Drew, do you still have Kristin's dead Macbook to send? I'll pay postage.

Yes, I do still have it and my schedule is finally easing up so I should be able to send it along in the next week or two.

Cool. Thanks.

Good to hear the stress factors might loosen a bit for you.

Quick Question:

Are either of these computers a good deal? I pretty muich use the computer to go online, and maybe work on Word or Excel for work occasionally. I want something cheap and light.

EEE pc [link]

Thinkpad [link]

Acer Aspire (it is pink and my favorite, but I can't tell if it has windows) [link]

I don't know if they are the same model, but the Acer Aspire on Newegg says it has Windows XP.

[link]

I'm not recommending it though, I've never used any of these so I can't give any informed opinions. I can recommend a cheap Toshiba, my wife and BIL both have $500 Toshibas and they work quite well, but they aren't little things.

Are either of these computers a good deal? I pretty muich use the computer to go online, and maybe work on Word or Excel for work occasionally. I want something cheap and light.

I would strongly suggest that you try out an EEE PC or Aspire One before purchasing -- the online pictures don't emphasize how small the screen and keyboards are.

Thank you Gud!

Good thought Tom-- although as I am currently using my cell phone-- it is sure to be bigger than that!

You can see the EEE PC at Best Buy if you want to get an idea of the size of the machine. I have one that's great for when I don't want to carry a full PC into a meeting and also for some of the diagnostic work I do on job sites, but I don't rely on it to be my primary PC.

The Acer Aspire One comes with either XP or Linux (with a simplified GUI). I like mine a lot, especially given the price.

The Linux one comes with Open Office, which can save stuff in Word and Excel format.

Thanks, meara. Do you have a 5GB data cap on your corporate account? What kind of speeds do you actually see? Are there roaming charges?

....I have no idea if there is a data cap. I am usually just on the internet, not downloading things, so I don't know what sort of speeds I see, but it's definitely slower than regular wifi at home on my cable modem, but not by a ton. Mostly that's noticeable the few times I am downloading something from email like a PDF or something--it takes a few extra seconds. With a powerpoint presentation I had to download the other day, it definitely took a bit longer. On a site like buffistas, I don't generally notice at all.

When I'm using it, I do use it all day long, but only, again, for Outlook and the internet, and that's usually maybe 8-10 days a month.

I haven't hit any roaming charges, but like I said, I've only been in big cities (LA, Portland, Vegas), so only places where they have service. I was under the impression it just didn't work in some places, I didn't know if it roamed.