Laptop questions...again...

[cooprules]

I'm looking for a laptop. I'm willing to buy a decent used or refurbished one to keep the cost down. The main thing I'll want to do is surf while sitting my butt on the couch. I have a desktop with a DSL service so I'm hoping I could tap into that via a wireless router?

 

I really don't understand the wireless thing at all so I don't know what I can or cannot do.

 

This is the type I'm thinking of. Looking for any other tips. Want to get as much as I can for under 800 bucks.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-LATITUDE-D600-P4-1-8-GIG-CDRW-DVD-WI-FI-LAPTOP-NR_W0QQitemZ180202842613QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180202842613

[bjkrautk]

I'm not a huge advocate of buying used laptops (as there's a reason the prior user bought a replacement), but the laptop you're looking at should do most of what you're looking for.

(My one negative: any laptop you buy should have at least 1 GB of RAM.)

 

For reference, with a new Dell (under $800), you can get:

Core 2 Duo processor

160 GB hard drive

2 GB of RAM

15.4" Widescreen LCD

Windows Vista (which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you talk to.)

 

There are lower-priced options available, but this at least gives you a baseline to compare against.

 

Option Number 2: a manufacturer refurbished notebook. Just looking, I was able to find a Core 2 Duo notebook with 1GB of RAM and between a 80GB-120GB hard drive for under $600. (Note: I'm not advocating Dell over any other manufactuer....I just know their website fairly well.)

 

 

As for Wireless, you have the right idea: run the cord from your cable modem into a Wi-Fi router (either 802.11(b), (g), or (N)...N is faster, and should have the best range, but chances are your broadband connection will be the bottleneck), and have a wireless card of the same type built-in to your laptop.

[sgtcluels]

Ha! Just make sure you can downgrade to XP. Vista is the devil. Teehee

[DSFastball55]

I've been using Windows Vista on a couple machines for about a year now, and am very happy with it. The only problem is compatibility with certain programs and hardware, but that is not Microsoft's problem. The same thing happened when XP came out, once the software makers updated their stuff and hardware makers updated their drivers, everything was fine.

As for using 802.11n wireless, there is virtually no benefit for the added price over 802.11g at this time unless you are using top of the line everything. Maybe a bit better range i suppose.

[falloutboy]

Refurb notebooks are generally a bad idea. When I have a customer looking at a refurb I tell them that it could be a laptop that someone bought and they decided they didn't want the thing, or some kid dropped it on the kitchen floor.

 

I work as a sales rep for Infotel Distributing.. we handle the VAR accounts for Tiger Direct (we're a sister company). While you can save a couple hundred dollars, the risk is that unless you pay for the expensive replacement warranty, once your three months is up, it's up. There are also different grades of refurbs, the only issue is that the customer never actually knows what they're getting. Refurb can mean new, but had an issue. Or it can mean used and beat up. Never trust the pictures.

 

I don't sell Dell, so I don't really have any experience. But from what I understand (and I sell many, many Acers) is that Acer laptops have the best warranty in the business. It's generally 5-7 days to get a laptop to and from their repair depot and all of their reps (that I've spoken to) speak english natively. I know that may not seem like a big deal, but when you're angry because your hard-drive just crashed and you can't understand the person that's supposed to help you..

 

If I were in the market for a laptop under $800 today, I'd buy one of these:

http://www.buy.com/prod/acer-extensa-ex4620-4054-lx-e9906-004-14-1-inch-pentium-dual-core-1/q/loc/101/206120080.html

 

$630 shipped.

For about $100 you can throw an extra two year warranty on that beast giving you three years total.

 

XP Pro, dual core, great warranty. What else matters?

[cooprules]

Thanks for the help. I work on a Mac daily so I would love a MacBook but it's just too pricey for what I'm going to use it for, I think.

 

Surfing, downloading pictures from a camera, stuff like that.

 

This has really helped.

 

One more question. I see that most have an internal modem. If I would have a wireless router connected to my DSL line, it wouldn't even be using that, right? While surfing from my laptop upstairs, can I expect the same surfing speed as what I have from my desktop PC? Just curious.

[bork]

While surfing from my laptop upstairs, can I expect the same surfing speed as what I have from my desktop PC?

