Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On 7/18/22, James H. H. Lampert wrote: >>> Another place to look is your local laptop store. My current laptop, >>> as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there >>> for about $300. They run Linux just fine. > > "Local laptop store?" > > Not quite sure I've heard of such a thing, at least not recently. My > Chromebook came from BestBuy. Maybe it's a small town thing. I actually worked in one and bought from another in my relatively small county. Both were family owned. I didn't receive money for working but instead paid off a portion of a P/C I bought from them ~15 years ago. There weren't any tech-centric big box stores in any counties nearby at the time. These days the Internet's ever increasing access has probably closed more than a few of those quaint little businesses that are/were competitively priced in spite of their size. Local Yellow Pages, if you can even find those for free these days, were where I first learned of the businesses I used. Cindy :) -- Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA * runs with birdseed *
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
James H. H. Lampert wrote: > > As it happens, my beat-up old DOSbook (an old Compaq Contura 486) crapped > out on me, a couple months ago, and I'm looking for something of about the > same physical dimensions (or a bit smaller and lighter) to replace it. > Something old enough to have a floppy drive and/or a PCMCIA slot, and to run > DOS and DOSapps without a problem. Would a Debian laptop running DOS in a VM with a USB floppy drive work? Much more likely to be available. -dsr-
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
Another place to look is your local laptop store. My current laptop, as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there for about $300. They run Linux just fine. "Local laptop store?" Not quite sure I've heard of such a thing, at least not recently. My Chromebook came from BestBuy. As it happens, my beat-up old DOSbook (an old Compaq Contura 486) crapped out on me, a couple months ago, and I'm looking for something of about the same physical dimensions (or a bit smaller and lighter) to replace it. Something old enough to have a floppy drive and/or a PCMCIA slot, and to run DOS and DOSapps without a problem. -- JHHL
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
"Rick Thomas" writes: > On Sun, Jul 17, 2022, at 1:59 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote: >> On Sun Jul 17 09:16:57 2022 Dekks Herton wrote: >> >> > john doe writes: >> > >> >> I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is >> >> better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. >> >> >> >> I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), >> >> do you have any suggestions/ideas? >> > >> > 2nd hand Thinkpad off ebay, craigslist etc, likely easy to upgrade and >> > certainly straightforward to install linux. >> >> Another place to look is your local laptop store. My current laptop, >> as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there >> for about $300. They run Linux just fine. > > Or ask your neighbors. Due to Covid, a lot of people are replacing > their Windows or Mac machines so they can run Zoom and other > "community building while isolated" apps. Most of them don't bother > with looking for a good trade-in deal, and have the old computer lying > around doing nothing. If you let it be known that you will take it of > their hands, upgrade it to run modern software (like Linux) and make > it available to charities in the area, often they will donate it to > you for free. Another good use is kids going to college/uni who are often peer pressured into buying macs which if damaged really get expensive. I've several friends kids running 4 or 5 year old Thinkpads that have survived the rough n tumble of uni that cost less than 50% of a new machine. Regards.
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Sun, Jul 17, 2022, at 1:59 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote: > On Sun Jul 17 09:16:57 2022 Dekks Herton wrote: > > > john doe writes: > > > >> I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > >> better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > >> > >> I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), > >> do you have any suggestions/ideas? > > > > 2nd hand Thinkpad off ebay, craigslist etc, likely easy to upgrade and > > certainly straightforward to install linux. > > Another place to look is your local laptop store. My current laptop, > as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there > for about $300. They run Linux just fine. Or ask your neighbors. Due to Covid, a lot of people are replacing their Windows or Mac machines so they can run Zoom and other "community building while isolated" apps. Most of them don't bother with looking for a good trade-in deal, and have the old computer lying around doing nothing. If you let it be known that you will take it of their hands, upgrade it to run modern software (like Linux) and make it available to charities in the area, often they will donate it to you for free. Anyway, that's how I do it... Rick
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Sun Jul 17 09:16:57 2022 Dekks Herton wrote: > john doe writes: > >> I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is >> better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. >> >> I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), >> do you have any suggestions/ideas? > > 2nd hand Thinkpad off ebay, craigslist etc, likely easy to upgrade and > certainly straightforward to install linux. Another place to look is your local laptop store. My current laptop, as well as its predecessor, are refurbished ThinkPads I bought there for about $300. They run Linux just fine. -- /~\ Charlie Gibbs | They don't understand Microsoft \ /| has stolen their car and parked X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | a taxi in their driveway. / \ if you read it the right way. |-- Mayayana
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
john doe writes: > I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > > I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do you > have any suggestions/ideas? 2nd hand Thinkpad off ebay, craigslist etc, likely easy to upgrade and certainly straightforward to install linux. Regards.
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On 7/11/2022 2:29 PM, Charles Curley wrote: On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 09:32:49 +0200 john doe wrote: I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do you have any suggestions/ideas? Newegg (and likely other on-line vendors) offers reburbished used computers. I've had good results with the Lenovo T series from there. You didn't mention which flavor of bucks you had in mind. US, Canadian, Australian, etc. I doubt you meant Zimbabwean, though. For the sake of simplicity, answering here to everyone. Actually, I used bucks to avoid using a specific currency,. In retrospect, I should have used Euros instead of bucks! :) The battery life is not a concern. Thanks all for your valuable input, much appreciated. -- John Doe
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 09:32:49 +0200 john doe wrote: > I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > > I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do > you have any suggestions/ideas? Newegg (and likely other on-line vendors) offers reburbished used computers. I've had good results with the Lenovo T series from there. You didn't mention which flavor of bucks you had in mind. US, Canadian, Australian, etc. I doubt you meant Zimbabwean, though. -- Does anybody read signatures any more? https://charlescurley.com https://charlescurley.com/blog/
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Mon, Jul 11, 2022 at 05:45:38PM +1000, David wrote: > On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 09:32:49 +0200 > john doe wrote: > > > Debians, > > > > I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > > better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > > > > I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do you > > have any suggestions/ideas? > > See the local computer recyclers. I can vouch for that. I got mine (a Lenovo X230) from a store specialised on that. I topped it up to 16G RAM (that's why it cost 400EUR instead of the "standard" 200 for 8G). It has given me five years of service and is still going strong. Cheers -- t signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Mon, Jul 11, 2022 at 3:33 AM john doe wrote: > Debians, > > I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > > I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do you > have any suggestions/ideas? > > I have a Asus x200ca notebook that works well you can pick one up from Amazon for $200. https://www.amazon.com/Asus-X200CA-HCL1104G-Celeraon-processor-Windows/dp/B00GWVNK8A > -- > John Doe > > -- ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀ ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org/ ⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀
Re: OT, Recommendation for low cost laptop
On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 09:32:49 +0200 john doe wrote: > Debians, > > I'm comtemplating buying a Pinebook pro but I'm not sure if this is > better then buying a Windows laptop and putting linux on it. > > I'm looking for something cheap (max would be around 300 bucks), do you > have any suggestions/ideas? See the local computer recyclers. Preferably the ones who handle the government throw-outs. Government departments, in order to boost their budget allocation, replace as much of their stock as possible, each year, so some good deals are in the works. A good recycler checks everything out, will upgrade the size of drive and amount of RAM, on request, and deliver on an economical deal with some form of guarantee. Off to one side, I have an ACER Travelmate I got in 2017 (2016 model) that has been as solid as a rock since I bought it. Never missed a beat, costing me $300 Australian. It's how I get all my stuff. Cheers!
