[Leaplist] Laptop Hardware Advice

[patrick]

Todd Davenport wrote:
> Hey all.  Maybe some of you out there can give me some
> advice?  (Warning: lengthy email)
> 
> OK, I have two laptops that I've bought in the last
> two years, both on sale and for cheap.  A Dell
> Inspiron 1100 and a Gateway MX series.  I think I've
> learned my lesson, though, about buying laptops on the
> cheap.  Neither of them lasted a year.  The Dell needs
> a new hard drive and the Gateway's power socket is
> hosed (I've had it re-soldered twice by a tech but it
> keeps breaking again).
> 
> So my wife (who is actually the primary laptop user)
> is tired of this and told me to spend the money and
> get her a laptop that isn't going to break.  Aside
> from a Panasonic Toughbook, I'm thinking Mac of
> course.  But now I'm exited because if I can fix the
> two broken laptops I can have more Linux boxen and
> start doing neat things on my home lan...streaming
> media server, web dev/test box, etc.
> 
> The Dell with the broken hard drive, I've been using
> Xubuntu LiveCD but haven't been able to get
> persistence to work.  I flipped around on TigerDirect,
> etc., looking at hard drives but unfortunately, while
> I'm a software geek I don't know much about laptop
> hardware (I last built my desktop about three years
> ago, that's the last time I touched any hardware.  I
> don't even have a PCIe video card!)
> 
> Can anyone out there give me a pointer to the correct
> hdd to buy?  All I know is EIDE, I'm not up on this
> Serial ATA/Ultra ATA/SATA stuff.  (I know, i've gotten
> too lazy).
> 
> As for the Gateway, I'm clueless.  I spent a lot of
> money for Captial Computers in Casselberry to solder
> the dang socket and it still doesn't work...I'm
> guessing its bricked unless anyone has another idea?
> 
> Thanks to all!
> 
> 
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Refurbished Dell laptops, and desktops, with 1 year warranty,
http://cheaptronicsdepot.com

They are at Red Bug and Semoran next to Winter Park Consignment Shoppe
and Aaron's Furniture.


I usually get laptop drives for my clients at New Egg, or from a cruise
on Pricewatch.com, looking to get at least 5400 rpm drives, to replace
smaller 4200 rpm drives.

I look for deals, like a 5400rpm 120Gb drive for $69.95 at Newegg.  >
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136130