cheap laptop recommendations

[Vicious Tyrant]

I know these threads pop up now and then - I searched and couldn't find quite what I was looking for, so here's another "please help" thread:

My wife wants a cheap-as-possible laptop that really only needs to do two things: Word processing and email/internet stuff. She hopes to be able to go to coffeeshops and use "wi-fi", which I think means somehow the computer can pick up an internet signal from the store? (Maybe I'm off base there, but it looks like other people do it). If the "wi-fi" thing is expensive, that's optional.

Any recommendations for something simple and basic, but good quality and reliable.

We've never even used a laptop, so I don't know if there are other things to be looking for.

I figured if I could get a good explanation of Gravity here, someone could help with this!

 

[meat01]

I wanted the same thing your wife did and a co-worker recommended a used IBM Thinkpad T20, T21 or T22. You can get them for around $300 on ebay. You can buy a PCMCIA Wi-fi card to plug into it for ~$30. There may be cheaper laptops, but IBMs are tough and reliable. I am pretty happy with it. It has a Pentium III 850 mHz processor. The batteries that usually ship in these laptops don't hold a charge very long (~<=1 hour).

 

[plus_c]

The T2x series is a great choice. If your wife is a Mac person (or would like to try it out), you should be able to get an old white iBook that runs OS X for a little bit more like this one. More expensive, but comes with wireless built in, longer battery life than the IBM T-series, and no malware to speak of as of now.

 

[marvin]

Old IBMs make for great transportables, but they don't make good laptops. The batteries are usually mostly dead, and the cost of replacement usually brings you pretty near to a brand new laptop. But, if she's willing to need a wall socket to use her laptop, they'll be fine. Otherwise...

http://www.slickdeals.net/

Hang around there for a couple of weeks before buying. You can find deals on Dells ranging from desktop replacements to ultra portables for <$600.

 

[Edwood]

Dell seems to be having a sale every week now.

Check the Anandtech and Fatwallet hot deals forums.


-Ed

 

[devwild]

I recently sold a Panasonic Toughbook, you can find them used for very reasonable prices sometimes, because they are not popular. But the machines are truly built like tanks, very reliable, and use mostly standard hardware. If you are technically apt, they are also easy to take apart and repair.

Not my first choice personally (the one I sold was inheritted), but from what time I spent with it, it seemed like a nice durable alternative.

Alternatively, watch sites like gotapex daily for sweet deals on Dells

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'd recommend one of the early G3 ibooks, like the tangerine or blueberry model.

A friend of mine has one loaded with YDL (Yellow Dog Linux, a Mac-specific distro) and it chugs along just fine. YDL is free and easy to install. Unlike most x86 machines, iBooks have a very narrow range of hardware. So, unlike most Linux distros, YDL nails every driver right off the bat and there's no tinkering to get everything to work. It's nice.

You'll get the Apple build quality and fanatical userbase, too. That means that replacement batteries are plentiful and lots of info on upgrades, too.

You can pick one up for around $300, and I'll bet your wife will think it's cute, too.