Suggestions for Low-end (<$300) Laptop for PCLOS?

[OldProfessorBear]

Am thinking I may need to replace my creaky (and heavy) old Dell Inspiron that I use when traveling.

My budget is roughly nonexistent, thus my requirement for low-end. I have no problem with refurbished units (I often find refurbed electronics more reliable than new, in fact).

Don't like wide-screen, but there doesn't seem to be anything else anymore.

Here's one unit I'm considering: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360145

It's available locally, which I consider a plus.

Any feedback on the above unit, as well as suggestions of other laptops, greatly appreciated.

[Just18]

I have PCLOS 64 bit running on this light laptop ....

Toshiba C660-1FE 15.6/C925/2GB/320GB/INTEL GMA/W7

Your link shows more memory ....  and more important a lot cheaper 

Yes the processor is not up to a lot .....  but it works well enough for general use.

[T6]

has to be a laptop or a netbook could be enough?

there is many atom dualcore at 1.6ghz with a old and compatible gma3150 around at 250 more or less, acer mostly but some hp

http://www.portatech.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?id=65905&r=p

also some netbooks with 11" screen and amd cpu and video card at same price

i personally avoid refurbished stuff like the pest but if you had good experiences with them that is a option

that toshiba sounds good if it wouldn't be for the cpu, a celeron is the low, i prefer any atom to a celeron

[OldProfessorBear]

Under different circumstances, I might consider a netbook strictly for casual "away" use, but this is going to have to serve as my primary computer at times, and the tiny screens aren't compatible with my not-so-great vision. As a matter of fact, I was considering a netbook a while back for just that purpose, but things have changed.

At any rate, what I have now -- laptop has just a 1GHz cpu, and my current desktop (until I get around to tinkering with some others I've been working on) is only a 1.25 GHz Athlon -- will probably be outperformed by almost anything recent!

[T6]

a celeron outperforming a athlon? no.

recent celerons are as bad as old celerons

if the limitation is your eyes, then yes, a netbook is not a good idea, other than that, a netbook can do alot, mine did for a year and i plan to torture it for another before changing it

the ideal laptop for you could be the cheapest i3 from toshiba or this amd

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000006035

also this one

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000006033

both new and over the 300 dollar limit you put, but new machines after all

i remember that Texstar mentioned that other than the 2011.6 all it needs is the amd proprietary driver and you are ready, of course i can't guarantee you this but it is a good option

about refurbished, this is the official toshiba refurbished page on ebay

http://stores.ebay.com/toshibadirectstore

[Just18]

Well bad enough as the Celeron is, it runs PCLOS 64 KDE quite quickly.

Don't expect to do any video VOIP with the built-in webcam though ......  it is only 0.3MP and practically useless ....  at least here. Maybe the other one has a better cam .... or maybe none?

I got a 2 year warranty with mine ....  as opposed to the 90 days on the Micro Center one. That seems a very short warranty to me.

[OMSkates]

Core2Duo runs PCLinuxOS KDE quite fast as well.  If you care to hunt for a second hand laptop that is "stripped" in good condition then build it up (RAM, HDD, battery, AC adapter, etc), often much money can be saved.

[Ferdes Fides]

Here's a $299 option with a 2.3 ghz processor.   They have some Acer netbooks
for $199 as well.  This store just opened and is giving away a few items.   These
are new items.

http://www.hhgregg.com/compaq-presario-notebook-pc-with-amd-v-series-processor-v140/item/CQ56-129NR

http://www.hhgregg.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplay?searchTermScope=&searchType=10&filterTerm=&maxPrice=&orderBy=3&showResultsPage=true&langId=-1&beginIndex=0&sType=SimpleSearch&metaData=PE1UQFNQPittZk5hbWVfbnRrX2NzOigiQWNlciIp&pageSize=12&manufacturer=&resultCatEntryType=&catalogId=10051&pageView=image&searchTerm=&minPrice=&categoryId=10663&storeId=10154

[OldProfessorBear]

If I may beg your indulgence for a few more moments ...

Here is the comparison of all 6 candidates at this store. Some data is "n/a" but can more or less be read between the lines.

http://www.microcenter.com/search/compare_products.phtml?search_id=dec83e4e2b273e0b359cc0d6b4f7f04e

(At least, I hope that URL works as intended.)

I'm inclined to disregard the eMachine, mainly because of the higher weight. The computers are strikingly similar in many respects, so it's hard to figure out the best deal among them (remember, my hardware knowledge is years out of date, and I never even heard of some of these CPUs).

I doubt there are any better retail deals in the area -- I consider local availability a definite plus, and MC has been good about returns in my experience as well.

Thanks!

[T6]

i see a oops!  you don't have products to compare

[Ferdes Fides]

I doubt there are any better retail deals in the area -- I consider local availability a definite plus, and MC has been good about returns in my experience as well.

Hi,

That link is empty BTW.   At that price, which is $300 dollars, I'd go with the highest
processor speed and the most USB slots.   Some of those processors are slow on
these sale machines.   1.66ghz is OK on a netbook but I'd need at least 2.0ghz on the
15.6" laptops.

[OldProfessorBear]

Thanks. I guess the comparison only works when you start from the product listings. All I did was to select the 6 laptops that were under $300 and click compare. I can easily eliminate two of them, leaving:

Toshiba   C655-S5132 $239  2.3G Celeron
Toshiba   C655-S5082B $249  2.2G Celeron
Toshiba   C655-S5121 $259  2.3G Celeron
Dell   M5030 $269  2.4 G AMD V160


On balance, it looks like the Dell might make the most sense for $30 more than the lowest Toshiba. What do you think of this for a PCLOS laptop?

[OldProfessorBear]

Heh! I now see that there are a whole lot of different M5030s. The specific one I'm looking at is http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360627

which is not the same as the ones on Dell's website.

Should I start a new topic?

[Ferdes Fides]

Thanks. I guess the comparison only works when you start from the product listings. All I did was to select the 6 laptops that were under $300 and click compare. I can easily eliminate two of them, leaving:

Toshiba   C655-S5132 $239  2.3G Celeron
Toshiba   C655-S5082B $249  2.2G Celeron
Toshiba   C655-S5121 $259  2.3G Celeron
Dell   M5030 $269  2.4 G AMD V160

On balance, it looks like the Dell might make the most sense for $30 more than the lowest Toshiba. What do you think of this for a PCLOS laptop?

Next, make a list of the video drivers, check with xorg in PCL Control Center to
be sure the exact video driver is there to use.   It should be.   Do they all have 3
USB's ?    How about longest battery life then, if you use it in battery mode frequently.
That's what I would do.   The Dell might not win but it should.

edit: I hope the Dell wins, movie night looks OK, unless the Toshiba's have super batteries of
some kind for traveling.

[OldProfessorBear]

OK, went with the Dell. Now I want to be sure I do the install correctly, and not trash Win7 (I may need it for certain peripherals in future), so am proceeding cautiously at this point.

Will Check topic headers here for possible help on that ...

Thanks!