I was visiting my son in Madison yesterday when we happened to see a Lenovo G505 for $286 at Best Buy. It was the floor model, but we bought it. It seems to fit the bill: 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, HDMI, USB 3.0., DVD±RW but no Bluetooth. It comes with Windows 8 and I guess it can run Linux really well. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/15.6%22+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive/9130065.p Thanks for recommending Lenovo. Now I just hope the battery is still really good. It looked like it was in perfect condition. Mike On Fri, 23 Aug 2013, Mike Miller wrote: > Thanks for this advice. I mostly don't like the machines at Costco, either. > But two years ago I bought a little Acer laptop for my daughter, then four > years old, with 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD and very long battery life for only $250. > She has been using it all the time since then. It still works great. I > bought three Seagate 3TB external USB3 drives at Costco last year for $100 > each. When they have a good deal, it's hard to beat. > > The thing that concerns me with buying used laptops is that the batteries > often don't work well, so then I need a battery and they are expensive. We'd > like to get a machine that has HDMI out, but the Lenovo T500 seems to have > some other kind of HD output that needs an adaptor to get HDMI, but it > doesn't carry the audio. I'll still be considering the T500, so thanks! > > Mike > > > On Thu, 22 Aug 2013, whjwhj wrote: > >> I've played around with the machines I've seen at Costco and many of them >> seem cheap. Particularly the keyboards. Soft, bouncy, squishy keyboards. >> Also, I keep my eye on screen resolution, particularly on the least >> expensive machines. They might have what appears to be a nice 14" or 15" >> display but then the resolution maxes out at 1380x768 or so. They can do so >> much better. 1400x900 and up is good. I personally can not stand the glossy >> reflective displays which so many of the machines have these days >> (including, alas, Apple). >> >> My last three Linux machine purchases have all been used Lenovo Thinkpad >> machines and I've been absolutely delighted with them. It's clear Lenovo >> (formerly IBM) is very much focused on durability, particularly on their >> business class machines. And the keyboards are excellent. >> >> They all run Linux just fine for me and appear to be a popular choice for >> Linux users in general. >> >> Lenovo has an outlet store with some good deals: >> >> http://outlet.lenovo.com/ >> >> I've gotten all three of mine from Craigslist and they've all been fine >> performers. I bought a new battery for one and I've been upgrading RAM and >> installing SSD drives periodically to give them a little extra bump. >> >> e.g., This machine here looks very nice. Good screen resolution at >> 1680x1050. Add more RAM perhaps and maybe an SSD or a larger HDD to replace >> the 160GB that's in there and you're set. (Although this machine might be a >> bit heavy for a student's backpack.) >> >> http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/sys/4000943841.html >> >> I'm fond of the T series and X series machines. I own an X200 and a T420s. >> Both these machines are light and portable while offering ample performance >> and features for my needs. The T43 I own is a bit heavier and very old and >> past it's prime. It still runs perfectly however and I use it regularly for >> light duty stuff. >> >> whj >> >> On 08/22/2013 11:14 AM, Mike Miller wrote: >>> Now is the Back To School season, so maybe it is a bad time to buy. Is >>> it better after maybe September 15? Do we often see sales? >>> >>> I've noticed that when Costco has a good deal, it's a really good deal. >>> So are any of these good machines? I'm really interested in the cheaper >>> ones. I didn't really like the HP Pavilion I bought last year -- very >>> weak WiFi, I thought. >>> >>> http://tinyurl.com/l7ywqhx [costco.com] >>> >>> Are some brands especially good for Linux and some not so good? >>> >>> Mike >>> _______________________________________________ >>> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >>> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >>> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >> >