Laptop recommendations part 2

[dkn1997]

I did not want to steal the other thread, but I find myself in a similar situation.  I need a laptop for work.  After taking a nowhere job for a direct tv HSP, I got a new job as a field quality control project manager at my previous employer.  I would like a recommendation fromthe peanut gallery here (  ).  I don't know if they will buy it for me, but I still may get one if it will do what I need it to do. plenty of personall uses for it. since I may have to pay for this turd on my own, buidget is a concern.  I need it to;

-surf the web wirelessly (we have a website that gps tracks all of the technicians and i need to "pop in"  I can call the office and have them find the guys, but the less I call that place the better. a lot of our customers are very wealthy, so jumping on thier routers may be an option. 

-read my email

-upload photos I take of jobs and then be able to send them via email to my office computer for downloading.

-play video so I can give product demos to customers and techs in the field (and play movies. if I am paying, I want to use it for the kids on road trips)

-transfer data to my office computer (not a deal breaker if I cannot,but I would like ot be able to come in at the end of the day and just push a buitton without putting files on sticks, etc...

This thing will be sitting on the passenger seat most of the time in my company vehicle.  i do not travel further than 50-75 miles, so airplane usage is not a factore at all.  neither is hotel usage.

Or can I do all of this stuff with a blackberry/treo/etc...? (besides watching the video)

[2Gunz]

Pretty much what your are describing can be done with any old laptop.

As well as allot of newer Cell phones.

One thing I always suggest in Laptops is to get as much ram as you can.

And to Get at least 1 Gig.

For the traveling thing and if you get a laptop.......

You should check into broadband Cell phone access for your computer.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=planFirst&action=viewPlanDetail&sortOption=priceSort&catId=409&lid=//global//plans//wireless+pc+card+plan

It will allow full internet access anywhere in theory.

However Speed and usage very allot.

I have it and its great. For 60 bucks a month I have internet however and wherever I need it.

But keep in mind if your cell phone service is bad, it will be as well.

And the further you get into the bonnies the slower it will be as well.

I just looked at the dell stuff for you.

This is the base computer........


http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DNDWPA2&s=dhs


Here is the same system update to what I feel is "better"

SYSTEM COLOR             -Jet Black
PROCESSOR               -Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM       -Genuine Windows Vista ® Home Basic Edition
HD DISPLAY                -Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800
VIDEO CARD                -Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100   
MEMORY                         -1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz   
HARD DRIVE                -Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE             CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS          Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card   
MOBILE BROADBAND               Verizon Wireless built-in cellular mobile broadband (EVDO Rev A)   
INTEGRATED WEBCAM             Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam   edit
BATTERY OPTIONS   85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)   

The total on that is around $850.

Which includes the anywhere (in theory) internet access.

The internal card is a $150 card. or its a $179 external card from Verizon.

Just remember thou you will still need to give them $60 a month.

[2Gunz]

Oh and you will need to call dell and request XP instead of Vista.

[Troy]

I just answered the other thread (even though it's old) because it had more responses that I was referring to. Most of it applies here.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,31943.msg443197.html#msg443197

Any basic laptop will do the things you listed. Most come with a wireless ethernet card but check to be sure. If it has a DVD player or burner installed then there should be software to play movies (Windows Media Player should handle most formats as well). As for sync'ing with work, that's more of a network setup/configuration issue and there are lots of great tools available to handle that for you (without sending pictures via email). I like large screens which typically mean a heavier unit but if you're not physically carrying it you can probably deal with it. The little screens - especially for movies - aren't much fun. A Blackberry is very useful but I find them obnoxious when it comes to doing "normal" tasks. I use mine almost exclusively for phone calls and receiving email (hate to type on that keyboard) but you can surf the internet, take and send pictures, and play video on them - as long as you don't mind the tiny screen. The email and calendar applications are easy to keep sync'd with work. A small laptop would be better if you already have a phone (likely).

I am part of the Dell Small Business network and I get all sorts of email deals. Usually there are laptops in the $450-600 range that look very promising. Of course, I'd have to "upgrade" so my price usually ends up near $1,000. The operating system is usually Windows Vista but you can still get Windows XP.

Troy

[Mike DC]

   
--  Definitely get XP.  Vista is poop.  Vista was created by starting with XP, and then tweaking it to make it better for Microsoft and worse for you.


--  Try to get an overpowered processor for your needs.  Operates faster/better, less aggravating, etc.

       

 

[dkn1997]

you guys are great.  thanks for the responses so far.  I remember at my last job the field supevisors had treo's and the screen was a joke.  displayed only partial web pages and really hard to use.  the screen thing is really pushing me towards a laptop.  the old eyes are starting to go and I strain to see text messages on my cell sometimes. and yes, I already have a nextel twoway with cell svc on it.  sounds like a laptop may be for me...

