Cheap Sub Notebook help

[adam_d]

Hi guys, I haven't been around in a while and I'm looking for a bit of advice on what seems to be a fairly common topic on here.

I'm looking about for a cheap little laptop I can use for school, something I can just stick in my bag and not mind too much if it gets scuffed or scratched. It needs to be able to meet a couple of requirements, but nothing too straining:

1) Must be able to run Delphi 2005 (this is what my school uses for Programming)
2) Preferably able to run XP
3) Must be fairly light so I can carry it around easy, size isn't too much of a problem as long as it's light.
4) Must have at least 1 USB port (dvd/cd drive doesn't matter)
5) Must have a fairly good battery, or batteries must be easily available.
6) Must be able to play music.

Any other features are a bonus.

I've been looking at the lifebook b series, and I have heard good things about them on here.

The only problem is my budget. It's very small, we're talking £50 at most, so that puts the likes of the EEE well out of my budget. I might be able to go above that, as long as it's a good deal. Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks

[vskid]

Must be able to run Delphi 2005 (this is what my school uses for Programming)

I did some quick Googling, and found that the requirements are a 450MHz cpu and 256MB of ram (800MHz and 512MB recommended).
How long is "fairly good" for battery life?
I had a Lifebook b2630 (just traded it for a Nokia n800). Its a good laptop, really light and strong. I paid about $150 for the laptop, plus $40 for a 256MB stick of ram (£50=$90). I think you'll have to shop around to find something that fits your requirements and budget. It won't be easy, but I think its possible.

[adam_d]

Thanks for your help, I have a couple of sticks of different types of laptop ram lying about, so depending what it takes I might not need to pay for that.
Fairly good, about 2 hours. The laptop I use mainly now is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro, and only has 1 hour of battery life, but it's a bit big to carry around. So for me fairly good isn't a lot compared to some laptops. And I'm guessing ebay will be my best bet in looking for this?

[vskid]

Mine came with ram, but it was only 128MB, which makes XP really slow.
I would get 1.5-2 hours of battery life, and thats with a used battery.
I think your best bet would be finding a free, local, online classifieds and watching it (or post a want ad there). Ebay can have some good deals, but usually someone snipes you at the end, so you don't end up getting the good deal.

[bicostp]

I have a Toshiba Portege 7200CT laptop, and it's fine for most things. (650 mhz P3, 384 MB of RAM, as big a hard drive as will fit in it...) It's a 13" notebook, so while it won't turn on the Eee fanboys, it will give you a nearly full-size laptop keyboard, a trackpoint (trackpoint >>>>> trackpad), and a screen that doesn't feature teeny-weenie eyestrain-o-vision. Its sole USB port is 1.1, but it does have 2 PCMCIA ports in the main laptop. (You get composite video output, a DVD-ROM drive, floppy drive, and other amenities in the dock, and some of them from the breakout box.)

It tears through XP no problem, even with the Vista transformation pack. (It only bogs down when you use the fake Aero Glass utility.) Oh the looks you get with a beat-up laptop with a "Built for NT 4.0" sticker, apparently running Vista... )

Toshiba makes good laptops, and in my experience the Portege line is solid. (They still make new ones.)

[adam_d]

Hmm, that doesn't sound too bad, is it very heavy? And I don't mind USB 1.1, as long as it'll work alright with a printer. Also I like the sound of composite video output. About how much do they go for?

[bicostp]

I got mine free from the trash at work

I think it's about 5 pounds.

[adam_d]

Ah right, I'll keep an eye on ebay and the classifieds in the newspaper for either of these, they both seem pretty decent. And I have had laptops from both of these, so I know they're pretty good. Thanks for your help

[leye0]

It seems you're searching for something like a netbook. My gf just buy a acer aspire one for 330 US, with a lot of accessories, 1gb of ram, 3 usb ports (or 4?), a 1.6Ghz cpu. It worths its price, but even though they told it's a fast cpu, it remains a bit "simple-tasking". EEE, MSI Wind or the recent Inspiron mini laptop are interesting too, but sometimes more expensive if you consider its almost the same thing in different clothes.

Just a bit less expensive is effectively the Lifebook B2630, an --old-- netbook. I have this computer, that have cost me 150$. This is possible to re-use-install your old windows cd (after having put MS-DOS 7.10 on it) or to install Ubuntu, it even gets a touchscreen! Apart from the fan a bit loud when it's plugged to the wall, it's very light and discreet.