----------------------------------- Zren Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:17 pm 300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- I've seen a few posting for laptops on this forum, so I thought some of you might like to know this. Fresh from China is a decent spec computer for just less than 300$. It's only a single core CPU apparently, and overall not amazing in anyway other than a price. It's practacally a netbook in disguise. Though this seems perfect for a friend of mine who needed a cheap computer with a full keyboard since she was going to take financial classes. It also seems the CPU is 64 bit so you could upgrade it when Windows 7 comes out and sneek in the x64 version (if that's possible). Though I'm not so sure about the upgrade path from Home Basic and if [url=http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/upgrading-to-windows-7-what-xp-and-vista-users-need-to-know.ars]Walmart is following Microsoft's free upgrade time. Anyways, they're stated to "begin selling at 8 a.m. on Sunday, July 26" at Walmart. [url=http://digg.com/hardware/Wal_Mart_beats_Best_Buy_with_298_laptop][Via Digg] PS: Goddam it I read too much from LifeHacker Anyways, I read somewhere on Yahoo answers about switching out the CPU to basically make it super. Anyone got any ideas as to what it could be switched with? ----------------------------------- [Gandalf] Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:09 am Re: 300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Anyways, I read somewhere on Yahoo answers about switching out the CPU to basically make it super. Anyone got any ideas as to what it could be switched with? :doh: You don't have that many options to make the CPU better, since that socket is relatively old. However, you could go with some Turion64 X2 if you really want the dual core, or wait for a better Sempron. Then again, I don't see how it's worth it to swap the CPU for a laptop like this, but maybe as an experiment... ----------------------------------- ecookman Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:12 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Personally, i don't trust things made in china. They are made cheaply and don't last. Avoid it like the plague. ----------------------------------- [Gandalf] Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:35 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- That's a sweeping generalization... especially considering the huge variety of hardware (never mind "things") made in China. ----------------------------------- Dan Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:19 pm Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Personally, i don't trust things made in china. They are made cheaply and don't last. Avoid it like the plague. I am willing to bet that at least one part of your computer was made in china or a simular contry in terms of cheap labour. ----------------------------------- endless Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:58 pm Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Personally, i don't trust things made in china. They are made cheaply and don't last. Avoid it like the plague. I am willing to bet that at least one part of your computer was made in china or a simular contry in terms of cheap labour. yea, i don't think there is a problem with reliability (for the most part), i think the real question is about morality - see foxxcon iphone ordeal. ----------------------------------- ecookman Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:17 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- @ tony I bet you are right, but everything I have owned that has been entirely made in china usually breaks really easily and wears down quickly. eg, knives, clocks. My friends dirt bike is..unsafe at best, the metal in that is so soft you can easily bend it, and on his first ride the rear bolt that held in the wheel broke. ----------------------------------- Euphoracle Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:40 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- there's a difference between buying stuff made in china and buying cheap stuff made in china. do your homework, check out your brands and you'll be fine. ----------------------------------- Homer_simpson Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:37 am Re: 300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- ive been checking them out for time now and the cheapest laptop they got is 328 bux ----------------------------------- ecookman Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:17 pm Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- there's a difference between buying stuff made in china and buying cheap stuff made in china. do your homework, check out your brands and you'll be fine. Which brands do you find are well made from china? (I havn't found any) ----------------------------------- Euphoracle Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:51 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- XFX Also I should mention that I don't like your ignorance. ----------------------------------- Alexmula Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:26 pm Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- there's a difference between buying stuff made in china and buying cheap stuff made in china. do your homework, check out your brands and you'll be fine. Which brands do you find are well made from china? (I havn't found any) lenovo :wink: ----------------------------------- ecookman Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:16 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- XFX Also I should mention that I don't like your ignorance. Not trying to be ignotant, I just have never heard of or seen a "Made In China" product be of any quality. ----------------------------------- andrew. Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:03 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- He just said XFX. XFX is one of the best nVidia graphics card makers. ----------------------------------- Euphoracle Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:50 pm Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- XFX Also I should mention that I don't like your ignorance. Not trying to be ignotant, I just have never heard of or seen a "Made In China" product be of any quality. It's ignorance to say that they don't exist. Thus you are ignorant. Cheers. ----------------------------------- gianni Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:03 pm Re: 300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- I would just like to reiterate Alexmula's example of an extremely good quality Chinese computer manufacturer: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo]Lenovo. ----------------------------------- ecookman Tue Jul 28, 2009 8:11 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- XFX Also I should mention that I don't like your ignorance. Not trying to be ignorant, I just have never heard of or seen a "Made In China" product be of any quality. It's ignorance to say that they don't exist. Thus you are ignorant. Cheers. I am pretty sure if you have owned lots of tings made in china and they reliably fail, you would be wary of purchasing more products made in china. Also I was not aware that good brands like Lenovo and XFX were Made in