Laptop Advice

[MillerTime GFG]

The old home computer finally bit the dust after a good long run of 9 years. Apparently kids now need one for their homework in grade 4 and 2, so I need to buy a new one as I am sick of commuting my laptop to and from work every day.

My question is - what do the $300 laptops get you these days? I don't really want to spend >$500 on one considering I have an 8, 6, and 2 year old that will be both doing homework and playing on it. With that also comes the occasional mashing of the keyboard due to anger or thinking it will make their dinosaur run quicker in the game. This is why I don't want to spend a ton because of the age my kids are, I don't really expect it to last that long.

If I go the $300 route, is it going to break down fairly quickly, or are they good quality these days?

Thanks in advance.

[calgarygringo]

If you just need something basic for the kids go to the City of Calgary. They have a surplus office in Manchester yards where they clear off all their recycled units for real cheap. They are a couple years out of date but are all nice Lenovo Think pads and work well. Make sure if you go you look them over as some have dings and nicks on the screens.

They let you pick and choose and usually always have some and will vary by model and spec week to week. I have bought several for secondary units and for others and for that type of usage they are a great buy for the dollar on a good quality used machine for kids and non gaming usage. They have the list posted on line on their website with details.

[Rathji]

For young kids, make sure the keyboard has a type of keys that won't pull off if the little ones get their fingers under them, which will happen.

Other than that, pretty much any laptop made in the last 5 years work. Make sure it has at least 2GB of RAM, ideally 4 GB.

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by Rathji

For young kids, make sure the keyboard has a type of keys that won't pull off if the little ones get their fingers under them, which will happen.

Other than that, pretty much any laptop made in the last 5 years work. Make sure it has at least 2GB of RAM, ideally 4 GB.

Ya my current (and now deceased) laptop has about half of its keys remaining, so that's a definite must-have with the new one.

[DoubleF]

For $300, you should have access to some reasonably priced refurb Lenovo T series, HP probook/elitebook series or Toshiba portege/satellite which should meet your needs and should last 3-4 years easy. You can never guarantee hard drives and ram though regardless of brand and price. Luckily, those are easy to swap and replace.

Staples has some really crappy refurbs at times though. Don't feel bad in returning those within the 30 day window if it's really crappy.



http://www.calgary.ca/CA/fs/Pages/Su...-Auctions.aspx

I checked out calgarygringo's suggestion for the surplus laptops, and those are good ones to consider too. Beyond price, they're good business grade workhorse laptops. Pretty much the equivalent of a refurb at staples I presume. You might need to dish out a little extra to upgrade from Windows Vista though.