Cheap Laptop (ONLY for writing) Suggestions

Hey guys!

With potential downtime coming around the bend (possible surgery/bed rest), I was wondering about a cheap laptop option for writing in bed.

I want to use "Dark Room", but don't know if it can work on Windows 7/10.

I only want the laptop for writing. I can transfer the writing to my desktop later.

Anyone have suggestions, from their own experiences, in getting a cheap writing-only laptop?

Thanks in advance, guys!

ETA: I'm in the US, if that helps.

I have thought about seeing if there are refurbished/clearance Windows XP laptops on eBay, but I'm thinking for what would probably be a hundred dollars or more, I could get a more modern system with a warranty of some sort.

I guess it depends where you are.

ncseeker said:

Anyone have suggestions, from their own experiences, in getting a cheap writing-only laptop?

Click to expand...

I have an older 13" version of this: http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/laptops/stream-notebook-348017--1#!&tab=features (without touch-screen)

I don't use it for "writing," it's just a minimal internet and such, but it would be good enough for writing, especially if you use a bluetooth keyboard. it also has HDMI output, so if your hospital TV is compatible you can use a bigger screen.

It also has an SD card slot so you could back up or transfer without accessing the cloud or a local network.

Gosh, word processing is so minimal for any device. I'm not familiar with dark room, though. If you'll have constant internet access during your recovery, then consider a Chromebook for $200 or less. They have amazing battery life. Another good choice might be a tablet with a keyboard. Again, great battery life!

As for a laptop, especially if it's just for writing, pick one, any of them. Heck, start with the screen size. Do you want a big screen for more real estate or do you want uber portability with a small 13" screen? Processor won't matter much, since any processor will be up to running a word processing program.

I use Google Docs for my writing, which is free. But there are lots of free word processing software. Consider one with a SSD (solid state hard drive) for better battery life.

I have this one...https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Asp...0-Processor-4GB-RAM-500GB-Hard-Drive/54794085

The laptop itself is great, it just that it comes with windows 10. Win10 sucks.

ncseeker said:

I only want the laptop for writing. I can transfer the writing to my desktop later.


I have thought about seeing if there are refurbished/clearance Windows XP laptops on eBay, but I'm thinking for what would probably be a hundred dollars or more, I could get a more modern system with a warranty of some sort.

Click to expand...

If you're used to a desktop with a full keyboard, you won't be comfortable with a small laptop/notebook/netbook/tablet, etc.

You can find larger notebooks/laptops with full size keyboards fairly easily. I use a Gateway with a 17" screen. It has a full size keyboard, but due to the way I have my room set up with the PC on a stand off to the side, I also have a full sized USB keyboard and wireless trackball.

Manufacturer refurbished or 'off lease' units are still readily available with Windows 7 Home or Pro versions, generally under $200, sometimes under $100. Those will have some form of warranty while seller-refurbished and used units will not.

I recently bought a duplicate of my 17" Gateway for $150 shipped just to have a spare on hand because I like it so much. Gateway no longer exists though having been assimilated by Acer.

ncseeker said:

Hey guys!

With potential downtime coming around the bend (possible surgery/bed rest), I was wondering about a cheap laptop option for writing in bed.

I want to use "Dark Room", but don't know if it can work on Windows 7/10.

I only want the laptop for writing. I can transfer the writing to my desktop later.

Anyone have suggestions, from their own experiences, in getting a cheap writing-only laptop?

Thanks in advance, guys!

ETA: I'm in the US, if that helps.

I have thought about seeing if there are refurbished/clearance Windows XP laptops on eBay, but I'm thinking for what would probably be a hundred dollars or more, I could get a more modern system with a warranty of some sort.

Click to expand...

I'd suggest that you consider either Open Office (its big and free) or Jarte (also free). The latter is a simpler WP, but it does include a dictionary and stores its files as RTF which can make things easier for upload with Lit.

Guys, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm taking them all in, really, but am, probably against my original better judgement, thinking of getting a refurbished Windows XP laptop off of eBay.

I mean, unless I'm literally stuck in bed for long spells, I'm never going to use the laptop anywhere else. I hardly ever travel, and don't like being online unless I'm at my desk with my old school desktop.

I figure a refurbished Windows Xp laptop for $70-$80 is a decent enough gamble. I can run hardware checks over the 30-days of warranty, worst-case scenario.

I'm not totally settled on it, but I'm leaning enough in that direction to fall over.

