It takes one to know one...

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

Greeting my fellow techies...
I have neither a rant or a rave from my job but instead a question to ask of my fellow techs.
I am in the market for a laptop and probably also a PDA/Pocket PC.
What do you guys use for these?
I'd like the laptop to be decent, doesn't need to be crazy good (I don't game but using Photoshop without it crying in pain would be nice). As far as OS goes, I intend to load it myself (Win XP Pro - don't start with me). The lighter the better and a DVD burner would be nice. It'll need the standard stuff as well as a floppy drive, a 56k modem and both a wireless and wired NIC (necessary for what I intend to use it for) - of course these things don't have to come with but there has to be slots available.
For the PDA, again doesn't need to be top of the line but I would like it to be colour (can we tell how long I've had my current one for - :P). I use Outlook 2003 for most of my mail/calendar activity (again, don't go there) so it needs to be compatible with that. Word processing and wifi also necessary. Beyond that, don't really care.
I intend to be using both to do computer cleaning/virus removal/internet lessons for end users, which is why the Windows is necessary. ;)

I'm just looking for suggestions from other folks in the know ;) And yes, I am willing to accept the snark :P

Comments

[valiskeogh.livejournal.com]

SNARKYNESS!!!

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

oooo...points for excellent snark!

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Um, floppy drive would be a problem - the only laptops that come with built-in floppy drives these days are big and heavy desktop replacement models. You can use an external USB unit though.

IBM T42 series is very very good, just about the best laptops I've ever seen, although this kind of quality is quite expensive. Recently released T43 is even better, but even more expensive.

A lower-end T42 - about 1.6GHz P-M, 512MB RAM, 40-60GB drive, 14" - should run you around $1400-1500, and from my experience (supporting them) they are absolutely bulletproof.

[jecook]

hmmm...

I use a palm. the Screen on the Tungstens are pretty nice, but they will eat the battery, so work of warning there. All palms now sync with Outlook with software in the box now.

A Dell Inspiron 5150 should have all you need save a floppy drive, but they have a USB one.

[mawz.livejournal.com]

iBook with Superdrive. Toss in a 512Mb stick and you have a killer little laptop that runs Unix and MS apps, not to mention is a nice little Photoshop box, you give up the floppy disk, but then again, laptops with FDD's are rare on the ground in the PC world too. 802.11g and 100Mb Ether are standard, as is a 56k. Get a Zire 31 to go with it, and you've got it made.

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

I LOVE my Dell Latitude D600, got a great price on it, and I have the 3-year accidental damage warranty.

Had I had $1000 more in spending money at the time, however, I so would have gone with a ThinkPad. You just can't beat them with any other manufacturer. They have the absolute best quality of anything out there.

Think carefully before you go for a PDA or a PocketPC. I have been through two Palm Pilots and have ended up using my laptop and never even using my PDA - I just carry around a little notebook with my stuff if I need to write down dates or other notes. Palm OS and PocketPC are compatible with Outlook 2k3, but if you go with a PocketPC with built-in wireless you can send email with Pocket Outlook, so...

Dell Axims are really worth looking at. I've used several that belong to people I know, and they are pretty nice for the price.

You can get a floppy module with a laptop if the laptop you buy has a removable drive module - if it's something you actually need, then it should be a deciding factor for you. I still wish I had spent the extra $30 when I ordered my D600 and gotten the floppy drive. Depending on what you do, it IS necessary.

If you do decide to go with IBM or Dell (and when I say Dell, I mean Dell Latitudes, not the home Inspiron line), seriously consider getting the accidental damage warranty available from either manufacturer - this warranty covers ANY possible damage to your laptop except theft or fire. It's a nice feeling to know you drop your laptop, kill your display, and get it replaced for free in no more than two business days.

Hope that helps a bit!

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

If you really consider Mac, look at the PowerBooks - the standard features that are added compared to iBooks are worth the money IMHO (more ram, bigger HDD, faster processor, nicer display, nicer keyboard, better touchpad, bluetooth, gigabit in the 15" and 17" models). Plus you can get a discount if you have a college picture ID.

If you really need windows apps, though, I really don't like using virtualPC with OS X - it's pretty dang slow. But that's just me. :)

[shifuimam.livejournal.com]

Untrue. Dell Latitudes all use a removable floppy module, and the 12" D400 model has an external drive bay that uses the same floppy module.

Same goes for ThinkPads - it's at the very least still available as a separate upgrade, so I'm sure you could add it to your order if you wanted. Windows XP provides hot-swapping with laptop media bay modules, so you can swap out the CD/DVD drive with the floppy drive in a snap.

[mawz.livejournal.com]

The 15" Superdrive Powerbook and the 14" Combodrive iBook are the value kings. If you've got the money, nothing beets the Powerbook, but for value, the iBooks rule.

As to Windows Apps, well, I've yet to run across one I need for personal use that doesn't have a Mac version or equivalent. And if not you've got access to almost all Unix apps too.

[tecie.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy with my Sony Viao -- if you're looking for a desktop replacement then I'd go with a Toshiba Satellite (theyre worse on battery life and heavier, but much more feature packed then any other laptop in their price range)
If I were you, I'd get a USB floppy drive. Drives in general are huge energy hogs and realistically you can get a much slimmer laptop without a floppy built in. The USB drives are generally more durable, and easier to replace as well.

Also, I've heard that getting a built in wireless NIC (I know you didn't mention this) typically yields worse results then using a PCMCIA card. Every laptop on the market should have a built in 100MBPS NIC or better.

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Yes, hotswapping into ultrabay is an option, however, it's a bad one - internal devices are fragile, and with the chances of destroying a $200+ drive by gripping it too hard when swapping being as high as they are, it's safer to use an external USB device.

By builtin floppy drive I meant one separate from regular drive bay - G-series ThinkPads have it, but they are heavy, noisy, and eat batteries like no tomorrow. Cheap though, relatively to other IBM offerings.

[torkell]

Personally I quite like the Thinkpad R5x series - you'd probably want an R51 as most of those come with built-in 802.11b/g (they've got two antennas in the lid, so signal should be pretty good) as well as the usual ethernet+modem. As far as photoshop stuff goes, I know the R51's will eat big CAD files for breakfast. I think the IBM will come preloaded with WinXP Pro, but it's worth it as it also comes preloaded with all the IBM goodies.

You're out of luck if you're looking for a floppy drive, I can't think of any current laptops that have one. IBM might do a hotswap floppy, if not you'd need a USB floppy.

I don't know what's current in the PDA market, but I rather like Palms myself. I think they'll sync with Outlook out of the box, but again I'm a bit out of date as last one I owned was a Palm II or III (and broke the screen on it - be very careful not to drop it if it's likely to land screen-down on a small stone on the tarmac!)

[inahandbasket]

well the real question here, how much are you willing to pay for the laptop?

For PDA, I'd go Treo 650. Covers your cell phone needs too!

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

Indeed. My next laptop is going to be a 15-inch Powerbook with a Superdrive and upgraded video and HD. I'm totally happy with the desktop being an XP Pro box, but the laptop is going to be a Powerbook.

[xdownfornowx.livejournal.com]

not to be the lone asshole... but why would somebody that considers themself to be a tech need to ask such a question?

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

I think I forgot to mention, I'm willing for the floppy to be USB, because I know they're not a laptop standard anymore :) Thanks for all the recommendations tho, I knew I asked the right people.

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

I'd love to get a Mac but it just doesn't suit my purposes for the time being. If I can manage to make some extra cash with this venture tho, the computer after this will be a pretty Powerbook or depending on my space, one of the newer desktop models (I'm so out of touch with Macs I can only think of the mini atm but that's not quite what I mean).

[darkblade1.livejournal.com]

See, it's lightweight! Knowing this, it's either filled with air, or cardboard...

:)

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

It has been pretty much narrowed down to IBM or Dell at this point. I'm glad for the feedback but I think I may end up with Dell as I get a bit of a corporate discount.

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping to come in under $3000 CAD, preferrably closer to $1500 but I'm flexible.
I've looked at the Treo but I've already got a good cell. When this one goes tho :)

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

Aww...come on...that wasn't even funny and didn't even really make sense.
It's an opinion question, asked to people with more then valid opinions on this subject by someone who knows enough to read and understand the responses but hasn't bought any of this stuff in years. It's related to my industry (I work for an ISP) but not so close I deal with it on a day to day basis and it's not like I'm going to take my end users suggestions for hardware now is it?

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

ooh ooh ooh *raises hand* me me me i know the answer

i have a dell d600 latitude that i've had for a year now and i love love love it. i got a souped up one with a dvd+rw and 1 gb ram, etc. its light its wonderful and its never crashed.

for pda nothing beats my sprint ppc6601. its the first pda windows os phone. notice it is not a smartphone, that can't do crap. it is a full fledged pda with secure digital slot and everything that also doubles as a phone and internet connection through sprint. costs about $600 but my office bought mine [fed govt] so we got it for under $500 and the monthly service is only $60 month and that includes unlimited data and weekend calling and 800 anytime minutes. i LOVE my device.

alternatively, if you don't need the phone capability all the time, you should get a dell axim. its what i had before and i love love loved it too. it had cf and secure digital slots. you can even get a compact flash internet connection card from sprint so that when you need to you can have a data or phone connection just but plugging in the cf card. i only switched because carrying around the pda with the cf phone card all the time was a pain and my work demands i have a constant 24/7 connection.

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

So going with Dell doesn't sound like a bad idea I take it? ;)
Have you ever needed their support for anything (notably replacement or something else you couldn't fix)? How did it go?

[belovedcrown.livejournal.com]

i've called their support 2x. once at my old company, a coworker borrowed my laptop, dropped it and cracked the monitor. i called dell, had to struggle with dealing with a tech from india who didn't speak english well, but when the guy came out to fix it next day [local dell tech] they were quick and wonderful.

i had to call them again a few weeks ago for a user at my current workplace who accidentally pulled off a key on the keyboard. this time no indian outsourced tech support [they moved it all back to the states a few years ago] and the local tech was just as friendly as before.

dells are great. and they are always running super deals.