Laptops

[elamb]

My wife is needing a laptop computer and I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on a good one. Some things to look for and also affordable. She needs it for college work so it would be used mainly with office programs (i. e. Word, Excel, and power point).



Thanks in advance,

Eric

 

[lschultz]

Only thing I know about lap tops is 1-my wifes got a Dell that her work gave her to take home. Had it over a year and no problems. 2-A couple of guys at work bought Sony and thats all I know about them 3-We will have to buy my daughter one probably within a year for college.

 

[me4osu]

I use a Dell Lattitude C600 for work

I have carried this thing all over the world, used it while it is sitting on top of running 4000 hp compressor frames at 185 deg. F, and never had a problem. It has built in modem and lan jacks and an I-R port.



Be sure and get tons of memory (RAM and HD).



Also, get a DVD / CD-R drive. VERY HANDY.

 

[MGordon]

Check out Micron. We've had laptops in construction environments for 4 years with no problems.



http://www.micronpc.com

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I just picked up a Compaq laptop and am extremely satisfied with it. I have several customers with Compaq's as well and out of 10 machines that I know of only one has had to go back for service and only once at that. My laptop is now my primary machine, I don't use my desktop at all any more. My dad recently purchased an HP (a week ago) and got a great deal on it and is happy with it so far as well. One recommendation - whatever she gets make sure she gets Windows XP Pro on it, not the home edition.

 

[lizzyhermit]

GATEWAY laptop

have used a Gateway laptops for over 5 years with no problems. this thing is my only computer, it goes to/from work everyday, on the plane for trips, using European power, goes in the TT and it's all I could possible want.



it has dvd/cd (not writeable) with 288 meg of memory, 6gb hard drive and 100 mhz cpu. LAN connectable or dialup modem and it can dial out through my cell phone.

I am completely portable having also purchased a USB connected CD writer for back ups when I can't get to the company LAN. my mobile office consists on a Canon color printer that has a scanner head and will run with battery or shore power.

During a recent power falure at work I was playing tunes and working while everyone else was complaining.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Don't get one with Windows 2000, go with Windows XP Professional, like Steve suggested. Get a USB mouse to go with it, touchpads can be a pain sometimes.



You might want to get a wireless network adapter in it. A lot of laptops come with wireless integrated, so you don't have to use up one of the PCMCIA ports. You might not be interested in setting up a wireless system yet, but there probably will be a day when you (or she) will get tired of hasseling with data cables hooked to the cable/DSL modem. Imagine yourself sitting in bed while chatting on TDR with the new laptop and you have to go to the bathroom. You get up and trip over the 25 foot data cable strung between your bed and the cable/DSL modem and you end up peeing all over yourself, then you have to expain to the guys in the chatroom why it took so long to take a leak.



Doc

 

[TPCDrafting]

I've had Dell and Gateway, both are real good. The gateway has been treated real nice due to work environment, but I used to work out in the field with a Dell and it bounced around in the van on dirt roads all day, filling up with dust, working in hot conditions as well as below zero and never had problems with it. Both are good buys IMO.

 

[Todd G]

I've had bad luck with the Toshiba laptop at work. In for service 5 times in one year.

 

[elamb]

I appreciate all the information. We are still looking at setups and getting prices.



Thanks again,

Eric

 

[LSMITH]

You could not give me a Compac or a Micron. We had both at my last job and they were terrible. The Compacs (3 out of 5) were junk right out of the box, batteries would not charge ETC, and had to go back. Never were all 5 compacs running at one time. Micron was worse IMO.



What I have seen work and work well is Dell, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba. For pounding office documents and general office work there is only one IMO, the Dell Inspiron 8000. LOAD it with RAM with 392meg minimum, and get 20G hard drive minimum. It is a bigger and heavier laptop than most of the others but it also has a full sized keyboard and an awesome display. Both will go a long way in making it pleasant to use. Battery life of the top end Dells is better than anything else I have ever seen too, especially a year down the road.



If she will use it to replace a desktop buy one targeted at desktop replacement or she will be sorry as the performance will not be there. There is a HUGE difference in performance between units with like specifications too, buy the buyers guides too for comparitive testing.

 

[JConley]

Regardless of what name is on the outside, there are only 5 manufacturers of laptops in the world. I know the Microns are made by Panasonic (or they used to be as of a year ago) . In most all cases you can find the same laptop with a different name on the outside. I remeber seeing somewere on the net the list of brand names these 5 companies supply computers to, so If you search, you might find it.



Be carefull when you say that Brand X is junk while brand Y is great, because they might have rolled off the same assembly line.

 

[TURBOs4LIFE]

I have a MAC Ibook it is a great laptop! It is a little difficult to get used to MAC OS X but its just as good as Windows XP!

 

[DMalone]

Laptop

I have had three different brands. I use them for work, and time spent traveling. I now have a sony PCG=FX310 and it has been a great machine. I work in the HVAC industry and it gets a work out daily. So far know on wood, it has been in very hot areas and cool and has been fine. I have the dual batteries and that is great also, i can watch 2 movies on batteries before a charge. Get the largest hard drive and memory available and you will like it. I have never had this one lock up but my old machine would lock up sometimes if i was really pushing it hard. The matrix screen is great also it can be veiwed from different angles which comes in handy, in my work. I also like sonys partitioned hard drive i can seperate work programs from play stuff. Just my opinion, have fun. oh get the biggest screen you can, enjoy.