thats a pretty good price for that gateway, ull get a but load of pre-installed software just make sure you delete it, i would also trash works and get openoffice its just as good as office, and its FREE it also supports excel sheets.but if ur scratching 4 pennys u can get a cheap celeron no need for a dual core if ur just using it for word processing.

Penny scratching

quote:

Originally posted by rizen if you want inexpensive and quality, get a used thinkpad

Thinkpad screens SUCK and their HDD go out too easily.

I've gone through a bunch of T42s at work. Using a HP DV1000 series laptop now (mainly because I had a chance to get a centrino duo at work while working at a convention because we needed an extra laptop as an emergency and the macbooks had been recalled at the time) and much more reliable than the Thinkpads were. I love this laptops compact size (14" widescreen) and it's been super reliable. There are other models with bigger screens of course. The big downer is there's no PC Card slot in it so can't really add addons, but guess that's why I get for getting a small laptop.

Believe the current model is the dv2000 series. It's $700 for a Pentium Dual Core (or $750 for Core Duo or $800 for a Core 2 Duo). Was $1500 when I got this one, though mine has a Dual layer DVD record ($700 price is DVD/CDRW only), 1gb RAM (512 for $700), 100GB HD (60gb HD for $700), and some other things.

ALthough when its budgeted, totally getting a MacBook at work. We have one, but it's for the group to share. I want my own!

i was thinking to get something like this. i major in finance and sometimes it is tough and takes long to put things in pc when u see in class, so u can just draw it in this case. i have never used any of these though, so i wouldnt know if they are good or whatnot.

http://www.gateway.com/products/gco...s=CX210&clv=Img

Go to a store and test something like this out first. Because tablets can be TERRIBLE at being able to make what you write into it legible. Also, response time can be terrible too.

We bought some for editors one time and returned them, but sure they are much better these days. I'd just try to test it out first.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by DaveT Go to a store and test something like this out first. Because tablets can be TERRIBLE at being able to make what you write into it legible. Also, response time can be terrible too. We bought some for editors one time and returned them, but sure they are much better these days. I'd just try to test it out first. Dave

yea i assumed it couldnt be perfect, and i also wanted to test it first before anything... i wanted to know how it exactly works though. lets say ur on word and all of a sudden you want to draw a chart with the tablet and write a description with typing. is it possible to save it all together or its not that organized?

wait till presidents day... i hear theres gonna be crazy deals on laptops then. a few weeks ago all the stores had laptops with XP on clearance, you could have got a decent one for like $400-500.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveT Thinkpad screens SUCK and their HDD go out too easily. I've gone through a bunch of T42s at work. Using a HP DV1000 series laptop now (mainly because I had a chance to get a centrino duo at work while working at a convention because we needed an extra laptop as an emergency and the macbooks had been recalled at the time) and much more reliable than the Thinkpads were. I love this laptops compact size (14" widescreen) and it's been super reliable. There are other models with bigger screens of course. The big downer is there's no PC Card slot in it so can't really add addons, but guess that's why I get for getting a small laptop.

We have old thick ass Thinkpads still working at work (now collecting dust) along with A22m/T2Xs that we constantly ship out around the states for classes. Two of my coworkers still have their T40s and really like the current T60p I got to try. Not sure how their screens suck, 1400x1050 on 14.1 display is very clear and doesnt have an awful shiny/reflective screen. Their HDDs have been IBM now Hitachi and only recall one bad batch of IBM awhile back. Sure it's no Seagate but could be worse such as Toshiba or Samsung. Anyway I have access and worked on a lot of laptops at work from Acer Ferrari, Asus, Dell, MSI, Uniwill/Clevo (Alienware uses them), Compaqs and so on but have always liked Thinkpads. But ya, I'm there with you wanting an Apple notebook, who isn't I usually take home a small 12" Uniwill model from work if needed.

I would go mac but if thats out of your price range I like the thinkpads a lot.

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