Random Computers

I've preached for a long time now that, in order to stay head technologically, you need to take advantage of "targets of opportunity". And these days, the best way to find those is Craig's List. The corollary to that rule, is that deals can be found on eBay, but it's like panning for gold! So, what does this have to do with random computers?

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, when I was in the process of finding a second laptop for a client who needed 2 for their children, I took a quick scan through CL. There appeared to be a good deal: an HP P4-M era laptop listed for $50. OK, at that price, you have one of two things going on: A. a mistake in the listing, or B. a computer with some problems. I emailed and in this case, it was A. One thing led to another and I ended up in an email conversation with the seller and it turns out that B. was also the case.....in this case. He sounded like a nice kid with money issues, so I told him I'd take a look at his machine and tell him what could/needed to be done to make it work. To, make a long story short, I ended up doing a reload on his HP for him in exchange for his dead Toshiba Satellite M45-S351 (random computer #1).

On the day that I had arranged to pick up the HP, I saw an ad on Craig's List for an iBook G3 for $25!!! So I ran over to Arlington to take a look at this thing. Sure enough it was a actual working iBook G3 running OS X; not well, but running OS X never the less. The guy said that it was in a box of derelict computers that he'd been given and he didn't know anything about Macs. To top it off, not only was it running excruciatingly slowly, but it wasn't charging correctly either, but hey, he threw in a PowerBook G4 battery. It turns out that it was REALLY SLOW because it was running on the original (on-board) 128Mb of RAM! So I put a stick of 256Mb of SD RAM that I had sitting around and it ran a lot better. Also, it wasn't charging right because it had a aftermarket charger with a bad adapter tip, so I ordered another from eBay (random computer #2).

Since my previous attempt to find the second laptop for my client, ended up with more work, but no working comjputer; I went back to Craig's List again.....and found......someone selling 2 laptops for $100!!! I was skeptical, but I arranged to meet the seller anyway. It turns out that they both powered up, but had problems and the family was packing up to move and didn't have time or the inclination to fix them. The lady said that the one (Dell Inspiron 1501) was her daughter's that had gotten a lot of virus' and they tried to reload/restore....unsuccessfully. And sure enough, when it powered up the machine tried to finish the OS load, but got stuck, plus the battery was so bad the laptop wasn't recognizing it at all. The other machine (Asus Eee PC 900) was her personal netbook that had virus problems so bad that it wouldn't even get online. She was very frustrated with the machines and just wanted to see them gone, so I bought them. I got the Dell reloaded that night, but the Eee PC took a little longer. The restore utility was working (although the partition was still there), so I did a little research and found that the computer originally shipped with a support DVD. And I called the lady and sure enough she was able to find it and get it to me the next day (random computers #3 & #4).

I've been looking at various newer ThinkPads, planning ahead for the day when I'll need to replace my wife's R52. One of the models that I'd been researching was/is the R60/61 that we use at school. I've been impressed with the rugged build of the machine and since portability has never been one of my wife's laptop needs, the R60s seemed to be a candidate. There are a number of options since there have been a variety of sub-models including wide-screen models which I think she'd like. Soooo, what does this have to do with the "random models" posts? Well, I ran across another ThinkPad Forum member's R60e that he'd been working on as a "project" machine, but had decided to move on. The "e" models were there stripped-down, ultra-low end machine, so low end, that it's a less-than-4-year-old computer without built-in wireless! Well, anyway, it was $80 shipped, so I picked it up as well. In the end, I'll uses it to gain experience working on the R6x machines and will probably end up selling off in a few months (random machine #5).

All total, I've spent $200 and picked up 5 laptops in a space of 2 weeks. I already know that one of the machines will sell for $200 by itself so as you can see, I'll clearly be able to get my money out of this series of deals. Of course, some of it will eventually lead to other things and to profits which will end up being plowed back into fodder to feed the machine.

Oh, I almost forgot: I've also picked up another Dell, a Latitude D610 which I didn't list before because it's specifically bought for a client, but I guess you could call it random computer #6!