Need to replace my laptop....
 

Like a dummy.....i somehow got careless, and put a nice little crack in my screen. Now i have a little black 'blob', but lucky for me, it is located on the lower right edge of the screen, and it is only about a square inch big. But i know how these things can really start spreading, so i'm going to baby this thing till i can get it replaced.

Question is....what do some fellow drivers have out there? I dont need something where i can make my own "Wall-e" movie, or something with major computing speed. Not much of a gamer anymore, the only program i have that really takes up alot of memory, or needs something somewhat 'fast', would be my Microsoft Streets and Trips, and my USB internet card.

What i have now is an HP Pavillion DV6000. Have had it for a year and a half. Want to stay around $500, but dont want one of those el-cheap-o wal-mart laptops. any suggestions would be appreciated.

My wife has This Toshiba for school and really likes it.

Frys Electronics has some nice refurbished laptops cheap.

$250-350

I have a Toshiba Satellite P350D-S8828, 17" screen, 3 Gb RAM, 200 Gb Hard Drive... cost somewhere around 800 at Circuit City a year ago. It rides on the bunk wrapped in a blanket when I'm rolling down the road. I haven't had any trouble with it at all.

nothing that fits my requirements. smallest screen ill take is 16", and everything else has to be equal or better to what i got now. all the ones fry's has for $250-300 have 12" screens.

looking on eBay now. Might swing by a Wal-Mart (god save me) and look at what they got. Dont really want to go over $500, but might just have to. Was going to use my tax return and have a wild and crazy time in Indianapolis Memorial Day weekend. Guess ill have to not buy a few cases of beer. =)

sorry golfhobo

you want to spend less than $500 on a laptop but then rag on WalMart, interesting.

DITTO!!~ on Wally-world... Got some of my best buys on laptops there. But the other side of the coin is this... If you have a warranty, or even if not....contact the manufacturer at their 800# and ask waht they would charge to fix it. They may have a "flat rate" price, which might at first seem high, but keep in mind...if they can's fix it they will replace it with a new unit....but if you have anything on your hard drive you want to keep...copy it to CD's so you have it then if you have anything sensitive, wipe the drive before you send it in..

I've always considered computers to be a throw-away item. I buy the cheapest name-brand I can find (although I don't skimp on RAM) and I always leave the machine powered-up for 90 days to allow it an adequate "burn-in", in order to screen for bad components.

If it doesn't fail within 90 days, it should be a good machine.

Tom

and i am sure your idea of 'quality' living room furnature is made out of pressboard. if thats the case, then average quality will be just fine......stick with wal-mart.

and not to mention, that this laptop i have, i bought at one of those 'black friday' deals in 2007, for $400, when it was listed for $700. I would only ASSUME that i could pick up the same laptop with the same level of gizmos on it, for $500 or less today. somethings you have to spell out for people....

If you want the same thing you have now why not get a new screen? Not too hard to put in, 2 screws where the wiring harness and invertor board are and 4 screws hold the trim around the screen.

Look for your make and model for parts on Ebay and find one with a good screen.
http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-PAVILLION-DV6...3A1%7C294%3A50

I bought 3 Toshiba laptops for parts off Ebay and made 1 good for less than $100.