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laptop? Our 18 y/o DS wants a laptop for Christmas and we are trying to stay on a budget as much as possible (we have two other kids, each other, my mom, siblings, etc.). I have checked the Black Friday ads and have only seen a Dell Vostro at Wal-Mart for $349. I have no idea if this computer is even any good or would serve his purpose (Word, internet access, a few games, etc.). What other ways can I get good deals if nothing great comes up in the next couple of days for BF? Internet sites? Craigslist? I have never done this before so I have no idea. Please help!
laptop? Our 18 y/o DS wants a laptop for Christmas and we are trying to stay on a budget as much as possible (we have two other kids, each other, my mom, siblings, etc.). I have checked the Black Friday ads and have only seen a Dell Vostro at Wal-Mart for $349. I have no idea if this computer is even any good or would serve his purpose (Word, internet access, a few games, etc.). What other ways can I get good deals if nothing great comes up in the next couple of days for BF? Internet sites? Craigslist? I have never done this before so I have no idea. Please help!
Thanks!
Nancy
Unless he really needs a laptop for portability a mini tower is way more bang for the buck and much faster. As far as that model I can't help you. I don't use one anymore.
With this as a criteria pretty much any laptop on the market is powerful enough.
Keep your eyes open as it gets closer to Xmas. I've heard the warehouses are full of unsold electronics and if the season sales are as flat as I expect there will be some good deals coming up. If you can return the Dell you might consider buying it (or a different one) keep it in the packing and return it if a better deal shows up later. Just be sure of the return policy....
I just looked at the online ad for my zip, I am not seeing that laptop available here.
FWIW, I did notice that the cheaper laptops/desktops did not have windows installed, they are running linux, which is easily fixed for under $100 with an OEM XP or Vista CD.
I agree with who said that if they do not need the laptop for portability, buy a desktop.
All kids want a laptop, no clue why. Eventually they get slow, you can't upgrade them. If a part goes bad it's expensive to replace where with a desktop you can buy say a motherboard cheap then try to reuse parts.
It's a good price for a laptop but without seeing specs it could be running old parts...
Some news reports suggest waiting until the Thanksgiving weekend is past to see how sales have been, which will determine how aggressive the sales get as Christmas gets closer.
Some news reports suggest waiting until the Thanksgiving weekend is past to see how sales have been, which will determine how aggressive the sales get as Christmas gets closer.
This could very well be true....in the past some companies have threatened lawsuits for posting BF sales early....this year "They" are sending out flyer's already.....
Thanks for your help everyone! I love to shop on Black Friday, but will hold off on the laptop, or try to talk him into a desk top. Our 21 y/o DS got the DT for the same reason you all mentioned.
FWIW, I did notice that the cheaper laptops/desktops did not have windows installed, they are running linux, which is easily fixed for under $100 with an OEM XP or Vista CD.
You are talking about the netbooks. Commercially available operating systems (read: Windows, OSX) are very large, require at least 4 gigs of disk space, and are power hungry for RAM. This is because they are loaded with tidbits that can bog a machine down. OSX, for example, has thousands of little features that the typical Mac user will never use, nor even notice that they are there. Linux, in general, is just a bare bones OS, giving the user the opportunity to add the apps and features that they want. Because of this Linux generally requires less RAM and takes up considerably less disk space. Some Linux distros are as small as 8MB. That's a spec of dust, but still fully functional. So, netbooks, because of their limitations with tasks, disk space and RAM benefit from using Linux as the OS.
netbooks for the win!!!! i am obssessed with it!!! first with asus eeepc which started it all!! then, acer aspire one $348 at walmart, but msi wind wins!!! coz i can convert it to hackintosh!!! look ma, i have a mac notebook under $400!! woot!
If he is going to go to college next year you might want to hold off on the laptop now. Some colleges have very strict requirements for what they want students to have. They also generally have very good deals on those laptops.
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