for college next semester. My old thinkpad died My friend has a 600x and I like it a lot. 500mhz, around 128mb of ram, 10gb hard drive, cd or dvd drive, etc. I want to use Windows 2000 with Office XP on it, and maybe Rhino 3D and Adobe stuff like InDesign and Acrobat CS.

I can upgrade the ram to 512 megs (max is like 576 or so since it has some built-in) and drop in a larger, faster hard drive later, but for now that looks good.

Are there any other laptops I should look at? The Dell Inspiron 1000 was on sale for $650, and that doesn't look bad - a bit out of my price range but I can wait another month if I need to.

Recommendations?

 

[dennisjai215]

new laptops never go under 600$ even after rebate so when you find a price around there i would jump on it.
to answer your "best laptop under $400" you would have to get a used one which is pretty slow

 

[cy7878]

check eBay, or IBM used section for these. Sometimes you may get luck and find a T20/21 for less than $400.

 

[jmalm]

For what you want to do 128MB of RAM sounds a bit skimpy. You might want to get something with 256MB or consider upgrading the memory yourself.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
new laptops never go under 600$ even after rebate so when you find a price around there i would jump on it.
to answer your "best laptop under $400" you would have to get a used one which is pretty slow

yeah, I'm just looking for a basic used one. I've had a good experience with an ibm thinkpad in the past, so that's where I looked first.

if I can find one for like $300 on ebay, I can drop in 512 megs of ram for another hundred and maybe a bigger, faster hard drive too.

 

[Garster]

You might want to also look for older P3 Dell Latitude machines. they are well made and lots of them to be had at good prices. There are a few good resellers on Ebay that sell off lease Latitudes, some for well under $400.00.

 

[WackyDan]

ThinkPad 600 series were tanks. I had two of them, and they put up with more abuse than any other thinkpad I've owned.

 

[Mellman]

do you absolutly need a laptop? for what your doing it doesnt sound like it...but maybe you just left out the needs you have that must be portable...for $400 you can build a MUCH more powerful desktop system that'll run those apps a lot better IMHO.

 

[jmalm]

Originally posted by: Kaido
yeah, I'm just looking for a basic used one. I've had a good experience with an ibm thinkpad in the past, so that's where I looked first.

if I can find one for like $300 on ebay, I can drop in 512 megs of ram for another hundred and maybe a bigger, faster hard drive too.

Yeah, that's probably your best bet. You will never find a NEW IBM - even after rebates - for anything near that price.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
new laptops never go under 600$ even after rebate so when you find a price around there i would jump on it.
to answer your "best laptop under $400" you would have to get a used one which is pretty slow

i beg to differ. i got an hp pavilion zv5000t from hpshopping.com for 598 after rebates, discounts, and student discounts ;]

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Mellman
do you absolutly need a laptop? for what your doing it doesnt sound like it...but maybe you just left out the needs you have that must be portable...for $400 you can build a MUCH more powerful desktop system that'll run those apps a lot better IMHO.

yeah, it'd have to be a laptop. I already have a good desktop - p4 2.8ghz. I'll be at school most of the day from Mon - Thurs, and since the drive home is so long it's pointless to drive home between classes.

 

[Frightcrawler]

I found a nice IBM at TigerDirect.com
However, it costs quite a bit more than 400 dollars. But I think its worth it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=515014&Sku=I74-1076%20P

It's a T21 with a 800mhz p3, 20gb hd, 128mb ram, and DVD-ROM. Compared to what you get with a 600 series (I checked; 500mhz, 12gb hd, 64mb ram for about $390), this laptop is really worth it. If you can afford, it go for it.
Plus, I hear good things about the T2x series.

Hope this helps.

 

[dennisjai215]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
new laptops never go under 600$ even after rebate so when you find a price around there i would jump on it.
to answer your "best laptop under $400" you would have to get a used one which is pretty slow

i beg to differ. i got an hp pavilion zv5000t from hpshopping.com for 598 after rebates, discounts, and student discounts ;]

wow 2 bucks of what i was saying -_- no need to get all specific eh buddy =o

 

[ctcsoft2]

you cannot go wrong with a 600 series thinkpad.

I like the 600e and 600x laptops. they are tanks and their not really that slow with the amount of ram you can put in them.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: Frightcrawler
I found a nice IBM at TigerDirect.com
However, it costs quite a bit more than 400 dollars. But I think its worth it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=515014&Sku=I74-1076%20P

It's a T21 with a 800mhz p3, 20gb hd, 128mb ram, and DVD-ROM. Compared to what you get with a 600 series (I checked; 500mhz, 12gb hd, 64mb ram for about $390), this laptop is really worth it. If you can afford, it go for it.
Plus, I hear good things about the T2x series.

Hope this helps.

Tigerdirect, *shudder.* better to spend less money if your going to by an old one.

 

[ThunderPC]

Brand new, $598 at walmart. It's by no means anything fancy. AthlnXP 1600+, 128MB RAM built in 802.11b, yadda yadda yadda. I think you might be better off finding a used one with better s[ecs for this much orless, but just an option to throw out if you arfe interested. You could always check a memory chip in it and it should suffice to meet your needs.

 

[SleepyItes]

I would try to get a T21 on eBay with lotsa RAM and big hard drive already installed. I bought a T21 used on ebay for about $680 with a 900MHz p3, 40GB hard drive, 512megs of RAM, DVD drive, floppy drive, and a case, and I still think this is the best value you can get. I bought a wireless card and a micro USB hub (since the T21s only have one USB port) and now I have a great portable system. Granted, this is almost double your listed budget, but it is more than twice as nice and it will last you MUCH longer.

 

[alienb]

I just got my girlfriend a X20 fully loaded for college, cost me $370 shipped on Ebay. There's some very good sellers, you just need to know where to look.

 

[Mermaidman]

I'm about to eBay a Dell Inspiron 3800 for $400 with free insured shipping. LMK if you're interested. PIII/600, 384MB RAM, 40GB HD, 14" Display, Win2K, CD-ROM, USB. Included with the laptop are
1) Wireless 802.11b PCMCIA card
2) USB Ethernet adapter
3) Win2K CD with key

The laptop is in very good shape with very light wear normal from usage. Good battery. The display has a small area that is "smudged," for lack of a better description. It looks like the surface is scuffed, but it's only apparent when the display is off or very dark background. The "smudge" is virtually invisible when a window is open. See my profile for Heatware feedback--I have sold many expensive items!