Inexpensive Laptop for my son

[Alram]

I want to buy my son a laptop for college.
Cost--As cheap as possible, under $750 if possible

Function--word processing, email, internet wireless connection, music for his Creative Zen Micro. Minimal to no gaming

USB ports for his printer, etc.

Comfortable keyboard.

Lightweight is preferable.

He loses things. How do I lower the probability of him leaving it behind?

Suggestions please.

[Ashock]

I want to buy my son a laptop for college.
Cost--As cheap as possible, under $750 if possible

Function--word processing, email, internet wireless connection, music for his Creative Zen Micro. Minimal to no gaming

USB ports for his printer, etc.

Comfortable keyboard.

Lightweight is preferable.

Suggestions please.
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www.dell.com - watch for special offers.

He loses things. How do I lower the probability of him leaving it behind?
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Chain it to his wrist.

If you find that too impractical, tell him that if loses it, the next computer he gets will be bought with his own money and that he will have to pay off the money you paid for the computer. If he manages to lose it anyway, follow through with your promise.... at least for a year or two. When you finally break down and get him another one (in a year or two) I guarantee you he will guard it with his life. Oh and don't foget to give him a big speech about how irresponsible he is and all that other stuff that parents do.



-A

[Munkay]

I'd suggest watching Ebay, especially anything remaining under transferablewarranty. My own experience is that IBM thinkpads have incredible service, well worth the money for extended warranty.

If your son is going to college, mac has some great student offers (the lowest is around 900$ though, over your limit).

The biggest warning I received when bringing a laptop to college was that under no circumstances would it be replaced by my parents. I always keep a very watchful eye on it.

Cheers,

Munk

PS. I apologize for typo's, slightly intoxicated at the moment.

[Doc]

http://www.wegenermedia.com/

Get a used iBook, either one of the clamshells for $280 or one of the icebooks. These units are nearly indestructable. They pack a lot more power than you think, have middle to slightly above average gaming ability, and there is tons of software available. You can run OSX on them which will make them rock solid and dependable. They come with all the ports you will need for college standard, so no extra dongles to hunt down. Built in ethernet, USB, firewire on some models, and a modem standard. You could even get a Powerbook from this outfit at a very reasonable price, and have lots of power, plus upgradeability on the cheap.

[SetBuilder]

I want to buy my son a laptop for college.
Cost--As cheap as possible, under $750 if possible

Suggestions please.
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Get more money. You aren't getting a good notebook that will have everything he's going to need for college at $750. Maybe finance a computer?

www.dell.com - watch for special offers.
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None of our offers will deliver what you need. $750 will buy a basic bare-bones system. Like an inspiron 1200 or 2200. No dedicated video, no microsoft office, no security software, and not the largest amount of power.

Normally if you are looking for a (relatively) inexpensive notebook for a college student, I recommend our inpsiron 600M Deal of the Week. Goes for about 1100, comes with security software. You just need to add MS Office, and you're set. Has dedicated video, is a light solution, has cd burner/dvd player, 60gb hdd, 512 RAM, 14.1" screen, 3 year onsite warentee. With Office Small Business (word + excel + powerpoint) would cost roughly $1350. That would stand a chance of lasting 3-4 years of college. Anything less hardware wise... Replace it in a couple years. And what makes that deal of the week on the 600m so nice is that it comes with the warentee. No charge.

Think twice before dumping >1000 into a notebook, especially for college. Gonna need a bit more, and with notebooks, it's a bit more difficult to upgrade or expand than desktops.

[Chaerophon]

Get more money. You aren't getting a good notebook that will have everything he's going to need for college at $750. Maybe finance a computer?
None of our offers will deliver what you need. $750 will buy a basic bare-bones system. Like an inspiron 1200 or 2200. No dedicated video, no microsoft office, no security software, and not the largest amount of power.

Unless Alram's son is going into comuputing science, I think that most people here are going to call BS on that one. As we speak, I'm typing on the dell laptop that I've had for the last two years of my college experience. PII 266, 128 Megs RAM, Wireless 56k, Office 2000, EZ Trust Firewall and Anti-Virus, Stopzilla, AdAware, Spybot, and Firefox. Cripes, my brother is on only a slightly faster computer, and he's successfully running all of his AutoCAD stuff for an architecture degree.

I don't get viruses, I do get e-mail and google. I get A's. This cost... just over 300 bucks Canadian at the time (two and a half years ago). I think that a budget of 750 American will do Alram just fine.

