Laptop suggestions

[Lootr2Core]

Authorized to buy a 'laptop of my choice' by the Board tonight. Now I"m not going top of the line 4k computer but anyone got some tips/suggestions?

[JSweeney]

Depending on where you plan to use it, buying security accessories such as a locking cable and such is never a bad idea.

Before you go shopping, make a list of what is most important and most useful to you about a laptop... use those critera to help you hone narrow down the number of choices.

[Lootr2Core]

I guess I'm looking for hints about important criteria to put on the checklist.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

I'd go lightweight and not get some monster with a 16 inch screen. Speaking from experience here...

[JSweeney]

--- Would you ever need a floppy drive?
--- Is it worth the extra cost to have a CD burner?
--- A DVD burner?
--- Will you be doing any sort of work that would be helped by adding extra ram from the outset?
--- Are you willing to pay the extra money for an ultralight, or would you rather save money and carry around a heavier notebook?

[bignick]

mobile processor ie pentium m, not pentium 4
minimum 15" screen widescreen is nice
512mb minimum ram
hard drive depends on what you are doing with it 30gig will probably be enough, make sure it is atleast 5400 rmp
dvd/cd-rw drive. dvd burner would be nice though
um input device, tocupad or pointer stick, personally i hate touchpads, but its waht you want
I prefer compaq evo, its their business line.

[bignick]

one more thing, integrated video? its fine for office work and browsing, but you may want a seperate one.

[JSweeney]

mobile processor ie pentium m, not pentium 4
minimum 15" screen widescreen is nice
512mb minimum ram
hard drive depends on what you are doing with it 30gig will probably be enough, make sure it is atleast 5400 rmp
dvd/cd-rw drive. dvd burner would be nice though
um input device, tocupad or pointer stick, personally i hate touchpads, but its waht you want
I prefer compaq evo, its their business line.

Yep, that's the current specs for the hardware that most major companies are deploying to thier employees.

[starman9000]

Get a dvd burner :)

[Lootr2Core]

--- Would you ever need a floppy drive?
--- Is it worth the extra cost to have a CD burner?
--- A DVD burner?
--- Will you be doing any sort of work that would be helped by adding extra ram from the outset?
--- Are you willing to pay the extra money for an ultralight, or would you rather save money and carry around a heavier notebook?

CD Burner.. for sure.
DVD Burner..I think in the future...
Mobility isn't huge...
alot of powerpoint presentations... MAYBE video editing,

Are larger screens much more spendy?

(P>S. thanks all for the input, I know I can (and will) be doing alot of this research on my own but you are all helping save me some time! THANKS!)

[yeldarb367]

I'm in the market for a laptop as well. In my case, it will be for college.

[Lootr2Core]

Any opinion as to what company is best for notebooks?

[bignick]

Compaq Evo hands down.

[jdevlin7756]

I love my HP zd7000 series with the 17" widescreen monitor (just shy of the total square inches of my old 19" CRT). I manage websites for several companies and the extra monitor space is a lifesaver. I spent about $1450 on it.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

I love my HP zd7000 series with the 17" widescreen monitor (just shy of the total square inches of my old 19" CRT). I manage websites for several companies and the extra monitor space is a lifesaver. I spent about $1450 on it.

HP is the same as Compaq, correct?

[muncle]

FORGET ALL THE OTHERS GO STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE!!!!!!!!!!!

APPLE iBOOK 12" G4
SUPERDRIVE
FASTER
BETTER
SEXIER

[Lootr2Core]

Gonna go check out Best Buy today but it looks like ordering from compaq itself is the best way to go.

[bignick]

Gonna go check out Best Buy today but it looks like ordering from compaq itself is the best way to go.

just make sure you go to their business notebooks section.

[JSweeney]

Gonna go check out Best Buy today but it looks like ordering from compaq itself is the best way to go.

just make sure you go to their business notebooks section.

I agree. Evos are fairly solid from the hardware standpoint... I've seen these things take ten foot drops during being pulled out of storage and then boot up like nothing happened.

Usually, if someone has a problem with them, it's a software configuration problem rather than a real hardware issue.

[bignick]

Gonna go check out Best Buy today but it looks like ordering from compaq itself is the best way to go.

just make sure you go to their business notebooks section.

I agree. Evos are fairly solid from the hardware standpoint... I've seen these things take ten foot drops during being pulled out of storage and then boot up like nothing happened.

Usually, if someone has a problem with them, it's a software configuration problem rather than a real hardware issue.

Ya, thats all my last office had, and for the 4 years I was there, we never had any problems. The only one we did have was when a lady dropped hers and it landed on the corner.

[CappyCobra]

I have an IBM thinkpad and I love it. Slim, good battery life and there is something about that little red nubbin of a cursor that I like ;)

[CaptainObviousXl]

get a dell xps with all the fixins

[Storamin]

Buy an Alienware Sienta!

[snotnose_colossal]

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-26380&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

or if u want something smaller

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-26371&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

[CaptainObviousXl]

Buy an Alienware Sienta!
why the fuck would he get that, if hes gonna go with an alienware the Area-51m is alot better way to go

[b3b0p]

Thinkpads are your friend. They will last forever and ever and ever and...

They also work very nicely with linux. I say get yourself a used thinkpad. If all you are doing is school stuff and internet/email you don't need no new fangled fancy schmancy crap. You can get a 800-1Ghz used very nice, in its day top of the line Thinkpad for $300-$600 loaded. Oh, and did I mention it works very nicely with Linux.

Other good choice are G3 iBook (if you run linux :) ). But if you must have your Winders then I still recommend a Thinkpad (The A Performance Series, T-Series, or X Series w/ Ultra Base). Otherwise a 12" G4 iBook brand new is still very reasonably priced and runs OS X reasonably swell.

Alien Ware is not a laptop. It is a bleepin Portable Desktop. Don't touch it with a 10 ft, no, 30 ft pole. You'll probably kill all your tadpoles and require the blue pill before your 20 from the heat that thing puts out. Putting a Desktop CPU in Portable is asking for trouble. Noticed they don't list weight on the specs page, hmm...


Chris

[Lootr2Core]

Thanks everyone, picked one up today. A compaq Presarious r3000 good deal its not a notebook but a 'desktop replacement' I don't do much travelling but a little bit , I love the larger size screen..15.4 the sound is amazing for a laptop, wireless, picture card drive, dvd RW, cordless mouse (the docking thing is 80% smaller than my old one, 60 gig hard drive, 512 MB ram, video card.. 64mb dedicated, nvidia I really was shooting for the new radeon but for the price of 1,064 can't go wrong. Sure i had a blank check from the Board of Directors but I didn't want to just throw money away.


also picked up dazzle digital video creator. Pretty happy.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts

[MeGaWC27]

wow... how much you paid for all that?

[peteyrose]

This is my laptop, a Sager 5760 with the Halo 2 design created by me. It's a desktop replacement, so it's a beast. 1 GB RAM, 3.06 GHz P4, the works. Unfortunately that means it's heavy and loud, but that doesn't bother me.

http://www.gamerfeed.com/media/blogs/acheng/halolap.jpg

[Lootr2Core]

wow... how much you paid for all that?
1064 for computer.. 69 dazzle, 39 for mouse.

[CaptainObviousXl]

Now i'm going top of the line 4k computer, didnt see the not, ooops, also i think you got a vary good deal