chester Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Only for basic stuff. She needs to run Word, Dragonspeak (voice recognition software), and internet (no gaming). That's about it. Anybody know of good values now or coming up (not in a hurry) or can point out a recent thread about them. Appreciate any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 dont we all.....oh you said lapTOP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 (edited) Chester - My wife's laptop sort of died on Saturday. She only uses it for the internet and Microsoft Word. We ended up getting a netbook (well it's an HP so it's a mini-notebook or something). In any case the HP mini 1000 is $299 with an 8GB hard drive. We paid $399 for the mini 1030 with a 16GB hard drive and bigger screen (10.2" versus 8.9"). She absolutely loves it as it weighs like 2.5 pounds so it is less than half the weight of a typical laptop. I bought a $20 8GB thumb drive for her to store her documents. Sounds like it may work for your wife as well. Especially handy if she'll be carrying it around. Here's a link to a review by Cnet of the cheaper of the two (4 out of 5 stars). May be a decent option given her needs. Edited February 19, 2009 by Puddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShiznit Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 If it were me, I would get an ASUS....they are more expensive, but they have a great warranty....and have a zero pixel defect policy in the screen for like 30 days...which is unheard of. I think they have a one year warranty on accidental breakage like dropping it...spilling on it...or fire...and a three year standard warranty on parts....quality stuff that won't break....you do get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Chester - My wife's laptop sort of died on Saturday. She only uses it for the internet and Microsoft Word. We ended up getting a netbook (well it's an HP so it's a mini-notebook or something). In any case the HP mini 1000 is $299 with an 8GB hard drive. We paid $399 for the mini 1030 with a 16GB hard drive and bigger screen (10.2" versus 8.9"). She absolutely loves it as it weighs like 2.5 pounds so it is less than half the weight of a typical laptop. I bought a $20 8GB thumb drive for her to store her documents. Sounds like it may work for your wife as well. Especially handy if she'll be carrying it around. Here's a link to a review by Cnet of the cheaper of the two (4 out of 5 starts). May be a decent option given her needs. I bought 2 Acer netbooks 1gb of mem and 120g HD through Tiger Direct for $289.00 each. Then went to Costco on Sunday only to find the same thing except with 160g HD for $299.00. And yes the women folk love these things. They have no cd/dvd drives on them, so if you need to install software that way it won't work. Other than that Dell has some Vostro's on sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chester Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 Thanks for the info so far. I'll forward this thread to her as it progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I bought 2 Acer netbooks 1gb of mem and 120g HD through Tiger Direct for $289.00 each. Then went to Costco on Sunday only to find the same thing except with 160g HD for $299.00. And yes the women folk love these things. They have no cd/dvd drives on them, so if you need to install software that way it won't work.Other than that Dell has some Vostro's on sale. Can you hook up an external drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Can you hook up an external drive? Yep. And in you have a second computer you can install whatever software you want on there then copy the setup file to a thumb drive to install on the netbook. That's what I did with the Office suite on Sunday. No problems whatsoever. These little things are obviously just for people who don't need much of a machine for their needs (which is probably a large portion of the population). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
driveby Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I just bought my wife a Toshiba at Best Buy for $399. She wanted a camera too so we got the 18 months same as cash financing. Plenty for email and internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Okay, treat me like I just found out about the computer and let me ask a question. I am assuming that the Netbook would be perfectly fine for surfing the internet. Doing little stuff like checking email and using MS Office? I am in the same boat where I need to replace my wife/kids notebook but unless I am missing something, this sounds like a perfect replacement. I guess the screen size might be the big problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Okay, treat me like I just found out about the computer and let me ask a question. I am assuming that the Netbook would be perfectly fine for surfing the internet. Doing little stuff like checking email and using MS Office? I am in the same boat where I need to replace my wife/kids notebook but unless I am missing something, this sounds like a perfect replacement. I guess the screen size might be the big problem. The Acer has a 8.9" screen. The one thing I don't like about it is the touch pad and button placement, buttons are on the side of the touch pad. But I just looked at their web site and looks like the now have version with a 10" screen and they corrected the touch pad on that model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 The Acer has a 8.9" screen. The one thing I don't like about it is the touch pad and button placement, buttons are on the side of the touch pad. But I just looked at their web site and looks like the now have version with a 10" screen and they corrected the touch pad on that model. The reviews I read really rated HP well on the keyboard size. So far my wife has been happy with that. I also spent the extra hundred for the larger screen size as well (plus more HD space). I think it's a perfect little machine for casual users. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I got the MSI Wind last July primarily for traveling and it is dam nice for the price. The only problem I have is that the touchpad went south (sending it out this weeks for repairs) and the battery life is short, but I believe the newer version has better of both. I also bought an external HD, but rarely use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 $369 HP 1.86GHz Intel Pentium M 750, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD, CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo, Bluetooth, Ati Mobility Radeon X300, Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG, 14.1" XGA Display, Windows XP Professional (Manufacturer Recertified) HP deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donutrun Jellies Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 The vostro for small business from Dell is an affordable, straight-forward machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawks21 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 if it is only for basic functions, buy used. I just got a year old Dell on Craigslist for $175. A week in, it works great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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