Yes, you should see the same speed. The DSL connection is slower than the wireless connection. So the bottleneck won't be with the wireless, but with the DSL speed.

 

I see that most have an internal modem. If I would have a wireless router connected to my DSL line, it wouldn't even be using that, right?

You'd really only need the modem if you were traveling and the hotel doesn't have high speed internet access or wireless. So not often, if ever.

 

I've had good luck with my Dell laptops and I use a wireless router to connect to DSL. Just stay away from Netgear for wireless routers and you should be fine.

[Blunt36]

Dell has two coupons out now for their Inspiron notebook computers. XJ60HV47FLT0TH will get you $300 off $1199 or more, and X21$35FPTXHQTB will get you $200 off $899 or more. I'm not sure exactly when these expire, but its either today or 1/10. There are generally similar deals floating around, so once these go away I'm sure something else will pop up. Two good websites for finding similar deals are www.spoofee.com and www.techbargains.com.

[colbyjack]

Quick question, what would you take if everything else were even:

 

 

 

1.6 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 processor

 

 

 

or

 

 

 

2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 processor

[cooprules]

Thinking about ditching my landline. Can I still have DSL internet if I cancel my landline? I use Verizon for DSL and phone right now.

 

Thx

[bball123h2]

Pretty sure you need a landline for your DSL connection.

[bullox]

Quick question, what would you take if everything else were even:

 

 

 

1.6 GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 processor

 

 

 

or

 

 

 

2.0 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 processor

Intel's Core 2 Duo line really creams the AMD X2. That said, the Intel above is not a Core 2 Duo. It is dual core, but not the same architecture. Due to past history and certain proprietary software conflicts I myself would go with the Intel.

 

[JoeHova]

Mac's are well worth the extra money. Bite the bullet and pay the extra couple hundred. You can easily make it back (if you are really worried about it) by selling it on eBay when you are done with it.

 

Just looking on ebay right now, there is a G3 i book (the crappy plastic mac laptop) with 10 GB of storage and a 500 mhz processor selling for over $300 (with over 50 bids). That it is a G3 means that it's at least 9 years old. A 9 year old (or older) low-end mac laptop sells for practically as much as some Windows laptops sell for new. Good luck having a Windows laptop even be in working order after that long, much less still be worth anything.

[Diskono]

Pretty sure you need a landline for your DSL connection.

 

You don't really, but DSL providers make you keep it, likely so they can charge you more.

[1992casey]

Carriers are "kinda" required to provide "dry loop" or "naked" DSL (DSL without a landline). I say "kinda" because there are enough exceptions that they might not. There's no requirement that price and capability be the same as what's offered without the landline, though. One of my friends paid about $25 per month for AT&T dry loop DSL at 800K.

 

Just curious, cooprules. Given the date gap in this thread, did you buy a laptop? If not, I tend to concur with Joe Hova about Macs retaining value, and I also wouldn't worry much about buying a refurbished product from Apple. Also, with Leopard's Spaces feature, which allows you to spread your windows over the equivalent of 16 desktops worth of room, you might not need all that big a screen.

[cooprules]

I haven't bought a laptop yet. I would rather have a Mac myself (I work on one all day) but it's hard to buy a old Mac for the same price or more than a new PC. And I still have some weird issues with viewing some internet content with Firefox and Safari.

 

Verizon does have a "dry loop" service. It would be about 43.99/mo. which is about 6 dollars more than what we're paying now. But we'd save the cost of the landline service. Charter was more expensive since we wouldn't be bundling it with anything (I have DirecTV). I don't really know of any other service that would be cheaper other than dialup. And Verizon's been reliable for me.

[JoeHova]

I haven't bought a laptop yet. I would rather have a Mac myself (I work on one all day) but it's hard to buy a old Mac for the same price or more than a new PC. And I still have some weird issues with viewing some internet content with Firefox and Safari.

 

 

No, don't do that, buy a new Mac, then resell it later if you upgrade or whatever. You'll easily make back the difference between what you paid for the Mac and what you would have paid for the PC. Also, if you still like some Windows stuff, the new Macs can run all of that stuff pretty easily (or so I hear, I don't have any interest in IE or anything like that, so I haven't tried it).

