looking to buy laptop, advice plz

Hi,

I'm something of a computer philistine, so I was hoping you guys could advise me on a laptop. Looking for a cheap/older model one, not much more than $500. I only really want it for word processing, so programs like open office and final draft. And possibly playing movies. I basically want it to sit out in the garden and work without being distracted by all that other crap that is on my desktops (games, internet).

side questions
- do you need a decent graphics card to run all the latest codecs and such?
- for a laptop of this price, how long could you expect the battery to last, when fully charged (how many hours) and in the long term (how many years before it burns out)?
- can you generally buy replacement batteries for older laptops?

1. No, video codecs use the CPU only.
2. New batteries last about four hours depending on how inefficient the laptop hardware is, and start to wear out in a year or two.
3. No clue.

four hours and a year or two? that's not very good. :(

so people are buying new laptops every couple of years?

>>3
No, new batteries every couple of years. It's unavoidable: all rechargeable batteries have a limited number of duty cycles. But the battery is easy to replace (take note Apple, with your iPods you have to dismantle entirely every couple of years).

>>4

ah, ok. i just thought maybe if your laptop was older and they stopped making it, it might be hard to buy batteries for.

anyone have any recommendations on a cheap laptop?

>>1

check slickdeals.net or fatwallet.com usually good laptop deals every so often.

Also check out tigerdirect.com.

>>5
Some laptops are a bitch to buy batteries for.
The Compaq Armada m300, a sort of "business class" ultraportable, would be the ideal machine for your purposes (if you don't mind its small keyboard and ~12" screen) IF ONLY its batteries didn't cost over half the price of the damn machine.
I've had good luck with my IBM Thinkpad T22; for your needs, just about anything from their T20-23 line would probably do just fine. Battery-wise, however, it is a matter of how bright your backlight is and the condition of the battery to begin with. Mine (bought second-hand) was basically shot; i could get maybe a half-hour or so.

>>8

Thanks man. I have heard good things about the Thinkpad, but I'm wary about buying second hand because of that whole battery thing. But if I want a cheaper laptop, wouldn't they be the older ones? And if they were the older models, wouldn't I have to get them second hand? Do they still sell them retail? I don't really know how fast laptops become obsolete but I assume it's really really fast.

Some retailer will sell their stock of "finished" product for relatively low price. Getting laptop secondhand is risky. But surely you can take a look first at it, and running like a simple battery test. Laptop becomes obsolete like 1-2 years, depends on what ur requirements are.

>>9
batteries for the thinkpad models are like $30.

>>11

that seems ridiculously cheap. is that for the newer ones or the older ones, or do they all use the same batteries?

BUt one of those toshiba laptops that dont need a special adaptor