[[wcip]Angel]

At first glance, I thought I read "Inexpensive Laptop for my pr0n", and in the nano-second I was under the misconception, I thought to myself "For what vile reasons would he want a *labtop* for his pornography?" :blink:

I'm happy to see I was mistaken.. ;)

[TaiDaishar]

At first glance, I thought I read "Inexpensive Laptop for my pr0n", and in the nano-second I was under the misconception, I thought to myself "For what vile reasons would he want a *labtop* for his pornography?"  :blink:

I'm happy to see I was mistaken.. ;)
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:blink:

[SetBuilder]

Unless Alram's son is going into comuputing science, I think that most people here are going to call BS on that one.  As we speak, I'm typing on the dell laptop that I've had for the last two years of my college experience.  PII 266, 128 Megs RAM, Wireless 56k, Office 2000, EZ Trust Firewall and Anti-Virus, Stopzilla, AdAware, Spybot, and Firefox.  Cripes, my brother is on only a slightly faster computer, and he's successfully running all of his AutoCAD stuff for an architecture degree.

I don't get viruses, I do get e-mail and google.  I get A's.  This cost... just over 300 bucks Canadian at the time (two and a half years ago).  I think that a budget of 750 American will do Alram just fine.
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Considering Dell has NEVER sold a notebook for $250 US, and a PII 266 is a bit more than 2 years old, I'd say that I'd have to call BS on that, too.

So, essentially, you're telling me you got a good deal on E-Bay. Congratulations. Try installing XP pro and Office 2K3. Try running excel or ppt.

When it blue screens, call me up, I'll hook you up with a good deal on something that's a bit less than 7 years old. ;)

Oh, and Wireless 56K? Post a link to where you can get that. Are you talking maybe of a GPRS card, with cellphone-style service that costs $30-$50 a month maybe?

Oh, and one last thing, I WORK at Dell. Don't try telling me I don't know our pricing, as well as the dates we sold what you have.

Also, I ran a desktop comparable to the specs you listed. About 7 years ago. Still have it, in fact. Takes about 4 minutes just to boot up on XP Pro. Except it has 512MB of RAM. And Excel pushes it to it's limits. No viruses, no spyware. Even with the 64MB video card (which I'm sure yours does not have, as the 64MB flavor didn't exist at that point) it's still worthless for any games beyond the original Diablo.

'S ok though, you seem to know what you're talking about.

[Alram]

Thanks for all of your suggestions.
Here is a bit more info.
On his current computer, a desktop, he uses Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Sygate, and AntiVir all of which is free. His Zen Micro software. That's it. Software is not an issue.

He is a sophomore. He really had a terrible first year in which he failed more than one subject. So far this semester he is running a B average. I want to reward him for his success. Of course the success itself is a reward, but still I would like to do something for him which ties in with school. I know he could use a laptop. Unfortunately, my current income and expenses are such that I can't afford much.

His current computer runs ME. He gets blue screens of death, etc. I could probably fix it for him by buying him XP and installing it. That would be the lowest cost alternative. But , I know a laptop would serve him better. Many nights he spends at a friend's place and if he had a laptop it would be more convenient.

I checked out the Dell D505 Latitude laptop which is currently on sale for around $750 with a free upgrade to 512 RAM from their base of 128 MB. Running XP with 128 MB of RAM is ridiculous imho. 256 RAM would be a minimum with 512 preferable.

I will need to wait until the end of the semester to ensure that he keeps up his grades before buying the box.

So on the issue of losing things--
Before cars came with that alarm that dings, I left my lights on more than once and ran down my battery. If he had some alarm thingie that kept him from leaving the laptop behind that would be cool. I found this laptop alarm
But
1. It costs $69
2. what happens when he loses the transmitter
3. How do I know how well it works?

[SetBuilder]

Thanks for all of your suggestions.
Here is a bit more info.
On his current computer, a desktop, he uses Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Sygate,  and AntiVir all of which is free. His Zen Micro software. That's it. Software is not an issue.

He is a sophomore. He really had a terrible first year in which he failed more than one subject. So far this semester he is running a B average. I want to reward him for his success. Of course the success itself is a reward, but still I would like to do something for him which ties in with school. I know he could use a laptop. Unfortunately, my current income and expenses are such that I can't afford much.

His current computer runs ME. He gets blue screens of death, etc. I could probably fix it for him by buying him XP and installing it. That would be the lowest cost alternative. But , I know a laptop would serve him better. Many nights he spends at a friend's place and if he had a laptop it would be more convenient.

I checked out the Dell D505 Latitude laptop which is currently on sale for around $750 with a free upgrade to 512 RAM from their base of 128 MB. Running XP with 128 MB of RAM is ridiculous imho. 256 RAM would be a minimum with 512 preferable.

I will need to wait until the  end of the semester to ensure that he keeps up his grades before buying the box.

So on the issue of losing things--
Before cars came with that alarm that dings, I left my lights on more than once and ran down my battery. If he had some alarm thingie that kept him from leaving the laptop behind that would be cool. I found this laptop alarm
But
1. It costs $69
2. what happens when he loses the transmitter
3. How do I know how well it works?
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As far as the notebook alarms, they work. Can't really say more.

