What is the best older, full-screen laptop?

Post Reply New Topic

A friend of mine wants to purchase a large-screen laptop to use for e-mail and for general surfing. Strictly for personal use at home or on-the-go like when visiting her grandchildren, she will not be doing any kind of gaming or other hardware-intensive stuff. So, I am looking to help her find an older (probably XP) laptop, and I will likely put a new drive in it and check the fans and all of that ...

Any suggestions?

I have already offered an older Dell notebook I have that is really nice (and would work just fine for her), but she wants the largest screen she can get.

Note: She will be having a wireless cell-type connection, but that can be an external one (USB port).

Last edited by leejosepho on 29 Apr 2011, 9:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I would recommend something like a dell d600 series its a 15" screen so resonably large. And you can beat the snot out of it and it just keeos going.

I would avoid anything from hp or compaq. From my exp their machines are designed to fail just after the warrenty ends.

Yes, it does sometimes seem they are!

I am already thinking of Dell since I already have disks for a legitimate re-installation of XP, and I have just talked with my friend and we have set a budget of $350.00. Then, my favorite auction site seems to have plenty of 17" Dells ... and I am thinking I can get one of those and a new hard drive and maybe even a new optical drive while still staying within that budget.

I have also just signed her up for AT&T's "Data Connect 200mb" service (with a free "Shockwave 4G" external USB device) tacked onto my own account there, and she has the ability to pay that monthly fee.

Update: My friend is now going to have a Dell Vostro 1700 ...

As best I can tell at the moment (just looking at specs), it should be easily able to run Windows 7 ... so my friend might also end up with that OS in place of XP.

what is this, 1994?
why not an iPad

The seller told me the machine is about three years old, and the end user, my friend, has never before had any kind of computer at all. She is somewhat isolated and wants to do e-mail with a far-away granddaughter ... and that is about it other than some occasional web surfing and possibly taking a look and maybe even joining in here on WP.

I intend to install a new battery and a new WD Scorpio Black 7200rpm SATA2 drive ... and I think that should serve her well and keep her going for a long time.

A Kindle DX although not in color, has a 10 inch screen and has its limitations. But it does come with free at&t internet (via cell towers), and I use my plain kindle 3g where ever I go. Battery lasts a long time, easily readable... I got my father and step-mother to get one and they love it. Perfect and moderately simple (for the older crowd)...

I'd advise against a large laptop, purely because of the size... cost of battery's... etc. Although the DX model costs $350 or so.. the smaller one is only $189. But in the long run I've got my worth out of this little machine.

If you NEED her to get a laptop, then listen to everyone. With HP they're power connectors always break inside the device. I think they do this intentionally.... Compaq's tend to have heating problems and/or certain ports/things don't work right or work at all for that matter. Dells apparently are occasionally good but they're customer service is sub-par but I know dell apparently had problems with things blowing up, and my brothers gateway basically fried itself twice. Sparks and fire smell are never good. I recently went with a lenovo but after less than a year my wireless card has failed, one port bent due to user error (although it bent easily) and things keep falling off the laptop.

Personally if I had a grams looking for a laptop I'd buy her a netbook. Its easier to handle, the batterys tend to last 10+ hours or more. Affordable and cost effective. The netbooks I'm most fond of are the asus's.

But the question is, which is the best? I have no concrete answer for you. My experiences with laptops have always been sad to say the least. There are only so many parts you can replace, and the last one I took apart wasn't worth the trouble to put back together. I'd advise that buying a used laptop is like buying a used car, you don't know where its been... thor himself may have hit the thing with his thunder hammer. But buying a small, efficient, quiet, and reliable newer netbook, tablet, or ereader. Would be better than taking the chance on a old large laptop.

I had first offered her a still-older Dell notebook I have, but then she said she definitely wanted a large screen ... and then she balked at the thought of having a separate monitor on the table. So overall, and since the 20" Macs I saw were all around at least $750, I believe the 17" Dell she is now going to have is about the best she can afford and will be just fine.

I found a half-price overstock-return battery ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

Is there any possibility it might have set on a shelf too long and now will not charge fully and work well?

I know virtually nothing about laptop batteries.

This machine is an Asus G2S - five years old now, I think, and still perfectly adequate. Its screen is 17".

I have an iPad as well. The iPad is a truly remarkable device, but there are some things it doesn't do well. And, of course, it's firmly locked into Apple's view of the world.

that's exactly why I recommend iPad

LESS MOVING PARTS
less dust
Able to take it Anywhere
to bed before sleeping, to the kitchen table with a coffee

and first of all

LESS THREATENING

touch here, touch there

No windows icon on the desktop that you can accidentally delete
"Oops, I deleted the My Documents"
and honestly, why the need for a My Documents on the desktop? Or a trashbin.

LESS THREATENING


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8[/youtube]

I understand ...

What is the biggest display available?

I do not know the details and she does still drive, but she says she has "vision problems".

Probably the best older machines out there are Dell Latitude series and higher end IBM/Lenovo computers. They won't be insanely cheap, but considering the fact that they originally cost upwards of $3K, you'll still be getting a good deal on them tham you would be if they were new. With the 17" models you will also most likely have space for a pair of hard drives. --Look for one that has at least a dual core CPU.

no problem, font size can be changed

9.7-inch (diagonal) oleophobic LED-backlit

I'd suggest go to a store and test it