Refurbished Laptops and 98SE

[HoppaLong]

I have my own version of 98SE that I must maintain. I assist a group

of elderly folks who use the internet mainly for e-mail. They still use

98SE. The system is blissfully simple to use, compared to Windows 2K,

XP, or Vista.

Right now, I've got the system loaded onto an old Gateway desktop.

I keep praying that this behemoth with explode or catch fire, but it

never does!

After reading several blogs about refurbished laptops, there seems

to be almost universal agreement that the IBM ThinkPad series is the

best bet. I'd like to get one that isn't horribly slow, at the same time

you can't exceed that 768MB memory limit. Even a laptop with 512MB

DDR RAM may be too much for 98SE, I'm not sure.

I know many of you at this forum know as much or more than Microsoft

about 98. For those of us without the big brains, here's the kb article

clarifying those memory limitations:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184447

I'm sure one of the older ThinkPads like this T20 would be ok:

http://www.laptopoutlet.com/ibmtht20lapi.html

I've found several T30s and T40s that have faster processors which would

be nice. The price is usually between two and three hundred, if you want

a decent ThinkPad with a 3-to-6 month warranty.

The T20 comes with a floppy and CD drive. From what I understand the

newer models have a modular bay, so you can quicky remove the CD-DVD

drive and replace it with a floppy drive.

Frankly, I'm going a little bonkers! Should I buy a T20 which is the safe

(and slow) choice, or move up the ladder to one of the newer ThinkPad

models? Is 512MB DDR RAM too much for 98SE, or would it be better to

stay in the 256MB range?

I wish I had the expertise you guys have about 98. Any guidance about

about a ThinkPad with reasonable processor speed and memory would

be a real blessing to me. I have to make a choice, but I don't know which

one would be best.

[dencorso]

Please do read Day-to-day running Win 9x/ME with more than 1 GiB RAM.

[risk_reversal]

Win98SE will have no issues at all with 512Mb of ram. You will need to tweak nothing at all and I find that it runs very well indeed with that amount of ram.

I used to run a laptop with 98SE (Dell Latitude C600) on which I upgraded the cpu to the max 1ghz (max ram is also 512Mb). The C600 has the Intel BX440 chipset which I always found to be excellent.

A couple of years ago I upgraded that laptop with XP and gave it to one of my children and it still runs fine and fast to this day (it has needed replacement parts to keep it going).

Reason why I personally prefer Dell (I have 3 of them) is that their site has all the dismantling schematics and drivers readily available. The other reason I prefer Dell is that if I need to replace a component on any of my laptops then they are usually easy to find on fleebay.

EDIT: see also this thread (first post / first para) where the user found the required drivers for 98SE

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=140636

Good Luck

Edited January 2, 2010 by risk_reversal

[HoppaLong]

Funny thing, my first choice was to buy a refurbished Dell. Then I started reading

blogs by guys who formally wrote for several major electronics and computer

magazines. They all thought the IBM ThinkPad was the most durable laptop ever

manufactured. The demand for ThinkPads in good condition is tremendous.

Most of the time they are listed as sold out or backordered. In fact, even when

they're listed as "in stock" you can't be sure it's true. I e-mailed several of these

refurbished laptop dealers. Only one bothered to reply.

I was concerned that DDR RAM may cause problems with 98. I'm glad to hear I

can purchase a newer laptop with 512MB DDR RAM and not worry that 98 will

start acting strange.

Thanks dencorso and risk reversal.