"bare bones"computer

Try your local pawn shop.

To each his own but I could never suggest a pawn shop for any sort of computer purchase. Call me old fashioned(?) but you should be able to get a budget laptop from any of the major PC vendors. I would check out Asus or Acer. (check out the Asus EEE PC)

Also there are specialty shops who will build a computer to your specs while keeping a very reasonable price. Here is a link to the place where I ordered my most recent computer for.

http://www.lucomputers.com/lists/product_list.asp?page_category=1&class=2&id=306

With prices so low now a days, I don't see a point in buying a used computer.

Find out the hardware requirements of the software you want and then try somewhere like ebay.

Another alternative for cheap computers is Dell.com. More expensive than a second-hand computer, but at least you know it works and doesn't need a complete reinstall of the operating system or you find that the all-important serial port you really need is broken.

Check MicroCenter and others for reconditioned used equipment. MicroCenter was selling reconditioned XP laptops in the $350-$400 price range. They also sell desktop units.

Laptops have generally "low end" audio chips with less linearity, higher distortion and a bad noise ratio. Don't trust the manufacturer, when it is called the "ultimate multimedia solution". Pay attention for the connections, "line-in" could be just single channel (mono), mic-in is often not possible cause the mic is build-in, and with line-in the signal is often too low! When expecting good results, you should think about an external sound solution (connected via USB).

Therefore, you should check the laptop for enough USB connections. If one of these new small devices like Asus EEE Pc and others offer enough performance, I don't know.

Thanks Zap for taking the time to explain what I need! James

The price point may be off but it should be noted all the new Mac's can run the latest windows op-system natively. this is due to the Intel inside. I personally enjoy my multi-platform computer which readily boot in Windows XP - Vista - Linux ( all varieties) and of course MacosX. Since it is a native run there are no longer any pesky emulation issues and the advantage is you can use your machine in the strongest software suite for your application. Its important to note this ability includes only Intel processors equipped Mac computers. Which includes all the latest models. I would only question the price point as there is a good chance they may exceed your stated budget and work intention. When you look at the total package and are able to run your favorite windows flavor native your really getting two or in my case three machines in one. So that makes it - for me - the natural choice.

Again your milage may vary.

I build some gaming computers, and you may want to take a look at places like tigerdirect.com that offers barebones kits at a very low price, then you can purchase the audio card or whatever you need. You can then load Vista (I paid $89 for home premium)/XP, or even get Ubuntu for free. They also offer "refurbished" desktops and laptops at great prices, and they usually have your stuff at your house in 2 to 3 days.

Hello James:
you seem to have gotten some good advice, however I would just like to add stay away from laptops the performance is generally slower, with less available memory per dollar spent.

One suggestion would be to order and E. machine I know there available from Fries, and if you don't have a Fries near you they have an online store. I just purchased T3656 for $250 with an Intel Celeron 440 ,1 gig of RAM , DVD burner, and a 160 GB hard drive, complete with vista basic. A 160 GB hard drive is small by today's standards but larger than most low end laptops still, it should easily be sufficient for what you're doing. This is definitely no high-end machine however it works fine and is faster than my four-year-old custom-built high and machine that expired at an inopportune moment. (My wife gets my hand-me-downs, and I just built this new quad core she definitely wasn't going to get it yet) My wife is perfectly happy the E. machine ,I recently did some clean up on some old vinyl records I was transferring to CD. I use both my quad core Pentium and the new E. machine ,I did not find a huge difference in processing times, however I was only cleaning out clicks and pops for the most part.

Also Audacity sound processing software is available for a free download and seems to perform fairly well. Don't know of any of this will help you but you might want to try the software and see if it is sufficient for your needs before spending any money.

Hello,

You may find a laptop suitable for these needs within the $250-$300 range of refurbished equipment but do yourself a huge favor and stick to Intel products at this level of audio manipulation and your experience will be pleasant.

Seek the requirements of the software highlighted below:

Clear Voice Denoiser SDK

Automatic noise reduction and speech enhancement kit