PC Eye for the Mac Guy!

[Zeke]

G'day everyone,

I'm an Apple user, but I want to buy a cheap-ass PC notebook for testing web sites under Win IE conditions. Doesn't need to be fancy by any stretch of the imagination - just need to be able to plug it into my LAN so it can access the net, and browse.

I guess I'm probably after a Pentium2 or similar? Any ideas as to what I should pay for it and where to buy?

Cheers

Zeke

 

[Joel]

Check around the Australian Notebook sites on the net. Most of them have some pretty cheap deals for laptops.

Other than that, check the Trading Post or www.comtrader.com.au

 

[Desredandwhite]

For testing, you won't need anything very powerful at all. I'd suggest that anything above a PII-300Mhz with 128MB of RAM would be adequate. For example, my old laptop is an IBM ThinkPad 600E - 366Mhz, 290MB RAM - fantastic machine. If I hadn't given it to my dad, I'd probably still be using it for testing (at the moment I'm developing on my 12" PowerBook and testing on my Athlon 1.2Ghz desktop). On something with those specs you could run Win2k or XP with relative ease. Something like that should only set you back a few hundred bucks.

I think the mob I got my old IBM from was laptop.com.au

 

[nonchalance]

Originally posted by Zeke
I'm an Apple user

No.

You're not serious?
I never would have guessed.

Seriously, www.comtrader.com.au is the way to go.
As stated, PII-300/128MB RAM will do you fine, unless you're testing high-end Flash.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

Id go for a Pentium 3 but thats just my choice.

With a P2 you would be able to run Xp fairly easy on it though.

I just find that the Pentium 3 is more powerful for just a little bit extra.

 

[nonchalance]

Originally posted by rfctigerarmy
With a P2 you would be able to run Xp fairly easy on it though.

Don't.

Seriously, if you're running anything below 500MHz/256MB RAM, don't install XP.

Use 98se.

 

[Joel]

I agree.

 

[Desredandwhite]

Originally posted by nonchalance
Seriously, if you're running anything below 500MHz/256MB RAM, don't install XP.

Use 98se.

Beg to differ. My old laptop (ThinkPad 600E was a PII - 366Mhz with 290MB of RAM) ran XP quite acceptably once you turned off all the useless eye-candy. It all depends on what you are using it for. Games, graphics, etc? Sure, it won't be able to handle it. But for surfing / testing purposes it will be just fine. My only point would be that XP loves extra RAM, so you would want at least 256MB.

In any case, I'd prefer to install Win2k than any flavour of 98 or Me (Maybe its because I have an irrational hatred of the Win9x kernel )

 

[wang]

I have a P3 500mhz with 192mb and it runs XP perfectly well.

 

[Mr Q]

Originally posted by Desredandwhite
In any case, I'd prefer to install Win2k than any flavour of 98 or Me (Maybe its because I have an irrational hatred of the Win9x kernel )

Nothing irrational about it.