Laptop question...

[Tokar]

My dad wants to buy a laptop for his mother to use, the problem is that he says even $700 (the cheapest dell or B&M stores offer...after rebate none the less) is too much to spend for a laptop, especially because of its intended use.

Im wondering: is possible to buy an older RETAIL laptop that has like a pentium 2, or slower pentium 3 or something for something a lot less than $700?

 

[Hender]

There are new laptops that retail for less than that, but I don't know about the quality. There are also brand name laptop that go for that much, but they tend to use the VIA C3 CPU or the Transmeta Crusoe CPU and have 10" LCD screens, which is pretty tiny. For older laptops, eBay may be your best choice, but that's a crapshoot sometimes.

 

[corkyg]

A laptop would be a poor choice for a novice user. First, they are the most expensive hardware format you can buy. You get much more bang for the buck with a good complete system from Dell, HP/Compaq, or even E-Machines.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Yes if you settle for used, off-lease, dead-battery, possibly with no OS and with only a 30-day warranty:
www.truedataproducts.com
www.pcsurplusonline.com

true data has nice Dell and HP models for $400 (366-400 MHz, 128 MB RAM, includes OS).

> A laptop would be a poor choice for a novice user.

positives:
- no keybd & video cables for n00b to deal with, only 1 power cord
- doesn't require its own desk (kitchen table works fine)

 

[Tokar]

Originally posted by: corky-g
A laptop would be a poor choice for a novice user. First, they are the most expensive hardware format you can buy. You get much more bang for the buck with a good complete system from Dell, HP/Compaq, or even E-Machines.

im not asking for your choice on a laptop over a desktop...

i know the positives and negatives of each, so i dont need to be lectured on it...

answer the question at hand, thank you...

 

[bigshooter]

why is everyone turning into a dick on this forum? if you don't liek a user's response just ignore it. anyways if you are going to buy a laptop for $700 brand new you are not going to get a quality machine. You can try to buy one used, but as someone has already pointed out you may not get a quality machine there either. If you go older used, you are also missing out on the warranty. Getting a replacement part for an old laptop to fix a minor problem may cost as much as the laptop did to purchase. WIth a new one you are going to get at least a one year warranty plus a machine that is less likely to break.