[Duey]

As with other types of systems, upgrade the RAM where you can get it.  RAM is relatively cheap and significantly improves performance far more than faster processor, bigger drive, etc...

[Troy]

As with other types of systems, upgrade the RAM where you can get it.  RAM is relatively cheap and significantly improves performance far more than faster processor, bigger drive, etc...

Yes it is/does... I now have 8 GB (2 GB x 4) and the total cost was $170. Back in the old days (three years ago) you could buy faster RAM and see a pretty clear performance boost but these days where almost everything is at least DDR2 there isn't much difference. The next bottleneck is the hard drive but almost everything is 7200 RPM SATA now so even that isn't as to bad for most people. Laptops typically have 5400 RPM drives though so there is a performance hit. They'll still stream a movie just fine. There are hardly any applications which really stress a processor these days but a dual-core doesn't cost much and comes in handy at times.

Troy

[Duey]

Troy, that isn't a laptop, you're talking about with 8 gigs, is it?    If it is, that'd be pretty sweet....DDR3 SO-DIMMS?  My second 1G DDR SO-DIMM for my T41 set me back $70...back in the day, DDR(1) SO-DIMMS were down to about $25-30/gig...doh!

Cheers,
Duey

[FLG]

Troy,

To anyone who is running XP, Vista..ect, 8 GB of RAM will do no good as the OS will only recognize about 3.5GB max. Dont know what your running, but if its XP your wasting your money with all that extra RAM.

[Duey]

FLG, 64-bit Vistas can access more than the 3.1Gb limit of a 32-bit system like XP.  Vista Home will recognize 8Gb, and other versions of Vista will recognize up to 64 or 128 Gig.  Note that high power 64-bit OS's like Server 2003 will actually recognize a couple of Terabytes of RAM!

[Troy]

Troy, that isn't a laptop, you're talking about with 8 gigs, is it?    If it is, that'd be pretty sweet....DDR3 SO-DIMMS?  My second 1G DDR SO-DIMM for my T41 set me back $70...back in the day, DDR(1) SO-DIMMS were down to about $25-30/gig...doh!

Cheers,
Duey

Whoops! I got off track there for a bit (but the concept is the same). My new desktop has 8 GB but my laptop only has 2 GB.

Troy,

To anyone who is running XP, Vista..ect, 8 GB of RAM will do no good as the OS will only recognize about 3.5GB max. Dont know what your running, but if its XP your wasting your money with all that extra RAM.

It's 64 bit Vista (see attachment). The 64 bit edition of XP just looked like too much trouble and still has limitations that I didn't want to have to deal with so my only choice for Windows was 64 bit Vista. I also dual boot with Linux which doesn't usually have a problem with 64 bit or large amounts of RAM.

Troy

[AKcharger]

I had an old HP...I hated it. Then before I went to Korea I bought another HP pavilion...it crashed and burned 2 months after I got it...however since I got it back it's been going for 18 months so far and thats of almost continual use.

So HP is OK but not great

[FLG]

In that case, your fine...but in dkn's case i think 2 GB of RAM would be just fine. Alot of people dont realize that unless your going to actually use all that RAM, it really does you no good just having it.

[2Gunz]

In that case, your fine...but in dkn's case i think 2 GB of RAM would be just fine. Alot of people dont realize that unless your going to actually use all that RAM, it really does you no good just having it.

Correct.


Bare minimum I would recommend is 1Gig.

And most of us wont use more than 2Gig.

And really unless your doing server stuff I cannot think of a single reason to get more than 2Gigs.

[Troy]

Microsoft recommends 1 GB for Vista and most places won't even build a Vista PC with less than that (512 MB is the bare minimum). Most Windows "gurus" recommend at least 1.5 GB for acceptable performance and 2.5+ GB with 64 bit Vista. Windows XP is much more forgiving but typically only showed a minor performance improvement above 1 GB. Built-in video cards and some other hardware also share system memory so that needs to be taken into account as well. Graphics and video editing, CAD/modeling, and raytracing applications really need lots of RAM. Some video games recommend as much as 2 GB as well. Anyone who does any serious multi-tasking will notice also (surfing DC.com, chatting on AIM, updating your resume in Word, transferring some files, and ripping a DVD for example). Multiple processors or multiple cores generally require more RAM and can utilize it more effectively. For most people, 1 GB is fine and 2 GB is plenty but it really depends on the OS and how the computer is used. Strangely enough, all of my personal computers have at least as much RAM as the server this site runs on.

Any way, back to the laptop... Dell's Inspiron line starts at $499 but the $599 model has a 15.4" screen, 1.6 GHz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB SATA hard drive, CD/DVD writer, 802.11g wireless ethernet, and a 2 megapixel web cam. The $899 model has 3 GB RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, and wireless-n. There's also an XPS line with better video cards and seems more geared towards gaming and multimedia but start under $1,000.

Troy