Second, try the D600 w/dedicated video. May be able to get it for around $700 to $800 on sale, or try the 600M. If you're getting him the lattitude, you need to call the dell business sales line (800-BUY-Dell x67613) or the Education purchase line (x88714), as that line is not offered through home sales. Again, would be a good idea to make sure it has a dedicated video card. You really don't want both video and sound sucking from a pentium M proc, and a P4 proc is terrible for a notebook.

[Chaerophon]

Clearly you do work for Dell, and clearly you missed my point. I bought the computer 2 and a half years ago, at that price. Meaning that it would be cheaper now. I never claimed that I bought it new. My point was that today, Alram could get a much nicer computer for 750 bucks.

Alram asked for inexpensive. You told him that his son 'needed' a 1000-plus dollar computer to cope in college. I told you otherwise.

BTW, where did Alram ask about gaming? I could have sworn that he said it would be used for 'minimal to no gaming'. I guess you were too busy upselling him to actually read his post.

[Alram]

Again, would be a good idea to make sure it has a dedicated video card. You really don't want both video and sound sucking from a pentium M proc, and a P4 proc is terrible for a notebook.
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I'm not sure why he would need a dedicated video card for word processing and surfing the web. Am i wrong?

[Hammerskjold]

>"For what vile reasons would he want a *labtop* for his pornography?"

It'd be more discreet than carrying a stack of "Hustler" I'd imagine. ;)

[Yrrek]

I'm not sure why he would need a dedicated video card for word processing and surfing the web. Am i wrong?
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As Chaerophon pointed out above, and I agree, he is trying to sell you a laptop.

My advice would be to eBay it. In fact, my friend has a bunch of stuff up there right now, I don't know if he has a laptop though. I will check on that and edit.

If you haven't used eBay before, make sure you read EVERYTHING, especially small print and people that have reviewed him. A few months ago someone was selling a *picture* of his laptop starting at $600USD I think, and he had people bidding thinking it was the actual laptop. Plus if they have bad reviews that is a definite warning sign they are out to scam you.

Look for something with 512RAM, 1.2GHz proc should be plenty. I'm sure he would like wireless connection, and if it doesn't come with wireless, you can always purchase a PCMCIA card for cheap on www.newegg.com to give his lappy wireless capabilities. You can also find software (word processing) cheap online or through friends etc.

Good luck!

[SetBuilder]

Clearly you do work for Dell, and clearly you missed my point.  I bought the computer 2 and a half years ago, at that price.  Meaning that it would be cheaper now.  I never claimed that I bought it new.  My point was that today, Alram could get a much nicer computer for 750 bucks. 

Alram asked for inexpensive.  You told him that his son 'needed' a 1000-plus dollar computer to cope in college.  I told you otherwise. 

BTW, where did Alram ask about gaming?  I could have sworn that he said it would be used for 'minimal to no gaming'.  I guess you were too busy upselling him to actually read his post.
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If you are buying it new, you aren't getting much of anything for that price. If you are buying it used, you aren't calling Dell. So there you go!

As far as gaming, I used Diablo as an example, because it's a game you could run very comfortable in 95, and XP Pro (which is much more efficient than home) requires FAR MORE graphical power than win95 AND Diablo, put together. Have you ever actually looked at requirements for any of even the more basic MS Office programs, graphical editing programs, or much of anything along those lines? Are you aware of exactly how the entire GUI of an operating system effects your system memory and processor?

Essentially, if you want to ask questions, then follow them with empty insults (as I hate selling computers, I'd much rather build them, use them, and say "#$%& off" to people who want to assume they know everything about them when it's obvious they don't), then you are now at the level of a stupid and ignorant customer, so you can have the same kind of example. Your proc is a UPS truck. The average command, such as to run a spreadsheet, is like a small package. The average command (or extremely long chain of commands) associated with sound is like a large size Uhaul box. The average command from a video card now... That's a package the size of a buick. If you want the system (especially lower-end) to perform at a decent level with "basic" stuffs like spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, and basic graphical editing (all of which are taught in BOTH high school and college courses, even the entry basic courses, and many of which are needed in business, art, and other classes as well at this point), wouldn't it seem like a good idea to put the buicks on the car-hauling semi, and leave the ups truck to it's packages?

A dedicated video card has a dedicated, specialized processor specifically meant for video processing. A 300MHz graphical processor is faster at processing all video (including even the basic windows startup screen) than even a XEON 64 bit proc. Now a Mobil P4 2.8GHz proc performs at roughly about 1.2GHz unplugged. A Pentium M 1.5GHz performs at what it says, plugged in or not. When you are talking about low speeds like that, why take up three quarters of the power just to be able to process video commands?

