<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread!<div class="">My friend Tom also appreciates the concern.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I’ll feed back what I’ve collected from this so far, but first I should explain why $200s and 4GB memory is not as stupid as it might seem.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class="">Tom’s business is going out and tuning pianos, or providing appraisals for sale. His use of a computer is:</div><div class=""> (a) using email to communicate with clients;</div><div class=""> (b) preparing quotes and appraisal documents using Libre Office;</div><div class=""> (c) printing those documents;</div><div class=""> (d) working with simple spreadsheets.</div><div class=""> (e) some web browsing.</div><div class="">So 4GB should be just fine. He’s not the kind to get impatient over swap time. He uses an external disk so doesn’t need to store lots of history in the laptop. The only real requirement is that the computer keeps ticking!</div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Tips I’m looking at:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Stephen, re: <font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" class="">Latitude i5/i7: Tom does carry his laptop around, rugged is good.</font></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class=""><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" class="">In fact, we may be onto one of these: ...</font></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Feature Marketing — suggested by Phil.Waclawski.</div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class="">They have Dell Latitude i7 E6330 13.3” for $169.00, I think a year warranty.</div><div class="">I chatted with them. We *may* run over there and close a deal, maybe with some upgrades.</div><div class="">This place seems pretty solid, they say they sell a lot of linux computers to local students, whose teachers have sent them repeat business over several years; some local business, but they do most of their business out of state. Most of the computers come from big companies. Comments?</div><div class="">They’re in the Scottsdale Airport area, about 8 miles east of me.</div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Resell Electronics — suggested by Todd. </div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class="">Interesting, I just called them up at 877-726-0104. Their web site doesn’t show inventory because they do most of their business on ebay.</div><div class="">Walk-ins are welcome, at 850 W Lincoln St. Door 1 in Phoenix, that’s off 7th Ave just south of the bridge over the railroad tracks. They have a computer there where you can search what’s in their inventory, but the stuff is in their warehouse and you don’t see it till you buy it. I think I’ll run down there tomorrow.</div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Fry’s deal of the week: HP 11-y010nr, 11.6" Stream Laptop Celeron N3060, 4GB, 32GB eMMC, $199. The good point here is solid state and the fact that it’s new, but Fry’s service is horrible in my experience and I don’t like the idea of sending things away for </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px;" class="">Stephen, re: thinkpad: I</span>’<span style="font-size: 12px;" class="">m biased against Corporate China, but I hear good things about thinkpad with Linux.</span></font></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Trent & Stephen have reinforced my feeling against current ChromeBook. And prices aren’t all that great either, if you do some shopping.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Eric, we’re in the Paradise Valley area of Phoenix. If we should run into an ongoing warranty hassle you’re totally right about distance. Since Feature Marketing is right here, that is a plus for me. But I don’t mind driving around a bit. (Where are you?)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Eric, re Red 7: I haven’t heard much mention of them since they started some 20 years ago, but yes, I see <a href="http://redsevenlinux.com" class="">redsevenlinux.com</a>: they seem to still be in business, and it looks like a good business model. But either their site has been owned, or they lack focus: Computer solutions are mixed with a lame porn story and big-cock talk <i class="">on their front page.</i> Looks a tad unstable.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I think Somebody off-line mentioned Data Doctors so I dropped in there. The main guy at that store gave me a friendly lecture on using computers that someone else got rid of, like trade-in cars at a dealership. I spent years running second hand cars into the ground, so that isn’t too convincing to me; but I have also bought one used PC from a repair shop that turned out to be a total lemon, and I wasted money on a new battery that didn’t help, so that carries some weight.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks,</div><div class="">Victor</div><div class="">________________________</div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""><div><div class="">On 20180614, at 15:15, Carruth, Rusty <<a href="mailto:Rusty.Carruth@smartm.com" class="">Rusty.Carruth@smartm.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">Personally, 4G is not QUITE enough RAM. (Disclaimer - I have 16G on both my personal laptop and my work laptop. I used to have 4G on my work laptop, bah humbug)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">My wife’s laptop has 4G, and has to kill off firefox every once in a while due to its apparent memory leak. However, I’ve got 16 G at work running windows, and every few days *<b class="">I</b>* have to kill my firefox because it is taking around 14G (or at least guess which window is causing the leak)….<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">(Ok, yes, I’m a heavy user. I confess. (Is there a group for that?) )<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">We’re using Lenovo at work, and a T410 worked fine (as fine as it can with only 4G - but all the hardware worked ok as I remember). 4G max RAM, I think, but I think there’s a T420 or something that takes more RAM.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">I’ve had relatively good luck in the old days with Dell (Inspiron 8000 or something like that?), but YMMV. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">The only laptops I’ve got personal experience that I know work fine (again, ignoring memory) are:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">My wife’s, model and so forth forgotten. If you care I can go look<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">My personal Alienware, which is WAY outside the price range. The only real issue with it was: you need a recent distro (Mint 17 didn’t work well, Mint 18 worked fine).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">Lenovo ThinkPad T410. Used with an older Mint, as I remember everything worked.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class="">I just realized that I don’t think I’ve run Linux on my ThinkPad, so ‘never mind’ on that one, sorry.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div class=""><div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); border-top-width: 1pt; padding: 3pt 0in 0in;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class="">Sent:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Thursday, June 14, 2018 2:59 PM<br class=""><b class="">To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Main PLUG discussion list<br class=""><b class="">Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Cheap new Linux laptop advice?<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div></div></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">A friend needs a cheap Linux laptop for light duty business work:<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Libre Office, printing via USB connection, WIFI, email, and light browsing.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">His business (piano tuning) hangs on this.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He would like the provider to be established with a decent reputation, whether the computer is new or refurbished. <o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">His cap is $400 but he would prefer closer to $200 . . .<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class="">Refurbish?</b> In past discussions here, I’ve seen references in the past of a good refurb provider in town. How well established are they, what’s their batting average?<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class="">New?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I see:<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> At Amazon:<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">*Dell Inspiron at Amazon for $205, 11.6" HD Celeron N3060,<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> 4GB RAM32 eMMC HDD.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">*ASUS VivoBook E203NA-YS03 $199, 11.6” Featherweight design<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> Intel Dual-Core Celeron N3350 2.4GHz processor,<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> 4GB DDR3 RAM, 64GB EMMC Storage, App based Windows 10 S<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">At Fry’s Electronics:<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">* HP 14-ax030nr, 14" Stream Laptop With Intel Celeron N3060 Processor,<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> 4GB Memory, 64GB eMMC and Windows 10<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><b class="">Chromebook?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I see Chromebooks under $250.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">* Scrub & convert to Linux?<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">* USB ports to run a printer and external backup disk?<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">* Storage to run Libre writer + mail client + light surfing?<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He doesn’t want to entrust all his data to Google, and is happy with Linux.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Any specific suggestions would be very welcome.<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Thanks,<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Victor<o:p class=""></o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><div class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; 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