Looking for Cheap/Good Laptop - What's the Secret?

Is there a secret to finding a good but low cost laptop? Most seem
more expensive than regular PC's.

I want one to hook up to my wireless network here at home, out in the
backyard, and maybe take on vacation or simply take to town and try to hook
up to the wireless at Starbucks or wherever.

Who makes the good laptops besides Dell? I have always read that
Toshiba makes very good laptops.

I do not want a big laptop. My brother has a big Dell laptop and that
thing is heavy as a brick. I want something PORTABLE! I will not be
playing video games or anything like that on the laptop. Just e-mailing and
surfing the net and other basic stuff.

Any chance of finding a decent laptop for under $700?

So, where should I look?

Thanks!

check out the dell 1300 inspiron,
used to be on sale with 1.8 processorM for around $500-550,
now they have the same model, but with 1.7 processor for that price.
it's 15in.

the other model i recommend highly is the 14in e1405 or 640m model
inspiron. core duo processors start at 1.66 proessor
can be gotten as low as $650 on sale.
try and get a core2 model if you can on sale. its better.

Von Fourche wrote:
Is there a secret to finding a good but low cost laptop? Most seem
more expensive than regular PC's.

I want one to hook up to my wireless network here at home, out in the
backyard, and maybe take on vacation or simply take to town and try to hook
up to the wireless at Starbucks or wherever.

Who makes the good laptops besides Dell? I have always read that
Toshiba makes very good laptops.

I do not want a big laptop. My brother has a big Dell laptop and that
thing is heavy as a brick. I want something PORTABLE! I will not be
playing video games or anything like that on the laptop. Just e-mailing and
surfing the net and other basic stuff.

Any chance of finding a decent laptop for under $700?

So, where should I look?

Thanks!

NOBODY has great service on computers any more. But Toshiba's and Sony's are
sub-standard. Compaq (the old brand name lives on at HP) Evo notebooks are
respectable. IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads are too.

Notebook computers come in all shapes and sizes. Your brother probably bought
a "desktop" replacement, a BIG Inspiron E1505 or maybe an older hot-running
5100/5150/5160? So-called desktop replacements are a hot trend being pushed by
the manufacturers. Unless someone really and truly needs a big wide screen,
these computers are anything but portable. All the manufacturers make truly
portable notebook computers, too... Ben Myers

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:56:39 GMT, "Von Fourche" wrote:



Is there a secret to finding a good but low cost laptop? Most seem
more expensive than regular PC's.

I want one to hook up to my wireless network here at home, out in the
backyard, and maybe take on vacation or simply take to town and try to hook
up to the wireless at Starbucks or wherever.

Who makes the good laptops besides Dell? I have always read that
Toshiba makes very good laptops.

I do not want a big laptop. My brother has a big Dell laptop and that
thing is heavy as a brick. I want something PORTABLE! I will not be
playing video games or anything like that on the laptop. Just e-mailing and
surfing the net and other basic stuff.

Any chance of finding a decent laptop for under $700?

So, where should I look?

Thanks!

"Von Fourche" wrote in message
ink.net...


Is there a secret to finding a good but low cost laptop? Most seem
more expensive than regular PC's.

I want one to hook up to my wireless network here at home, out in the
backyard, and maybe take on vacation or simply take to town and try to
hook up to the wireless at Starbucks or wherever.

Who makes the good laptops besides Dell? I have always read that
Toshiba makes very good laptops.

I do not want a big laptop. My brother has a big Dell laptop and that
thing is heavy as a brick. I want something PORTABLE! I will not be
playing video games or anything like that on the laptop. Just e-mailing
and surfing the net and other basic stuff.

Any chance of finding a decent laptop for under $700?

So, where should I look?

Thanks!


I personally prefer to locate lightly used newer Latitude models with at
least a couple of years of complete warranty remaining. It's work locating
them, but long-term it's a wonderful thing.

I paid a little over $600 for the last one I found. D610 1.7m/1gbRAM/40gb
HDD/Combo Drive/wireless with XP Pro - had some 2+ years remaining of the
full boat corporate warranty and was/is in excellent condition.

Time consuming, however, and one has to be very careful.

Stew

"Von Fourche" wrote in message
ink.net...


Is there a secret to finding a good but low cost laptop? Most seem
more expensive than regular PC's.

I want one to hook up to my wireless network here at home, out in the
backyard, and maybe take on vacation or simply take to town and try to
hook up to the wireless at Starbucks or wherever.

Who makes the good laptops besides Dell? I have always read that
Toshiba makes very good laptops.

I do not want a big laptop. My brother has a big Dell laptop and that
thing is heavy as a brick. I want something PORTABLE! I will not be
playing video games or anything like that on the laptop. Just e-mailing
and surfing the net and other basic stuff.

Any chance of finding a decent laptop for under $700?

So, where should I look?

Thanks!

Besides Dell, you could consider laptops by Toshiba, Acer, HP and Fujitsu.
You can buy a nice laptop for $700 these days. As you say, you won't be
using it for gaming, so you could think about going with integrated video to
save some money. As for Dell laptops, there are coupons that can be used on
the Dell website at checkout that can save you hundreds of dollars. I
purchased my Inspiron 9300, a 17 inch widescreen laptop, for only $900. It
was configured at a retail price of $1500. The coupon I used saved me $600.