WTB very lightweight laptop (used or just a good deal)

One that comes with a dock or has a dock sold seperately? ^^
And matte instead of glossy for the screen =[

Last edited by Killgore9998 (2008-12-10 20:28)

I need the dock because my goal is to replace or at least supplement the computer that I use at work with it, and it would be ideal to be able to slide it into a dock which is permanently connected to the monitors rather than always having to disconnect and reconnect cables when I arrive or go home. But I see what you're saying. There are a lot of ways to go and its tough to figure out what would be best. It sounds like you strongly endorse this Acer thing, which is great. I just hadn't heard of Acer before, so I have to admit I was and maybe still am a bit skeptical.

Edit: Also, it doesn't have a built in optical drive, which would make an external one just about mandatory, wouldn't it? Does it even come with the OS install disks?

Edit2: The 8.9” screen and the standard 1024x600 resolution give me pause for concern as well.

Edit3: One review I read said that if you use the VGA port to hook up an external monitor, it isn't capable of displaying anything other than 1024x600 resolution on that external monitor. Sorta a deal breaker.

Last edited by Killgore9998 (2008-12-11 01:04)

  Well a bit of history.   In late '07 Asus decided to make a low cost lightweight laptop, sort of on the vein of OLPC in specs but look reasonable for people to use, not just kids.  People didn't think it'd pick up, but within a half year they sold so many they couldn't even keep up and you saw annoouncements and products subsequently from Acer, MSI, Everbook, and even HP and Dell more recently.  This category they invented fills a specific niche: low power computing at a low cost.  Even within that the rather new market has been changing quite a lot based on consumer wants (the move to Windows for example)

They actually started as Linux machines including the HP one, but MS realized they were losing gobs of market share to this ridiculously fast growing category of computers (outselling nearly everything, despite being preloaded with linux) and MS came out with a super cheap license of windows XP to put on netbooks Due to limitations by MS the laptops are not allowed to be sold with more than 160gb HD or 1gb of ram, which is why they all have exactly that much now.

Now, I know you've got your laundry list of things you want.  There are some laptops out there for you: the lenovo x300 and sony vaio x series, among others.  They have full size keyboards and higher screen resolutions and awesome battery and docking station ports and built-in DVD drives while still remaining lightweight But expect to pay over $2200 for those.

I mean I know you're a business user but I just don't see you fulfilling your requirements without either compromising on a netbook or finding a used IBM/lenovo/dell some big company is selling off on lease returns / end of life.  But I'd still take a new machine over someone's beat to hell dell.  If it was a thinkpad, maybe I'd take the thinkpad.

The acer gets pretty good reviews, especially since it's a bit lighter and substantial cost savings over the other netbook choices; that's why I recommended it.   For ~$100 more you have your choice of MSI, HP, Asus, and even the Dell.  I know several people with the aceras well, though as I mentioned I have an asus eee.   Acer's a much bigger brand in europe where they've maintained like #2 in sales for a long long time, but there's really nothing terribly wrong with htem

  That depends.  What do you need an optical drive for on an ultra portable?   If you say playing games, remember this won't be a gaming PC.  If it's installing software, that's more than easy enough to do over a network drive.  Watching movies on the plane? try DVD shrink.  You'll save gobs of battery even on laptops with optical drives.

My asus eee came with OS install disks but no optical drive.  It hasn't really stopped anyone, since you can just load the CD onto a usb key or usb HD if you don't want to go buy a usb optical drive.

Pick your poison; but at your budget you're either looking to buy a heavy tank of a laptop with all the doodads you want, or a netbook with some feature compromises.

"Throw away logic and kick reason to the curb"

  I re-appropriated my xbox 360 hd-dvd drive for installing OSes on my eee, but I was just noting you can get by without a usb cdrom and still install an OS on one of the porta-laptops with some creativity if you want to be frugal.  I thought I would miss an optical drive since my other laptop has it built in, but I really haven't seen a need for it.   That resolution changing issue  on the external port for the acer really sucks, and that might be a deal-breaker honestly.   My eee 701 can drive a 1600x1200 monitor via its VGA port (with all the wonderfulness of intel integrated, though it does work), but I don't know if the eee 1000 / 900 series can, as they use different chipsets.  Worth investigating though.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr … 25_anav1~~   For about the same price as some of the higher spec netbooks, there are dells in range of your price points with the optical drive included et al.  Of course this laptop will be closer to 5.5 lbs instead of 2.5 lbs, but that's not terrible if you're used to carrying normal-weight laptops.  Still no docking station option though until you move into dell's business laptops.

"Throw away logic and kick reason to the curb"

Too bad you didn't ask this a few days ago, I spotted a Lenovo those 2.4lb laptops for $500 regular price $2k.

  Damn if it was the x60 I'd have jumped on it.  It's essentially my ideal laptop I just couldn't afford it so I got the $400 eee.

"Throw away logic and kick reason to the curb"