I finally decided to jump in here. I really like laptops- that's all I've had so far, in my 1 1/2yrs of computer experience. I'd LIKE to have a REALLY nice desktop AND laptop, but that isn't practical (afordable) for me. If I did have one of each, I'd still want a fast laptop, not so much b/c I really NEED it, but b/c I'm fairly impatient when it comes to computers- I don't type well, and am relatively computer illiterate, so I want something that can really move to help make up for it. I also don't like having to sit at a desk all the time, and I can use a laptop in other places. So, I'll most likely get a laptop, unless I see an incredible deal on a desktop...

I originally had (and am using right now) a Hitachi notebook (~5yrs old) w/Windows 95, 3G HD, Pentium 1 or 2, 32MB RAM, etc- it's fairly slow. I ended up w/a really nice Dell Inspiron 8100 in early January- Windows XP, 30G HD, 1.0G Pentium 3, 512MB ram, etc- faster than my Hitachi, but not as fast as I expected. I had ALL kinds of problems w/it and their "award winning" customer service, etc- getting through to a real person was always a slow experience. I just had too many problems w/it too early on, so I returned it. To replace it, I was looking at VAIO's, but have heard too many bad things about them. I'm now considering a Compaq, OR, as of the other day, a Toshiba. Circuit City has a sale on one, a NOTEBOOK, w/Windows XP, 30G HD, 256MB RAM (I will upgrade) AND 1.6G PENTIUM 4 processor- this impressed me b/c I've never heard of a laptop w/P4- several months ago, the best a notebook had was 1.2G P3- I assume other companies will get P4's soon. I've also heard good things about Toshiba recently- the only computers I haven't heard anything negative about (except price) are IBM's. So, I'm still not 100% sure what to get, but I do appreciate the input of everyone who contributed to this thread, as well as the person who started it, and am open to any other suggestions that you guys might have...

Thanks,
Robby

 

Ok, if anyone actually gets this far and reads my post, good for you. You must have nothing to do like me.

I own a Dell Inspiron 8000. I personally love the computer and have had minor problems. The thing is that Dell's support is sooooo goooood. I travel around the world constantly, and they will fix it ANYWHERE in the world.

I agree with Perry, they are very tough machines. Drop one or a few a few times and you will know what i'm talking about.

I have had repairs in TN, MS, and here in Germany. Don't break the keyboard. Note to self.

No matter what anyone else says, it will be a personal preference thing. I like Dell's also because they are kind of like a desktop. The components are easily upgradeable and you can access the main components very easily.

Hell, the good ole USofA swears by them, but you didn't hear that here. They can be trudged through sand and bounced around and anything that you can think of and still be able to play qbert and send email or do video editing or sound or whatever.

 

[quote] Sorry if they seemed a bit harsh or condescending. <hr></blockquote>

Hey F1, I didn't think that at all. Even with emoticon and such, posts can come off as more harsh or condescending than one might intend simply because you cannot see the other persons face or hear their tone of voice.

Robby,

We are actually looking at retiring a lot of out notebooks and replacing them with Compaq Evos pairs with an iPAQ instead. For what a lot of our senoir staff does this will be perfect and will actually wind up costing less than replacing a desktop or notebook with a new notebook. Unfortunately we have a lot of folks who travel and need the power or a notebook, so the iPAQ idea will not work for them. They often times need to connect to a clients warehouse management system, such as an AS/400 using a 5250 immulator, so they can test WMS packages (we are one of the top supply-chain management consulting firms).

Regarding Dell fixing your computer anywhere, so will Compaq. I have had to call and arrange with Compaq to send out a third party to repair (typically dropped) notebooks for traveling consultants in the past and have never really had any trouble with this. This is, by the way, the same thing Dell does (send out a third part service to take care of repairs).

 

One of the things we're not distinguishing here is the hardware from the software. Just about all these laptop manufacturers we've talked about makes very competent products. The problems comes in when you use Windows with them (which started out as GUI shell on top of MS-DOS, which was a modified form of an already obsolete OS that Gates bought to re-sell/license to IBM). Notice how all the filenames inside your Windows folder still adheres to the 8.3 limitations of MS-DOS? A lot of DLL conflicts and the resultant incompatibilities and crashes are caused by the limited number of files you can have with 8.3 filenames.

I really wonder now about the Navy's decision to use Windows on their ships. What's going to happen when the computers on those ships controlling a nuclear-tipped missile fails with the usual Windows BOD (blue screen of DEATH)? Will the other computers think it's been attacked by a terrorist and launch to protect itself?

I deal with a lot of UNIX systems that are online and functioning for YEARS without crashing or needing a reboot. When was the last time you saw an "uptime" command on a Windows machine, eh? heh, heh...

 

Not to start up a new debate, but we don't really have any trouble with any of our NT (4.0 or 2000) computers, either workstation or server. The only reason we ever have to reboot is if we (the systems team) screw something up. We do have some funky things happen once in a while because of the mixed environment, but nothing really bad.

Win 9X on the other hand is an entirely different animal The computers we have with either 95 or 98 take a dump now and then (the OS not he computer), and memory leaks are a real pain in the *** sometimes with those systems.

By the way, I was wondering if anyone else on the support side of things saw this happen. On the afternoon of 11 September we got inundated with RPC calls. I was thinking maybe the Fed was using Carnivore to do search for terrorist activity across the entire net.

 

Sorry, I wasn't really trying to start up an OS comparison or debate (each have their own strengths & weaknesses), but rather to point out that the majority of problems people experience with laptops are due to their Windows configuration and not with the particular brand of hardware they bought.



And I agree with your OS choice (and others from previous posts as well), that WinNT/2000 is the way to go (XP still too new). Windows95/98/ME is simply crap!

 

Whoops... duplicate post erased....