Thread: New/used notebook

Are you going to be doing anything else on the laptop other than Internet?

If not, maybe one of the mini laptops around may be suitable?

Asus, Acer, Dell and HP all make mini pcs for under $1000.


cheers
Wendy

Originally Posted by RufflyRustic

Are you going to be doing anything else on the laptop other than Internet?

If not, maybe one of the mini laptops around may be suitable?

Asus, Acer, Dell and HP all make mini pcs for under $1000.


cheers
Wendy

Just simple basic stuff. This looks good http://www.ht.com.au/part/V1124-Acer...en-/detail.hts

asus have a mini notebook with 10" screen for about $399. I think hardly normal has them on sale right now. They are meant for kids and are shock resistant and ahve basic office functions. I THINK they do online but not 100% sure.

I've got the basic compaq. Really nice 15" screen, does everything, $799ish. Still works properly, no probs...

If possible get xp not vista. Vista business comes with a licence to downgrade to xp. xp is about 50% faster than vista and crashes less. Vista is awful, mine came with it and I paid a friend to downgrade to xp. Vista was basically unusable.

Anyway, the toshibas and acers are no cheaper and IMO not as good machines. YMMV.

Originally Posted by damian

If possible get xp not vista

I second that motion.

Originally Posted by blackhole

I second that motion.

A third here!

Unless you have any specific requirements that may require specifically larger storage or better video cards, sub $1000 there are tonnes to choose from. You will basically just need to compare specs getting the fastest and most storage you can for your money. They'll generally all come with burners etc. Stick to the known brands, or Asus which is fairly newish on the laptop scene (although its been a few years now, although many still haven't heard of them), and they make very good laptops, secondly on the sole occasion I had a client had a warranty issue (hey, these things happen), they dropped it into their service centre and they replaced the part while they waited! I was flabbagasted.

If in doubt, buy a basic dell (or HP or IBM) and add the 3 year warranty.

The big issue probably is actually getting on line on site, i.e. a physical web connection.

Any computer you could buy new would have the grunt to connect, but you need the web access as well.

You may be able to butt in on the clients systems via an ethernet cable or wireless connection to their router, but if they are security concious, this may not be possible. In that case you need to arrange a 3G internet connection or something similar. Most mobile providers will tie you up with a plan and supply the 3G modem. However you might find coverage patchy in some areas, so you need to carefully check the providers performance in the relevant areas before you commit. Issues range from poor signal to overloaded cells which limit the possible speed significantly.

Originally Posted by malb

The big issue probably is actually getting on line on site, i.e. a physical web connection.

Any computer you could buy new would have the grunt to connect, but you need the web access as well.

You may be able to butt in on the clients systems via an ethernet cable or wireless connection to their router, but if they are security concious, this may not be possible. In that case you need to arrange a 3G internet connection or something similar. Most mobile providers will tie you up with a plan and supply the 3G modem. However you might find coverage patchy in some areas, so you need to carefully check the providers performance in the relevant areas before you commit. Issues range from poor signal to overloaded cells which limit the possible speed significantly.

I hope this doesnt become an issue. The whole idea is to have web access while on site. I intend to buy a virgin prepaid broadband connection. I read on here that you can get 2gb plus modem for $80. What do you think?

My inlaws have got Virgin wireless broadband, and having experienced a few of the wireless - Telstra, Unwired etc, I must say its the only one I'm happy with the speed of. The others seem to be a bit iffy.

I have Optus 3G wireless on a 2 GB plan for mobile/away from home and it seems to work fairly well in most of the 3G coverage locations that I have used it, except at home where it is difficult to get it up to 3G mode.

Not a major problem as we have cable at home anyway, but I like to get my value by finishing the plan month by downloading woodwork videos to make sure that I use 95% of plan allowance each month. Home is steel framed and low lying relative to the land between us and the local towers. If I walk outside with the laptop and modem, I can coax it to 3G mode and it will hang on when I come back in.

Works OK at MIL's place in Sydney, and inside caravan/annexe near Port Philip heads. I only raised the issue as all of the other replies had concentrated only on hardware, and you said that you did not have an lot of computer experience. I have come accross a few people in that situation who didn't realise that there had to be a link of some sort in the system.

From memory, Virgin is carried on the Optus 3G network.

Originally Posted by malb

I have Optus 3G wireless on a 2 GB plan for mobile/away from home and it seems to work fairly well in most of the 3G coverage locations that I have used it, except at home where it is difficult to get it up to 3G mode.

Not a major problem as we have cable at home anyway, but I like to get my value by finishing the plan month by downloading woodwork videos to make sure that I use 95% of plan allowance each month. Home is steel framed and low lying relative to the land between us and the local towers. If I walk outside with the laptop and modem, I can coax it to 3G mode and it will hang on when I come back in.

Works OK at MIL's place in Sydney, and inside caravan/annexe near Port Philip heads. I only raised the issue as all of the other replies had concentrated only on hardware, and you said that you did not have an lot of computer experience. I have come accross a few people in that situation who didn't realise that there had to be a link of some sort in the system.

From memory, Virgin is carried on the Optus 3G network.

Yeah thanks for that info. I haven't a clue what 3g is but I will be connecting through optus 3g network via my provider. They have cheap HSPA/Wireless broadband plans starting at $5 per month + whatever mbs used at 1.5c per mb.

Originally Posted by shellac

Yeah thanks for that info. I haven't a clue what 3g is but I will be connecting through optus 3g network via my provider. They have cheap HSPA/Wireless broadband plans starting at $5 per month + whatever mbs used at 1.5c per mb.

3G is the Third Generation mobile phone network, that can cope with Internet, email, video etc at fairly decent speeds.

First generation was analogue, second was GSM digital, which could handle data at about fax machine speeds.

I am currently paying $32 for 2 GB per month, modem included for the plan. Plan like that would work out cheaper if you needed the full allocation. When I took the plan about a year ago, there wasn't a casual pay for use style plan. Only time will tell what your ultimate usage ends up as, so the flexibility to change later would be handy. Excess data on the plan is also 1.5c per MB, but I hold it at about 98%.

Aldi sometimes has some good deals going, try there too.

The one at Aldi's at the moment is $1499 but a brilliant buy