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Laptop Advice

CBL4

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Nov 11, 2003
Messages
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I am buying a laptop and I was hoping for some advice. I am a software engineer and I am taking a contract position. Te laptop will be my development computer. I will commute with the lap and it is likely that I will use the computer during commutes on a ferry e.g. on a table in front of me. After the contract position, I want a computer that will last me a while. I will connect it to my wireless network at home.

Here are my priorities and thoughts (feel free to suggest changes):
1) Big screen. Is there a big difference in screens other size? Any recommendations?
2) Ergonomics. I am intending to get a real keyboard and mouse. I read about Bluetooth mice and keyboards. Is this a good idea? I will probably put the laptop up on a thick book. I am leaning against a docking station because it seems clumsy to carry around.
3) Fairly good performance for developing software.
4) I do not plan to run games.
5) I probably will watch some DVDs.

Questions:
1) Processors. Dell talks about Intel® Core™ Duo Processor. Is this of benefit? Does AMD vs. Intel matter?

Any other suggestions and comments would be welcome.

Thank you,

CBL
 
Battery life. Crucial if you need the machine on the move.
Actual weight including recharger,cables, possibly spare battery.
How long is that ferry trip?
Can you recharge it from a vehicle outlet?
Service / repair contract.
Insurance.
 
Check out Pro-Star. In my experience, they give the best value for the money. Plus you can get some high-resolution screens.
 
I got a notebook from Powernotebooks.com as well. Great value..but a bit short on finding parts/drivers/support. But then that was a while ago.


Anyways.

- Big screens are good but also mean big laptop. I personally have pretty good eyesite and my eyes don't strain very easy, so I might be inclined to go for a smaller screen, because it would allow for a smaller unit and less weight.

- I personally cannot stand the mouse-pad thingy on laptops. I always bring a mouse of some sort. I can only use the pad for very basic stuff before I go insane. Some people don't mind it though. And as far as the keyboard...that depends on how much you're going to be typing, the size of it and your prefrence.

- What do you consider "fairly good preformace" for developing software? There's a big difference between writing c-code for a consol interface and using DirectX based stuff in VB.net.

- If you're not going to be playing games or anything hard-core, most medium-end laptops should have plenty of power.

- Most laptops on the market should be fine for DVD's. The only exception might be one that is in such a small formfactor that the DVD drive is an external unit. That can be a pain.

Also consider this: Laptops are a compromise. You can either get a super-light laptop which will not be all that powerful, or you can get a duo-core athlon64 4800, 200gb, geforce 7800, 17 inch monitor, but it will weigh about 12 pounds.

If you're not going to carying it a whole lot, then weight might not be a big issue. But believe me...lugging an extra 12 pounds plus the adapters and whatnot can get old REALLY fast.


Also...if you're going to use it on the move, battery power is a MUST. You'll be hard pressed to get more than a couple hours out of most internal batteries.

I would highly recomend the Electrovia Powerpad batteries. They're an external lithium ion superpolmer cell. They do add 1 to 2 pounds to the load, and they're a bit pricy, but they will power a laptop for 8+ hours. They're amazing and nothing that I know of can come close to that much time.

-Steve
 
I'm in a similar "search mode" for a travelling laptop. Any opinions on Apple Powerbooks? They seem to come with "everything" in a reasonably efficient and light package. Yes, I know they are not Wintel; it's the functionality I am interested in myself.
 
CBL4 said:
I am buying a laptop and I was hoping for some advice. I am a software engineer and I am taking a contract position. Te laptop will be my development computer. I will commute with the lap and it is likely that I will use the computer during commutes on a ferry e.g. on a table in front of me. After the contract position, I want a computer that will last me a while. I will connect it to my wireless network at home.

Here are my priorities and thoughts (feel free to suggest changes):
1) Big screen. Is there a big difference in screens other size? Any recommendations?
2) Ergonomics. I am intending to get a real keyboard and mouse. I read about Bluetooth mice and keyboards. Is this a good idea? I will probably put the laptop up on a thick book. I am leaning against a docking station because it seems clumsy to carry around.
3) Fairly good performance for developing software.
4) I do not plan to run games.
5) I probably will watch some DVDs.

Questions:
1) Processors. Dell talks about Intel® Core™ Duo Processor. Is this of benefit? Does AMD vs. Intel matter?

Any other suggestions and comments would be welcome.

Thank you,

CBL
Click to expand...


1) Different screens do matter in terms of resolution, clarity and brightness and size will affect the battery life
2) Wouldn't bother too much with Bluetooth accessories when normal cordless stuff is fine. Probably worth looking for a Keyboard\Mouse combo to keep clutter down.
Resting it on a book can be OK, it depends how warm it gets during use. You can buy notebook 'platforms' easily, they leave an gap at the bottom that allows more air to circulate
3) Do you just need to be able to crunch numbers well or do you need good graphics capability?
4) -
5) Depending how long it is between power sockets it may be be worth thinking about a spare battery


AMD Vs Intel is a tricky one. I would normally go for AMD as they normally offer better speed for your money, the larger firms though get such huge discounts on Intel chips (Dell for example) that it's of little consequence.

As for thaiboxerkens link, I'd heartily reccomend them if you were looking for a gaming machine but not for work. They're "Desktop replacement" units and often have the Non-mobile CPUs and gamer level graphics cards.
 
DRBUZZ0 said:
I would highly recomend the Electrovia Powerpad batteries. They're an external lithium ion superpolmer cell. They do add 1 to 2 pounds to the load, and they're a bit pricy, but they will power a laptop for 8+ hours. They're amazing and nothing that I know of can come close to that much time.