China. I was basing my opinion on past experiences, and it does seem to have teh pattern of brand quality. (lol thought i would throw it out there my computer is manufactured Korea and USA) ----------------------------------- gianni Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:34 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- lol thought i would throw it out there my computer is manufactured Korea and USA There's no way you could possibly know that. ----------------------------------- rdrake Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:44 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- lol thought i would throw it out there my computer is manufactured Korea and USA There's no way you could possibly know that.QFT Face it ecookman, everything you own was made in China. From your shoes to half your computer. ----------------------------------- ecookman Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:59 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- lol thought i would throw it out there my computer is manufactured Korea and USA There's no way you could possibly know that. it said it on the box. ----------------------------------- ecookman Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:02 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- QFT Face it ecookman, everything you own was made in China. From your shoes to half your computer. As I said above. Made in China + Brand Name= quality ----------------------------------- Euphoracle Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:07 pm RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- How dare you judge by brand names. Do you dare doubt the awesomeness that is the [url=http://cgi.ebay.com/09-NEW-EDITION-ZERO-24-192KHz-DAC-HEAD-AMP-OPA627_W0QQitemZ120433377933QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0a63828d&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116]Zero DAC? ----------------------------------- wtd Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:16 am Re: 300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Putting aside the sheer idiocy populating most of this thread, the laptop in the first post is a piece of crap. It isn't worth $300, so charging that much is highway robbery. ----------------------------------- andrew. Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:36 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- I agree with wtd, although the graphics card isn't too bad for a $300 laptop. Most of the time they give you the crappy Intel GMA 910 or 950s. ----------------------------------- wtd Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:38 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- It doesn't matter what the specs are. It's going to break. Repeatedly. And even if it's under warranty, fixing laptops takes time. If this one is a gray market import, then it won't be under warranty at all. I wouldn't expect more than 3 months of decent use from it before you'd be shopping again. Let's see, $100 a month: if you are thinking about a year, that's $1200. You could get a decent laptop (MacBook, Thinkpad, business-grade HP or Dell) for that. ----------------------------------- Bobrobyn Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:48 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- The alternative, if he has a desktop already, is just to buy a netbook and use his desktop for his financial software. I have had an asus eeepc for almost two years now (it'll be 2 years this October, I believe)...it was about 450ish with tax...that's $250 a year. Since I rarely sit down to do work for long periods at school with it, it's perfect. It's light, boots fast, and if I happen to drop it in a puddle, I won't cry for too long. Course, netbooks are even cheaper these days...and you get a nicer keyboard, screen, and battery life :) Course, don't be expecting a laptop that's nice to spend 3 hours writing a paper on...or something you're gonna be able to game much on. ----------------------------------- wtd Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:08 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- The alternative, if he has a desktop already, is just to buy a netbook and use his desktop for his financial software. I have had an asus eeepc for almost two years now (it'll be 2 years this October, I believe)...it was about 450ish with tax...that's $250 a year. Since I rarely sit down to do work for long periods at school with it, it's perfect. It's light, boots fast, and if I happen to drop it in a puddle, I won't cry for too long. Course, netbooks are even cheaper these days...and you get a nicer keyboard, screen, and battery life :) Course, don't be expecting a laptop that's nice to spend 3 hours writing a paper on...or something you're gonna be able to game much on. [url=http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126041]$32 buys you comfortable paper-writing. Doesn't cost that much to make the [url=http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254034]screen more comfortable for this kind of work. ----------------------------------- wtd Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:37 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- A few examples. Thinkpad R400 (14.1" WXGA, 2.4GHz P8600, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, no bluetooth, Vista Home Premium, 9 cell battery, 4yr warranty) - $1,527.65 Thinkpad T400 (14.1" WXGA, 2.26GHz P8400, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, no bluetooth, Vista Business, 9 cell battery, 4yr warranty) - $1,687.65 Dell E5400 (14.1" WXGA, 2.26GHz P8400, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, no bluetooth, Vista Business, 9 cell battery, 4yr warranty) - $1,830.00 Fujitsu Lifebook S7220 (14.1" WXGA, 2.4GHz P8600, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, bluetooth, Vista Business, 6-cell battery, 3yr warranty) - $1,756.00 13.3" MacBook Pro (13.3" WXGA, 2.26GHz P7550, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, bluetooth, Mac OS X 10.5, up to 7hr battery, 3yr warranty) - $1,818.00 Panasonic Toughbook F8 (14.1" WXGA, 2.26GHz SP9300, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB HDD, DVD+/-RW, Wireless N, bluetooth, Vista Business, 6-cell battery, 3yr warranty) - $2,599.98 On a per month basis... R500: $31.83 T400: $35.16 E5400: $38.13 S7220: $48.78 13.3" MBP: $50.15 F8: $72.22 Multiply these numbers by 12 months... $381.96, $421.96, $457.56, $585.36, $606.00, $866.64 That's how much you can spend on a cheap laptop that won't last past a year before it makes more sense to buy a decent laptop. ----------------------------------- andrew. Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:41 am RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- wtd makes a good point. Why spend money on something that will last only a year when you can fork out some more and get something more worthwhile? ----------------------------------- woniutupian Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:59 am Re: RE:300$ Laptop ----------------------------------- Personally, i don't trust things made in china. They are made cheaply and don't last. Avoid it like the plague. I am willing to bet that at least one part of your computer was made in china or a simular contry in terms of cheap labour. to ecookman: i disapprove. to Dan: approve.