Laptop suggestions

driller

driller

El Presidente
Staff member
It's time to replace my trusty Dell Latitude laptop for work. I've not kept up much lately with new technology, so I'm wondering if anyone has any inspiring suggestions for me.

I travel a fair amount, so size and weight is important. My current Dell is not much bigger than a real 8-1/2 x 11 notebook and about 3/4" thick with a 12" screen. It has no internal drives and frankly I have little need for them away from the office. A port replicator or docking station is a must for the office and home.

I'm considering Dell again, but have looked at Sony VAIO, Panasonic and others. Speed and multitasking is what I need most. At the office, it is not uncommon to have four to six programs running at once with several windows/files each. CAD programs, Excel and MathCad are the most common.

Suggestions and your experiences are welcome.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
It's time to replace my trusty Dell Latitude laptop for work. I've not kept up much lately with new technology, so I'm wondering if anyone has any inspiring suggestions for me.I travel a fair amount, so size and weight is important. My current Dell is not much bigger than a real 8-1/2 x 11 notebook and about 3/4" thick with a 12" screen. It has no internal drives and frankly I have little need for them away from the office. A port replicator or docking station is a must for the office and home. I'm considering Dell again, but have looked at Sony VAIO, Panasonic and others. Speed and multitasking is what I need most. At the office, it is not uncommon to have four to six programs running at once with several windows/files each. CAD programs, Excel and MathCad are the most common.Suggestions and your experiences are welcome.
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So what'd you get?
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

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So what'd you get?
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Would you believe I haven't yet? I've been so busy at work, I can't seem to find time to do the needed research. I did look at some Panasonic models and liked what I saw.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]So what'd you get?[/div]Would you believe I haven't yet? I've been so busy at work, I can't seem to find time to do the needed research. I did look at some Panasonic models and liked what I saw.
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What's your range, and besides portability what else were you looking for it have? wifi, long batt life, etc. and is it just for work or will you play dvd's and games?
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
What's your range, and besides portability what else were you looking for it have? wifi, long batt life, etc. and is it just for work or will you play dvd's and games?
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I travel a fair amount, so size and weight is important. My current Dell is not much bigger than a real 8-1/2 x 11 notebook and about 3/4" thick with a 12" screen. It has no internal drives and frankly I have little need for them away from the office. A port replicator or docking station is a must for the office and home.

I'm considering Dell again, but have looked at Sony VAIO, Panasonic and others. Speed and multitasking is what I need most. At the office, it is not uncommon to have four to six programs running at once with several windows/files each. CAD programs, Excel and MathCad are the most common.

WiFi and bluetooth are definite. Price range probably 2500-3500. I've priced a no-holds barred Dell M70 Precision Workstation Laptop for $3500+/-. Not the smallest/lightest, but I suppose the power takes precedent. Basically I'm looking at 2.13Ghz Processor/1GB Memory/100GB HDD with good graphics. Not really a gamimg machine per se, but I love the gaming machine graphics.

The biggest plus to light weight and size is more being mobile in the pickup/mobile office than anything else. Let's face it, the 3 pound notebook is not your worry when lugging 100 pounds of baggage at the airport.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

My dad has a dell, and loves it. He just bought his second one.

Buying a $3000 dell will be different from buying a $1000 one. You'll get much better quality and it will last longer. My dad's last laptop lasted him a good 3-4 years, and it's still running fine but it was time to upgrade. He got the dell professional service plan too, where if anything went wrong they'd send a technician out next-day if needed. It was never needed. Had a hard drive fail once, they overnighted him one right away. He was down less than a day. He uses quicken online backup too, so all his data is backed up at a remote location every night, automatically. When his new drive came in, i just installed windows then downloaded the drive image from the previous day, nothing was lost.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

Yea, Dell does make a good laptop, Gateway also, no matter what anyone says, If you buy the cheap model you get what you pay for ....right?
IBM has always been on top in that market also.
I've worked for both companies, Dell & Gateway, and each of their higher model are very much worth it.
May I also suggest Alienware, you can find a very, very good laptop in your range from they. And if it's great video you want, then you need to check them out. You could get a POWER HOUSE of a system from them in that range. So far they're the only company (I've seen) that offers a raid system in their laptops w/ 7200rpm drives, can you say smoking!!! Added to that PCI-X video cards that are upgradable, and fullsize desktop CPU's, very nice. If you can tell I'm a big fan of Alienware.
Anyway happy hunting.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

At work, we exclusively have been buying Dell. All around good value, performance and service. For some reason my LCD screen was pixelating and it was replaced under warranty. I've replaced the HDD in my laptop after the 3 years warranty. It started acting flaky and I needed more room anyways. We tend to buy the next day onsite service warranties to minimize downtime.

