Cheap $60 Laptop Actually Good For Ham Radio?! YES!

Yes, I was surprised too! It works well with ham radio applications. It is light on power consumption and charges on 12 VOLTS (13.8)!!!

Find the laptop here:
Yes this one is an affiliate link. For those not around a Microcenter

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Physical Mail.............►Josh Nass P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, CA 90703-5101

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[RiddleRealtySanDiego]

Thank you Josh. I was looking to up grade an old laptop for travel and ham radio. The cost of the evolve III was less than the upgrades and it is smaller. I went to Microcenter in Tustin and they had 25. That place is a candy store. I charged it up and it fired up then logged in. Much better than my pie 3 & 4. This weekend, I am hooking up my signal link and a IC706. The advice just paid for the membership. Keep up the good work. I wish you well on your recovery. Art

[Blue-Collar-Radio]

There's nothing wrong with a cheap laptop for Ham radio. I use a cheap Asus. Without all the bells and whistles, the battery lasts so much longer! I just don't use it for anything other than radio stuff. That way the slowness isn't frustrating!

[MichaelLeo]

I have that laptop! paid $80...totally worth it at the price.

the keyboard sucks and getting wifi working on linux is a trick, but happy with it for sure. No worries about dropping it in the field.

[NathanCorleone]

I bought a used MacBook Air for about $200, it works great and has great software support, also a great build quality, and it is very useful for HAM Radio activities if you can deal with *some* software not being compatible

[Dexmo]

I got one weeks ago and I added a 120GB SSD. I got it for APRS (and maybe SDRuno) but I'll see what it can actually do later on. Fairly low spec, but it was much cheaper that trying to buy a new PI.

[daleblomgren]

I bought a pair of these for club to use on Field Day for logging purposes. They ran fine with the N3FJP logging program. So far so good. The price is great.

[guitarist]

Just got one thanks Josh! Going to use it to remote into my main computer from around the house for FT8

[nrj]

After I did my video on it, I bought 4 more. One of them lives in my shack. This works with the flex software as well so it may work with SDRuno

[Kori]

Just bought one for $52 (open box). Absolutely insane. Re-watching this video and commenting with the laptop now! Cool!

[Jearlbrass]

The highlight of my week was your Ohio Covid road trip saga! Also! I have that Laptop! I slapped chirp onto it, I use it for 3D Printing as well. Josh you rule! Working towards getting licensed you are a wealth of knowledge. A gent and hell of a driver! You are my Gordo. Thanks!

[SoulStarLA]

Thanks Josh for the video. Went by the MC in Tustin and they were out of new ones, but they did have one return that I grabbed up for $40 and some change; mine ended up being open box, but brand new. Not a bad machine for this purpose, and even as a simple laptop. I am planning to remove the LTE card and put in an M.2 256GB SSD in its place and move Windows to it. One thing to be aware of is that if you're planning on putting Linux on this machine and you get the V2 version of the laptop there aren't currently audio drivers that support it. I'm assuming they'll update the kernel soon so I don't expect that to be an issue in the long-term. You can also soup up this laptop a bit out of the box by tuning the BIOS. Nice little machine for what it is.

[thomasmillar]

Thanks for the tip, Josh! I got one in the MicroCenter in Tustin today on a whim to pull off the freeway and see if there was a chance. The store just opened up and the staff was super accommodating to check stock and surprise, they found some that came in. Its so cool to score at that price and on chance!

[don_nskt]

I bought 2 of these weeks ago. One is running Linux and the other is running Windows. Both work great. I run WSJT-X on the (tr)uSDX from the laptop. I have 512GB SD in one and a 128sd in the other. Both SDs I got for cheap at checkout from Microcenter. My club has been buying these for months. They started at $89 and sold out. They are now $59.

[adventuresincampingwithcar]

I received mine within days. I camein today and I like it. So much better then a Chromebook. It even convinced my wife to order one today. Thank you

[icqme]

For those who want a 12v computer some Minisforum computers can run on 12v for solar power or portable. I have a z83 and a n32 but I'm sure other models use the same 12v 2amp wall wart.

[pedrocatalan]

And just like that, micro Center is sold out. Did you buy the last one Josh? 😂

[camper]

Thanks for the info . I’m not a ham yet . I would like to get a lap top not for the reasons, that you mentioned just so I could program my own radios and get there full potential. I forgot to mention I’m a licensed GMRS.

[ColeDedhand]

Thanks to you I just bought this notebook and an RSPdx. And I've started building a 10m rx mag loop.

[averageguysradio]

Great job Josh,
At least at the moment (07/24/2022), these are sold out at Micro Center.
That seem to be just like the Lenovo I bought easlier this year for CERT and it is also 12v.
You are on point with this, every HAM should get one, even if only fo projects or playing around.

[Littrell]

I just received one from amazon and got lucky and received an older one with the cellular capability. I can confirm it will charge off a 4 cell lipo at over 15 volts. It drew 1.3-4 amps at 15.12 while watched your video.