For Anyone Looking For A Control Laptop...

[shilala]

Dell is having a nice sale at Dell Outlet (http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/22/campaigns/dfo_dfh_deals_page?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22&dgc=IR&cid=260728&lid=4699327&delphi:gr=true).
I picked up an Inspiron 15-3520 for $292 after applying the coupon at the link above, plus shipping was free. Tax was included in that $292.
New, that's around a $600 machine. At the outlet it would have normally sold at around $450.
My old Compaq I had on the Shopbot is finally flaking out after lots of good years in the shop.

Here's the specs on the machine I got, it's far beyond what the Shopbot needs and should deliver an excellent comm rate (once lots of garbage is disabled)...

Dell Outlet Inspiron 15 - 3520 Laptop
Intel Core 2nd generation i3-2370M Processor (2.4GHz)
Windows 8
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
15.6 High Definition (720p) LED Display with Truelife
8X DVD +/- RW Drive
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Obsidian Black
6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
Dell Wireless 1703 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0
1.0 MP HD Camera with MIC
Dell Chiclet Keyboard with Multi-touch Touchpad
125V Power Cord
65W AC Adapter
Windows 64 Bit

There are also less expensive machines at Dell Outlet, you can get one real close to these specs for around $250 if you know how to shop the place. It takes a little work to snag the super cheap ones.

There's a trick...
When new machines are added to replace sold machines, it's always done at the quarters of the hour. For instance, 12:00, 12:15, 12:30, 12:45. Some hours there are no machines added at all because there aren't any available. Sometimes they'll add machines nearly every 15 minutes for hours.
The best time to shop are hours when people aren't going to be shopping. From late at night to early in the morning is good, during work hours, etc.
I have literally bought well over 100 laptops and desktops from the Outlet over the last 7 or 8 years. Scratch and dent, refurb, and previously ordered (brand new). I've never had a problem one.
It saves friends and family a fortune, too.

If you're in need, it's a very nice time to buy right. If I can help somehow, just ask. I hope someone gets a good deal!!! :)

[Bob Eustace]

Could you kindly keep us posted how you go with Win8 as our laptop is coming up for replacement before it lets us down at a critical moment!

[GeneMpls]

It appears that with win 8 pro you can downgrade to win 7 pro (as they
say... until you are ready for win8pro) but not with win 8- and that is what
they are clearing out? I always buy Dell outlet store. Gene

[cnc_works]

Gotta thank you, Scott. I've been sourcing a notebook for a friend and this hit the spot. Bought one last night.

Donn

[shilala]

Gotta thank you, Scott. I've been sourcing a notebook for a friend and this hit the spot. Bought one last night.

Donn
That made me smile, Donn. Thanks for letting me know.
Made it worth typing all that. :)


Could you kindly keep us posted how you go with Win8 as our laptop is coming up for replacement before it lets us down at a critical moment!
Will do, Bob.
I'm not at all excited about Win8. I'm liable to put Win7 or XP on there, but I'm going to try it out and see just how bad it is.
So far my only gripe is that all the screen shots I've seen look like hell.

[shilala]

So far the Win8 experience is something of a pain in the ass.
There are a number of upsides, but there are also a lot of downsides.
As a control computer, it should be just fine once I clean it up.
The OS is more like "entertainment central" than it is a tool. I know there are far more folks sitting at home just enjoying their computers for fun, but Win8 adds a lot of work just to get around if you're using it for work applications.

The learning curve lasted all of 15 minutes, so it's usable.
I wish they'd back up a bit, grab WinXP, and fine tune it into the ultimate work environment. Ya know, sell two different platforms, one for business/productivity and one for entertainment.
That way they could build whatever kind of bloated POS they wanted for in the home and offer something we could really save time with at work.

I guess my final thought is "If I wanted to work on an Apple OS, I'd buy a Mac. I don't want to work on my iPad, I want to work on my computer."
My daughter texted me and said that once it comes to her having to go to Win8, she's switching to Mac. She doesn't care if she has to spend her life savings, she refuses to use it.
Funny we both thought the same thing. :)

[bleeth]

I hear you Scott:
All my office CPU's are on XP Pro. It's clean and doesn't really have any issues.
My Bot control CPU is on Win 7 pro and totally black vipered since it communicates with nothing except my own internal firewalled server, and even then only to a couple of files.
My laptop, on the other hand has Win 7 and I'm hesitant to "clean it out" as it does get used in public and private networks regularly and as far as the interface goes looks totally Disney. Sounds like they are getting even more so with 8. I understand that our education system in general is stressing passing tests more than actually learning (to the chagrin of every single dedicated teacher I know) and as far as computers go it seems that they are doing their best to load up the operating systems with tons of sales crud and horrendously bloated code all for the apparent reason of "dumbing" it down for the typical underachieving student level at the expense of clean operating. But let's face it-Now that storage capacities are umpteen zillion gigabytes they do have to write code to use it, don't they?

[ssflyer]

Scott,

You might want to take a look at THIS (http://retroui.com/default.asp). At under $5 to get almost back to your Windows 7 desktop, it's not a bad deal...