Second-hand lap top for travel

i've seen one that is 1gb RAM ...60g HDD and its wifi....would this one do?

If all you want from the laptop is to go online and store photos (not edit the photos) then that would be just fine.

Just a couple of points though.

Going on line via wifi - check that the laptop supports wifi standard 802.11g and/or 802.11n (newer standard for faster wifi speed). If it supports either standard, that will be ok, If it only supports the older 802.11b then not worth getting.

Store photos...depends how many photos and what resolution each photo is, 60GB may be a bit limiting. Of the 60GB, maybe 20GB will taken up with the operating software (like Windows XP or Windows 7), leaving 40GB for everything else such as web browser program, antivirus program etc. So if possible I would try to get one with a bit more hard disk space (100GB) to give yourself more room to store your photos.

Hope this helps.

Any laptops are fine I bought a used laptop in 2009 which is 4yrs but it was probably 3 or 4yrs used then so 8yrs. I am using it right now. Absolutely fine, I even have a older version of Photoshop. Checked a review was done in 2007 so at least 6yrs old. Mine had Wifi G so that is fine too.

Just remeber that to store photo's online you may be taking a while, esp if you are on travel, using the free Wifi internet, quite slow. With today's high megapixel files. At a guess of a speed of 0.5Mbps, for upload that is 0.5/8 = 0.0625MB/sec. If the pictures are 5MB each, each photo takes 80 seconds. 100 pictures takes 133 minutes. At home you might get a 1Mbps upload so double that and you may not get much higher unless you have fiber optic etc. or at least if you got VDSL instead of the standard ADSL.

With normal ADSL or I guess similarly with free wifi, you would be lucky to match ADSL with it.... Anyway ADSL where I am at home here in NZ generally have a download of up to 20Mbps or many get just 8Mbps depends how close you are to the telephone server box beside the road so quite fast to download stuff like emails, webpages, movies etc ..... but the upload speed to send other people stuff is only 1Mbps.

Some people just take a USB stick and copy them there as well for a 2nd back up after hte laptop.....

Edit - if it is for travel what about something like 200GBP at least here in NZ we can get a 10" Samsung tablet, could be ok for your kid(s) on the plane and easier to transport, they might enjoy touching and pointing on the screen too.... Some have Wifi so you can use the internet that way ..... don't need the expensive ones with simcard. Just check if they have usb ports b/c not all I think do that ........

Edited by: Rayonline

Yeah forget about uploading photos to store on the internet. It will take too long. I wouldn't overly worry about laptops being stolen. If you leave it out in the open unattended or not paying attention, then yes there is a real chance, but I travel with some expensive camera gear and a macbookpro and have never ever worried it was going to be stolen. But I also am not that careless either.

Central America is not too bad, you were far more likely to be scammed than robbed, although Guatemala had a reputation for tourist bus hijackings in 2007 when I went! One was hijacked a week after i went to Atitlan.

Thanks everyone for the reply,the laptop ive seen will be just for storing photos(via a cable) and surfing the web and watching the odd movie.

If its for storing photos and watching the odd movie, you may need a bigger HDD than 60GB.

Its hard to say though without knowing things like how many movies you will take and how many photos you will need to store, but some USB sticks will probably cover you.

Thanks Justin, just had a thought......seeing as my Mrs and kid LOVE to watch movies,the chances are they'll be watching a ton of films so i was thinking of buying and external 1/2tb hard drive and plugging that in....they seem to be small and lightweigt.....any thoughts on that?

Personally for me i'd take no electrics other than a camera and a SW radio ...i cant see the point in lugging all this crap around with us but this is one battle i'm not going to win!

so i was thinking of buying and external 1/2tb hard drive and plugging that in

Perfect! 1TB or 2TB and even 3TB usb drives are so inexpensive these days. Be aware that they suck a bit of juice out of the laptop battery if you are not on mains power.