By Mark Crane (Mecran01) on Monday, June 25, 2001 - 09:32 pm:

Well, I hauled a computer home for the weekend and the kids beat the crap out of it because we have no locking desk for it. So I'm thinking of either getting a cheap laptop that I can close up. I've seen winbooks and the like for around $800. All we would be doing is net surfing, email, and a folio database containing back issues of a magazine going back to 1971. Any ideas on how cheap/low we could go and still accomplish this without too much pain? Whatever we get, we'll throw a lot of ram into it since it's so cheap right now.

update: Oh geesh. I just looked at Imacs on Ebay. They're basically disposable, selling for $500. I can't think of a better, cheaper internet appliance. Sweet.

p.s. I think I'm starting to use shoptalk as a weblog. Sorry...

By Gareth Branwyn (Gareth) on Monday, June 25, 2001 - 10:08 pm:

I was just talking to a friend last night who said that a mutual friend of ours has bought like 5 iMacs on eBay (for wife, child, mother, workshop, etc.). Pam's really been wanting an iBook, but we can't afford to blow another $1,500 on a 'puter. I'm gonna check and see what iBook prices look like there.

By Joel Westerberg (Tux) on Tuesday, June 26, 2001 - 07:58 am:

iMacs are the perfect internet terminal.

The only caveat is that they run java so poorly. Does anybody know if OSX handles java better?

I wish I had more space in my apartement. It is so tiny (approx 25 square meters). I only have room for my laptop, and it's 800*600 screen is beginning to put serious limitation to my work. It would be bearable if I could add a larger external screen, but I don't want to buy an external LCD screen, because, if I did, I could just as well buy a 21" screen (but that would not fit in this apartement). Perhaps I could buy one of those SGI wide screens but then... it wouldn't my 4 M display card on the laptop.

By Joel Westerberg (Tux) on Tuesday, June 26, 2001 - 08:01 am:

Not that the 21" inch screen would run thru the laptops card, but if there was more space here I could perhaps reclaim my stationary computer which I have let to a friend for the time being.

By Mark Crane (Mecran01) on Tuesday, June 26, 2001 - 11:43 am:

I've got a 21 inch monitor in my library carrel, which is a very tiny closet-like space. It heats the room, so I have to leave the ventilation fan on all the time. Plus moving it around is very difficult. Whatever happened to cheap virtual displays?? Geesh.

By Gareth Branwyn (Gareth) on Tuesday, June 26, 2001 - 01:46 pm:

One of the original iBooks (in allegedly "like-new" condition) just sold on eBay for $750. Not bad, I say. We might be able to swing something like that -- at least eventually.

By Bruce Dykes (Bkd) on Tuesday, June 26, 2001 - 11:54 pm:

ubid also gets good prices on vintage and refurb laptops...

http://www.ubid.com

By Kalei Awana (Kalei) on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 - 09:38 am:

ooohhh... laptops.

Thanks a LOT Bruce. They had top of the line Sony Vaios for less than $1600. Once again, I may rupture an internal organ due to extreme resistance to deals like that.

*sigh*

By John Massaglia (Mrklaw) on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 - 10:39 am:

Some of my coworkers buy a lot of stuff from ubid. One guy bought a TiVo for less than $200 and another bought a Palm IIIxe and a Rand McNally GPS for the Palm.

By Mark Crane (Mecran01) on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 - 04:24 pm:

I just bid on a psion revo (diamond mako) for $20, new. My wife is going to kick my butt if I win it.

By Bruce Dykes (Bkd) on Wednesday, June 27, 2001 - 11:28 pm:

Kalei, just think of how much VAIO $1600 will buy in three months...that's how I assuage my can't-afford-it-now pangs.

By Mark Crane (Mecran01) on Thursday, June 28, 2001 - 01:00 pm:

It would be cool to have a feature on pricewatch that would show you the price of an item in three month increments. That might make a good streettech plugin.

By Mark Crane (Mecran01) on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 02:29 pm:

Our new laptops came in at work. A Sony Vaio fx140 (or something like that), a refurb thinkpad 600, and two Toshiba 1750s. I'm writing this on the thinkpad, which is only a pII 266 with 32mb, and it really doesn't suck too much. It browses reasonably fast, has an internal hardware modem that manages 5k/sec, and has decent ergonomics. I think they're going on Ebay for $250 or so. It's not a super groovy machine, but not bad either.

I pulled out the Sony Vaio and it was just sweet. Even the packing material was elegant and curvy. It's got dvd, firewire, and all sorts of neat doodadgetry.

By Tekin Suleyman (Tekin) on Friday, January 28, 2005 - 10:49 am:

Have you ever considered a refurbished one? If you are looking for a cheap laptop and you aren't massively concerned with battery life (refurbished laptops tend not to hold charge for as long as brand new ones), then i'd suggest you look at second user, refurbished laptops

Tekin
http://www.itfactory.co.uk

By Mark Crane (Craniac) on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:40 am:

That post was four years, two jobs, two kids and four laptops ago. I'm using a work provided ibook now after having bought a refurb tpad 600, among others. I still have the thinkpad and am debating between selling it on ebay or finding a battery and using it for wireless surfing or dvd playing or what have you. Of course, putting the money towards an ipod would probably yield the most happiness, however fleeting. Or one of those divx playing external Hard Drives with video-out connections.

By Mark Crane (Craniac) on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:41 am:

I have to say, there's a really interesting historical use of these threads, looking at prices from four years ago.