Question Request opinions on a good XP laptop

[ImWolf]

I want to buy a (used?) laptop computer for out in my shop. I have never owned a laptop b4 and rarely touched one so I have almost zero experience with them.

My preference is to use WinXP and also install Linux Mint down the road.

My eyes are a factor too, so I'd prefer a nice large screen. I also need WiFi, USB, and at least a CD drive.

There are a few cheap machines to be had online, but as stated, I'm not sure about track records, quality, reviews, etc...

Any input on brands or features to make sure I look at, or which to avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Wolf

 

[ImWolf]

Professor James McCanney worked with network security for over 25 years and ended up writing two books on the subject including "Calculate Primes" and "Breaking RSA Codes For Fun and Profit". (this book really ticked a lot of ppl off!)

According to the professor, the entire HTTPS and SSL encryption is now outed as a complete scam to keep web hosts paying fees for certificates that provide the illusion of security, and the only real security folks like us have (I'm making an assumption here), is that we are not multi millionaires or people with highly sensitive or desirable data on our systems.

I'm a small fish..... no reason for anyone to risk fines or jail time targeting me for any type of theft.

 

[USAFRet]

Not being a multi millionaire does not negate the potential usefulness of your hardware as part of a botnet.

 

[captaincharisma]

logging into your banking information on a very insuecure OS. smart

 

[ImWolf]

Yesterday I took this laptop out to the shop to test the WiFi connection. The signal has to travel 144 feet and go thru 5 walls. The machine only detected my Netgear79 router once and wouldn't connect to it.

Then I took the time to switch out that router for a newer Smart RT router which the laptop did connect to, but the connection was terrible. Fast.com measured the speed at only 220kbps.

My DSL service out here has always been lousy giving me only about 1.2mbps on rare days, so that is part of the problem.

144 feet of LAN cable is not an option... what to do next?