Cheap laptop?

I also recommend you purchase a cooling pad for one. They have built in fans to keep your laptop cool. Originally Posted by oldman49

i will definately get one of those when i get a new laptop. i just heard about those. i had that problem with my old laptop overheating because I always have it on my lap lol

Yes I have, I repair them and most used ones at the super stores still have the original or refurbished drives. Most have little warranty. Heat is the death of all laptops and you never know what kind of care they have had. I also recommend you purchase a cooling pad for one. They have built in fans to keep your laptop cool. Originally Posted by oldman49

Exactly right. You just don't know how someone else has treated it. Plus, since most laptops just a few years ago were sold in the $7-800 range, people still think they are worth way more than they are. I also see worse overheating issues with the 17" screen lappies that just don't seem to happen as often with the smaller ones. The 15's seem to be much better.

I used to hhave a little mini acer i liked a lot.. might look into onee of those again too. It was only a couple hundred at wally world

If your talking bout a netbook, not much to them, without and external drive no way to do a recovery or restore back to factory options, spend the extra money and get a laptop.

I think its time to start a a laptop scholarship fund so Destiny can have a good decent laptop

Have you thought of Linux? I new hard drive is $50-75 bucks and Ubuntu or Zorin will run smooth even when your hard drive has bad sectors. And unlike Windows it gives you a warning before the big sleep sets in lol. the internet is the same and it has lots of free software.

The problem with Linux is that if you have a problem you will have a harder time finding useful help if you need it. Some people will say Linux is more secure, but a majority of people that run it have everything running and poorly configured so it defeats the purpose of running it.

For your purpose, I would say stick with a cheap windows laptop unless you can afford a better one or a tablet since you dont seem to be using it for anything too complicated. I have a Nexus 7 tablet and barely use my laptop anymore (only use it for my real world work). They start out at $200 as does the Kindle Fire HD. I love the 7inch screen size. Bigger isnt always better.

Yes I have, I repair them and most used ones at the super stores still have the original or refurbished drives. Most have little warranty. Heat is the death of all laptops and you never know what kind of care they have had. I also recommend you purchase a cooling pad for one. They have built in fans to keep your laptop cool. Originally Posted by oldman49

Thanks for the info...makes perfect sense too..I can see the heat issue for sure, I do have a refurbished pc that is like 8 or 9 years old...I can hear the fan blowing as I type...

Shop. Read reviews. You will feel better about the whole process. That's why I use NewEgg. You can read about others experiences...and laugh at the dummies...besides...nerdy girls in glasses and school uniforms are one of every man's fantasies. There is nothing to changing a hard drive and reinstalling an operating system. Laptop or desktop, its all fun to me. Here is what I want you to do. Find out what kind of hard drive it is. EIDE, SATA or SATA 3. You mentioned it's old, if it's older than five years, it may have an EIDE hard drive. If so...I would replace the laptop. If it's a SATA or SATA 3, then your options are more open. Sata it's still easy to find them and pretty inexpensively. SATA 3 is best as it is the most modern, and it will be easiest and probably cheapest to replace your drive. If it is Sata3, I wouldn't even bother with a hard drive. Go with a SSD. It will make your laptop run so much faster. You can get a decent sized one for about $125 (about 120 gigabytes) and it will be plenty big for everything you will really need other than large video files if you are into that. Reinstalling your operating system could be as easy as putting in a DVD. PM me with the specifications of your laptop including brand, model number (probably on the bottom) and what version of windows you use. I would be happy to help, it's my "other hobby", LOL and I built myself one hell of a system I use now at home.

Yup, SSD's are the way to go, 60gb would even be plenty. Thats what I mentioned before, most likely there is a windows serial number on the bottom. It's probably vista, doubt it is old enough to be XP, slim chances it is Win 7. Either way all the os installers are available on Windows site.

I've owned a chromebook. They're perfect for all the things you mentioned. Plus you never have to worry about OS issues and upgrades. They're not made for high performance things, but surfing the net isn't a high performance sport.

Send me a pm when you get a chance. I have a netbook that I haven't used since May when i got a tablet. If you dont mind using a slow computer you can have it. Its not getting any use otherwise!

I have a lap that you can sit on top, the stick is just there so you won't slip off!

Yup, SSD's are the way to go, 60gb would even be plenty. Originally Posted by royamcr

A SSD is serious overkill for general internet or even general office use. The only time that the HDD is going to be the bottleneck for that sort of use is on boot up.

I just got a computer so im happy!!