Alienware? Yeah, I used to drool over their desktop hardware. I'll have to check 'em out.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

I have had Dell's and IBM's. The Dell's in the past needed service on something sooner or later, one time the LCD and an other time the HD, just like you said. The IBM's never needed service. I have a Dell now and it has been going ok for about 1.5 years.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

I have had my Dell laptop for 2 years now (1.6 Pentium M 512 meg ram, 40 gig HD, 802.11b, 128meg GF 5650 go with 128 megs of video mem 1920x something Ultra sharp screen). Dell retailed it for $2450, if you go to XPbargains.com they have coupons for dell that are up to $750 off, which is what I got (Paid $1580 with tax and shipping 2 years ago).
In the first year, my battery crapped out, then my HD (all covered under warranty) but rather crappy customer support with people answering the phones in INDIA (I am not kidding)!! I took me 3 weeks to get my new HD, so that service was so and so. In the end they ended up sending me 2 HDs. Also their replacement parts were better than the originals which was a plus. The battery had a higher capacity and I got a 60gig 5400 rpm HD instead of the 40gig 4200 I had in there. Now my LCD screen has dead lines on the right side, that are accumulating, it started with 1 now I am up to 6 or 7. So overall my experience was so and so. I would definitely recommend a good warranty (2 years at least).
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

As it happens, I just got an email from Alienware, saying $200 mail in rebate + free shipping ($99 value) + a free Alienware backpack ($99 value) = $400 total savings w/ the purchase of a laptop....

I got the backback when I got my desktop from them, I asked if they'd include one for free, I love it, use it everyday.

I just went and configured a quick one for $2500, got me thinking about getting one....

1] MJ-12m 7700

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 531 Desktop Processor w/ HT Technology 3.0GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service
LCD Display: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD Clearview Display
Motherboard: Intel® 915P PCI-Express Chipset
Memory: 512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 533MHz 2 x 256MB
Graphics Accelerator: Alienware® MJ12m 7700 NVIDIA GeForce™ Go 6800 with 256MB of DDR3 memory
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 100GB 7200 RPM ATA100
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24X CD-RW Combo w/Software
Primary Battery: Alienware® 7700 series 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Wireless Network: Internal Wireless 802.11b/g miniPCI Card
Digital Audio Hardware: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with 7.1 surround sound
Mobile Transport : Alienware® Premium Backpack XL
Floppy Drive: USB Floppy Drive
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

He is looking for a portable laptop. The desktop P4 is power hungry and runs very HOT (Battery life is less than 2 hrs). And the laptops with the P4 are usually 9 pounds+. The Pentium M laptops are plenty, much lighter, they are also plenty fast and the ones even with the best graphics offer up to 4 hrs of battery life. (But if you play a game that goes down to 1 hr- 1 1/2 hrs.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

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He is looking for a portable laptop. The desktop P4 is power hungry and runs very HOT (Battery life is less than 2 hrs). And the laptops with the P4 are usually 9 pounds+. The Pentium M laptops are plenty, much lighter, they are also plenty fast and the ones even with the best graphics offer up to 4 hrs of battery life. (But if you play a game that goes down to 1 hr- 1 1/2 hrs.
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I agree w/ some of what you said, I've got a 2.8 P 4, I get two hours of batt life more if I'm not using the CD/DVD drive, it's no hotter than any other laptop I've owned or worked on, and my "desktop replacement" is 7.5 pounds. The Pentium M's run 1.50 to 2.26 GHz on AC power but drop to 1.30 to 1.60 GHz if you use the batt, that's how it saves you batt life, The P 4 has the same function in power management, so w/ the P 4 you get the power AND the speed step down. But the biggest issue is that the Pentium M's do not have Hyper-Threading as the P 4's do, (acts as two CPU's in one) so as stated:

"Speed and multitasking is what I need most. At the office, it is not uncommon to have four to six programs running at once with several windows/files each. CAD programs, Excel and MathCad are the most common."

