Compaq N410 any good?

[AmigaMan]

So much to my disappointment, my wife doesn't want a Mac, but rather a PC laptop. She's finishing up college and would only use it for notetaking, papers and surfing the net. Anyways, my old Dell Inspiron 9200 is way too big and heavy for her so I was looking on eBay for small cheap laptops. I saw a Compaq N410c with the following specs:

• 1.0Ghz PIII-M
• 20GB HD (not sure the speed)
• 256MB RAM
• 12" screen (1024x768)
• ATI M6 w/16MB video ram
• docking station (expansion unit) with DVD ROM
• 3.5lbs and <1" thin!

All that for $259.

I have a spare 802.11b PCMCIA card and spare 40GB 5400RPM 2.5" HD I could upgrade her with. I would probably upgrade the RAM to at least 512MB too. Is this a good deal? Anyone have any experience with these?

 

[tyanni]

I, personally, would never buy a laptop that is out of warranty. What will you do if she breaks it/it stops working?

Now, I know that wasn't the answer you were looking for - that does look like a nice price for it though.

 

[AmigaMan]

if it breaks, I either buy another, or tell my wife to just live with the 9200 I already have. It's only $260...

 

[HannibalX]

If it had 512 I would pay $200 for it.

 

[Trippytiger]

Looks like a pretty slick laptop for the money, but you might also want to consider a refurbed ThinkPad too. An old X22 would get you similar specs for the same price range, but also has IBM's rather legendary reputation for reliability (granted, I don't know anything about the old Compaqs - they may well be just as good in that respect) and a great keyboard, which your wife might appreciate if she's going to be doing a lot of typing.

 

[cheesehead]

The Compaqs are excellent machines, actually - I owned a NC4010, and aside from some issues with the USB jacks caused by the upgrading of the laptop (it was a NC410 that went through extensive surgery, according to the labels), it was a fine laptop. The hinges failed, though this was likely a result of the workout I put a laptop through than a flaw.

For a lower-powered laptop, an old IBM 240 would work very well - my younger brother uses one, and if you can deal with the unimpressive CPU specs, they can have a battery life of three to four hours, and they're built like tanks.

I own an IBM X40, which replaced the 4010 - if you can afford one, they're brilliant machines. Light, built like a tank, and with a battery life nearly unsurpassed - up to six hours with the extended pack.


EDIT:

If she wants a PC, and you'd prefer she gets a mac..get her a MacBook!

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
If she wants a PC, and you'd prefer she gets a mac..get her a MacBook!

except...he's looking at a $260 laptop

for the price, that looks unbeatable.

to those of you recommending IBM laptops, don't exagerrate. you're not going to get a similarly spec'ed T-series laptop at that price. and the old ones are SLOW. at that price range, he'll probably get one with 500MHz. my dad's had T-series laptops for at least the past 8 years. i know what i mean when i say the old ones are slow.

i say go for the compaq

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
If she wants a PC, and you'd prefer she gets a mac..get her a MacBook!

except...he's looking at a $260 laptop

for the price, that looks unbeatable.

to those of you recommending IBM laptops, don't exagerrate. you're not going to get a similarly spec'ed T-series laptop at that price. and the old ones are SLOW. at that price range, he'll probably get one with 500MHz. my dad's had T-series laptops for at least the past 8 years. i know what i mean when i say the old ones are slow.

i say go for the compaq

I've seen 1.4ghz Pentium M T40's go for under $400. It's worth the cost - you get a lot of laptop for your money. An X22 comparable to the NC410 would cost not cost much more.

 

[AmigaMan]

I couldn't find any X22 refurbed on Lenovo's site. I saw a couple on ebay, but they were with like 128MB RAM and 800Mhz CPU's. At this price point, the "quality" or lack thereof of the machine isn't that important. While I'd love to get a cheap ibook, but I doubt I'd find anything for $250. My wife loves my MacBook Pro (she says things just make sense), but she sure doesn't like the price.

 

[KuJoe]

I currently own a Compaq Evo N610c (P4 2.4GHz, 768MB DDR, 40GB HDD, DVD-ROM) which I bought on eBay less than 5 months ago for $310 shipped, my new HP Pavilion dv2000z will be here Tuesday and I'm still able to sell it for $250.