decent laptops between $100 and $300

Benzoate

I want to know if there are any online users who bought laptops from online vendors between $100 and $300 that were not crappy. I want to know if it is normal to find a high quality laptop between $100 and $300 dollars that works properly , the kind a laptop you would buy normally between $600 and $1000 .

fizziks

High quality laptop for $100-$300? That's impossible, even on eBay. Unless you are talking about dependable laptops, maybe, but I highly doubt it. Most laptops that go for under $300 are used and at least 3-4 years old. Some are 1-2 years old and go for <$300, but have parts missing, ie. the hard drive, power cable, etc. and are bought for salvaging the remaining working parts.

What is your primary purpose for the laptop? Is it just for surfing the internet anywhere? you might want to take a look at the EEE PC being made by Intel and ASUS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeepc

It's an ultra-mobile laptop based on solid state drives and projected to come out august/September. I'm getting one for the sole purpose to surf the internet anywhere on campus. (I have a desktop @ home for gaming and my primary work).

Danger

It's tough to get a new 'high-quality' laptop for that price. You can get a Windows-burner for about $400 CDN here, but the good ones are a bit more.

CompuChip

If possible, and you know you'll be needing it for a couple of years, you should not cut on the cost of a good laptop. It's really a good investment.

Benzoate

I only want a laptop that contains no viruses or worms, a laptop that isn't really slow ,that allows me access to high speed internet, a laptop that allows me to write college papers.

fizziks

Laptops don't come with viruses and worms, unless you buy a used one. Even with them, you can easily get rid of them with a simple re-installation of windows.

If this laptop is for college, I would highly suggest you invest more than $300 for a it. Most computer technology gets phased out in 6 months. Buying a used 3 year old laptop won't cut it once everything starts phasing into vista in the next year or so.

robphy

Here's a review of that ASUS Eee PC 701 (900MHz Pentium M):
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3829
...selling for $250, possibly.

Benzoate

Not trying to sound like a smart alec , but why should I care if my laptop becomes outdated? I'm I not able to upgrade my used laptop in order to install anti-virus software?

ank_gl

if thats the only purpose, a used laptop ll just do fine!! why waste money on something really cool if you can get the job done in lesser cool

Benzoate

so do you think www.usanotebook.com would be a good online vender to buy a use laptop from. I'm not familar with the best online vendors to buy used laptops from .

ank_gl

i personnally hate laptops. you dont get anything called performance with them except hole in the pocket.
i checked out that link for the lappies in the range you need. man, i have got to admitt, i have never been so surprised. that 150$-250$ stuff is crap.
minimum config is::Pentium 150 Mhz, 32 MB, 2 GB(that's the size of my RAM), No CD Drive
maximum config is::Pentium-2 300 Mhz, 128 MB, 8 GB, CD Drive
sorry to say, that is more suited to be burried in the ground.
man, they are ridiculously slow. even the anti virus ll eat up all the processor.
i am currently using core 2 duo E6600, 2gb RAM, 160gb hard drive n all the other stuff. compare this to that lappy. i feel sorry for it.
you better invest some bucks now rather than feeling guilty(yes, accept it, you ll be crying after you purchase it) afterwards.
i hope you understand. better to prevent and prepare rather than repent and repair!!
if you are to take my advice, go for this one::(its on that site only)

Compaq Evo N410C
Pentium-3 1200 Mhz, 512 MB, 40 GB, CD (In Docking Station) Drive, 12.1" Display, Pre-Installed Win 2000 Pro, 6 Months Warranty, Refurbished by USA Notebook -- $369.00
only 70$ more than your range
but still this one is a lot better than the other ones

Benzoate

You think I should buy the laptops listed on their between $250-$350 and $350-$450 with MB > 512 MB rather than a laptops where the memory is 100 or 200 MB and the price range is between 100 and 200 dollars ?

fizziks

I kinda agree with ank_gl. I checked the laptops and they are complete junks. Your next best option to find a 100-200 laptop is eBay. In fact, that's your only option. I would be very careful and anal buying a laptop from eBay. The majority of the laptops sold on ebay at insanely low prices are non working and are bought for parts.

About used and outdated laptops:

- They are used, it's fine if they;re only used for 1-2 years. But for a price range of <$300, ALL of them are at least +3 years old. Used = worn out parts, which means they would die out faster. Not a good investment.

- If your laptop is outdated, it means you can't buy parts for it. It's hard enough to upgrade a laptop, since they're not as customizable as a desktop.

Technology is constantly moving forward, ceasing production of older parts and moving onto newer ones. My desktop is only 3 years old and it's nearly impossible to upgrade ANY of the parts save the hard drive and optical drives. My comp doesn't even have SATA and IDE is beginning to phase out

- As hardware technology progresses so does software, like anti virus programs and GOOD internet browsers.

ank_gl

yea thats what i mean, the newer products are using more and more cpu. those 500mhz processor aint good enough to keep up. believe it, even microsoft office 2007 eats a lot of processor
just three months back, i had a P4 1.8GHz, 256Mb ram, 40 Gb harddisk. i installed vista on it, first of all, i was really surprised that i could install vista on it, and secondly it did actually start. but man it really sucked.
you need at least that config that i recommended earlier to do your stuff like browsing the net and writing papers.
and as you are asking about the ram, you need both good processor speed and good memory(that means atleast 1ghz and 512mb ram)

graphic7

My experience with purchasing a laptop off of eBay was extremely positive. I was able to get a Tadpole SPARCbook 6500 /w 4GB of memory, 650MHz UltraSPARC-IIe processor, and 2x60GB IDE disks for about 1/25th of its retail price.