Better Walmart Laptop?

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
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This
Verus
This

Anyone wanna go over the advantages of one over the other? Is Linspire a better OS than Windows, like many people say the mac OS is, or is it just an acceptable competitor?
 
Nov 11, 2004
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Don't even go there. Those laptops are just pathetic. I think my 486 runs Windows XP faster than those things.
Pay a little more and get a Dell or something.
 

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
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Performance isn't an issue though, I'd like to keep it as cheap and portable as possible. Transmeta laptops don't seem to be easy to find or particularly cheap though.

Besides, I've seen iBooks with similar specs to the Athlon notebook, and that doesn't stop anyone from buying them.
 

Hiruko

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Mar 27, 2005
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That's a little different.... Apple uses a risc processor in their systems so the megahertz isn't all that matters here.... I can't believe they can get away with selling these pieces of sh** They use underpowered processors, minimal ram, cheap parts etc... Spend $699 on a dell after a coupon and you'll be happier.
 

nellienelson1

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Oct 27, 2004
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if you do want to go for either of those then get the amd windows effort, this is because the via c3, is very good at encrption, but fails miserably at ( i'm not sure at this point,) floating point. however if you are looking for a laptop for just surfing and office home stuff then get the one with the best battery life, or of course get one from ebay like i did, (see sig) cost me 400 pounds so its about 600 is dollars, and will kicked the buttocks off either of those two things and is less than an inch thick, with about 4hrs battery on a good day with the extended battery i brought, or 2 on the normal 3 cell effort.
nellie
 

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
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Originally posted by: Hiruko
That's a little different.... Apple uses a risc processor in their systems so the megahertz isn't all that matters here.... I can't believe they can get away with selling these pieces of sh** They use underpowered processors, minimal ram, cheap parts etc... Spend $699 on a dell after a coupon and you'll be happier.

Technically, modern CPUs in both Macs and PCs aren't RISC or CISC, at least not purely one or the other. The RISC advantage became inconsequential after the late 90s.(besides, wasn't the main reason for RISC cost and ease of implementation and not performance? anything Mac is certainly more expensive than something comparable in the PC world)

(see sig) cost me 400 pounds so its about 600 is dollars, and will kicked the buttocks off either of those two things and is less than an inch thick, with about 4hrs battery on a good day with the extended battery i brought, or 2 on the normal 3 cell effort.


How much does it weigh? And yah, I guess I can check ebay, though I have to watch out for scammers.

Anyone have any light notebook recommendations?
 

trinketsummoner

Senior member
Aug 24, 2004
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I ended up buying a T22 from ebay to use as a surfing/dvd laptop. Cost me $400 and came with a new battery and its in perfect condition. I just put a new 40gb 5400rpm 16m cache toshiba hd in it for $80 (from ZZF) to replace the loud 20gb one and i think for all i do its as good, if not better than the cheap end of the new laptop market.

The T22 is light (less than 5Ibs), has a nice screen and its easy to find parts for. If you want a warranty you can get refurbs direct from IBM for around $550. I dont think the T22s will depreciate much either, theres always a market for a quality laptop. These were $3500 4 years ago!
 

nellienelson1

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Oct 27, 2004
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Originally posted by: Fox5
Originally posted by: Hiruko
That's a little different.... Apple uses a risc processor in their systems so the megahertz isn't all that matters here.... I can't believe they can get away with selling these pieces of sh** They use underpowered processors, minimal ram, cheap parts etc... Spend $699 on a dell after a coupon and you'll be happier.

Technically, modern CPUs in both Macs and PCs aren't RISC or CISC, at least not purely one or the other. The RISC advantage became inconsequential after the late 90s.(besides, wasn't the main reason for RISC cost and ease of implementation and not performance? anything Mac is certainly more expensive than something comparable in the PC world)

(see sig) cost me 400 pounds so its about 600 is dollars, and will kicked the buttocks off either of those two things and is less than an inch thick, with about 4hrs battery on a good day with the extended battery i brought, or 2 on the normal 3 cell effort.


How much does it weigh? And yah, I guess I can check ebay, though I have to watch out for scammers.

Anyone have any light notebook recommendations?

according to a website i just looked at its 4.1 pounds, and in a simple test between this and my flat mates dell (dont know what type but its much bigger than mine) a acer and sony (same again for those 2) its much lighter, i carry it around uni with me most days and it causes me no harm. cant play any latest games but it does half life well, mine only has a geforce go 440 (think kitten trting to fight its way out of a bag in terms of 3d strength) but i wont grumble, beats other mates new laptops which cost about twice as much, so i wont grumble.
look on ebay, check the buyer and then research the web, worked for me here
 

HeXeD OSOK

Junior Member
May 5, 2005
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there should be no reason to spend 500-550 on a generic laptop when you can have a brand new dell for under 500

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/....aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=i1200R1&s=dhs

Then get a student code for the rebate (forgot how much percentage it is..)

My rommate does the university of Pheonix thing and gets 12% off Dell laptops. That would put him about 480 or so for this value laptop from dell...

Plus you get 256M of ram... a 1.3 Mobile Celery (which I hear ain't half bad..)

Haven't heard of Athlon 4 in a while..but always thought that was the codename for the XP processors.. so I guess my expertise in that area is limited..

 

HeXeD OSOK

Junior Member
May 5, 2005
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Plus you get a DVD/CDRW drive.. and XP home edition and no linspire..

Does that laptop look a little thick?
 

nellienelson1

Member
Oct 27, 2004
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the mobile celery's arent bad at all, nearly identical to the dothan, but with only a smidgen less cache (it varies from 256k to 1 meg i think) and dont have all of the power saving gadgets, nice cheap chips tho
 

HeXeD OSOK

Junior Member
May 5, 2005
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I would assume waaay better than a C3 processor... yuck

That athlon mobile chip came out in 2001..
 

unfalliblekrutch

Golden Member
May 2, 2005
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the celly m 1.3 should perform similar to a 2.4ghz desktop celly, so for web/email it should do awesome. Only downfall is that it doesnt have power saving features, so battery life won't be as good, but running at 1.3 ghz shouldn't use up too much power in the first place.
 

Wuzup101

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2002
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Please don't buy either of those... get a cheep dell or iBook instead... (or whatever you can find on ebay in your price range... it'll probably be better than any of those machines...)
 

Peter007

Platinum Member
May 8, 2001
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Avoid the Athlon 1.1. Last year @ Fry's Black Friday Sale. I bought the same ECS Laptop with mobile Athlon.
the laptop get really HOT and the FAN gets really loud. So loud I can't hear any music.
I return the laptop after just 3 hours of use.

Again, there is no reason buying this SUCKER when you can acquire a similar Dell for cheap