Laptop Suggestion for around 1,000? (Woo Hoo, Bought One! Now...Questions/Suggestions)

[MattStone]

Alright, I'm now in the market for a reletively cheap laptop. I've just purused some of the bb/cc ads and see that they have duron 800 systems reletively nice for around 1000. How good can I get for 1000, and does anyone know where I should go. I'm not really sure what brand to do with...but I'd like something with good support.

Also...I need a DVD Rom drive, and a decent enough vid board to run half-life...

Thanx in advance for the info...

 

[Pariah]

ebay

 

[MattStone]

I'll check 'um out...

Any other ideas...etailers?

 

[MattStone]

Oh yah, I forgot to say...I'd like it to be AMD based...but I'm having a little trouble finding places that carry AMD based (whether it be Duron or Athlon) laptops. Any ideas where...and are compaqs any good?

 

[RossMAN]

There's a few laptops in Hot Deals for under $1,000 probably 3-4 of them but they're all Celeron 550 up to P3/600.

 

[MattStone]

Woo Hoo! Finally made a purchase...check out the specs.

Inspiron 8000
Dell Inspiron 8000 Notebook: Intel® Pentium®III Processor, 700MHz, 14.1 SXGA+TFT Display

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System Price $1,490.00
Promotion Discount ($200.00)
Discounted Price $1,290.00
Promotion End Date Jul 26, 2001

Memory: 128MB SDRAM (2 DIMMs)
Floppy Drive: 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 10 GB EIDE Hard Drive (4200 RPM)
Video: 32MB ATI Mobility M4? 3D Video, 4X AGP
NoteBook Screen: 14 inch Notebook Screen
Modem: Internal 56K Capable V.90 + 10/100 Mini-PCI Combo
DVD Drive: 8X DVD-ROM Drive (fixed bay)
Software: Microsoft® Windows® Millennium (Windows Me)
Software
6 Month America Online Membership
Norton Antivirus® 2000
Microsoft® Works Suite 2001
Resource CD
Software
DVD Software
Software
Misc: Keyboard on Notebook
Shipping Material
Documentation

Not half bad if you ask me!

 

[lilnnjaboy]

save the 1000 and buy a better laptop...

 

[MattStone]

What do I need a better one for...it's not like it is my main system. All it will be used for is browsing the web and playing diablo 2...don't exactly need a Ghz Athlon for that.

If I need hardcore processing power...I've got my desktop w/1 Ghz T-Bird, 384 meg RAM, and 74 gigs of HD space.

 

[huanaku]

I think you got a great price on that laptop. Nice find. I love dell's refurbed site ... Have fun with it.

 

[MrBond]

Yeah, it does look like you got a steal on that laptop. They're handy as hell, within a couple days of getting mine, I was running Cat5 to my lazy boy in the family room so I could surf from there. Next project is running cat5 to the deck

 

[agg123456789]

dell refurbed are the best. i just got a celery 700, 10 gb hdd, 12.1 inch display, winme (with xp upgrade), nic, modem, dvd, and docs for 650!

enjoy your system!


agg123456789

 

[MattStone]

Thanx for the feedback guys. I'm glad I got a good deal. It was odd...all day the only systems poping up were abotu 1500 for p3600 machines with no extras...then at 3 in the morning...bam, a buncha 1300 decked out ones showed up.

Thank you insomnia...hehe

 

[Gepost]

Hey Matt, you going to put a GeForce in that? You know you can for about $200.

 

[RossMAN]

Good choice Matt. If you would have insisted on buying a brand new laptop for $1,290 you would have been really limited to stripped models without the goodies and expansion the Dell Inspiron 8000 offers. I hope you realize the i8000 is a desktop replacement and not really suited for frequent travel because of it's size/dimensions/weight. It's still a lot more portable than lugging around a rig, modem, mouse, speakers and monitor but it's not a featherlight 3-4 pound laptop either.

I would recommend three upgrades for your laptop:
1) Buy more RAM, at least 256MB total.
2) Erase that Win ME crap and install W2K.
3) Eventually find a larger and faster hard drive, at least 20GB 5400RPM.

Yes it doesn't have a GeForce2Go but you saved a huge wad of money and didn't have to "settle" for some wimpy ass Celeron HP laptop or the like.

Does anyone know if it's easy or difficult to replace the 32MB ATI 4M with a GeForce2Go? Just a matter of pulling out the old and plugging in the new and installing drivers or is it more complicated than than?

Again congrats and enjoy your new machine, it's nice that Dell offers the same warranties on their refurbs as they do their new PCs.

 

[joohang]

Check out the ones at SonyStyle.com.

Especially that new VAIO SR (2.9 lbs) priced @ $999.

 

[MattStone]

Yah...I planned on atleast getting some ram right away. I tell you, it's amazing going to bb or circuit city, and checking out their lappys. Like a celeron 600 w/64 meg ram/5 gig hd/4meg vid board...etc for like 1400. So I really feel like I got a good deal...it is also a good portable dvd player...and it's got spdif out...so that's even better. I'm really happy that I found it!

 

[MattStone]

Oh yah, I forgot to ask. I have a win2k upgrade disc...is their any easy way to install it without reformating the hd?

 

[SF DUDE]

You got a good deal. I like my deal better-A HP N5450 (P3850, DVD,CDRW, 15", 20 gig) for free! A gift from an HP Exec friend who I have helped out several times. What a nice payback! Just got it yesterday. Sorry, but I had to gloat a little bit.

Chad