ideal laptop recommendations?

Tue May 6 09:02:53 PDT 2003

andrew morton wrote:

> Jesse D. Guardiani wrote:
>>>One possible is an IBM ThinkPad A31p. 2 GHz, 15", 1600x1200, does almost
>>>everything you ask, but has broken ACPI and ATI Mobility FireGL
>>>graphics. APM works VERY well, so ACPI is not too important. You do need
>>>the DOS based ps2 utility to set it up, though. (Ugh.) IBM supplies the
>>>floppy images for this. Not really pretty, but rugged and reliable.
>>>Heavy. Over well 7 pounds or 3 kilos. Awesome display!
>> 
>> IBMs seem a bit overpriced and underfeatured to me. Still, if that is
>> the best suggestion I get, then I might give it a try.
> 
> I'm going to put in a vote for IBM. They maybe a bit more expensive but
> they build very solid hardware. I've got an A21e with 2+ years of very
> rough usage (it goes everywhere with me) and it works like a champ. The
> only problems are cosmetic (cracked the plastic on the case) and after
> reading Jason Hunt's comments on the ease of getting parts I'm ready to
> call up IBM and order a new case.

Here are the systems I am considering currently. The Dell comes with a
wireless router and Bluetooth, but it doesn't have the VAIO's screen size,
and the IBM is entirely too expensive and doesn't include a DVD burner:

------------------------------------------
Sony VAIO GRX700 series for $2339.99
------------------------------------------
16.1" UXGA screen (1600x1200)
Pentium 4 M 1.8Ghz
512MB DDR SDRAM
40Gb HD
DVD+RW/CD-RW
3 yr warranty
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32Mb VRAM
Free 802.11b Wireless LAN PC Card by mail

The only thing that concerns me about the VAIO is the 32Mb
of RAM for a 1600x1200 screen... and the unknown of whether
or not the Wireless LAN PC Card and DVD-RW would be supported.

In comparison, I can get:

--------------------------------------------------------------
Dell Inspiron 8500 series for $2552 before $200 mail in rebate
--------------------------------------------------------------
15.4" SXGA+ screen (1680x1050)
Pentium 4 M 2.0Ghz
512MB DDR SDRAM
40 Gb HD
CD-R/DVD-RW (not sure if that is a CD-RW or not)
3 yr "limited" warranty (mail in)
64 Mb GeForce 4 4200
Dell Truemobile 1300 WLAN 802.11 b/g (54 Mbps) miniPCI card
Dell Truemobile 1184 Wireless Broadband Router
Dell Truemobile 300 Bluetooth Internal Card
Free Carrying Case (Nylon)

Not sure whether or not the above wireless stuff would
work under FreeBSD 5.0 or not. Does FreeBSD know how to
burn DVDs?? If not, then I could save $200 more.

And finally, with expensive IBM I could get:

-------------------------------
IBM A31p ThinkPad for $2,811.60
-------------------------------
15.0" UXGA screen (1600x1200)
Pentium 4 M 2Ghz (512kb L2 cache)
512Mb DDR SDRAM
40 Gb HD
CD-RW/DVD-R
Integrated Wi-Fi wireless and Bluetooth combo
3 yr onsite repair warranty
64 Mb ATI Mobility FireGL 7800 7.1-7.7

And I think Kevin Oberman already said that the ATI Mobility
FireGL card isn't supported. This laptop is too much $$$ for
me anyway. If I wanted to spend $3000 I would buy a Mac.

> 
> While I'm at it I'll bash Dell real quick. In my experience and based on
> an unscientific survey of posts to the list I'd say Dell tends to be a
> good deal but you'll probably end up with warranty issues.

I noticed that Dell's warranty isn't nearly as solid as IBM's. However,
I'd rather have my hardware work and have to fight to get something
fixed than pay through my teeth and have unsupported hardware.

Dell's support has been decent to me in the past.

> 
> Anyway good luck,
> andrew
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605
423-559-LINK (v)  423-559-5145 (f)
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