Anyone bought one of those 400$ laptops? | FerrariChat
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Anyone bought one of those 400$ laptops?

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by bpu699, May 31, 2007.

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  1. bpu699

    bpu699 F1 World Champ
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    #1 bpu699, May 31, 2007
    My wife wants to buy another laptop. We already own a couple, and some desktops for the office (gateway, toshiba, etc). She wants one for occasional use, to drag around with her, for internet usage and client presentations. There is a fairly high chance it will get bumped around, mangled, etc.

    I keep getting advertisements from BB/CC showing 650$ toshiba laptops, with $350 rebates. Essentially a 400$ laptop. I suspect its 3-4 year old technology, which is fine. We don't intend to play games on it, its not a graphic intensive use, etc. She basically wants net access, and document prep.

    Are these laptops any good??? I look at it as a disposable item. If she gets 1-2 years out of it - great...

    Here is an example http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-Satellite-15-4-Widescreen-Notebook-PC-A135-S2356/sem/rpsm/oid/176213/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
     
  2. 2NA

    2NA F1 World Champ
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    #2 2NA, May 31, 2007
  3. bpu699

    bpu699 F1 World Champ
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    #3 bpu699, May 31, 2007
    I prefer to shop at Sams Club and Walmart, as their return policies are very generous. But, Cicuit City has the highest rebates, and thats the reason I intend to buy it there.

    At 400$, this is basically a disposable item. It is under manufacturer warranty for 1 year, and my credit card extends it for an additional year for free.

    They want 200$ for an extended warranty for 2 year - hah! Thats half the price of the computer! They are quite delusional.

    We have had good luck getting the rebates also, with no issues in the past.

    I have never had to use their "customer service", so I can't comment on that.

    In our town, the Best Buy and Circuit City are RIGHT next to each other. They basically carry the same merchandise, and CC is usually 20% less. Go figure. Yet, BB is always packed, and CC is empty. Better advertising? Who knows.

    Still, hard to fo wrong with a $400 brand name laptop, with good user reviews.
    Our last laptop, a toshiba, has been going strong for 6 years...
     
  4. Etcetera

    Etcetera Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #4 Etcetera, May 31, 2007
  5. ErikV10

    ErikV10 Formula 3

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    #5 ErikV10, May 31, 2007
    I know someone who bought an Acer computer for around $400 dollar price to replace his slow running PC. After a couple of months, I came over to his house and he was talking crap about the new laptop he just bought because his old PC seemed to run better than the new one does.
     
  6. 1_can_dream

    1_can_dream F1 Veteran

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    #6 1_can_dream, May 31, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    If you're looking for a 1-2 year old laptop and you don't mind buying used. Please please please buy mine :) I've listed it on ebay five times and had the auction closed by ebay because winning bidders were using stolen accounts. It runs great I just reformatted it. And with the specs on it it can more than handle the uses that your wife will need it for.

    Compaq R3000z
    15.4" monitor (1680x1050)
    AMD Athalon 64 3700+ (798mhz)
    2gb ram
    nvidia geforce 440 (64mb)
    80gig hd
    DVD+RW drive
    802.11g/bluetooth
    5in 1 card reader
    3usb 2.0
    s-video and vga

    Also included
    Power cable/charger
    12 cell battery
    removable SD card reader/holder
    carry bag

    Also comes with windows xp pro and office both with the cd's and registered to the computer (key is on the bottom).

    Only reason I'm selling it is because I bought a different one.

    It's all yours for 500$+whatever it costs to ship to you (probably around 30 bucks) I paid around 1900$ when it was new.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  7. bpu699

    bpu699 F1 World Champ
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    #7 bpu699, May 31, 2007
    Well, we I believe she bought a Compaq presario. $600, $200 rebate.

    Additional memory was $55 or so. Circuit City said if we install the memory, and don't pay them to do it, it voids the warranty. That sounds hilarious! Is that really a manufacturers policy?!
     
  8. bpu699

    bpu699 F1 World Champ
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    #8 bpu699, May 31, 2007
    More updates!

    My wife just called me, fuirious. We looked the computer up on "CircuitCity.com." Listed as "in stock", immediate availability.

    We went to but it, and it was "no longer available." Odd, the sale just started yesterday. They tried to sell her a higher priced computer, without a rebate. My wife asked to speak to a manager.

    "Sorry, no manager is available."

    Then, they miraculously found the computer, but they had already loaded on "additional software", and the computer will cost $50 more. My wife starts raising her voice, asking for the manager.

    Then, they found the computer in "the backroom" but they highly recommend the additional gig of memory, which they MUST install, 88$ for the memory, plus god knows what to plug it it. My wife starts yelling...which she is good at :).

    She walks out with what she walked in looking for... From what I understand, the sales guy was quite irate.

    Sounds like a bait and swicth to me!!!

    PS. The rebate is from 5/29, to 6/2 if anyone is interested!
     
  9. 8 SNAKE

    8 SNAKE F1 Veteran

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    #9 8 SNAKE, May 31, 2007
    Sounds like you've discovered why your local BB is always packed and your local CC is always empty.
     
  10. Endaar

    Endaar Karting

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    #10 Endaar, May 31, 2007
    Not sure if you added additional memory or not, but I'd reccomend it. 512MB with Vista is rather low.

    www.crucial.com is usually the best place for memory, and you should be able to install it yourself with no problems.
     
  11. 2NA

    2NA F1 World Champ
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    #11 2NA, May 31, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  12. 1_can_dream

    1_can_dream F1 Veteran

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    #12 1_can_dream, May 31, 2007
    I'm running a laptop with vista and it only has 512mb and haven't had any problems at all.
     
  13. vraa

    vraa F1 Rookie
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    #13 vraa, May 31, 2007
    I buy them all the time as employee prizes.

    Would I get one for myself -- probably not considering my needs.

    If someone just wants a simple machine that's disposable -- yeah go for it. :)

    Otherwise I strongly suggest something with a bit more quality.
     
  14. ferraridude615

    ferraridude615 F1 Veteran

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    #14 ferraridude615, May 31, 2007
    Your probably only running basic or home though right? The higher ones require 1gb and more.
     
  15. 1_can_dream

    1_can_dream F1 Veteran

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    #15 1_can_dream, May 31, 2007
    Of course :)
     
  16. NaPsTeR

    NaPsTeR Karting

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    #16 NaPsTeR, May 31, 2007
  17. vraa

    vraa F1 Rookie
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    #17 vraa, Jun 1, 2007
    I've had ups and downs with Tiger Direct.
    I think it was slashdot or something where I read a post supposedly with some insight on their business practices. I don't remember much of it now -- but I don't think I'll ever buy from them again.

    Personally I love newegg.com (spent probably a hundred grand so far including work products) and pcmall.com (get a fantastic discount because a buddy from mbworld.org works there).
     
  18. Mbutner

    Mbutner Formula 3

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    #18 Mbutner, Jun 1, 2007
    Just bought a Toshiba Laptop from CC for $599. 1G Memory, 1.7G dual core Processor, 120G hard drive.

    I did my hw and just went in and told the pimply faced kid what I wanted. No BS, no Extended warranty.. I already had all my periphrials picked out including an additional 1G of memory (2 total), and all is well so far. computer is blazing fast and is very light. Just my .02
     
  19. DMC

    DMC Formula 3

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    #19 DMC, Jun 1, 2007
    Once again - DON'T mess with Bo's wife!!! :)
     

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