Wanted

[tamaranth]

(following bohemiancoast's example)

I want a laptop / notebook PC that's up to running Office 97 or 2000 and has a USB port. No modem, audio, fancy stuff necessary. I'm currently using an old one of marypcb's, but suspect something is dying hardware-wise: frequent crashes. I am prepared to pay money for this (though not very much as cashflow is sluggish!) but would much rather buy from someone I know and trust than from eBay.

(Alternatively, if anyone's willing to guide me to a good bargain on eBay, that would be most welcome).

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I've got a spare Toshiba Portege R2000 that I'm not using and my brother's declined to buy from me (hence is going spare). Mary's got/had one, and can so give you an opinion on it -- specs are limited (PIII/750, 512Mb RAM, 20Gb disk) but it has the overwhelming advantage of being 1cm thick and weighing precisely 1Kg (in addition to built-in WiFi).

Which is to say, it's an ultraportable.

(Prod me via email if interested.)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

email-deprived until later, as am at Werk: but sounds splendid! (Specs ever so much more speccy than current laptop-alternate, my PDA ...) Rough price guide?

[reddragdiva]

We have a stack of laptops (well, three) for sale. IBM Thinkpad 560X. Pentium MMX 233, 96MB RAM (can go up to 160MB), 800x600 screen. Up to running (or walking) Windows 2000, probably Office 97. eBay rate for these is £80 to 120 without a working battery; we'd be wanting around 80 at mates' rates. (Batteries typically start at £25 second-hand or £55 new.) Email dgerard at gmail dot com if this catches your eye.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

£500 ONO. Twist my arm/make me an offer. I'll be driving down to Novacon, so if you're there I can bring it along with me. Main drawback is, because it's ultraportable it doesn't have a built-in floppy disk drive or CDROM drive. On the other hand, I've got an external floppy (and, IIRC, external CD/DVD).

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Forgot to add: screen is XGA (1024x768), currently running XP Pro and OpenOffice 1.1, but can stick Linux on it without too much difficulty.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... having done some eBay digging, let's say a mate's rate would be £350.

redragdiva's machines are much cheaper if you're on a tight squeeze, but the Portege is certainly a much higher-spec machine and quite a bit lighter.

[reddragdiva]

The 560X isn't too bad really! The form factor is in fact the best thing about it.

I currently use mine entirely to VNC into my considerably more powerful desktop PC. It makes a nice and convenient terminal. And redcountess and I used one while we were in Australia and it ran Win98 and crawled OpenOffice okay.

[reddragdiva]

Though I should add, that Portege sounds very nice indeed ;-)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

The Portege looks lovely, but I am on rather a tight squeeze! (Only working part-time, and that's running out soon). I do very much appreciate the offer -- and the substantial discount -- though!
See you at Novacon ...

[lproven.livejournal.com]

In brief 'cos of haste 'cos of lateness:

The best deals I know of off the top of my head are generally at Sterling:

http://sterlingxs.co.uk/

Couple there around the £200 mark.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

thanks, but sorted: I'm getting a Diva-matic (see other comments for details, and also the very nice Portege I had to turn down!)

[lproven.livejournal.com]

Fairy nuff.