small portable and cheap?

[sikkinixx]

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this may be moot after apple unveils some nice new thing I must buy ( damn you jobs!! ) but...

Right now I have a 15" 2.2ghz Mbp which I really do enjoy a lot. Problem is that the size is a tad big, managable though, and frankly I am freaked out to scratch or dent or break it so I baby it to near OCD levels which drives my gf nuts. I would love to keep it as my main machine at home because being able to do stuff on the sofa is nice and it beats having a monitor and stuff on the desk. For school though I would love something small and tough to type notes and such on. I was thinking maybe an old 12" pb or maybe an eeepc since I want something fairly cheap.

I had a pb some moons ago and loved it except for the heat of it. The eeepc looks cool but word is the keyboard can get a bit cramped and having osx is nice.

Is there something else that fits the bill? I don't really want an iBook because frankly they really bug me for some reason....

 

[EricNau]

What price range were you thinking of? ...And general features/specs you do (or don't) want?

 

[sikkinixx]

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I was hoping for sub $500 so getting a 12" pb over 1ghz might be a little iffy judging by the going rate on craigslst here in Vancouver. Really I would love it to be able to do most stuff my mbp can do except video and games. Notes, music, maybe a dvd, wireless surfing. I don't expect lighting fast or anything and it doesn't have to be a mac just dont know if the 12"er is worth the cash or something else would be better

 

[EricNau]

It may take some searching, but a 12" 1 GHz Powerbook for around $500 isn't out of the question. ...That's what I would do.

 

[ivan1234]

i would go for a used macbook

 

[sikkinixx]

well a macbook would be nice, i had the first rev of those before I sold it for my mbp, but it is starting to become a) too expensive and b) losing the portability. I basically got from 12" pb to mbp by saying "well... I might as well go for the macbook, its only a few inches bigger but has more power..." then "well... I'm already at 13.3"... why not just go for the 15? its only a little bigger"

now I have a laptop that, again while it works fine, is not quite what I want for my university purposes.

 

[byakuya]

a used mb might be a good solution actually...
I used to have a 15inch laptop before my mb and the size difference is pretty significant in my opinion.

 

[goldenlotus]

I just sold my ibook G4 on craigslist for $400. I used it for travel, basicly the same tasks you listed. Not a screamer but definitly fast enough for a secondary machine.

 

[sikkinixx]

yeah, it doesn't need to be fast, just enough to do what i want.

 

[maccompaq]

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For school though I would love something small and tough to type notes and such on. I was thinking maybe an old 12" pb or maybe an eeepc since I want something fairly cheap.

What is wrong with a tablet and pen for taking notes?

 

[sikkinixx]

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Well for one I type a lot faster than I write, looks neater, is more organized, I can have backups , easier to share notes with classmates, its good to look up stuff on wikipedia, I can read PDF files which a lot of my readings consist of. Basically a laptop makes life easier.

 

[heatmiser]

You're doing yourself a disservice by ignoring the iBooks if you want a cheap, reliable mac. My G3 iBook was perfect for notetaking and surfing in class.

 

[sikkinixx]

Well the more I look at it, the more I am leaning towards an EeePC. I can get the 4Gb one for $349.99 and it looks like it will fit the bill totally. I just need to find somewhere to demo one to see if i like the keyboard, etc. Even with tax and such the Eee Pc is still gonna be cheaper than a powerbook and is smaller and half the weight as well.