Looking for a cheap, used notebook for classwork

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menomena

Junior Member
Jul 31, 2007
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I'm looking to spend about $300 on a laptop, so I'm not tethered to my desk when doing homework. It just needs to be able to play music, surf the web, use word/excel, light AutoCAD work, and light photoshop work (by light I mean copying/pasting printscreens and arranging them in a document or making a few lines and circles in CAD). I might install Kubuntu on it if I decide that I can work with Linux equivalents for PS and CAD and can find a windows emulator for this old program used for one of my classes.

Think I can find anything? There's some Lenovo T30's on eBay for about $300 with 512mb RAM and 1.8ghz Pentium M; this should be enough, right? Anything I should look out for when buying this old?

Also, it seems I can find some cheap T40's as well, but their CPU's are slower (1.3-1.5ghz) but also listed as Centrino. which is a better buy?
 
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menomena

Junior Member
Jul 31, 2007
17
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You saying that a Lenovo thats 3 years old won't last a while? I trust Lenovo 10x more than Compaq, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, or even Dell.

and I DON'T have that extra $100-200.
 
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JustaGeek

Platinum Member
Jan 27, 2007
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Originally posted by: menomena
You saying that a Lenovo thats 3 years old won't last a while? I trust Lenovo 10x more than Compaq, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, or even Dell.

and I DON'T have that extra $100-200.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I'm saying.

BTW, HP/Compaq brand is the ONLY brand I trust.

I can tell you right now that in 6 months you'll be very frustrated with how slow that 3 year old $300 machine is.

Don't waste your money - get a laptop capable of running your AutoCAD and Office, without waiting for the applications to initialize. You won't be disappointed.

But... the choice is yours...
 
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dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
4
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Originally posted by: menomena
You saying that a Lenovo thats 3 years old won't last a while? I trust Lenovo 10x more than Compaq, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, or even Dell.

and I DON'T have that extra $100-200.
Click to expand...

It'll probably last, physically. But frankly 3 year-old specs are pretty dated. If you don't plan to run any new software over its life time, then maybe it's fine, maybe. But even then, I suspect that 512MB is gonna make using power house applications like AutoCAD/Photoshop very painful. Try looking for 1GB.
 
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menomena

Junior Member
Jul 31, 2007
17
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I don't think you guys understand, I can't spend the extra money. I know it's going to be slow as hell, I'm fine with that. 75% of its use will be from doing online homework and viewing online notes. 15% will be using Word and Excel (2003 most likely, or Open Office). 5% will be using this primitive software called working model that can run more than fine on the 3 year old machines in the computer labs here. The remaining 5% of the time will be used for drawing lines and circles in AutoCAD and copying and pasting things in Photoshop. These ran well enough on my 4-5 year old backup machine with a 2600+ and 368mb RAM.

My E6750 desktop will be used if I need to do anything heavier.

If I can do these tasks on my friends PIII HP laptop, I can do them on a T40 easily.
 
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JustaGeek

Platinum Member
Jan 27, 2007
2,827
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Originally posted by: menomena
I don't think you guys understand, I can't spend the extra money. I know it's going to be slow as hell, I'm fine with that. 75% of its use will be from doing online homework and viewing online notes. 15% will be using Word and Excel (2003 most likely, or Open Office). 5% will be using this primitive software called working model that can run more than fine on the 3 year old machines in the computer labs here. The remaining 5% of the time will be used for drawing lines and circles in AutoCAD and copying and pasting things in Photoshop. These ran well enough on my 4-5 year old backup machine with a 2600+ and 368mb RAM.

My E6750 desktop will be used if I need to do anything heavier.

If I can do these tasks on my friends PIII HP laptop, I can do them on a T40 easily.
Click to expand...

It looks like your mind is pretty much set.

You're just looking for validation of your decision of buying that old Lenovo on eBay.

You're not gonna get it from me... for whatever it's worth.
 