-Steve
Click to expand...

I think you mean Electrovaya Powerpad. I just visited their website. For $800, they have a battery that lasts about 24hours on a standard laptop. Wow. I might like the scribbler pads that they sell as well. I am thinking of getting one.

http://www.electrovaya.com/
 
I'd recommend an Intel processor (pentium M) because it's better in terms of code compilation time than the celeron M and gives better battery life than any of AMD's offerings.
From that powernotebooks site, I'd recommend the "Sager NP3880", which is actually a rebadged Clevo M38AW. It's got an overpowered processor and a 3d graphics card you don't need, but the chassis is solid and it's a good workhorse - and you can buy a 6-cell extended battery pack for it, which sticks out a bit at the back (like some walkmans had in the 90s, if you remember that?).

Otherwise, a Dell Latitude is a good bet - solid, reliable, can take a second battery in place of the optical drive, hot-swappably. You can't do that with the Inspiron range, before you think, "hey, these are lots cheaper". I can't think of any current manufacturer who does this as well.

Go for a gig of RAM and aim at, say, a 1.73GHz processor. My advice is that that's about the best performance/value for money at the moment.

Both those machines I've mentioned are an absolute doddle to upgrade in terms on memory, processor, wireless card and optical drive, too; something the novice can do with a ten-minute heads-up.
 
1) My current laptop does 1450 x 1024 (or something like that), which is nice for coding. If you have young eyes you may want a higher resolution to get more on the screen, but it's a tradeoff.

2) Though I use a natural keyboard at work, I can use the laptop for long periods without problems. I do use an external mouse for precise stuff, but I don't need it for coding. My compaq has a "pencil eraser" style pointer (actually it has both, but I turn off the touchpad). Bluetooth is okay, but unless your laptop has it built in and you can verify that the devices work well, other external mice work fine. Docking stations are really only for convenience if you want to use a monitor/keyboard switch, but I'd say they aren't worth the extra money.

3) Memory is usually more important than processor speed for dev work - IDEs like a lot of memory.

5) You may not have enough power to spin a DVD for very long.


I you can, get built-in wireless. The built-in antennas give you better range and you don't have to have a card that's stuck in the laptop all the time.

Hope that helps
 
Thank you for the advice. I should apologize for asking for advice and disappearing. Unfortunately, my life got ridiculously hectic for the last 4 days.

I looked around and was leaning towards an HP laptop with a 17 inch monitor and the 1.8MHz AMD chip. To be honest the reason is because I was told that the HP has a DVD mode which allows you to watch DVD with much lower power consumption e.g. battery life as high 9 hours if all you do is watch a movie. It seems like a silly reason but it was the only obviously distinguishing feature. It is $1350.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01174&id=1130986342454
I would prefer more memory but that is easilty upgradebable. I have decided against blue tooth. It has wireless capability, 3 hours of battery, weighs 8 pounds which seems heavy but not absurd.

Here are some answer to people's questions:
1) The ferry trip is an hour but I might have to wait another hour for it. The maximum time I would be using while commuting would be 2 hours.
2) I was told I could make do with a less powerful laptop but I hope that this one will last for around 4 years.
3) Apple is not an option.

Unfortunately, because I dawdled, I pretty much need to buy it in a store. I absolutely need it by Monday.

Does this seem reasonable?

Thanks,

CBL
 
Only you can answer that, as you will be the guy carrying it. If possible, get the memory upgraded to what you want when you buy it. Upgrading later may cost a lot more (you might have to junk some memory) and, insanely, might invalidate your warranty.
HP / Compaq make decent hardware, but it's not ultralight. Does the 8lbs include cables , case , accessories?"
As an alternative to buying in a store, have you looked around to see if you can rent a machine? That way you can find out if there is something you just can't live with.
Still, I don't think you'll go far wrong with hp.
If you don't like it , there's probably somebody here who'll take it off your hands for free.
 
Soapy Sam said:
Only you can answer that, as you will be the guy carrying it. If possible, get the memory upgraded to what you want when you buy it. Upgrading later may cost a lot more (you might have to junk some memory) and, insanely, might invalidate your warranty.
Click to expand...

I'd tentatively disagree with this, silly warranty conditions aside. A quick peek at the HP website doesn't seem to show the ability to upgrade the RAM, forcing you to buy a more expensive model that has lot's of extra bit's you don't need. Even when you go to Dell they're charging £150 for a Gig stick, Scan do a gig of Corsair for £70. Also the corsair website links to these two pages which do seem to show that under the "The Magnuson-Moss Act" your fully entitled to upgrade without voiding your warranty. If you're worried about upgrading the memory yourself the standard IT bribe down here is 'a couple of pints' ;)
 
Originally posted by Soapy Sam
If possible, get the memory upgraded to what you want when you buy it. Upgrading later may cost a lot more (you might have to junk some memory) and, insanely, might invalidate your warranty.
Click to expand...
The link says it is upgradeable to 2G so it should not invalidate the warrantee. I will see if there is model with some more memory but, if my memory (sorry) is correct, I would pay for lots of extra stuff as well. BTW, I cannot believe I am talking 512M not being enough. My first PC had 512K of memory and cost $4000. It was a Northgate 386.

Weight is certainly an issue. I would like more preformance but that means more battery weight. 8 pounds is the laptop alone. I prefer to have my own than to rent. This may be silly with something that loses value so fast but I want to own it. Having a laptop seems handy.

I doubt this is the best PC for me but it seems like one a safe one to buy. The rest of my life prevented me from doing my homework but what I was buty with (real estate) saved me lots more money than this laptop costs.

Thanks to everybody for their advice.

CBL
 
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