Wow that's some aggressive pricing! What a deal. I'm not very familiar with the G series machines. I've stuck with the T and X series which appear to be more directly descended from the legendary IBM product lines which Lenovo bought back in 2005. I like those high resolution matte displays. Not at all sure but I think the G series is likely more of a regular Chinese "Lenovo" machine. Less IBM, more Lenovo. $286 for a brand new laptop seems like a heck of a bargain though. 500gb and a big 15.6 inch display. Hope it serves him well. Lenovo must be doing something right as they're pretty much the only PC manufacturer outside of Apple that's actually growing their market share. whj On 08/26/2013 10:59 AM, Mike Miller wrote: > 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 >>> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >