What's the best deal on a new computer?

FarahShazam · Post by **FarahShazam** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:36 pm

DonShirer · Post by **DonShirer** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:53 pm

There was an article in a very recent NY Times about the $100 computer. It seems that both the MIT project and Intel were working on it seperately, but are now having disagreements about the approach. It was primarily intended for 3d world countries, I believe. If that is the case, it may be very limited in its resources. That price may be less than what MS would charge for Vista.

My own thinking is that you pick a tool (including a computer) by its capabilities and fitness for your use, not its price.

My computer, by the way, told me she agrees with many of the points raised by -Coder- in a previous response.

fpoon · Post by **fpoon** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 1:34 pm

Just find a cheap, older name-brand laptop. I say name-brand so that you can buy a new battery. Maybe even put a new/bigger hard drive in it. Then...

Install this wonderful little piece of software: http://www.ubuntu.com/

It won't crash. It won't lock up. So it's better than Windows. And it's free, and runs on older hardware FAST so its better than Mac.

For basic computer use, it's beyond all you need.

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:33 pm

Yeah but can I run Finale or Sibelius on ubuntu?

MA

fpoon · Post by **fpoon** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:14 pm

Sibalius (along with MS office) is the one program that can really frustrate me on a Mac. But I do have to use it from time to time...

tuba72 · Post by **tuba72** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:38 pm

I got my new computer from Tiger Direct. I moved into an apartment and the desktop I had we did not have a place to put it. It was refurbished but the price was right and it had what I needed. I got a new camera and wanted to use the computer so I needed one with a Pentium 4. Lots of memory and a big hard drive. They can be found online at www.tigerdirect.com. You also might find a place that sells used computers(one around here is called Computer Renissance.) Good luck with the search.

Happy Carl owner

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:02 am

The $100 laptop is otherwise known as the XO; you can see the relative status of things at http://www.laptop.org (the official OPLC site).

Production will start when 5 million orders have been received. Your best bet is to be a schoolkid in Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Lybia or Thailand as of this writing.

The XO has a 7.5" LCD display (both transmissive and reflective), 366 MHz AMD Geode processor, 128MB of DRAM, 512 MB of flash, runs Linux and has no hard disk--but does have WiFi as well as mesh networking (which is kind of cool). It also has a 640x480 pixel video camera and an Audio Devices AD1888 audio decoder.

There's some highly innovative software on it, but it's probably not something that you as a first-world US denizen will want to use--but your pre-schoolers might.

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:55 am

tuba72 wrote:I got my new computer from Tiger Direct. I moved into an apartment and the desktop I had we did not have a place to put it. It was refurbished but the price was right and it had what I needed. I got a new camera and wanted to use the computer so I needed one with a Pentium 4. Lots of memory and a big hard drive. They can be found online at www.tigerdirect.com. You also might find a place that sells used computers(one around here is called Computer Renissance.) Good luck with the search.

Happy Carl owner

I'd be carefull of TigerDirect. There are a lot of folks that got burned trying to collect on their adverstised rebates. I'm a volunteer moderator at McAfee help forum and have read lots of horror stories. See the results of Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22tiger ... +complaint

corbasse · Post by **corbasse** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:19 am

Coder wrote:..... running faster on old hardware is sort of an odd argument to make against Macs......

I'm sitting behind an old 350 mhz G3 running OSX 10.2.8 and in that light it's not an odd argument at all. Software has been upgraded, but not enough budget for new hardware was available until recently.
The thing "runs" s....l....o....w and crashes a lot more than my windows box at home. Unfortunately I need it to do the work here.
In the light of buying an older laptop and trying to use recent software on it it's something to consider.

WoodSheddin · Post by **WoodSheddin** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 4:36 pm

Bob1062 wrote:Thanks for all the replies guys.
Too many new, odd (to me!) words; my head isn't spinning it's slowed down to a mild twitch

So, the MIT $100 isn't a really good idea? OK

Maybe I should ask my brothers to run this through to me

Just keep an eye on www.slickdeals.net. When you see a Dell laptop and the price dips below $700 then that would be a good deal. to get. But follow the instructions on the Slickdeal to take advantage of it.

I am waiting on the same thing right now to get my wife a new laptop. There have not been any really great discounts since Christmas. Windows Vista just came out so it might be a bit longer still. Be patient.