[NA]Laptop shopping[NA]

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
the 4yo Toshiba finally went T.U. and I'm overstaying my welcome on Janet's Lenovo so I have to order one soon.
A couple of questions:

-your suggestions of course (I read E's thread....she was looking for something else I think but there were good tips)
-Vista vs XP..... would it be a mistake to get XP if Vista is going to be mandatory soon? (think XP will be functional for the lifespan of the device?)
-macs, while admirable are not in the running for me
-I didn't like that the IBM came without software CDs. I guess that's their way of controlling distribution of IP but..
-Is the current best standard USB port 2.0?
-2? years ago, dual core processors were the rage, have they been shown to be reliable?

Mission?
'Heavy' home use, occasional travel, the usual photos/documents etc. No networking reqd. Need CD/DVD player/writer.
-Longevity and warrantee are very important to me, I'm not into the disposable age yet.
 
I'd stick with recommending Microcenter for ordering on the web.
 
I'm lukewarm on Vista. It's a resource hog, and I don't care for the interface. But it is more secure than XP, and XP will be out of support in a few years.

USB 2.0 is the current standard. eSATA and Firewire have been slow to catch on.

As far as processors, even as a long-time AMD man, I have to admit that the Intel Core2 Duo is an amazing chip. Yes, I think it is very reliable, and very fast.

I suggest at least 1024 MB of RAM for Vista. Upping that to 2048 would be better. Vista is a hog.

As fas as my favorite brand, I think the Acer laptops are a very good value right now unless you need something more rugged, in which case one of the Lenovos is probably a better bet. (I've been using a Acer travelmate for about a year, though, and it rides in my backpack in the back of my car to every job. It has held up well.)

Few of the manufacturers are providing actual software disks these days. Most provide only a recovery disk, and some not even that. I routinely recommend cloning the drive for laptops, using an external drive that is compatible and can be swapped with the internal drive if it fails.

Rich
 
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Thanks for the tips.
I read how Vista is slow, I really want to avoid slow. Hope XP will survive 4 years.
I am looking at IBM for its durability, reliability.
Does Panasonic really only offer 2 different notebooks?

I think I will use the following specs to begin:
150gB HD
2gB ram
2 gHz CPU (? ref below)
Intel duo core
WinXP

Teach me how to clone a HD, I have an external HD already.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Thanks for the tips.
I read how Vista is slow, I really want to avoid slow. Hope XP will survive 4 years.
I am looking at IBM for its durability, reliability.
Does Panasonic really only offer 2 different notebooks?

I think I will use the following specs to begin:
150gB HD
2gB ram
2 gHz CPU (? ref below)
Intel duo core
WinXP

Teach me how to clone a HD, I have an external HD already.
Click to expand...

Everyone has their own preference. Mine is Casper 4.0. Others will disagree.

I purchase a laptop hard drive of at least the same capacity as the internal drive and that has the same interface (usually SATA these days), put it in an enclosure, and plug it into the laptop. Then I install Casper and clone the internal drive to the external drive, create a desktop shortcut to the cloning routine, and instruct the client to refresh the clone regularly, which only takes a few minutes once the first cloning is finished.

I then tape a card to the external enclosure with instructions to any other technician, explaining that the drive inside of the enclosure is a clone of the laptop's drive, and may be directly swapped into the laptop in the event of failure. I put the drive and the USB cable in the laptop case, hope the client will actually refresh it once in a while, and send him or her on their way.

The idea is that if they are traveling and the hard drive dies, any tech can get them back up and running in minutes.

Like I said, everyone has their own preferences. I just find that Casper is easy for clients to use, does a good job, and doesn't require any extracting when the backup drive is put into service. It's basically a downtime-reduction strategy.

I also recommend that truly critical data be backed up online using FilesAnywhere or a similar service. Laptops can be lost or stolen, fires and floods can destroy the external drive along with the laptop, etc. Having remote backup makes the vital data available anywhere an Internet connection can be had.

Rich
 
I have pretty recent backups for the dead Toshiba but still have interest in resurrecting it to get the last few things I was working on.

Any tips?

When I start it up, 25% of the time, it gets all the way to displaying the desktop and a moving cursor but it is still very busy looking at the hard drive, so you can't open anything. Then it goes to the BSoD, with the suggestion of what has failed.
The rest of the time it will open to the screen that offers options like open in Safe Mode, Debugging mode, or Last Known Good Config etc. none of which work for me.
Also, the hard drive is suddenly very noisy.
I put it in the freezer last night but that made it really noisy so I shut it right down. Might be time to shoot some WD 40 in there! ;) ;) ;)
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I have pretty recent backups for the dead Toshiba but still have interest in resurrecting it to get the last few things I was working on.

Any tips?

When I start it up, 25% of the time, it gets all the way to displaying the desktop and a moving cursor but it is still very busy looking at the hard drive, so you can't open anything. Then it goes to the BSoD, with the suggestion of what has failed.
The rest of the time it will open to the screen that offers options like open in Safe Mode, Debugging mode, or Last Known Good Config etc. none of which work for me.
Also, the hard drive is suddenly very noisy.
I put it in the freezer last night but that made it really noisy so I shut it right down. Might be time to shoot some WD 40 in there! ;) ;) ;)
Click to expand...

It probably can be recovered. I know a good data recovery guy. Will PM you his phone number.

Rich
 
Vista is still spotty on support for applications that aren't in the mainstream, especially VPN/Remote access clients. If you access your company/client networks remotely, Vista may not be for you. If you just run normal business apps, Vista works fine with a fast CPU and plenty of memory.

XP will be supported for a while yet, as most of the world still runs it. Until the fed gov't and major organizations make the move to Vista, MS will still support XP.
 
1. XP.
2. At least 2 gig RAM
3. I bought a couple of Acers for the office, and they have performed admirably thus far. Lots of content for the money. Only gripe for me was keyboard arrangement, few oddities in the ones we bought, but I suspect that if I used it all the time (I still use a Toshiba regularly) it would become quite routine.
4. Echo the Micro Center comments; you need (of course) to schedule an immediate trip to Dallas, to shop there in person. In the alternative, I'll be glad to put you in touch with the business sales rep at the Dallas store (we buy all our 'puters from him), who will handle stuff for you on a personal level.
5. Rich's data recovery guy rocks, and does not gouge the customer. He saved all my
files (and, by the way, it sounds as if your Toshiba hard drive is dying just like mine did).
 
thanks,
a) I am seeing a lot of models that simply do not come with XP, they are forcing Vista on us.
b) Vista has about 3 choices to make but their guidance is (to me) cryptic. 32bit or 64bit? They say what it can do, but avoid saying what it cannot do. Ie what files/data/etc that I want to switch over to the new laptop will become unusable.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
thanks,
a) I am seeing a lot of models that simply do not come with XP, they are forcing Vista on us.
b) Vista has about 3 choices to make but their guidance is (to me) cryptic. 32bit or 64bit? They say what it can do, but avoid saying what it cannot do. Ie what files/data/etc that I want to switch over to the new laptop will become unusable.
Click to expand...
Call Microcenter by phone. It's not impossible you might get them to still include a copy of XP.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
thanks,
a) I am seeing a lot of models that simply do not come with XP, they are forcing Vista on us.
b) Vista has about 3 choices to make but their guidance is (to me) cryptic. 32bit or 64bit? They say what it can do, but avoid saying what it cannot do. Ie what files/data/etc that I want to switch over to the new laptop will become unusable.
Click to expand...

The differences in the Vista versions are discussed here. The editions differ mainly in terms of features, and are upgradeable after purchase. It's better to purchase a version that meets your needs from the beginning, however, to avoid the chore of upgrading later.

XP will be supported for at least another two years, and probably longer. I expect that the government will exert pressure upon MS to continue providing at least security updates even after the XP life cycle expires. However, more and more applications may require Vista in order to be functional. So the question of XP versus Vista is a tough one and depends mainly upon what it is that you do with the computer. If you need to use legacy apps that are unlikely to be supported in Vista, then XP is the clear choice.

As for 32-bit vs. 64-bit, 64-bit is somewhat faster and takes fuller advantage of 64-bit processors. It also will support most 32-bit applications written at least for 2000/XP and later versions of Windows, but not most older software nor 16-bit software (at least not natively).

You also are more likely to encounter hardware incompatibility with legacy hardware (and even some current hardware) if you elect 64-bit. You cannot use 32-bit drivers in a 64-bit environment, and the relatively small number of people using 64-bit Vista has resulted in some hardware manufacturers simply not bothering to release drivers for it. Of course, MS doesn't like this and tries to persuade them to do so, but if you are considering 64-bit, I urge you to make sure that your hardware is supported.

Rich
 
By all appearances, it seems to be an in-house brand. I've done fine with major brand items and cables, etc I've bought from Newegg but I have no clue about the Durabook.
 
The specs look pretty good, and the price actually is lower than what I would expect for a ruggedized laptop.

Durabook is a division of a company named Gammatech that's been around for quite a long time. They used to market mainly to government agencies and certain industries that work in harsh environments (oil rigs, tugboats, forestry work, etc.), but recently they've been testing the waters marketing directly to consumers.

The Durabook line consists of "ruggedized" computers that meet MilSpec 810F, which is a set of standards the government uses to rate the reliability of various electronic devices in harsh environments. The complete specs include resistance to things like falls, spills, vibration, dust, dirt, heat, cold, fungus, and so forth; but "ruggedized" or "semi-rugged" laptops like most of the Durabook line only need to meet the specs for falls, vibration, and spills. ("Fully rugged" laptops have additional requirements, and generally cost much, much more.)

These are great laptops if you intend to use them in less-than-ideal conditions (or if you're simply a klutz). They hold up well under hard use; and under normal use, technological progress is likely to make them obsolete before they break.

The main downside (other than the higher cost) is that they tend to be heavier than comparable non-ruggedized models; so if you will be schlepping the thing around a lot, that's something to consider.

Rich
 
Thanks Rich. It's seldom to find an insight on an unknown product, particularly computers. There's certain enough companies out there trying to market something never before heard of.
 
That would be so cool, to have a MilSpec Laptop!!
Maybe I could rivet a data tag to the top cover!
 
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