 

 

edit: also, if Safari or Firefox doesn't work on a certain page, try Opera. Some government sites won't load properly for me with Safari or FF, but they work with Opera. Having to resort to Opera once in awhile is a slight hassle, but not nearly comparable to the hassle of having a Windows computer. I still have a Windows laptop that my wife had to buy to use some statistics software a couple years ago because VirtualPC (a mac program that allowed you to install Windows on G4 Macs) wouldn't run the software fast enough. The laptop gets a virus literally every time I turn it on, which has been probably 10 times total. That doesn't even match my last windows desktop though, which I had for like 6 months before it became completely inoperable because of glitches, bugs, and viruses. I mean, I could have saved it probably by reinstalling everything, but enough is enough, you know? I went back to Mac for good after that and haven't looked back.

[1992casey]

Some government sites won't load properly for me with Safari or FF, but they work with Opera.

 

There are four browser families available for OS X:

• The Mozilla family (Firefox, Camino, SeaMonkey, Flock)
• The Safari family (Safari, Shiira, OmniWeb, and a host of others)
• Opera
• iCab
  

It pays to have at least one from each family. Actually, I have all of the Mozilla browsers. There are too many Safari-based browsers to have them all, though. I have the three I listed. iCab is weird. I have it, but I rarely fire it up. I guess it's excellent for certain niche users, though.

[JoeHova]

casey-

 

related to that, is there any way to share bookmarks/histories between the various browsers? If there was, having so many different browsers wouldn't be a big deal. I mean, there may be something like that, I haven't looked very hard, but if you regularly use 8 different browsers, it must get a little confusing keeping track of links and stuff. Or not?

[1992casey]

I spend almost all my time in Firefox, so bookmarks and histories are really non-issues. My Firefox installation is way customized, though, and these customizations occasionally get in the way of properly viewing a site

 

Because I have dialup at home, my Firefox installation has very aggressive ad blocking, and javascript and Flash are shut down except for sites I approve (a pretty long list). I also only accept cookies from sites I approve (another long list). Cookie restrictions aren't for speed; I do that because I hate it that sites have to send nosy tracking cookies.

 

When my customizations cause sites to break, I'll jump over to any of the other browsers. They're all at or near the "out of the box" settings, and I'm really not dependent on bookmarks in those browsers. I think I have about three in Safari, but that's it.

 

I don't know of any real way to share bookmarks, but in most cases, these browsers will import and export bookmarks just fine. I believe Safari is a bit limited, but those limitations can be overcome by downloading a helper application. (Myself? I'll just copy and paste manually to transfer one.) I utilize my history in Firefox constantly, but I just skip it in the other browsers.

[DHonks]

I still can't understand consumers having issues with Vista. I ordered my computer when it first came out, and I've never had one issue. Software crashes are handled just as well as in Macs. It's so far ahead of XP for my needs that I absolutely love it. I guess most of the animosity is towards it is from IT folks.

 

I am seriously considering purchasing the new HP mini note. I have my work MacBook, but the thing is heavy. The mini-note can be configured many ways. It'd be my travel/internet (on my lap while on the couch) computer. And it starts for $500.

[edod]

I am often asked for computer advice (I really only deal with PC's) and I always tell people to downgrade to XP if possible, particularly if it's a laptop. The reason being that, as I understand it, Vista has significant resource demands. Most of the people who ask me are looking for basic browser/wordprocessor units and don't want to spend a lot. If you get a baseline PC laptop with Vista, you're going to have sluggish performance (as far as I know). If you've got 2 gigs ram and a video card with dedicated ram, then it might not matter, but that's going to raise the price at least $200 in a laptop.

 

I too often refer to dell as they are cheap and still offer XP, though there is a higher possibility of getting a lemon as they are a huge producer. I've had several dell laptops with no problems (other than user stupidity) whereas my sister bought Dell Vostro (my recommendation) and it came with a video/screen problems. She had to return it bunch of times, at no additional cost of course, but it got to be frustrating.

[pitchleague]

thanks for suggesting the "dry loop" DSL service. We've been looking for quite a while if there was a way to get rid of our land line (which we NEVER use) but still get high speed DSL (we don't get cable and we won't do satellite internet). The wife and I are going to sit down with bills and decide if it is just easier to get rid of the land line and save about $40 a month. I didn't know that communications companies offered it.