Laptop question....

[youcanrunnaked]

Microsoft dropped support for XP in 2014.

D'oh!  Fixed it.

[rbond]

A used laptop is the way to go for shop use. When through with it, after it cools off, put in a plastic bag to keep dust, dirt off and out of it. Will last much longer. If the machine has XP or Vista, consider putting Linux on it. Guzi Diag is supposed to have a version that runs on Linux too. So you won't need to buy a license for Win7 anything. And it comes with a free office suite that reads and writes to MS office files.

[gwb_mg]

I'd go with the Microsoft Pro 3, with the Pro 4 coming out the Pro 3 prices are dropping. Both the quality and performance are great.

[redrider90]

Just a data point, every Core Duo processor powered laptop I've used (Windows and Apple) were dogs. i3 processors are not much better. i5 and i7 are mucho better.

I have 2 Macs and the old one has a core 2 duo and I thought it a dog. When I bought a new Mac Air I took the old one apart and  added RAM, a new solid state hard drive and ungraded to Snow Leopard and renewed the heat sink on the fan/cooling system.  I am sure all of the above helped but it SSHD really improved how fast the it works. I did a fresh  clean install on an empty SSHD with snow leopard I have yet to see the spinning wheel in the last 18 months since i did it. it boots and shuts down almost as fast as this Mac Air with a turbo boost core i5. Loading pages is nearly as fast.
I am still to chicken to upgrade to Yosemite on this Mac Air They are in the 2nd beta of Yosemite and I am wait for that one to release. Looking carefully one can find good uses laptops and if you are not afraid to open on up, the older units are easy as could be to fix and find parts on ebay.  

[rboe]

I keep hearing how fast the SSD's are, may have to pull the trigger on one. Thanks!

[GuzziPilot]

Netbook, external drive.

Better yet burn your CDs to a thumb drive so you can carry ALL of them with you the next NAR 😇

Lee

[rodekyll]

Everything is in favor of SSD except the price.  It's still spendy.

[AJ Huff]

I didn't read all the comments but answering the original post.

Option A) If you are tech savvy you can covert an Acer C720 Netbook to a full Blown Linux machine for under $300. Under $400 for a 128GB SSD machine. Otherwise Netbooks suck and stay away from them.

Option B) If your not tech savvy you can buy an Acer from Costco the runs Windows 8 for about $270 (saw them last month in store).

Option C) What I do, I buy a refurb laptop, any brand, off Woot.com for $300-$400. They post almost every day. Run it for two or three years, toss and buy another. You cost is about $100/year and you are always mostly up to date with the latest technology.

-AJ

[Wayne Orwig]

I keep hearing how fast the SSD's are, may have to pull the trigger on one. Thanks!

I put a 200GB drive in my old laptop last year for $100. Definitely helped.

[redrider90]

I keep hearing how fast the SSD's are, may have to pull the trigger on one. Thanks!

And it runs much cooler with the SSD.

[HDGoose]

If folks have a laptop that will power up, but the OS is hosed, please let me know. I need another laptop. I run Linux for my daily machine so I do not need the MicroSoft OS to work, only the hardware.

My current laptop is starting to have hardware issues at 9 years old.

[Luap McKeever]

I agree with lots of these comments.  The el cheapo $189 walmart HP would do what you need it to do.  It'll have windows 8 on it, but put the free classic shell on it and enjoy (www.classicshell.ne t)

BTW, don't ever throw a dead laptop in the trash. I'll take it off your hands and keep it out of the landfills. PM me if you're interested in this option. ;-T

[AJ Huff]

I bet I have a stack of old busted laptops going back 10 years.  Broken screens, busted power jacks on most. Busted or missing hard drives.

-AJ

[pehayes]

Sometimes, they actually are TOO OLD.  I'm working on an old machine now for a friend.  It has a Pentium-M processor and almost none of the current Linux distributions will launch.  I know there are workarounds and I could use an older, non-supported distro.  But at this point, he really should consider it a boat anchor.  There are plenty of cheapo refurbs on the market for $200.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA