If don't want to spend a fortune for the Microsoft Office suite there other alternatives. If you purchased a refurbished laptop for $300 or $400 why spend another couple hundred for Microsoft Office Suite?
Free is good, so you might check out the Google OnLine word processing and spreadsheet applications. Google Documents and Spreadsheets.
Zoho Writer is another free online word processor. www.zohowriter.dom.
Sun Microsystem's Open Office is free and has been around for years and and includes a very nice suite of applications. www.openoffice.org.
IBM announced in Sep 2007 that their Lotus Symphony Documents is available and FREE. IBM Lotus Symphony Documents
Other Office alternatives you can check out are:
ONE Special Edition for $50 ONE Special Edition
Celframe Office Pro starts at $99 Celframe Office Pro
ThinkFree Office is FREE ThinkFree Office
GoBeProductive is $50 GoBeProductive
Corel WordPerfect X3, which has been around for many years and starts at $99 WordPerfect.
So, consider the above and save a bundle. These applications all are compatible with the Microsoft applications as files can be saved in word and excel format.
People get hung upon what laptop is best, as the vendors push their features, but users should consider what they want to use the laptop for rather than trying to figure out which is the best one.
If you want to do word processing, browse the web and send e-mail and only use the laptops an hour or so every few days then that is quite different from a power user on the road that needs a long lasting battery and the latest and greatest with the fastest CPU and a huge display.
If you only send e-mails and browse the web and the laptop is always plugged in, then you can buy a refurbished laptops for $300. You can find one by typing "used laptops" or "refurbished laptops" into www.google.com and checking out the first few vendors that show up.
If you want a new laptop and are cost conscious type cheap laptops in www.google.com and check out the first few vendors that come up.
If you stick with HP, Dell, Acer, IBM, or Toshiba, who are the top five manufacturers of laptops, in order of who makes the most, then you can't go wrong. It is expected in 2007 that over 125 million laptop swill be manufacutered. Each company makes millions of laptops each year and they are all billion dollar companies with organizations in place to design, sell and support their products. Dell does the most marketing, so is the best known to consumers, but if you were to ask my techs, who have been servicing laptops for many years they are not the best made. IBM and Toshiba are the best made with HP next and are very well know and respected in the corporate world. However, this is relative as most parts are made by third parties and the laptops are often built by third parties.