The Pentium M is not gonna handle running 4 - 6 programs at a the same time very well, time lags, hour glass, etc. let alone a CAD program by it's self.

"Not the smallest/lightest, but I suppose the power takes precedent."

In that case I would have to reconmend the Pentium 4 based on what the wants and the needs are.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

I still say G4 PowerBook...

Anyway, I've heard some horror stories about Dells from friends that have had them. In addition to Apple, I have a giant HP 17" laptop, and other then being heavy as all hell, this thing does everything, and does it pretty well, plus its the first LCD laptop that has a screen as nice as the Apple. I'm not sure about all the specs, but it's a pavilion, P4 3GHz, CD-R+DVD-R with all the other goodies you could get on one of these, I've had it for about a year now, and it's been perfect. But I still say go get a PowerBook! You need to multi task, how about running multiple programs in multiple OSs. The Apple runs WinXP faster then the HP, while running OSX.


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RE: Laptop suggestions

This is a tough decision.

I really like the Alienware specs.

P4 3.4 GHz/800 MHz FSB
17" WideSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 LCD Clearview Display
NVIDIA GeForce™ Go 6800 Ultra with 256MB of DDR3 memory GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 533MHz
1 GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
High Performance with Data Security (RAID 1)80GB (80GB x 2) 5400 RPM SATA
24x10x24 CD-RW / 8X DVD Combo
Internal Wireless 802.11b/g miniPCI Card
BlueTooth, MS Office, XP Pro and other goodies

What I don't necessarily like is the dimensions: (W)15.6" x (D)11.7" x (H)2.1" or the 10 pounds plus.

It appears anything less bulky is going to be limited to a Pentium M processor at 2.1 GHz, 12" screen, and single HDD. ::roll::

I really appreciate the discussion here. ;)
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

Whoa man, I finally pulled the trigger.

As it turns out I was influenced by the boss. He had just bought a new home system and recommended I look into Sony VAIO. Well I did - around $3K worth of looking.

Sony VAIO A600
3 yr. warranty
Pentium M 770 2.13 Ghz
Windows XP Pro
MS Office Pro
1GB (512MB x 2)PC2-3200 DDR2-400 RAM
17” WXGA with XBRITE™ and ErgoBright™ Technology (1440x900)
ATI Mobility™ Radeon™ X600 128MB DDR SDRAM
100 GB HDD
8X DVD+/- RW
AV Entertainment Dock with S-Master™ Digital Amplifier
Modem, Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire, USB, Memory Stick, PCMCIA slot, VGA out, microphone & headphonejacks, mini A/V jack, ...
8.8 lbs., 16" x 1.7" x 11"

www.sonystyle.com

One of the bigger selling points is the display quality on the VAIO line of notebooks.
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

NO.....NO SAY IT ISN'T SOOOOO........

Yeah the sony's have GREAT displays really, that would be the selling point for me too.
I've just had SOOO many problems xo w/ my Vaio, and the couple that I've worked on for clients, of course these were desktops and a couple yrs old, it just left a bad taste.

But having said that, the specs show......
that this should ROCK, you've got a portable Home Entertainment Center!!!!

I just need to get over my bias of SONY, they've been doing some naughty things as of late as well.

Anyhoo great system, have you put a movie in yet?
 
RE: Laptop suggestions

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... Anyhoo great system, have you put a movie in yet?
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Just placed the order last night. This is no cookie-cutter department store machine, it is a customized built to order unit. My only regret is my initial choice was for the high end display(WUXGA) was unavailable and I settled for the WXGA display. It will be a week or two 'til delivery. I'll let you know what I think. ;)

Comparable systems from Dell were consistently $300 more across the board. I was suprised. Alienware was nice, but hard to compare value wise. Another minus for Alienware was lack of port replicators or docking stations. Performance wise, I endeared to the P4 Area 51, but the high cost was hard to justify when compared to the Pentium M systems.

One thing I've found, it's always a compromise when choosing a laptop. I can build a desktop from components and pick and choose strengths where I need it and economy where it is less of a concern for me.
 
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