Laptop deals

[fredtgreco]

Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.

You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.

 

[Pilgrim]

Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.

You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.

I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal.

Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.

 

[py3ak]

Yes, it will work with a USB drive. You might want to get an external power supply, though, instead of drawing your power through the USB port. It's frequently a problem on laptops that they won't put enough power through a USB port to power a portable hard drive effectively.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.

You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.

I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal.

Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.

The concept with the EEE is actually pretty slick. If you integrated this with Google Documents you don't really need to have a lot locally stored. They've actually built it to work well with Google Docs. You can keep most of your documents stored online and only bring them down to your drive when you are working on those specific docs.

I was going to recommend the EEE but I wasn't sure if that would fit your needs. It's not going to be able to run Libronix or stuff like that. The keyboard might also be too small for your fingers.

What are you going to use this laptop for?

 

[Pilgrim]

Does it work with a USB drive? You could get a huge external HD for documents, etc. I have seen 750GB or even a Terabyte for $100.

You should be able to find a 250GB for less than $50.

I thought about that. I need this machine for business and will be taking it into clients homes, etc. But I probably won't be using a lot of storage for business and could use one of those drives for personal.

Fred when you said I should be able to get something for sub 400 or maybe even 300, was something like this what you had in mind? I did find one Toshiba for under 400 at Office Depot, but other than asus machines, mostly what I turned up in that range was reconditioned machines, which I might consider.

The concept with the EEE is actually pretty slick. If you integrated this with Google Documents you don't really need to have a lot locally stored. They've actually built it to work well with Google Docs. You can keep most of your documents stored online and only bring them down to your drive when you are working on those specific docs.

I was going to recommend the EEE but I wasn't sure if that would fit your needs. It's not going to be able to run Libronix or stuff like that. The keyboard might also be too small for your fingers.

What are you going to use this laptop for?

To continue with my invaluable contributions to the PB and the blogosphere, of course.

Seriously what I need it for is running quoting software and other applications for business (I'm an insurance agent), webinars, possibly using a powerpoint projector and things like that. That's why I'm thinking I probably need to stay with a Windows because I don't know if all of the software would work with Linux or Mac for that matter. In the past, I've also found quite a few company sites that aren't fully functional unless you are using IE. I don't want something that isn't going to be compatible with software I might need for work or might want for personal use. I know that I could put Windows on the EEE and get external drives, but I'm thinking if I get into all that it won't be much cheaper than a Lenovo or some of the more inexpensive Toshiba's, or one of the new machines you can buy off of eBay.

I went to Best Buy today. Since their sales run Sunday-Saturday it looks like you have to be a Sabbath breaker to take advantage of some of their best deals since some of them are available in store only. The salesman said typically they will have about 5 of each model that is on sale and usually they are gone on Sunday.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

What's your budget for a notebook?

I don't really like buying stuff on EBay because bid wars always cause these things to go higher than they ought. You could easily get a model that's only a year old and get a powerhorse for a cheap price that somebody else is selling in a non-auction format. Filtering through EBay is such a pain.

Here's one place: AnandTech -- For Sale/Trade

Have you checked out Dell Outlet: Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished Laptop - Refurbished Notebook

IBM Refurb: IBM - Used laptops, used servers, used computers - refurbished and certified using IBM standards

Also, check out Craig's List: craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums

And check out your local paper.

 

[Pilgrim]

What's your budget for a notebook?

I don't really like buying stuff on EBay because bid wars always cause these things to go higher than they ought. You could easily get a model that's only a year old and get a powerhorse for a cheap price that somebody else is selling in a non-auction format. Filtering through EBay is such a pain.

Here's one place: AnandTech -- For Sale/Trade

Have you checked out Dell Outlet: Dell Outlet Home & Home Office - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished Laptop - Refurbished Notebook

IBM Refurb: IBM - Used laptops, used servers, used computers - refurbished and certified using IBM standards

Also, check out Craig's List: craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums

And check out your local paper.

I agree that filtering through eBay is a pain because there are so many things on there as well as trying to get information on specs, etc.

I am hoping to pay no more than about 500 but would like to get it to 300-400 range if possible. I have other expenses I have to budget for but need a machine that will get me by for a year or so.

When I was looking yesterday I saw refurbished Lenovo's and others that were cheaper than the Dell and IBM links and that had longer warranties. I'll have to look at them more closely, but I've seen new machines for not much more than the refurbs listed on those sites, many of which only have a 3 month warranty. Maybe there are better values to be had there at the higher orice points.

Thanks everyone for your input.