Also, same deal with RAM. Why would you want to fill up your RAM with video crap when you don't need to.

Also, there is an issue of bus lines. Most notebooks at this point are still running AGP archtecture, which has one system bus. With only one system bus, only one piece of hardware can talk, only one can listen. When the average video command requires transferring huge amounts of info from RAM to proc to be processed, then from RAM to the video display chip on the vid card AND RAM AND HDD cache, it can take a long time. Ideally, the video card can do ALL of that, and it never caches anything on the HDD, so the system bus stays free, again for functions like loading the system extensions necessary to load up an internet browser, or opening the several dozen programs that make up a word processing application.

BTW, I've been working with computers since LONG before windows came out. As soon as windows came out, that's when video cards really started to boom. Whether you were a gamer or not, it was good to have one. Did you not ever wonder why?

I'm not sure why he would need a dedicated video card for word processing and surfing the web. Am i wrong?
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See above, but basically, it's a good idea. Performance will be MUCH MUCH smoother, will work faster, and will run newer programs necessary for school much much longer.

Your choice though. If you do call Dell, again, I'd recommend calling the education line. If you are not planning to get an extended warentee, but use the school name, you'll probably get roughly an extra 4% discount. If you do get a 3-4 year warentee, you'll get a 12% discount.

Best of luck to you, and I hope your son enjoys his new (or used :P) notebook.

[Munkay]

Your proc is a UPS truck. The average command, such as to run a spreadsheet, is like a small package. The average command (or extremely long chain of commands) associated with sound is like a large size Uhaul box. The average command from a video card now... That's a package the size of a buick. If you want the system (especially lower-end) to perform at a decent level with "basic" stuffs like spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, and basic graphical editing (all of which are taught in BOTH high school and college courses, even the entry basic courses, and many of which are needed in business, art, and other classes as well at this point), wouldn't it seem like a good idea to put the buicks on the car-hauling semi, and leave the ups truck to it's packages?

Why are we talking about buicks? The original poster asked for tasks more like packages than buicks.

And in that case, I'd rather have the UPS truck as long as the package always gets there, especially if I had extra cash in my pocket to show for it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm not too concerned about blazing fast spreadsheets. When I consider the amount of time an average undergrad spends goofing off, I don't think it'd be worth the money.

I bring my laptop to every lecture style class I attend. I have a 1.9mhz P3 IBM laptop with 256 megs of ram. It's far from a bottom feeder of a laptop. Though it may not boot nearly as fast as my friends ultraslim $3000 .2 pound laptop, I'm more than content.

I've never run into any problems with spreadsheets loading too slowly. Nor any other trouble for that matter. As I tell my friend, I'd much rather have $1,500 in my pocket than 2 less pounds and a few seconds shaved off my spreadsheet times.

Cheers,

Munk

[SetBuilder]

Why are we talking about buicks?  The original poster asked for tasks more like packages than buicks.
Cheers,

Munk
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Every single "picture" you see on your LCD notebook screen is a buick. Can't have one or the other, you have packages of both sizes. Prefer one truck or two?

[Munkay]

Every single "picture" you see on your LCD notebook screen is a buick. Can't have one or the other, you have packages of both sizes. Prefer one truck or two?

One truck seems to be doing me just fine right now.

My friend bought a mid ranged laptop 4 years ago (roughly 1700$), and is a visual arts design major. He is a senior now and can still run everything he needs without a problem. If a 4 year old laptop can suffice for intensive graphical programs, then for this list of programs:

On his current computer, a desktop, he uses Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Sygate, and AntiVir all of which is free. His Zen Micro software. That's it. Software is not an issue.

I hardly see this dire need for a great graphics card. As Alram said, his son is sophomore. He's going to need it for 2 years. Now before you go selling me(or anyone else) 2 trucks for a job that obviously only needs one to do those tasks, think for a minute.

Cheers,

Munk

[SetBuilder]

*****Main body of post removed for keeping te peace. Had a good point or two, but bad phrasing. Leaving next part, as it really is an offer****


(On a side note, Alram, if you want to spend $1000, I have an Inspiron 600M with 64MB dedicated video, 1GB RAM, Office Pro, Photoshop 7, a cd burner, and some other neatness I'd give for that. Is a neat notebook, but I don't go to school at this point, and don't have any other uses for it. Only downside is no wireless (but you can get a pcmcia wireless card for $10 from frys). Maybe not the programs he's used to, but the ones that work best with school. And so you know, if you say no, I definately won't be heartbroken. I don't really want to sell it, but I need to do something, as 5 computers is a bit much, and I like the desktops better. Oh, and the notebook (without the office and photoshop) would cost you $1800 new, so you know.)