Hey Windows-savvy people

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have to buy a new shipping computer. I'm going to try to spend less than $400. Any recommendations/advice?

[Doktor Howl]

I have to buy a new shipping computer. I'm going to try to spend less than $400. Any recommendations/advice?

Cheap netbook ought to do it.

I mean, you can do all your printing using a USB port, right?

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Hell I don't even need a usb port on mine.

It's just magically hooked up to my printer via the sky fairies magic air space router god doo dad.

these little netbooks are great for... stuff

[Doktor Howl]

Hell I don't even need a usb port on mine.

It's just magically hooked up to my printer via the sky fairies magic air space router god doo dad.

these little netbooks are great for... stuff

She's in Portland.  Wireless doesn't work there.

[Cain]

A Toshiba or Samsung Netbook with Windows 7 should be in your price range.  Both of those brands are, in my experience, robust enough that I've never needed to find out if their technical support is any good or not.

[Rumckle]

I had to get the motherboard on my old toshiba replaced, they were pretty good about it, though they did forget to plug my wireless card back in. Then the same thing broke about a year later

[Cain]

Ah, that sucks.

My Toshiba, which I'm typing on currently, is built like a brick, and as durable as one, and I've tended to hear good things from others about them. My two housemates both have Samsung netbooks with Windows 7, which seem to work just fine (and have for well over a year now) and my gaming laptop is a Samsung as well, and I'm impressed with it.

I would also suggest steering away from HP Compaq, as their design is not very strong.  My first laptop was a Compaq and the hinges started to go on it after two years, meaning I needed to hold up the screen with one hand while typing.  Much less than ideal.

[Telarus]

Agreed. Figuring out which coded Model #'s in HP's laptop range are the good ones (won't over-heat, haven't been part of a parts re-call, etc, etc) is freaking difficult (I worked for them for 4 months as a tech, remember?)... I'd def avoid that right now. Desktop selection in HP is better, but not applicable.

What software would you be mostly running on it?

[Cain]

Yeah, and if a tech-guy can't tell you which models are the good ones, the chances are there aren't any.

[East Coast Hustle]

I've been using the same Toshiba laptop since 2007 and it just died on me about a month ago after a 4 year span of having the ever-loving shit constantly abused out of it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hell I don't even need a usb port on mine.

It's just magically hooked up to my printer via the sky fairies magic air space router god doo dad.

these little netbooks are great for... stuff

She's in Portland.  Wireless doesn't work there.

True story, and I don't even know why.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have to buy a new shipping computer. I'm going to try to spend less than $400. Any recommendations/advice?

Cheap netbook ought to do it.

I mean, you can do all your printing using a USB port, right?

As long as it can run Photoshop, yes.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I wasn't planning on getting a notebook, because I have a pretty nice monitor and keyboard, and the shipping computer has no need of being mobile.

[Triple Zero]

if you already got the monitor etc, you should probably be able to get a decent desktop machine for that price as well. it'll even be slightly more powerful (which is nice if you're running Photoshop).

except I can't really give more advice than just that. not very windows-savvy anymore, and I've never really been very computer hardware savvy at all ever, let alone familiar with the market in the USA.

I hear newegg is a good website for getting computar electronics in the USA? (but then, probably get a second opinion on that because really I have no experience with it)

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I was hoping that might still be the case.

At this point, I am unaware of even the most basic things, like what kind of processors and how much RAM I should look for as a minimum. Kinda starting from scratch.