Laptop shopping

[Bucket]

I want to buy a laptop sometime in the next few months. It's going to be strictly for casual use (I've already got a home PC and a work PC). Writing, drawing, movies, maybe some mapping or old-school games.

Problem is, manufacturers really want you to buy into the Vista experience, and I'm not ready to toss out all of my MSDN disks. I've got every Microsoft OS up to XP Tablet Edition but it's hard to find dealers who provide XP drivers (even more ridiculous are these notebooks with 64bit processors-- they put Vista Home on them and 64bit drivers are nowhere to be found). Hell, I'll use Linux before I start using Vista. There's just no need.

Anyway, I'm looking for a laptop that's cheap and light with a DVD drive and a respectable OS on it. It doesn't need to be a powerhouse; I'll probably use it to play games at least a decade old if at all.

[kristus]

buy vintage then.

[Technician]

Best bet would be some pawn shops.

[Dr. Zin]

Dell still sells XP laptops through their small-business section.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/vostronb?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

[spank]

It all comes down to how much you're willing to spend.

[Bucket]

I don't see how price would dictate, seeing as how I just finished saying portability and functionality were more important than raw specs. I'm willing to spend whatever would be considered a reasonable price for what I need.

[SYS]

You can also try craigslist if its active enough where you live. Only downside is dealing with people that have less than 3 brain cells most of the time.

[fraggle]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC

No DVD drive but it's cheap and compact enough that you can use a USB DVD drive.

[exp(x)]

I REALLY want an eeepc.

[Planky]

fraggle said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC

No DVD drive but it's cheap and compact enough that you can use a USB DVD drive.

That would be my suggestion as well (and a 4gig memory stick).

As someone mentioned before, Dell still provide XP as an option. Although I would avoid Dell at all costs.

BTW, Lenovo Thinkpads are very nice machines.

[scorpion]

I recently got an hardware.info/en-US/productdb/bGRkZpiUmJHK/viewproduct/ASUS_F3S/]Asus F3S. (I have the F3SV-3A, although this page is about the F3SC)

[GreyGhost]

Bucket said:

It's going to be strictly for casual use.

Problem is, manufacturers really want you to buy into the Vista experience.

Anyway, I'm looking for a laptop that's cheap and light with a DVD drive and a respectable OS on it.

Been there, done that, bear the scars with pride.

I settled for a 2-year-old HP Pavillion DV4000 - about half the cost of an entry-level laptop while having more connectivity options than my desktop PC.

The Eee PC doesn't impress me - no matter how hard I try I can't block this image from my mind.

[Nuxius]

I just want to add that NewEgg currently offers 102 different notebooks for sale that come with Windows XP Pro installed. So I don't really understand why some people think that in order to get a laptop with XP installed, one has to go used. That is simply not true.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2030260032+1044906965

Hell, Microsoft still distributes retail copies of Windows XP, and will continue to do so until the current cutoff date of June 30th, 2008.

[Gokuma]

I'd recommend a macbook. It's supposedly easier to install Win XP on one of them than an actual PC, since they're basically PCs that are defaulted to mac mode but not as shitty as other prebuilt companies.

Just whatever you do, don't give any of your money to Dell, HP, Gateway, emachines, or Sony.


Would someone please tell me how the fuck Vista is getting somewhere now despite how horrible is? I thought companies were pulling it and going back to XP except for the assholes at Dell.

[GreyGhost]

Gokuma said:

Would someone please tell me how the fuck Vista is getting somewhere now despite how horrible is?

"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment."

It started back in the 80's when Microsoft convinced PC manufacturers that they would encounter less buyer resistance if their PC's had an OS pre-installed on them (MS-Dos naturally). That marketing strategy helped them conquer the desktop market with an inferior product.
Fear of losing their share of that market is what's keeping PC manufacturers loyal to Microsoft and in return allowing Microsoft to virtually dictate what's bundled through their control and manipulation of licensing.