12/30   Ok, after much web surfing and ebay searching I'm convinced that I
        can't find a decent new laptop for my sister under $500.  I'm now
        looking at refurbished dells.  Anybody bought one of those?  Or
        general problems with dell laptops?  Thanks.
        \_ Ask danh for a laptop(tm).
        \_ you still haven't answered my question about her fellatio skills
        \_ Dell laptops are pieces of junk.  Get a Thinkpad.
           \_ Yea, and now they have the affordable Thinkpad R series.
           \_ can you elaborate on a specific problem you had with dells?
                \_ they all break.  they have poor heat dissapation.
                \_ and they're more like lead bricks than lap tops.  I don't
                   know about your sister but I'm not happy with a zillion
                   pounds of dell on my lap burning a hole through my flesh.
                   \_ dude, stop.  You're turning me on!
           \_ Thinkpads have shitty multimedia ability and are overpriced.
              \_ as if she's playing doom3 on it?  its a laptop.  all laptops
                 have shitty mm compared to desktops.  laptop buyers simply
                 understand and accept the tradeoff.
                 \_ well, that's not true. i have used laptops for watching
                    dvds, playing music, recording music, and playing games.
                    i generally don't use the batteries but I like the other
                    aspects of portability. for mm, dell > ibm.
              \_ The R series pricing is very reasonable.  The dell
                 lattitudes seem ok to me, but I am not so sure about the
                 inspirons.  And don't buy toshibas.  They are horrible
                 and feel like cheap toys.
                 \_ my toshiba portege 2000 is sweet.
                    \_ I guess I shouldn't have made sweeping
                       generalizations.  Just that all the toshibas
                       (satellites) in my lab are crappy and aging badly.
                       Also, most compaqs are shitty but the N600C seems
                       very nice.
                       \_ Toshiba shares with IBM a price/quality curve that
                          looks like a step function.  The low-end Toshiba
                          Satellite line is typically junk.  The high-end
                          (arguably overpriced) Portege line tend to be
                          quite nice.  Same seems true of IBMs.  When you
                          start paying out the ass, quality jumps.
                          \_ I find the low end Thinkpad R series to be of
                             good quality, unlike low end Toshiba junk.
                             And I love the Thinkpad T series.  If I
                             have a chunk of dough, I will get it.
                 \_ I've heard terrible things about Inspirons so I bought
                    a refurbished Lattitude and it's been ok.  The two
                    problems are that the screen hits the keyboard (so
                    there's a scratch) and the arrow keys are a bit loose
                    from lots of use (so they're a bit clicky when you press
                    them hard).  Neither of these bother me, but
                    others might be.
           \_ I have bought two used thinkpads on EBay and both have
              served me well.
              \_ ditto for me (except I bought 3).
        \_ I buy a lot of laptops. Sony has been the worst. IBM is okay, but
           overpriced and the "eraser" starts to get erratic. I once bought
           2 dozen Thinkpads and within 3 years every one of them had problems.
           I have been buying the Dell Latitudes lately without problems. --dim
           \_ What kind of problems?
           \_ dim, did you buy brand new thinkpads or refurbished ones?  This
              thread is about refurbished dells/ibms.  I'm assuming you mean
              refurbished for both?
              \_ These were new. If the new ones suck, so will the refurbs.
                 The IBMs had every sort of problem you can imagine. None
                 of them are in use now. I thought they were cool when they
                 were new, but I'm not buying any more. --dim
                 \_  Wanna sell one of the less broke of them?  how much??
        \_ okay, flame-on, but I love my Acer TravelMate.  The only problems
           I have had concern the crappy OS that it came with (Win98).  It is
           light, usable (keyboard is actually easy to type on), includes
           external drives, and is much cheaper than sony and ibm.