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| Thread ID: 28337 | 2002-12-16 23:43:00 | Buy Laptop Dilemma | Steve_L (763) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 106700 | 2002-12-16 23:43:00 | Here is the deal: my wife has a huge block against computers, but is due to retrain with university studies next year and now wants a laptop. Seems that a laptop is not so daunting to her, and she likes the idea of carrying it around, and not taking up so much desk space. A couple of years ago I dusted off my ancient 386 laptop and she readily did a typing program (a feebie download a la Mavis Beacon basic). But graduating on to using the desktop was not to her liking. The problem is the cost of a new laptop being close to 3 grand, or more. What are your thoughts on getting a second hand laptop? I mentioned this to a guy I met at a holiday place - his job and hobby was associated with computers and he did seem to know quite a bit. His advice was to stay away from second hand laptops since they would be too expensive to repair, and not as easy to upgrade like a desktop (RAM, Chip, HD). So my question is about repairs to laptops - is it really a big factor when considering a second hand purchase? Thanks. BTW, she does not need a laptop with grunt - just word processing and some basic email / surfing; Win 98 with CD ROM will do. |
Steve_L (763) | ||
| 106701 | 2002-12-17 00:03:00 | IBM's are still quite cheap to buy new. The R31 Celeron's should be available for around $2000 or slightly more. They aren't really high spec either (1.2GHz CPU 13.3" TFT no floppy etc). You're probably better off buying new, as you get the warranty. Older laptops are notoriously hard to find parts for (think replacement keypads, batteries etc). Another option is to do the TradeMe thing. A quick search bought up the following laptops under $2000: Dell Pentium III 700 (www.trademe.co.nz) Ramtech Celeron 1.2GHz (www.trademe.co.nz) ASUS B1000 PIII 900 (www.trademe.co.nz) You might get lucky looking around there for a bargain, and you'll probably be able to find something which is still under warranty also. Good luck :) |
honeylaser (814) | ||
| 106702 | 2002-12-17 00:05:00 | Laptops are rather hard to upgrade, although usually the RAM is dead simple, HDD is a little more tricky, but still should be releavtively easy on most. Id suggest http://www.compaqcare.co.nz for buying a laptop. Otherwise, before buying second hand (Id use TradeMe.co.nz) ask lots of questions, why its being sold, if anything is known that's not 100% brand new about it. If you're looking for a laptop, anything between $500 for a 233Mhz with 64MB RAM to, say, $1.4K for a Ghz PC with 128MB+ of RAM. Hunt around, you're bound to find a bargain! good luck Chilling_Silence |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 106703 | 2002-12-17 00:27:00 | Hey You could also try Trademe (http://www.trademe.co.nz) - you can usually find some good buys there CyberChuck |
cyberchuck (173) | ||
| 106704 | 2002-12-17 01:22:00 | Perhaps a laptop isn't wwhat's needed. I was at Massey last year and I used a Psion Revo for all my class notes. Like most people I can type faster than I can write and they just needed a bit of tidying up each evening. And of course it fitted neatly into my pocket. Any palmtop with a keyboard would do just as good a job as long as you can print or export to a PC for printing. | crozier (2004) | ||
| 106705 | 2002-12-17 01:27:00 | Hmm... Seeing as we're looking at alternatives to a laptop, what about one of the new Tablet PC's?! | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 106706 | 2002-12-17 02:06:00 | Indeed, what about "one of the new tablets?". $5614, $5956, $5545, that's what. :_| They are expensive. And like any other small, expensive item, they break when dropped. That's the sort of thing that you get a company to buy for you. If you're in the "non-working" class. Second-hand laptops break when dropped, too. But less expensively. ;-) As for spare parts, you are not likely to find any. (I've got a Psion 3, with a broken LCD screen. The only advertisements I see about parts are people trying to buy Psion 3s with good screens to replace broken screens. :D). But a good working laptop is like any other computer: if it's working now it's likely to keep on working unless it's abused. (Like being dropped, or having sotware upgraded. :D) |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 106707 | 2002-12-17 02:06:00 | > Hmm... Seeing as we're looking at alternatives to a > laptop, what about one of the new Tablet PC's?! Unlikely at around $5000 me thinks. They'll come down in a years time I reckon, and by then the specs might be reasonable and worth paying throught the nose for. For writing/scribblng capabilities the handhelds are still reasonable value. The Sony CLIÉ is pretty sexy too... |
honeylaser (814) | ||
| 106708 | 2002-12-17 02:06:00 | Indeed, what about "one of the new tablets?" . $5614, $5956, $5545, that's what . :_| They are expensive . And like any other small, expensive item, they break when dropped . That's the sort of thing that you get a company to buy for you . If you're in the "non-working" class . Second-hand laptops break when dropped, too . But less expensively . ;-) As for spare parts, you are not likely to find any . (I've got a Psion 3, with a broken LCD screen . The only advertisements I see about parts are people trying to buy Psion 3s with good screens to replace broken screens . :D) . But a good working laptop is like any other computer: if it's working now it's likely to keep on working unless it's abused . (Like being dropped, or having software upgraded . :D) |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 106709 | 2002-12-17 02:07:00 | Hey, we got it the first time ;) :p :D | honeylaser (814) | ||
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