Our computer screen is fried. It will cost over $250 to get it fixed and it's about five years old. Just what we need, before we go, another large expense and less spending money on the trip.
1) We have been looking at computers. The low end computers don't have a lot of memory, can you add memory cards to them? I don't do much with it, but Stevebert wants to add a couple of his games. One is the older version of Civilizaton. Not sure exactly how much memory that takes. I'd like to eventually get a printer for the laptop so we could print our own boarding passes, IF we ever fly again.
2) Was thinking of a cheaper notebook and an outside CD/DVD drive. But we were told they have so little memory that adding anything like the newer versiion of civilization wouldn't work.
We need it to not only surf the web, play movies from DVD, but to download pictures from the camera.
My idea, go cheaper with a notebook as long as it does what we want, and buy the bigger laptop later. Stevebert also does presentations with the laptop in his classes, so we will eventually need a bigger one.
Can anyone in the know, tell me if a notebook would do what we want? Would it be cheaper to find someone to fix the laptop we have? Stevebert found a place but has to send it to CA and we need it back by the 19th. Or to get a low end (Price-wise) laptop? Pros? Cons? Help?
Yikes... not a computer guru... but 5 yrs old... is a dinosaur in the computer world! LOL, not sure that I would pay 1/3 of the cost of a fairly good laptop to fix an outdated one...
More thoughts later... gotta run...
Are you talking about a netbook?
This would do most of what you said you would need it for after adding an external cd/dvd.
http://www.amazon.com/N145-JP02-10-1-LED-Netbook-Black/dp/B004N5DO5G (http://www.amazon.com/N145-JP02-10-1-LED-Netbook-Black/dp/B004N5DO5G)
You had to get it by the 19th so this is a bit late, but...
"Notebook" and "laptop" are interchangeable. You're thinking about a netbook. They are all based on the Intel Atom processor, which is very, very slow. Not recommended for anyone. Also they don't have a CD drive. You can get an external cd drive but that's more money and another piece to lug around and attach/detach/lose/find/bleh!
Here's a good list of laptops with 2 gigs ram and a respectable processor for less than $300.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=17&sel=Price;Price5,Detail;30_1226_1103_1103
Yeah they're all used, but I trust Tiger Direct's used more than I trust Wal-Mart or Best Buy's new. I've bought a desktop, three laptops, three external hard drives, two external DVD burners, any number of flash drives and etc from them, and they all still work.