is it a good idea to buy a laptop with small memory and buy a 250gb usb flash drive?

is this fail..?

laptops are expensive

Well, you'd have to be talking portable hard drive. Portables basically suck (especially the off-brands), you'd be much better off saving a bit more and getting internal memory. The computer can read it faster and you wouldn't have the chance to lose it or be out of valuable data if the portable chose to crap out on you. =^.^=

Uhhhh... lol that's not a great idea.

Lol, okk

anyone know any quality laptop for good prices ?

You can get a decent laptop on EBAY these days for around $300. Any lower than that and you're going to be getting project laptops that you'll have to fix yourself... or they'll have minimum specs.

What you'll probably want (as a basic laptop) is something in this range:

40 Gig hard drive
1-2 Mb RAM
Any processor that's around 1 or 2 Ghz

Something like that (without considering other things like accessories and USB ports and such) should be around $200, maybe slightly more, depending on the manufacturer and accessories. Obviously, you can go higher on those specs if you're looking for a better computer.

you can always put in a bigger hard drive later on.
memory is a different thing though.
you cant really change that on a laptop.

That all depends on what you want from you laptop. First decide on what you want and go from there. I'd stay away from things like that from Ebay (sorry bjd) you never know what you could end up getting. Buying from a reputable dealer is a better way to go, at least you can get a warranty and service easier. Laptops are very sensitive and I'd be afraid of it being mishandled while shipping. At least when you buy locally if it doesn't work when you get it home you can take it back.

Laptops are no where near as expensive as they used to be, most go for the same as regular PC's. When I decided to replace my laptop after 5 years I heavily debated on whether to get another laptop or go for a PC. Laptops had dropped ~300 bucks in price since last I bought one and because of space I was really debating on getting another one. I decided on a PC because they are easier to upgrade. Plus I already had a mini notebook which I love. I use it mainly for writing and storing important files (kind of a backup as well as USB drivers for backup of important files).

One thing to remember is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!