BuckyDuckman said:

Gosh, word processing is so minimal for any device. I'm not familiar with dark room, though. If you'll have constant internet access during your recovery, then consider a Chromebook for $200 or less. They have amazing battery life. Another good choice might be a tablet with a keyboard. Again, great battery life!

As for a laptop, especially if it's just for writing, pick one, any of them. Heck, start with the screen size. Do you want a big screen for more real estate or do you want uber portability with a small 13" screen? Processor won't matter much, since any processor will be up to running a word processing program.

I use Google Docs for my writing, which is free. But there are lots of free word processing software. Consider one with a SSD (solid state hard drive) for better battery life.

Click to expand...

I like Dark Room because of the simple design of it. I'm sure that other software out there now can approximate the same minimalist design, so I should check out the suggestions in this thread.

You know, I don't really need internet access while I am in bed, but perhaps I should look at a worst-case scenario, where getting from my bed to my living room desktop might be a bigger issue than previously considered. I'll keep a wireless option in mind now.

Zeb_Carter said:

The laptop itself is great, it just that it comes with windows 10. Win10 sucks.

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Why don't you like Windows 10? I thought people like Windows 10? Or at least they came around to like it?

jaF0 said:

If you're used to a desktop with a full keyboard, you won't be comfortable with a small laptop/notebook/netbook/tablet, etc.

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I thought about this, especially since I've never had a laptop before.....and tiny tablets and such were out of the question from the start.

Even looking at some decent-sized laptops, I'm like "Ehhh, that keyboard will take some getting used to". I know I wil eventuallyl become comfortable with a laptop's keyboard, but you have me thinking of another option: Attaching my desktop keyboard to the laptop.

I also need to see about setting up some type of laptop stand in the bed.

Here is a cheaper solution - put a bedside (medical overbed) table, then just set your desktop nearby and put the monitor and keyboard and mouse onto the bedside table. Use double sided tape to hold the monitor base in place, so it doesn't tip off.

This will let you stay on your own system while recovering. (I spent four months laid up after an accident and this worked perfectly for me - plus I could watch movies and TV shows on it easily too.) Plus, it costs maybe 50 dollars - and your medical insurance might cover it under home care or the hospital might have a program to lend you one.

NOT XP. If you connect it to the internet, you're begging for trouble. You will be virused; when not if.

If you really, really mean you want it JUST for writing and submitting, and you don't want to mess with anything technical, get a $70 Chromebook. It's about as close to rock-solid-simple as anything gets. You'll write in Google Docs, and copy and paste stories to Lit. It can also browse the internet. It doesn't do a lot else but it's about as virusproof and hassle-free a world as can be had on a computer. I recommend them for nontechnical family and friends and as long as your needs are simple, they rock. Caveat: Google can probably see everything you do. But they likely do anyway.

If you're a lover of geek stuff, get a Raspberry pi (~$50 with power supply) and a screen. You'll run any one of the free word processors for Linux, or Google Docs. You'll be shocked at how much computer you get for the price (in how small a box), and like anything Linux-based it's close to virusproof. Yes, you'll have to learn a fair bit to get it running, but when the computer itself is $35 and you end up spending more on a mouse, keyboard and power supply than the computer, you'll be forgiving of the learning curve. It's hard to go cheaper and get anything usable, and all the software is free.

The next step up is a linux PC. They've gotten very usable. Also nearly virusproof. And cheaper than any Windows machine.

Last resort is a used Windows PC, Windows 7 being the only viable choice these days. Anything earlier is virus hell, Windows 8 was buggy and slow, and Windows 10 is ok if you want to spend a lot of money for nothing Linux doesn't do (and don't care if Microsoft sees what you are writing.)

If you share editing with others, Google Docs is sort of a miracle. Multiple people editing the same document at once is just wonderful.

Is there an option for MS word?

Denny

BuckyDuckman said:

Gosh, word processing is so minimal for any device. I'm not familiar with dark room, though. If you'll have constant internet access during your recovery, then consider a Chromebook for $200 or less. They have amazing battery life. Another good choice might be a tablet with a keyboard. Again, great battery life!

As for a laptop, especially if it's just for writing, pick one, any of them. Heck, start with the screen size. Do you want a big screen for more real estate or do you want uber portability with a small 13" screen? Processor won't matter much, since any processor will be up to running a word processing program.

I use Google Docs for my writing, which is free. But there are lots of free word processing software. Consider one with a SSD (solid state hard drive) for better battery life.

