Geek Oracle and Others: New Laptops

[Chiffed]

We've got a one-time offer through my wife's business: any new laptop. OK, if it's more than 3 grand Canadian, the accountants will sqweak.

Keywords: Easy, stable, long-term upgradeable, she's used to Windows (I know....), tough. Very tough.

Anyone tried Toughbooks or other MilSpec books?

Is it time to get Vista on a new computer, as later upgrades will cost $$$?

I'm putting together an Ubuntu laptop ($100 complete with wireless!) for myself, but she's got this opportunity, and, well, we're greedy about free stuff.

Suggestions?

[Lambchop]

Excellent question! I'm dying to hear the oracles speak!

[BillChin]

PC Magazine does a good job with their reviews. Here is a link to a comprehensive laptop section, that includes their best buys, user reviews, and more.

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,9,00.asp

The top rated model by the reviewers was the HP Pavilion dv9000t (Vista) and that is right at the border of the price range at $2,569 USD = $3044.27 Canadian

PC Magazine doesn't have any recent review on the Panasonic Toughbooks, however they do have an article about the visiting the testing lab.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2036365,00.asp

For folks on tight budgets, the techbargains.com site gathers many of the best deals every day, both from the local stores and online sites.

[Chiffed]

Thanks, Bill. The fully rugged (MilSpec) Toughbooks look great, but way out of the pricerange. The HP looks decent, though.

I tried the Dell site, taking a cheapo and slicking it up with all the goodies, and it came out to about $1400. I need to find more goodies!
It seems that a decent magnesium casing/chassis adds another $1000, though. Did I mention that I'm not a fan of plastic?

[MarcusR]

Keywords: Easy, stable, long-term upgradeable, she's used to Windows (I know....), tough. Very tough. Suggestions?

Easy is fine, but "stable" dont go to well with Vista yet, and "long-term upgradeable" ??? If we are talking laptops, there are no such thing. Better to buy the best you can afford as you'll have to stick with it.

Suggestions: It will depend on what she will use it for, there are no ultimate solution. Does it have to be light and portable?, Will she use if for administrative work? As a workstation? Games, video or photo editing?

My own main preferences for a laptop:
- Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
- Lots of RAM
- The best screen I can afford. I usually fall for 14.1" to reduce weight and size.
- Good graphics card that don't use shared memory. I would aim for ATI Mobility Radeon X1600.


I would definately get it bundled with Vista just to get a license and save a few $$$ in the future.

/MarcusR

[bradhurley]

I'm surprised by the high rating for the HP machine; I always thought their computers had a terrible reputation.

I've been using IBM (now Lenovo) ThinkPads for the past eight years or so and have been totally satisfied. Very reliable, I've never had a single problem with them, and they're solid. Best built-in keyboard on the market, and they come with a built-in "airbag" that instantly parks your hard disk if it detects that the computer is bumped or dropped (other makers offer this now but I believe they were the first). My only complaint is the non-existent documentation (no user's manual, generic online documentation that is not specific to your machine...I didn't even know that my computer came with a built-in microphone, for example, until I noticed that it had voice-recognition software and that I could speak to it.)

A few general recommendations:

-Get a laptop with Core Duo or Core 2 Duo chips, which is much better for multitasking...most current models offer this but just be sure.

-Get the biggest hard disk you can. I made the mistake of getting only a 40-gigabyte hard drive on my current ThinkPad; I ran out of space after two years and then had to upgrade to a larger drive. Transferring the image of my old drive to the new one caused problems...for example I am no longer able to remove any of the programs that were on the old disk, and some programs had to be re-activated.

-Get the most memory you can afford.

-Don't get a Dell (from what I've read they come loaded with spyware and tons of useless extraneous programs that you have to delete)

[djm]

HP ratings aren't all that bad, but not good enough to justify their prices. HP-UX - that just plain sucks.

My experiences with laptops are as Marcus noted: get the biggest and bestest and newest you can find, cuz once its built its built, and there's little you can do with it for upgrades, because by the time you are ready to upgrade a laptop, it is totally out of date and difficult to support.

djm

[Tyler]

My HP laptop will turn four years old this fall, and it's still running strong (AMD Athalon M 1.8 GHz, upgraded to 1gb of ram). Granted, I've had to buy an external multi-drive because the built in CD unit failed last November, and it's high time for it's replacement to show up, but for now, it'll do fine.
Haven't seen their prices lately, but I bought mine for $1100, and back then it was quite the slick computer, definately not a bottom-of-the-barrel settle-for-less unit.
If she simply MUST have a PC, and if it were me buying the unit (if I were ever to buy another PC again), I'd probably go for another HP, a Toshiba, or an Acer (my bros in law have a Tosh and Acer, and they do fairly well, though I say it's to early to judge their new lines, as they're still less than a year old).

Another tip, Wierdos Vista is different enough from XP but close enough to OS X that you may want to get her out to try both systems side by side and see which one she likes better. Having recently tried out Vista, I can say that it's nowhere near as easy to figure out as XP.
Another thing...My 600Mhz Mac G3 still keeps pace with my newer laptop.
Just some things to keep in mind....
macs rule

[chrisoff]

Acer's customer service, at least here in Europe, it may be different over the water, is absolutely dreadful.

I'd try some smaller manufacturs, they're usually cheaper and with better specced parts.

[Chiffed]

Thanks, folks. We're not going Dell, because I want her to actually try it first. The thinkpads look good, and I've had one in the past (still got it, still works, but it's more ancient than my PowerBook that just got recycled. I'll get her to try a Macbook, too. I find OSX plain weird, but that's a personal thing. She may be more open-minded.

It'd be sweet to set up a Microsoft machine to dual-boot Vista and Ubuntu. Anyone tried this yet? It'd be a Hers and His laptop....

[Innocent Bystander]

We just got my daughter a new laptop. A Viao. With Vista, 2Mb memory.
1100 GBP with warranty. That should be under 3 Gs Canuk.

It's meant for homework and internet research, plus emailing and messaging, and some design work.

What she's ACTUALLY doing on it is playing SIMS 2.