Cheap laptop

toshi

You guys know well, Get a decent Business model. (second hand) As already mentioned, Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude, HP Elitebook. They are far far better and more reliable than consumer models.

They are often sold at knock down (silly) price. Some corporate users dump them with various reason. (compliance, the end of hardware warranty, end of leasing etc)

I personally bought a couple of HP Elitebooks without hard disk, and install SSDs and LinuxMint

SSD: as a replacement of Hard Disk, mobile phone, tablet uses flash memory, Why computer users have to suffer from more than 50 years old Slugish hard Disk technology.

LinusMint 18 (support until 4.2021) free and open source alternative to Windows

rmg1 wrote: »

I've been asked by a friend to source a cheap laptop for the following:-
General web-browsing
Facebook
Emails
YouTube

You can use LinuxMint without any problems for your friend's use. Sure You can install Windows but I am too lazy to install all drivers of Windows and application; LinuxMint installation will complicate within 20 min, including application such as LibreOffice, VLC Player, Gimp, Firefox, Thunderbird etc. (You don't need to install antivirus software, but you can)

https://linuxmint.com/

Budget: 60-100 pound for notebook (You can find a better deal without a hard disk, sometime

120GB SSD 40-55 pound
250 GB SSD: 70-90 pound

You can get 3-5 years warranty from SSD manufacturer directly) I am not very fancy to use a second hand hard disk, ( I love a good quality second hand computer)

Happy computing.

P.S. If you are in London area, I would be able to assist you at skill-share workshop. Contact me directly, it is fun and easy.

DavidP24

Thanks I had never heard from Linux Mint before, except for on this forum!!!

Actually I am going to see if I can put it on a tiny atom based Aspire KV60I am trying to make useful for a donation.

The only problem I have found with Corporate PC's on ebay is that the sellers try to sell them for too much.

It is true that they often have good features but I find they lack multimedia add ons so the speakers sound tinny and the cases are pretty square and boring.

I like to go for Laptops that have CPU, Memory, MiniPci lan, Memory and Hard disk accessible via panels so machine does not have to be dismantled.

One thing these older laptops have that is better in my experience is the keyboard.

I can't stand these "tile" keyboards, they are awful, not tactile at all. Of course if someone reckons one is good, do spill.

were

DavidP24 wrote: »

Thanks I had never heard from Linux Mint before, except for on this forum!!!

Actually I am going to see if I can put it on a tiny atom based Aspire KV60I am trying to make useful for a donation.

Mint is huge compared to some distros. If it is too slow under mint try a build of Puppy linux. It was a good many years ago, but the whole distro plus software including wp, browser and shed load of other stuff fitted onto a 150Meg space on a CD. It was very fast as it ran mostly from ram, but a but limited for techies. There were ways of installing it onto hdd, but most people used CDs at the time because there was no real benefit of not using cds, and people are generally lazy. It worked brilliantly on 233Meg P2 with 16 meg of ram and had a gui interface too

Founders page http://puppylinux.com/
Better? and newer distros http://smokey01.com/newsletters/2017/January/0001-PuppyLinuxNewsletter-January2017.html

ReadySteady_2

DavidP24 wrote: »

Thanks I had never heard from Linux Mint before, except for on this forum!!!

Actually I am going to see if I can put it on a tiny atom based Aspire KV60I am trying to make useful for a donation.

The only problem I have found with Corporate PC's on ebay is that the sellers try to sell them for too much.

It is true that they often have good features but I find they lack multimedia add ons so the speakers sound tinny and the cases are pretty square and boring.

I like to go for Laptops that have CPU, Memory, MiniPci lan, Memory and Hard disk accessible via panels so machine does not have to be dismantled.

One thing these older laptops have that is better in my experience is the keyboard.

I can't stand these "tile" keyboards, they are awful, not tactile at all. Of course if someone reckons one is good, do spill.

Why not clean install Windows 7 to it and install 2GB of RAM?
I imagine that it will still be a dog without SSD.
Unlock the Advanced Setup menu and increase Video RAM or perhaps better still, fit one of these: amazon.co.uk/Broadcom-BCM70012-Crystal-Decoder-Apple/dp/B005UYEAHK

Puppy Linux won't be much good to anyone and Linux Mint not much lighter than Windows 7.
At least Windows 7/10 will be familiar.

DavidP24

Problem is it has no HD at the moment, it also has no CD.

I am going to hunt around for a small SATA disk, SSD not an option due to budget which is zero, either I find a disk.

It has some sort of proprietary PCIe but it it is not msata

It is only going to be used for browsing

Strider590

Almost any laptop will do what you desire with relative ease, as long as you never install any Apple software.

ReadySteady_2

DavidP24 wrote: »

Problem is it has no HD at the moment, it also has no CD.

I am going to hunt around for a small SATA disk, SSD not an option due to budget which is zero, either I find a disk.

It has some sort of proprietary PCIe but it it is not msata

It is only going to be used for browsing

Mini PCI-Express. Did the Amazon link not work? It's stated there.

So what will you do if you can't find a drive?

ebay.co.uk/itm/Toshiba-MK1637GSX-160GB-Internal-5400-RPM-6-35-cm-2-5-HDD2D60-Desktop-HDD-/252878982430 'Spose you can make them an offer.

ebay.co.uk/itm/Hitachi-Hard-Drive-120-HTS541612J9SA00-160Gb-2-5-SATA-/222482220639

ebay.co.uk/itm/1-x-160GB-2-5-SATA-LAPTOP-hard-drive-FULLY-WORKING-TESTED-laptop-drive-/142354942305

If it will actually be used, less than £10 is not much to pay out. Costs nothing to install Windows.

Exemplar

From what you have said I would maybe look at a Chromebook?

AndyPix

DavidP24 wrote: »

Problem is it has no HD at the moment, it also has no CD.


It is only going to be used for browsing

You could use a linux live distro from a usb key ??

GunJack

were wrote: »

try a build of Puppy linux. It was a good many years ago, but the whole distro plus software including wp, browser and shed load of other stuff fitted onto a 150Meg space on a CD. It was very fast as it ran mostly from ram, but a but limited for techies. There were ways of installing it onto hdd, but most people used CDs at the time because there was no real benefit of not using cds, and people are generally lazy. It worked brilliantly on 233Meg P2 with 16 meg of ram and had a gui interface too

Founders page http://puppylinux.com/
Better? and newer distros http://smokey01.com/newsletters/2017/January/0001-PuppyLinuxNewsletter-January2017.html

I've been using Puppy for years as a bootable, fast, VERY lightweight OS, great for troubleshooting and data recovery from a duff windows machine....it will cope perfectly for the tasks listed in the OP.....

.....and the desktop wallpaper is soooo cute