Click to expand...

Zeb_Carter said:

I have this one...https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Asp...0-Processor-4GB-RAM-500GB-Hard-Drive/54794085

The laptop itself is great, it just that it comes with windows 10. Win10 sucks.

Click to expand...

I still don't have Mic WORDS in my new tower so have been unable to read my old unpublished stories or add more. It's all confusing and I refused to buy the new Office.
I do have Open Office but don't feel comfortable with it. I'm not hospitalized or disabled but my problem is my feet swell badly after sitting here long.
I'm also not comfortable with laptops and know nothing about tablets, etc. A nice lower priced laptop with a writing program that I can convert to this tower for Lit would be great. I do have cable and Wi-Fi.

Many of these suggestions seem like what I'm looking for to sit in my easy chair with feet up and type stories. I have no idea what Dark Room is and if it will work witl Win 10 which all new computers have.

Something with a keyboard sounds good plus I have places for power to operate or charge. The more units I look at the more confused I get. I'm thinking anything under $250 for writing and maybe basic internet.

Since it is for home us only, bigger is better and Win 10 does not bother me. I just need WORDS or something that unscrables my documents in WORDS.

LIVINRFANTASIES said:

I still don't have Mic WORDS in my new tower so have been unable to read my old unpublished stories or add more. It's all confusing and I refused to buy the new Office.
I do have Open Office but don't feel comfortable with it.

Click to expand...

Open your old Word files in Open Office (or LibreOffice) and "save as" .RTF files. Pretty much any word processor you settle on will be able to read RTF files.

ncseeker said:

I have thought about seeing if there are refurbished/clearance Windows XP laptops on eBay, but I'm thinking for what would probably be a hundred dollars or more, I could get a more modern system with a warranty of some sort.

Click to expand...

LIVINRFANTASIES said:

Something with a keyboard sounds good plus I have places for power to operate or charge. The more units I look at the more confused I get. I'm thinking anything under $250 for writing and maybe basic internet.

Since it is for home us only, bigger is better and Win 10 does not bother me. I just need WORDS or something that unscrables my documents in WORDS.

Click to expand...

I hate how confusing buying a computer gets for so many people. Especially if you're buying from Best Buy, where their Geek Squad make it sound as if every computer they sell is broken before you ever turn it on.

You don't need a Ferrari if you only make trips to the corner store a couple times a week. Other geeks will disapprove of this list, but I stand by it:

Windows 10 vs all other operating systems: Win10 is fine. My advice? Stay the hell away from Win8 or even Windows 8.1. (Thankfully, those computers should be hard to find.) Microsoft tried to do too much with Win8. WinXP is too old and no longer supported by Microsoft. I upgraded my non-tech wife from Win7 to Win10 and she never blinked.

If you're a writer, worry more about the keyboard & screen I've bought a computer or two along the way where the keyboard had a smaller than expected shift button or backspace key or an odd placement of the delete key. My work laptop has a 14" screen and I miss the extra real estate of my personal laptop's screen.

Tech-heads split hairs all the time. Computer magazines will talk about how much a laptop with a 17" screen weighs a whopping 8 lbs. Do you really think you'll notice the weight difference between a 17" laptop and the 5 lbs of a 14" laptop? Probably not. In every instance, we're talking about the weight of a gallon of milk. How often are you going to move it?

Battery life: Again, computer magazines will moan about the "dismal" battery life of a cheap computer at 1 hr 45 minutes versus another computer with a 2 hr 33 minute battery life. How often are you going to unplug it? If battery life is your motivator, get a tablet.

Here's what you get when you buy a cheap computer: A computer with lots of links to Amazon, PopCap Games, and free trial software. All that stuff is put on there as an advertisement, further reducing the cost of your new computer. Ignore it, delete the desktop shortcut, or uninstall it. Yes, there are programs like PC Decrapifier that can help get rid of that stuff. But if you're not up to task, don't worry about it.

AMD vs Intel vs Celeron vs Atom vs whatever processor: On the lowest end of the market, who cares? My typical buying advice works for $500 laptops: an Intel i5 processor (typically, the last series and not the new series), 2 TB hard drive, 6+ GB of RAM. For this $200 price point, that changes drastically. IF you can find an older Intel i3 or i5 processor, go for it. Celeron's are okay. So are AMD processors. For what you're going to do with the computer, it doesn't matter. So what if it takes 75 seconds to boot up your computer. (Mine boots up in 7 seconds.) How often do you reboot your computer?