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Pardus

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2000
8,197
21
81
we ordered 20 dell and 20 hp laptops 6 months ago, so far, 10 of the dell hard drives died from heat issues. hp's are working perfectly. seriously doubt we will go with them again.
 
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murphyslabrat

Senior member
Jan 9, 2007
314
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If you are looking for confirmation, you have it. The Pentium-M's were more efficient than it's P-III predecessor, while clocked much higher.

A 1.8Ghz Pentium-M is going to equal something like a 1.4Ghz Athlon 64 for CAD, but for everything else it will perform excellently. Due to their (for the time) massive caches, they performed quite admirably in office productivity benchmark/real-world tests.

As an alternative, I would propose the EEE PC from ASUS. Tiny screen, close to the diameter of a CD, but I have a friend who uses a 10.4 inch laptop, and it handles just fine. $200 quote, but that you still have to wait for Christmas.
 
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dnuggett

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2003
6,703
0
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The T40 is more that capable of doing what you need. I see JustaGeek's point, but he is way too hung up. Don't worry about the performance aspect, as long as you add another 512. The only issue(s) are no warranty and the crap shoot of getting a good machine on Ebay. If you don't have the extra 1-200 dollars on a new machine you can only afford to do this once. If it becomes a brick- you are hosed.
 
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dementedlemur

Golden Member
Feb 23, 2004
1,080
0
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A thinkpad T30 will have a p4-m or a p4 processor which is not close to a p-m processor. They also have a very common problem where one of the ram slots no longer functions (check forum.thinkpads.com if you want some reassurance). The T40 series would definately be a better buy for your needs, even though the clock speed on the processor is lower just looking at the numbers.
There is nothing wrong with going with an older laptop so long as you do your homework and are willing to take a risk.
If you're not in a huge rush I would recommend that you wait and see what the offerings are for black friday sales and prepare to campout at a BB or some other B&M electronics store. I was able to get a toshiba laptop last year for $250 + taxes at BB, but I had to wait outside starting at 10:00 pm and I was ~15th in line. If you do make sure to prepare for the weather!
 
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JustaGeek

Platinum Member
Jan 27, 2007
2,827
0
71
And I was lucky enough to get the $400 Compaq with the 2.0GHz Sempron at Walmart then.

It is still working beautifully. I added RAM for a total of 2GB, replaced the 60GB HD with the 80GB (kinda by accident...), got an absolutely free upgrade to Vista Home Premium from HP, and am typing this message on this very laptop.

Just wait for the Black Friday sales, guys...
 
VinDSL

VinDSL

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2006
4,869
1
81
www.lenon.com
Originally posted by: JustaGeek
I might be a little hung up, but I hate to see money wasted on substandard, outdated hardware.

How about this Gateway at $349.99...? Good for a least 1 year with full warranty...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...oduct&id=1186005750149
Click to expand...

I was actually playing around with one of these, a few hours ago, at Best Buy -- not bad! And, in some regions BB is selling them for $299.99 ;)

LoL! The whole time, some punk salesman was knocking it, trying to steer me to something else...

I was a little surprised to see one sitting there - they're quite the buzz right now - OOS online.

Anyway, it felt pretty sturdy and the price was right...

BTW, for what it's worth, Gateway bought Packard Bell the other day, so now they're Gateway/Acer/Packard Bell.
 
max347

max347

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2007
2,335
6
81
Hey ive got an x24 thinkpad if you are interested. Its very clean, upgraded specs, never let me down. Has wireless and everything. Pm if you are interested... thinking about it though..ill pm you
 
max347

max347

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2007
2,335
6
81
Originally posted by: ActiveX
we ordered 20 dell and 20 hp laptops 6 months ago, so far, 10 of the dell hard drives died from heat issues. hp's are working perfectly. seriously doubt we will go with them again.
Click to expand...

I think it would be stupid to classify them like this...as they probably all use travelstar or toshiba hard drives....
 
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