I see ads around town, "IBM PC $150"
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson Jan 10, 2008 11:59 AM EDT |
and "Laptop $200". Ok, maybe they're stolen, but seriously this price for a sub-1GHz machine is not remarkable. Maybe it was the LCD screen? But at 1024x768, it's the smallest size I can get use out of. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 10, 2008 12:20 PM EDT |
I agree about the price, except for the monitor. I don't see anybody selling LCD monitors of any size for less than $150 -- and here you get a full, working box PLUS keyboard, mouse, memory, drives. There are a lot of cheap, used PCs out there, but most require you to add parts before they're usable. If you happen to have drives, keyboards, mice and the right SIMMs lying around, it's great, but it's better to get a working unit. And it's a 900 MHz box, which is not all that shabby for Web, e-mail and word-processing basics. When I was trying to buy laptops on eBay, I was shocked at how many in the 400 MHz processor range ended up selling for way, way more than they were worth, especially considering that most lacked the power supply brick AND a hard drive. I wanted to pay no more than $100, but they consistently got bid up to $200 and more. Same with people on Craigslist -- they think the laptop they paid $1,000 for five or more years ago is now worth $300 to $500, when it's pretty much junk they'd be lucky to get $50 for. Desktops are another story. It's easier than you think to get old desktops for free or really cheap. So in that regard, the $150 for the main deal, or the $59 for the older box (no monitor, keyboard, mouse) might be too high ... but I still get the feeling that there's a market here. |
| dinotrac Jan 10, 2008 12:56 PM EDT |
If absolute dollars are your concern, that doesn't seem too bad, but it doesn't knock my socks off. I know that the notebook I just picked up from the local Micro-Center for $425 included a 1.7ghz CeleronM (basically 1/2 Core duo and drawing 35 w), 1.5G of ram, accelerated graphics, wide-screen lcd, 80gb drive, 4 USB ports, firewire, wireless and wired lan ports, and assorted other doodads. And that's a decidedly bottom end machine. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 10, 2008 1:06 PM EDT |
The price on that Celeron is OK. It should be a closeout at $350, but you don't see that too often, except as a door-buster that you have to camp out for the night before. I still think a $400 laptop is a way better deal than a $1,200 model with way more specs. If you're editing video, it's one thing, but otherwise, it's a lot of money to pay for something that gets more obsolete by the day. My question: Would you be better off buying a $400 laptop every two years or a $1,200 laptop every six years? Of course, I rarely buy anything, ever; I'm too cheap, so I'm far from the target market. |
| ColonelPanik Jan 10, 2008 1:31 PM EDT |
A number of lappy fans, my wife included, run two machines. Lappies die often, even the best ones, if your living depends on that presentation you better be able to make it! Some here said something about having it all in a small package with a docking station at home and work. Great idea. But I would still want two. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 10, 2008 1:49 PM EDT |
One thing to remember: Most laptops allow you to easily pull the hard drive, should it fail and you need to replace it, or if the laptop itself dies and you need access to what's on the drive. But we have an iBook G4 -- a great laptop in many ways, but you literally have to tear the entire thing apart (I've seen a 50-step online tutorial) just to get the drive out. BAD Steve Jobs. Bad! I've got the data backed up, and if/when the hard drive dies, I'm just going to boot it from a Firewire drive until the end of its days (which for me is usually a long, long time). |
| dinotrac Jan 10, 2008 2:05 PM EDT |
>Most laptops allow you to easily pull the hard drive, should it fail and you need to replace it, We're relying on that right now, actually. Unfortunately for us, the old notebook used ATA drives and the new one SATA, but it works ok from a USB enclosure. PS -- Current model, not a closeout. Don't know how long 530M has been around, but it's a 64 bit chip and not that ancient. |
| hkwint Jan 10, 2008 3:45 PM EDT |
Quoting:Would you be better off buying a $400 laptop every two years or a $1,200 laptop every six years? Depends on your job and upgradeability, I guess. You should look at the (non-upgraded) laptops which costed $1200 in 2002, if you can find that data. However, I think the value of a (second hand) $1200 laptop drops faster than that of a $400 laptop. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 10, 2008 4:50 PM EDT |
I don't know the whole story, but if you look for used laptops on eBay, probably 99 percent of them are from people whose job is ... selling used laptops on eBay. You rarely see a listing from a "normal" person who just wants to sell their laptop. And, as I said, most of these guys really kill you on the AC adapter, hard drive, memory and more. It's rare that you can get a complete, working laptop for a reasonable price. Hence ... I think a laptop can be a pretty good investment, provided you can keep it running and turn it around on eBay yourself in a few years or so. |
| dinotrac Jan 10, 2008 4:59 PM EDT |
>I think the value of a (second hand) $1200 laptop drops faster than that of a $400 laptop. Let's face it: a $400 laptop can only drop $400. However, it doesn't take a $1,200 laptop very long before it competes with brand new $800 computer that can out-perform it. |
| jdixon Jan 10, 2008 5:20 PM EDT |
> It's rare that you can get a complete, working laptop for a reasonable price. We've had good luck with these folks: http://www.intechraoutlet.com/rbwww/home/ Their stock is variable, and they don't always have laptops in (they've been out for the past few days), but what they have seems to be good and their prices seem to be reasonable. |
| hkwint Jan 11, 2008 4:05 AM EDT |
Quoting:probably 99 percent of them are from people whose job is ... selling used laptops on eBay. Interesting to hear. Next time I'm ill, I'll spend whole day before the screen buying cheap laptops the minute after they appear on eBay, and then reselling them. Or, even easier, wait till the next concert-tickets are for sale, buy them and resell them for twice the price you bought them. I didn't know you can make a living from that, but after I heard about these Led Zeppelin deals - buying a ticket via a lottery for €167 and reselling for €1000+, and after looking at seatwave.com, I guess it is possible. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 11, 2008 8:59 AM EDT |
hkwint, the problem is that the people who are selling them generally buy them in bulk either off lease or from companies that are getting rid of them. You've got to get at the laptops BEFORE they hit eBay. |
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