No Windows 10 with Microsoft's built-in security isn't the best you can get. I'll make the head spin off of the security conscious people around here with what I'm about to say: stay away from questionable websites, don't click on email links, don't download software you don't know - and you'll probably be mostly fine. My security is much more robust. I even tug on card scanners at gas pumps before swiping my card, because of card skimmers. My passwords are long and robust. I use two-factor identification everywhere that I can. I use a VPN, even from home. And I just lulled most people asleep.

Laptops vs Towers: Get a laptop. No one has a need for a tower anymore. They're big, clunky, and no one is swapping out parts anymore. Additionally, most low cost towers use motherboards and cases that will prevent you from doing most upgrades. Give it up, just get a laptop. You can still plug in your favorite monitor, keyboard, & mouse, too!

Tablets: Even with a keyboard (typically Bluetooth, though I have had a couple that had attached keyboards), tablets are more for viewing content than creating content. They have amazing battery life. They're uber portable. I own half a dozen and love them, but I never write on one. Too clunky and cramped, even with an attached keyboard. Tablets are nothing more than giant smartphones without the phone part.

All-in-Ones, 2-in-1s, Touchscreens, etc.: For most people, none of those things are worth the extra cost. 2-in-1s are laptops you can fold back into a tent or into a tablet. You will hardly ever do that. Just get a tablet for $100 if you want a tablet. Too many compromises trying to use a computer as a tablet (weight, heat, size). All-in-Ones are neat if you want the big screen of a desktop without the hassle of a tower. I suspect you'd be just as well off duct taping an inexpensive laptop to the back of a giant monitor, though. As for touchscreens, again, you'll hardly ever use it. If it comes with one, fine. Enjoy the novelty of it. But don't add to the price looking for a touchscreen unless you already know you'll use it. It's not worth the upgrade.

SSDs vs traditional hard drives: At this price point, IF you find a SSD, that's great. Otherwise, you won't find one and you don't need one. SSD stands for "Solid State Drive." Worry more about how much hard drive space you have for pictures and programs. 1 TB is a good amount for most people and it's cheap!

Bucky's Cheap $200-ish Laptop Buying Guide:
Screen size: 15.6"
Hard Drive: at least 500 gb, 1 TB is better.
Processor: Intel i3, Intel Celeron, or AMD is best
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
RAM: at least 4 GB, but I really think Win10 works best with 6 GB or more
Best price: refurbished or open box

ncseeker said:

Why don't you like Windows 10? I thought people like Windows 10? Or at least they came around to like it?

Click to expand...

Many consider Win10 to be nothing short of elaborate spyware. M$ has some issues with keeping track of what people do.

My 17.3" screen unit is far lighter than my older 15.6" screen unit.

Manufacturer Refurbished or Off-lease units are likely to have warranties, usually at least one year.

Word Procs ?

Open Office (aka Apache Open Office or Libre Office)
Very comprehensive (and with most of the same command structure as Word.

Jarte
fits over Notepad and works a treat. (Highly recommended)

Abword
Nice & Simple; similar to Word.

Lotus Symphony.
A nice WP thing to use.

Denny

Weird Harold said:

Open your old Word files in Open Office (or LibreOffice) and "save as" .RTF files. Pretty much any word processor you settle on will be able to read RTF files.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll give this a try.
Like a fool I bought an overpriced HP tower, curved monitor, keyboard, etc. when all I needed was one good laptop for home use.

BuckyDuckman said:

Bucky's Cheap $200-ish Laptop Buying Guide:
Screen size: 15.6"
Hard Drive: at least 500 gb, 1 TB is better.
Processor: Intel i3, Intel Celeron, or AMD is best
Operating System: Windows 10 Home
RAM: at least 4 GB, but I really think Win10 works best with 6 GB or more
Best price: refurbished or open box

Click to expand...

Thanks.
Walmart has several laptops with one year free "Office" for around $200 with a power cord and five hour plus battery life.
A HP 14" for $219, Win 10 and the free Home-Office for one year seems fine for emails, viewing forums, and writing.
Right now all WORDS stories are on a portable.

I have an outlet behind my recliner and the tower, etc is twenty feet away.
For under $10 they have a cordless mouse.
So I'll have a year to transfer my WORDS short stories to a decent story and post them to Lit.

Again thanks to everyone posting information to us computerly challenged.