Affordable Laptops for Data Collection: Are They Worth the Risk?

[Cyrus]

I want a cheap laptop to collect data with. Cheap like, $500.00 or less.

Has anyone bought a computer from Ebay?

Is it worth the risk?

Does anyone want to sell me their laptop, or give me it for free?

 

[Monique]

new Dell laptop: $449
http://www.dell.com/content/product...19&~ck=anav&a=9699~0~53910&navla=9699~0~53910

 

[Cyrus]

Hey, that's great!

Thanks Monique

I have a wireless network in my house, so I have an external hard drive that I can network to, and a printer. So the laptop does not need to be fancy.

 

[wolram]

I want a cheap laptop to collect data with. Cheap like, $500.00 or less.

Has anyone bought a computer from Ebay?

Is it worth the risk?

Does anyone want to sell me their laptop, or give me it for free?

I bought my laptop from ebay, when it arrived it did not work :grumpy:
but as kias man works with computers i had an engieers report to
back my claim, i received my money back and got laptop fixed for nowt :rofl:

 

[z-component]

Can you be more specific on what kind of hardware you want? Maybe we can suggest something that's not a Dell.

 

[FredGarvin]

Be careful. The laptop specials I have seen are OK, but they chince you on the RAM and the displays. If this is for your DAQ project and you want to run Matlab, you may want to double check the requirements.

 

[Cyrus]

I'm not doing anything iterative, so I don't need a fast PC. Not using it for games either. Just data collection. And I like dell. I have a lot of stuff by Dell, and it all works great.

 

[russ_watters]

I've bought several at computer shows. The one I bought for my company recently has a P3 processor and 15" screen. It cost about $250. The only downside is that with a used laptop, odds are that the battery will be near completely useless. I would be concerned about physical damage and dead pixels on the screen if I weren't able to handle the computer before buying it.

 

[ksle82]

I want a cheap laptop to collect data with. Cheap like, $500.00 or less.

Has anyone bought a computer from Ebay?

Is it worth the risk?

It's worth the risk if you know what you're doing. I bought mine from ebay.

 

[heartless]

Cyrus, I'd greatly suggest you try craiglist for Washington DC, or wherever you live. It's almost like ebay. Maybe a little worse deals, but you can still find some handsome laptops for less than $500. When you find what you want or somebody makes you an offer, you can just meet with a person and test whether everything works just fine. Look here, http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/search?areaID=10&subAreaID=0&query=laptop&catAbbreviation=sys&minAsk=0&maxAsk=500
and if you didn't find something satisfying, then simply make an offer right in, for a good working laptop, if wash's similar to nyc, and it should be, then you'll get several offers from people who want to sell their laptops. Try it, there's a lot of good stuff on craiglists.

 

[Gokul43201]

Cyrus, how long are your typical DAQ runs? Are you not worried about OS stability or do you plan to partition your drive and run your DAQ off of Linux?

 

[Cyrus]

It's only like a 10 min run at most. That's as long as the $200.00 LiPoly Battery will last!

 

[Cyrus]

I am sifting through craigslist. Thanks Heartless. I am still skeptical. I prefer to buy my electronics new.

 

[Chi Meson]

Wehn buying from ebay, you can usually trust the re-resale/refurbish people who have a long list of positive feedback. With individuals, there's no telling what you get, but there is some protection with paypal.

 

[Cyrus]

I think I am going to play it safe and buy that Dell, the one that's $552 bucks. It looks like a good deal, more or less.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_basnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Thanks for the find monique!

I really do *not* want to buy another persons problem.

 

[heartless]

Oh my...!1!1one
Cyrus's buying a http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550" :!)

 

[Cyrus]

:rofl:

This is great, I am charging Li-Poly batteries, which VERY easily can catch on fire and burn your house down, and trying to prevent that with a laptop that will burn my house down!

:rofl:

the Irony!

My next posts will be form the public library.

I bet that laptop has Li-poly batteries as well.

 

[Chi Meson]

COOL! keep your camera handy and keep us toasted.

I mean posted.

 

[Monique]

I think I am going to play it safe and buy that Dell, the one that's $552 bucks. It looks like a good deal, more or less.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_basnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Thanks for the find monique!

I really do *not* want to buy another persons problem.

That's great, I hope it'll fit your needs. It's a coincidence that just a few days earlier I had been talking about laptops and heard Dell had some crazy prices

 

[russ_watters]

I actually just ordered a new Dell laptop a few days ago (should be here early next week). My HP died.

 

[Gokul43201]

Some user reviews:

http://www.epinions.com/Dell_Inspir...for_Home_IB130L1_PC_Notebook/display_~reviews

Also, Cyrus, keep in mind that Dells notebooks are considerably heavier than other comparable models...or at least, used to be, a couple years ago.

 

[Cyrus]

Hello from my Dell Laptop (wireless too!). Somehow, PF became my homepage, yet again

Thanks again Monique!

Edit: Oh no, It just burst into flames!

 

[JamesU]

that's too bad, you should've gotten an HP...:rofl: