Laptop Shopping - Suggestions?

[JanTM]

Ramster, Once you start down the path to the dark side... forever will it dominate your destiny

I see no reason to turn to the dark.. eh Mac... just because win98 is unstable. WinXP rocks. But I can't recommend any laptops except that I would go for widescreen myself if I had to get one.

Also - and you probably already know this - check for battery lifetie. They may come with all sorts of fancy things... but if you can only use it an hour before you have to recharge... well

[Ramster]

JanTM, good point. Battery life is important.

Well I've thought about and think I won't be going with a Mac. It's just that I have all kinds of programs bought that work with Windows and am not sure they'll all work in Mac's OS. Besides a laptop comes with Windows XP and I think I'll go ahead and replace the OS in this desktop while I'm at it.

[Torn Rose]

FYI Ramster, you can not use a copy of XP for more then 1 machine.

We bought 1 copy when it came out and put it on 2 pc's and the 2nd one would only go as far as registration when it was already installed and registered.

I called MS and asked what’s up and got a smart ass tech who told me he could have me arrested... well, that conversation was really interesting, I dared him left and right to come and arrest me and called him a pussy a few times.

So count on another $90 for another reg key, I even tried a hacked reg key which didn’t work.

[Cleo]

Hmmm… there is no registration key for Mac OS X, only the server version has one.

Actually I agree you should get another PC. All my friends down here bought Macs after using mine and now bug me with endless Mac questions.

In fact I really believe that everyone in the adult business, or at least these that are my competition, should all be using PCs.

[Surfn]

Originally posted by Ramster
JanTM, good point. Battery life is important.

Mine came with a 5 hour battery and I bought an additional 5 hour.

[Tommy]

how did u do those little post its on the desk top

[Cleo]

I always love the way manufactures rate battery life.

Battery life with the screen set to the dimmest setting and zero HD accesses and typing text slowly with the processor set to run at its slowest speed. LOL

Kind of like the estimated gas milage of cars or how many calories per serving with the serving size being about one quarter what a normal adult eats.

[Cleo]

Originally posted by Tommy
how did u do those little post its on the desk top

Command+Shift+3 takes a pic of the whole desktop or Command+Shift+4 lets you marquee just what you want to take a pic of.

I then opened the resulting PDF in ImageReady and added text.

If you want to have some fun take a pic of someone's desktop while they have a few windows open and then open this in Photoshop or ImageReady. Rotate it 180 degrees, double click the magnifier in the toolbar, hit the letter V, hit the letter F two times and then hit the tab key. Be sure to hide the rulers first if they are showing.

[Tommy]

no the little post it that says trash out tonight

[Cleo]

OH that, LOL

That is Stickies. Stickies comes with Mac OS X and is in your Applications folder.

Hitting Command+shift+Y if you are in the Finder will also open Stickies. If you have a jpg highlighted it will open a new Sticky with that image. You can also drop a PDF on a Sticky and it will display that PDF complete with a scroll bar.

You can also use Desktastic to draw and type right on the desktop or any open window.

Check out this site for lots of hints and tricks.
http://www.macosxhints.com/

[JanTM]

True... battery lifetime is a field occupied by... shall we say "creative" people

I suggest reading tests of laptops. I read an article in a computer magazine some time ago about laptops sold here in Denmark. They did a good job pointing out which laptops had good battery life and which did not... along with all the other things they tested of course.
Point is you need to see it in action - or at least read about somebody who has seen it in action

[Tommy]

Hey jantm how are ya ?????

[JanTM]

Hey Tommy... I'm fine. Just been too lazy lately and therefor scarce on this board. But I'm getting back on the horse now

How about you and Barbara? You're a dad now right?

[Cleo]

I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my friend's WindowsXP laptop kept on losing its connection to my WiFi. At least now I know, Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users.

[SirMoby]

Originally posted by Cleo
I'll let you play with mine in August.

You'll let Ramster play with your what ?

[SirMoby]

Originally posted by Ramster
Ok I'm going to take a serious look at a Mac then.

I have to restart my Windows 98 PC at least once a day.

I restart my Win2000 PC and my WinXP every few months and that's usually becasue of power outages or new hardware. Win98 sucked by the new stuff actually works well.

You're asking a big question and there can't be a good answer without more detail. It's almost like asking what kind of car you should buy without telling people if it will be used for the new family car or a weekend sportster.


I travelled a lot in my former life and I've hauled everything from 45 lbs portables to under 3 lbs mini laptops.

Battery power is an issue if you're going to spend a lot of time on air planes and you can be productive during travel. If 99% of the time that you use it you'll be next to a power outlet then who cares?

If you travel a lot you will notice that 1 lbs makes a bigger difference then you think.

DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THE ADVANTAGES OF A QUALITY KEYBOARD.

There's a big price difference in screen prices. You probably want something that's similar to what you use now but figure out how you will be viewing the screen (from differnt angles, in sun light, etc.)

Just like buying any computer, get the fastest processor that you can afford so it will last longer. Memory you may be able to add in the future but HD space is difficult and expensive with laptops.

Go to the manufacturer's website and look for drivers. If you're buying model XXX123 you don't want to see drivers for XXX123 v1.1, XXX123 v1.2a, XXX123 v1.2b becasue the line is a lemon.

All that being said it's been a few years since I've had to haul laptops around but IBM always made quality laptops (not desktops) that used pretty much off the shelf stuff. My last laptop was a Sony and although installing software on it took days the keyboard and screen rocked.

[Ramster]

Some good info there SirMoby.

Basically I'm using it for going to Internext and other trips like that. Battery power isn't that big an issue since I will be using it with outlets 95% of the time. The reason I want to pick it up now is we'll be spending all of July in Nova Scotia on the east coast and I'm not dragging my desktop down there for a month.

RAM is important to me as well as processor speed but HD space is not an issue. Besides they all come with 40gig or bigger now anyway. I don't want to spend a fortune on a laptop that I really won't be using on a daily basis but want a good one.

This is 1 I've been considering but I'm going look around a bit more:
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/specificat...2590&part=2250

[Surfn]

Here http://northgate.com/content/product...book/m8080.cfm is what I use.

[Cleo]

I know you are looking for a laptop but the new Mac desktops are coming his out this month and some drawing got leaked out.

New desktop Macs

A pic of the new processor

[LiveWorldWide]

For a small lightweight unit I really like http://averatec.com/ I have several and they are low cost and work great.

[wicked1]

Hi Ramster ,

About 10 months ago I decided to sell my desktop and migrate to a Notebook PC.

After a ton of research I finally settled on a Toshiba 2.4 Ghz PIV Notebook with 512 DDR ram and 30 GB HDD,Windows XP Home.

I've built and sold many PC's of different configuration and I'm always able to find something I don't like about each of those pc's.

The only thing I don't like about the Toshiba Notebook is that I wasted so much time looking around and did not get it sooner

You Will Love the Freedom to up and Move around and work anywhere .

Since adding a Wireless Network Card and Broadband I'm in Portable Pimp Heaven

The Toshiba A40 is a later version of what I have here.

I got the 2450 Toshiba 2450

Toshiba are the first choce of fthe Australian Defense Dept and Government Due to Outstanding and Unmatched Reliabity.

Last year I saw an independent report that Rated overall reliabity of Notebooks based on field failures.

Toshiba was the (Most Reliable) Winner Followed by IBM then Dell,Compaq,Acer.

Regards,

Wicked1

[Ramster]

Thanks Wicked, yes I am leaning towards a Toshiba. I like what they are offering and their prices seem good as well.

[Cleo]

I have a PC laptop question about running an external monitor with one.

My friend has a Dell, don't remember which model. It has a VGA port for an external monitor and I was trying to get it to work the way it does on my Mac laptop but was unable. Not sure if it is just her model or if it is just the way PC laptops work.

The only way I was able to get it to recognize the external monitor was to completely shut done the laptop before plugging in the monitor and even then it only mirrored the internal display.

On my Mac laptop I just have to put the laptop to sleep before plugging in or unplugging the external monitor and I have a choice of mirroring the built in display or having two different displays which is what I normally do so that I can keep all my palettes on one screen and my work on another screen.

Is this how Windows normally works or is it just the limits of her laptop?

[Torn Rose]

Cleo, if I understand what you are saying correctly, My Dell will do that.

We share a printer, so I just plug it in and in a few seconds the printer is "there"

On her Compaq she has to reboot with it plugged in.

I haven’t tried the monitor, but I would think it would be the same.

[AcidMaX]

I bought a compaq presario 2100 in December of last year and have not had any problems with it. I use it as my everyday pc right now and just hook it up to a bigger monitor.

I waited to get a better deal on a laptop and found this one. They had it for $1100 but $450 in rebates at Best Buy so it was extremely affordable and it is a great laptop.


Cleo: on my laptop I hook my monitor up and it mirrors the laptop on the monitor but, on the F keys there is a little monitor looking icon. If you hit the fn key and that f-button (ie., on mine I hit fn button and F5). It iwll turn off the monitor on the laptop and just use the monitor.

Andy