Limited budget, around 8-900 with all accessories and such. Not looking for a particularly powerful machine. Basically something to use for IM, web browsing, old games maybe. A good keyboard is one of my main priorities. I'd probably go for a netbook except that I will want a dvd burner for backing up photos and such.

Mac probably doesn't suit me because of price.

As for an mp3 player.. something durable. I'm gonna be working on a 274ft research vessel, so I want something preferably waterproof or at least resistant. Not really sure whats out there besides apple products.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4575

Use a jump drive or MicroSD. Higher capacity and relatively cheap. You also don't have to worry about accidental scratches on the DVD that result in lost data.

Don't -really- want a netbook I think. A larger monitor and keyboard will make my life a lot nicer, and I won't be carrying the machine around much.

I suppose USB sticks are a good solution, but a dvd is easier to mail home from Samoa.

HP laptops are pretty nice. Don't know how much that would leave you for the mp3 player though.

You can get used ipods on ebay for cheap. I purchased one for my sister, works great.

Acer has a really bad rep. If you want a netbook, I'd go with Asus. Not in league with Lenovo, but decent.

Definitely looking for whatever the highest quality would be.. I guess that'd be Lenovo from what I've heard/read in the past? Any other brands to check out?

It's too bad you're a bit late for the end of the X61 series (they just got phased out) ... X61s was $560ish at the lowest

Anyways, Acer's netbooks (well, just the Aspire One) is actually pretty legit. Asus is pretty solid, but I personally think they suck aesthetically. Lenovo's netbook (the S10) is actually sorta meh cuz of the crappy keyboard


If you want a solid computer, I would definitely recommend a Thinkpad. I just dunno which one to recommend, cuz again, they JUST phased out the X61 models so all that's up there now is the X200 series (which is much more expensive). You could check out the Lenovo Outlet .. They have some new X61 series computers for about $700-800 -- more than it was when it was getting phased out but still decent. Then again, I can't remember if the X61s has a DVD drive. Possibly not. Argh.

If you're okay with something bigger (14-15"), check out the T series. The T400 is pretty decently priced right now. (See the outlet again -- the one for $653 is pretty nice, just grab 2GB of ram from newegg)

If you do decide to go Lenovo, you can buy through the CPP site: www.lenovo.com/cpp / password: familyandfriends for an extra discount. Lenovo almost ALWAYS has coupons so make sure you look for them.


ONE BIG NOTE ABOUT LENOVO: They have awesome computers, but their customer service really sucks. Like, really, really sucks. You can check on their forums if you want to read a bunch of complaints/horror stories. Shipping also takes forever because they ship from Hong Kong / China and they always seem to get held up in customs (mine did). I also ordered an Accidental Protection warranty that isn't valid in my state and didn't find out it wasn't valid until AFTERwards when they sent me the service contract... they didn't have any fine print or footnotes or ANYTHING prior to my purchase saying it wasn't valid (their site should just prevent invalid purchases from checking out but it doesn't)... then it took about a month + 5-6 phone calls to CSR to get it refunded and get a normal extended warranty in place.

this is what i have. its decent.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Brand&v1=Compaq+Presario&series_name=CQ60Z_series&a1=Brand&v1=Compaq+Presario&jumpid=re_r602_cpq_home_a_lnav_notebooks&jumpid=re_r602_cpq_home_a_lnav_notebooks

Check slickdeals.net- I think they have a Core 2 Duo setup for about $550.

That dell on slickdeals looks good.. Hopefully they're still doing that promotion when I get my student loan money. I wonder if I can still get into UPS discounts.. I think I remember something saying I'd stay in the system for a year.

Between Dell and Staples, you'll probably be able to find one whenever you want, give or take a couple of weeks.

If you haven't gotten the Dell yet and are okay with refurbs,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4603207&Sku=M975-140014

This is a pretty solid deal on one of the most beloved Thinkpads (T4x series)

Yes it is like 4 years old but my mom has one and hers is still chugging. It has XP, too, if you care about that.

[Edit: man it seems like every day there's another laptop deal nowadays. If you want to go big, here's a 17" Dell Vostro: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1317091]

17" sounds nice, since it'll be something of a desktop replacement. Mostly just staying in one spot.

Ended up ordering an eee 1000HE. Probably going to throw the Windows 7 RC on it as I've heard that runs well.

You wanted a desktop replacement and you bought a netbook?

hahahah


1000HE is a nice machine, though. Hope it works out for you.

Figured I could buy a cheap machine now and then when I have an actual income buy something nicer. I'm going to be working 12-14 hour days and won't have wifi, so I really just needed something to store my pictures and write out emails to send from a public terminal.

Bastards got wifi banned on the boat because they used limewire.

I would look on craigslist