My ONLY requirement (other than being a laptop) is that it needs to run Office. Don't care about browsing, emailing, watching movies or anything. Well maybe watching tutorials. I don't want to spend a lot either as I plan to use this as a one trick pony.

I want my wife to be able to take it with her when she takes our daughter to swimming, rock climbing, ceramics etc. Basically where she does a lot of sitting around and waiting. It's a great opportunity to let her brush up on her Office skills and really the only free time she has.

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No, you don't.

Quote
Article Accelerator
No, you don't.

I need one. Not to be confused with I WANT one.

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All kinds of cheap stuff on Craigslist-like Dual Core Thinkpads for $100 or less.

Want something with a warranty? Dell outlet or even the Cheapest stuff WalMart has to offer-like $229 for something that is guaranteed for a year.

What the heck? Reposted again and again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 05:32PM by PizzaGod.

Same message popped up 3 times. Sorry guys. (Of course I am on one of those $100 Thinkpads...)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 05:33PM by PizzaGod.

Can't recommend a model but try to get something light with a good screen. Too heavy and no one will ever bring it out.

Processing power, HD and memory are not things to worry about.

I like the idea of the Microsoft signature series with nine of the crapware on it...except for office of course.

[www.microsoftstore.com]

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Stay away from Lenevo?

How to Test Your PC for the New "Superfish" Security Vulnerability

[lifehacker.com]

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Buy a refurb Mac laptop and run Windows under Parallels or Boot Camp while having the advantage of running OSX on another partition on demand.

You're Welcome



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 06:04PM by STL.

Quote
bazookaman
I like the idea of the Microsoft signature series with nine of the crapware on it...except for office of course.

[www.microsoftstore.com]

My brother had one of these, and he liked it plenty until his daughter spilled a coke down the keyboard. I think it's a perfectly good machine for what you're doing with it. In case you didn't notice, the free office is a subscription for a year, but at that price, I don't know how much that matters. I think it's also tied to Bing in some way, but I don't remember the particulars. kj.

A netbook is more of what you need. Asus or Samsung

Staples has a Asus laptop on sale for $150 slickdeals

Don't get a 17 inch one. She'll leave it in the car.

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Dennis S
Don't get a 17 inch one. She'll leave it in the car.

Same with the 15.6 inch ones. Too big to use in this manner. kj.

Fry's has a 15" 720p Acer quad core 2.16 GHz Pentium (not i5/i7) with 4 GB RAM for $260. Need a email code to get that price, only valid for 3 more days.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 06:52PM by Filliam H. Muffman.

Quote
STL
Buy a refurb Mac laptop and run Windows under Parallels or Boot Camp while having the advantage of running OSX on another partition on demand.

You're Welcome

So $1000 instead of $150-$300?

11" MacBookAir isn't $1k. It will do her fine and last.
I've used PC's in the price range you quoted and they are heavy, slow, made poorly and loaded with crapware, in otherwords they are junk.

Money doesn't come easy, at least for me. But I would never throw away $300 PC.

Spend your money wisely and don't just look at the initial cost.

With a Mac you can have both a machine running Windows and one running OSX.

Check the Apple refurb store and use your brain.

Check out pinkoos thread from earlier...

[forums.macresource.com]

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Quote
STL
11" MacBookAir isn't $1k. It will do her fine and last.
I've used PC's in the price range you quoted and they are heavy, slow, made poorly and loaded with crapware, in otherwords they are junk.

Money doesn't come easy, at least for me. But I would never throw away $300 PC.

Spend your money wisely and don't just look at the initial cost.

With a Mac you can have both a machine running Windows and one running OSX.

Check the Apple refurb store and use your brain.

The 11" already linked to in this thread isn't heavy or particularly poorly made, but it sure isn't a speed demon. However, it will likely suffice for the single use task noted by the OP. As far as refurb MacBook price, you are forgetting the Windows license which is at least another $70 and sales tax of course.

Quote
jardster
Check out pinkoos thread from earlier...

[forums.macresource.com]

Good tip.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2015 09:19PM by silvarios.

She has a MacBook Pro already. I don't want her taking that fancy shmancy machine to a rock climbing gym or even out of the house. And of course I would have to buy a Parallels and an office license.

So yes. A cheap PC laptop will be fine...for this specific purpose.

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Seems cheap enough, probably in all respects: $205 shipped:

[sellout.woot.com]

HP Essential 630 15.6" Laptop, Intel P6200 2.13GHz Dual-Core, 320GB SATA, 4GB DDR3, 802.11n, Win7HP 64-Bit

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
Speedy
Seems cheap enough, probably in all respects: $205 shipped:

[sellout.woot.com]

HP Essential 630 15.6" Laptop, Intel P6200 2.13GHz Dual-Core, 320GB SATA, 4GB DDR3, 802.11n, Win7HP 64-Bit

I saw that one. The HP at the MS Store weighs in a half that much. So yes, less powerful. But also less heavy. A good point was made here. If it's too much to lug around, she won't.

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With Office for iOS, you could also get similar functionality via a keyboard case if you have an iPad.

Quote
sekker
With Office for iOS, you could also get similar functionality via a keyboard case if you have an iPad.

O thought of that too. But our only iPad is my daughters and I wouldn't want it lugged around so much as it's a high end one. Plus, the work she will eventually be doing will be on a PC. So I want her to learn on as close a platform as possible.

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If your wife is a Mac person chances are consider that you forcing a Windows box on her will make her an unhappy camper.

If Moma's not happy, nobody's happy.


Don't disappoint her
Buy the Mac

Quote
STL
If your wife is a Mac person chances are consider that you forcing a Windows box on her will make her an unhappy camper.

If Moma's not happy, nobody's happy.


Don't disappoint her
Buy the Mac

How do you know someone else's preferences? Seriously, someone sets a budget and the best suggestion is three times as much? It might surprise some, but many people aren't Mac or Windows or Linux or DOS or C64 people, they are just tools for the job people. If you think a Mac is the right option, wouldn't a used MacBook Air in the $500 range be a decent fit compared to something that will cost $1000? My quibble isn't the hardware brand, it's the price disparity between your suggested and the OP's budget.

Imagine if I wanted a car and my budget was around $20,000, and the only suggestion was a Tesla for $60,000-$100,000? While a fine maker of automobile, Tesla has nothing I would every buy because their prices are far over my budget.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2015 06:15PM by silvarios.

I recently got a Dell 6420 refurb on eBay from user "dell-official-store-usa-refurbished" (you can probably guess who that is ). [www.ebay.com]

A good machine at a good price and the process was very smooth. The only minor negatives:

* having to pay sales tax
* while it was packed well, it's kind of a one-time use box
* no physical restore media included (not unusual for Dell with their restore partition)