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February 19, 2011 at 11:44 pm #598012
dmcMemberI know there are some very computer savvy folks on here and I am hoping for some suggestions. My unemployment runs out next week. I will be starting my own business doing some consulting for real estate, project management, and whatnot. I know I will need to be able to work on-site from time to time. I want to purchase a used laptop. My budget is limited at this time. I am hoping to keep it below $800. Honestly, less than that would be better. Also, any thoughts as to a great long running laptop. We formerly had Dell laptops that ran well for several years. But frankly, they were purchased because of company discounts. I now have a Sony desktop and I adore it. Suggestions? Thoughts?
Thanks for any ideas!
February 20, 2011 at 12:39 am #718035
JanSParticipantI’m pretty sure that you can purchase a nice brand new laptop for between 500-600 dollars. Look and see what’s available on newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=32&name=Laptops-Notebooks
February 20, 2011 at 12:41 am #718036
redblackParticipantif you’re using it for project management, you obviously want a fast wireless ethernet card, a killer video card, lots of (whatever passes for) RAM (these days), a fast USB hub, and a fast processor. i’d look for a system built around those things and pay less attention to peripherals like CD’s and audio.
there was a thread about this not too long ago, and ken seems to be WSB’s best forum resource – or at least the most prolific poster – for hardware-related questions:
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/laptop-question#post-109520
February 20, 2011 at 12:54 am #718037
dmcMemberThank you for the suggestions!
Redblack: I have not a clue what you just said except to probably not worry about CDs and audio. I concur. Why a killer video card? I am sad to say I don’t know why one would need a killer video card.
Two years out of work and I feel like I have lost touch with the world. :0)
February 20, 2011 at 1:30 am #718038
dhgParticipantI don’t think you need to spend $800.
Staples has a Toshiba for sale for $399 right now. If you look around the web you will find laptops (not netbooks but full-on laptops) available at that price.
A used Mac Book Pro on ebay goes for $750 or so if it’s in really good condition.
February 20, 2011 at 2:25 am #718039
DianeParticipantI highly recommend 3R Technology
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http://www.3rtechnology.com/retail-sales.html
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after my system crashed last year, I did a thorough search of local used computers; there are others that get more publicity, but these guys are the best, smart, great customer service, highly ethical, and close to WS, down in SODO, behind Krispy Kreme; I got my entire system (loaded with Windows XP) for $127 including tax; they also have used laptops for $200 – $300
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http://www.3rtechnology.com/itemsforsale.html
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you can also recycle many electronics there for free
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February 20, 2011 at 3:05 am #718040
dmcMemberThat is AWESOME Diane! I will look into them as well. I also checked out the egg site JanS. Very good. DHG-thanks for the tip. I will check into it. I just don’t know enough about WHAT I need and what is out there. I have always worked for a large company that said here is your laptop. Now go work.
February 20, 2011 at 6:33 am #718041
dhgParticipantAvoid Celeron, Neo and Atom chipsets (cheap but too slow). Buy one with Windows 7 and at least 2gb of RAM. They do not come with MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) so you will have to budget for that or download open source substitutes. (openoffice.org). The reason you want Win7 over XP is that XP is just too vulnerable to hackers.
You don’t need a kick ass video chip.
Thinkpads and Dell are the most reliable. Toshiba is a close 3rd. Sony is a beautiful porcelain doll (very delicate).
Other than that you can decide based on size, weight and other personal preferences.
February 20, 2011 at 1:19 pm #718042
redblackParticipantthe reason i said you need a lot of video memory and a good card is because you’ll be running a lot of applications like adobe acrobat – and others – that will require you to zoom in on details in drawings. you’ll want the ability to manipulate that information without having to wait for your video card and CPU to catch up to your commands.
remember: you’ll get what you pay for. and if you have to make a presentation to clients, i’m sure you don’t want to waste a lot of embarrassing downtime waiting on a slow, generic, off-the-shelf computer.
February 20, 2011 at 4:30 pm #718043
KenParticipantFirst off, what software will you be running and how much of that will bite your budget.
Redblack is generally right about computer speed, but recent hardware advances are not necessarily geometric as far as business software.
Dual core and core 2 duo processors are not that far outclassed by the i-3 and i-5 processors. I-7 processors are improvements but their price reflects this and they are required in graphics workstations, gaming rigs and high transaction server builds.
But for office and acrobat, we seem to be at one of those plateaus the industry hits occasionally. The processor speed and available ram have pretty much exceeded the ability of microsoft and adobe to bloat their products into every available clock cycle and memory address.
Project management software is an unknown to me as far as its processor needs but I don’t see any indication that it has any reason to do the kind of calculations that would exceed that of other business software.
Interconnection.org often has laptops refurbished from corporate donors for sale in their retail store.
If you cannot justify the capitol expenditure of a new top o the line laptop at business inception, then a cheap, but new, fully warrantied laptop might be the ticket given that for B&O and business taxes you amortize the thing at its one year warranty as it’s expected useful lifetime and let next year decide next years budget for hardware.
Real estate sales involves digital photos and text documents as far as I can tell. I helped convert a large local company from film to digital photography and to the web back in the early 90’s but have had little contact with the industry since.
An example o cheap:
I am typing this on a lenovo g550 dual core with 3 g of ram and a 160g hard drive. I usually only use this machine for converting office documents and email from older versions to newer versions, ripping cd’s and dvd’s and sending stuff to printers on the network that don’t work with vista or win7
It was 399.00 november of 2009. I downgraded it to xp but still have the win7 install dvd if I want to change it back.
I runs acrobat pro 8, office 2003 and a half dozen recovery utilities designed to fix various versions of outlook, outlook express, winmail and other data recovery and drive repair software.
My netbook also runs office 2007 and acrobat 6 and the trade off in waiting 4 min for it to convert a book from DOC to pdf is offset by the tiny size and 9 hour battery life.
For me the network IS the computer and the various computers are just special use appendages configured for specific tasks.
What seems to be the current new egg analog for the g550 is here but there are several brands making similar systems.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146995
Email me if you want to thrash this out a bit more or if you want to try a few older laptops and see if they are suitable to use until you start making some cash. As an unemployed person you fit my criteria for free computer advice and repair.
February 20, 2011 at 4:51 pm #718044
KenParticipantPresidents day sale: Lenovo on the right side of the ad.
February 20, 2011 at 6:28 pm #718045
dtownMember+1 to purchasing from Newegg. I’ve been using them for years!
February 20, 2011 at 7:20 pm #718046
wsguyMemberIf you are looking in west Seattle – there is a business PC Repair – Mobile PC – I think, next to the True Value store that usually you can get a really good deal on a laptop.
February 21, 2011 at 5:47 pm #718047 -
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