[conspire] Recommendations for cheap Linux laptop?

[Mark Weisler]

On Wednesday 15 February 2006 11:23, Paul Snyder wrote:
> Greetings from Philadelphia,
>
> My wife is out in Redwood City for at least the next month while her
> father is in the hospital.  Her old Dell laptop finally gave up the
> ghost, so she finds herself without a computer.  We're trying to decide
> if it makes sense to buy her a new one now (i.e., if we can find one
> cheap enough).
>
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a dirt-cheap Linux laptop that
> could be, say, purchased at Frye's or ordered online?  Ideally, it
> would have integrated 802.11g, but getting a PC Card would be
> reasonable.  I'm a bit hamstrung as I can't install Linux on it myself
> until she gets back, and I'm leery of picking an online vendor without
> a recommendation.
>
> The main use of the laptop will be Internet access (via various WiFi
> hotspots) and word processing, so CPU power is not a major concern.
> Nice-to-haves are small size, a readable screen,  and reasonable
> battery life.
Just a thought...you might find a laptop around Philadelphia, configure it the 
way your wife would find useful and familiar, and then airfreight it to her. 
We have 8+% sales tax here when buying retail so gear is not materially 
different in cost from what you would pay in your area. She could have her 
computer in a day or two.

What dirt-cheap means can be somewhat subjective but you might consider 
Monarch's notebooks which are free of the operating system tax.
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/  ...or another mail order place.
(I have no affiliation with them.)
-- 
Mark Weisler
mark.weisler at  comcast.net
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