Toshiba S1640CDT - OK for child/word processing?

Bennifred

Hello, kind techies! I would appreciate a bit of advice, please.

Have been advised that dyslexic DS (13) needs a laptop for school, and a friend of a friend has offered a Toshiba S1640CDT with Windows 98SE and Microsoft Works on it for £100. What do you think? Will this be OK for his needs or would we be better off going for one of the cheapie Dells? I know nothing about laptops - never had one.
Basically DS needs to carry the laptop around school with him to type up his work (mainly for English and History) and then be able to edit his work etc when he gets home.
Any advice/recommendations gratefully received!

Bennifred

krishna

If you just need basic wordprocessing and dont intend to upgrade the software (ever) then should be OK. However does the school recommend any particular software? Works will certainly provide basic wordprocessing and spell check, but there are often problems importing docs done in works into anything else (even Word) since other software often doesnt have a works import filter and microsoft keep changing the file formats. £100 does seem a bit steep to me, for something that probably gets given away on Freecycle.

Bennifred

Thanks for that, krishna. I'm not sure what the school is recommending, if anything, but DS's tutor (private dyslexia tutor) wants us to install a special touch-typing tutor - the same one she uses with him, for continuity -will find out what it is when he next sees her.

Would you recommend that we buy a new (cheap!) Dell in preference to the Toshiba, then? Especially as he is likely to want to use more complicated things as he gets older?

krishna

Dell do seem to have a very good deal at the moment. There may be others. If your budget can stretch to that then I think you will probably be better off. The Toshiba you were offered must be about 7 years old. Laptop batteries don't last for ever and are expensive to replace. You would be forking out a fair amount of money for something with no warranty whatsoever. And buying informally from someone you know personally can make sorting out problems even more difficult should they arise and legally you have no comeback.

Bennifred

I suspect you are right - we'd probably end up having to buy new before too long anyway so we may as well bite the bullet now. Thanks for the input - it helps to have an impartial opinion!:beer: