BajaNomad

Laptop For Baja Advice Solicited

DavidE - 11-29-2011 at 02:47 PM

Hi Y'All!
Everyone's advice was so invaluable for my medical disaster in Baja that I am going to ask again, but this time regarding how best to go about finding a used laptop for around 150 dollars in the SF Bay Area. I am not a computer geek and basically I need something reliable with microsoft word, and an ability to connect with wi-fi. Do I really need multiple cores? How do i know the battery is anygood with a used laptop?

My email is mexbungalows@gmail.com

Bob and Susan - 11-29-2011 at 03:51 PM

my 2 cents...do not buy used
you'll get screwed everytime

pay $380 out the door at walmart

satisfaction always

wessongroup - 11-29-2011 at 04:11 PM

Check DELL on line ... they sell refurbished units ... not sure how low they go .. bought my sis one for $230 .. more than adequate ...

Jaybo - 11-29-2011 at 04:36 PM

Just figure that a used laptop will have a battery that is totally fried and won't last for more than 30 minutes. ESPECIALLY in that price range. Replacement batteries run in the $75-$100 range.

Laptops have gotten REALLY cheap over the past year - Take a look at my favorite deal site http://www.slickdeals.net - Keep an eye on their frontpage deals, and also look in the "hot deals" forum. You can filter your searches there to look for just laptop deals. Figure on $300 for a decent laptop especially this time of year.

(Oh, and no, Not affiliated with Slickdeals - Just have found some great buys there!)

..Jay

volcano - 11-30-2011 at 08:50 AM

I recently asked for the same advice here...I believe on the question page: TigerDirect.com have refurbished netbooks by asus for $200 strong battery and signal....which is what I purchased for use down there. It was suggested to not pay a fortune due to harsh baja living conditions...equipment goes bad quickly. search the conversation as there were many other suggestions as well.

Wally - 11-30-2011 at 10:40 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
my 2 cents...do not buy used
you'll get screwed everytime

pay $380 out the door at walmart

satisfaction always


x2 or go the netbook route and use Google's word processing, spread sheet and email apps. Asus netbooks start in the low $200's. Microsoft Office is going to cost as much as a new netbook.

wessongroup - 11-30-2011 at 11:01 AM

buying a laptop and not looking at replacement costs on "its" battery .. is a bit like buying a color printer and not knowing what the replacement cartridges costs... a good point .. when shopping for just about anything... imho ..

mcfez - 11-30-2011 at 12:34 PM

If you have to buy a used one...buy refurbished from a major manufacturer. DELL has them all the time. However...I would not risk buying off Craigslist or a private party.

Ebay has refurbished LP at 170.00 currently

BajaNomad - 11-30-2011 at 12:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by volcano
I recently asked for the same advice here...


http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=54890

mulegejim - 11-30-2011 at 12:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Wally
Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
my 2 cents...do not buy used
you'll get screwed everytime

pay $380 out the door at walmart

satisfaction always


x2 or go the netbook route and use Google's word processing, spread sheet and email apps. Asus netbooks start in the low $200's. Microsoft Office is going to cost as much as a new netbook.


Good advice - Open Office is also a free package for download with word processing, spreadsheet, etc. Jim

BajaNomad - 11-30-2011 at 01:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by volcano
I recently asked for the same advice here...I believe on the question page: TigerDirect.com have refurbished netbooks by asus for $200 strong battery and signal....which is what I purchased for use down there.


These discount providers' inventory changes frequently. That particular Asus unit no longer appears to be available at TD.

Current sales that I was able to pull up include:

Acer Aspire ONE 10.1" Netbook, AMD C-50 Dual Core (1.0GHz), 1GB DDR3 Memory, 250GB HDD (Refurb); $200 including shipping:
http://www.buy.com/prod/acer-aspire-one-ao522-bz623-10-1-net...

The following "special" is for 9 more hours only....

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Blue 10.1" Netbook, Intel Atom n450 Processor (1.66GHz), 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD (Refurb); $202 including shipping:
http://www.all4cellular.com/dell-inspiron-mini-10-1012-netbo...


Both of the above units have 6-cell batteries - which can last 6-8 hours or more on a single charge.

If you don't have the Microsoft Office software, besides Google Docs, another quality option is Open Office (or Libre Office)... http://openoffice.org or http://libreoffice.org

You can create/open/edit/save documents in Open Office as Word format (.DOC / .XLS / .PPT / etc...).

Cypress - 11-30-2011 at 01:57 PM

HP works for me!!!

Bob and Susan - 11-30-2011 at 02:58 PM

1 gig of memory is not enough these days...you need 4 gigs

Hook - 11-30-2011 at 05:06 PM

So, will an Open Office program open Microsoft Word documents?

Word processing programs arent worth much if you cant open the documents that others send you. Or, if you can create a word processing document and no one you know can open it.

I dont know the answer to the first question. Just wondrin'..........

Bob and Susan - 11-30-2011 at 05:26 PM

hook...yes

BajaNomad - 11-30-2011 at 07:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
1 gig of memory is not enough these days...you need 4 gigs


Only if you're running one of the latest versions of Windows. Not sure about Mac. There are other "current" operating systems for PC that run great on 1GB RAM.

Edit: (Disclosure: I state the above even though I'm running 4GB of RAM) :rolleyes:

[Edited on 12-1-2011 by BajaNomad]

Marc - 11-30-2011 at 07:06 PM

I would sell you mine..but you would be getting screwed. Buy new.