I think 10,000 feet is OK with some hard drives. Otherwise you'd need a flash drive based system which is probably several years off.
Notebook advise
- Thread starter Dave Siciliano
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I think 10,000 feet is OK with some hard drives. Otherwise you'd need a flash drive based system which is probably several years off.
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
We make them.
Ghery
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Ghery Pettit
I wouldn't be surprised. However, my Core(TM) 2 Duo E6700 based machine does scoot, even with Vista installed. If you are familiar with SETI@Home I have some interesting numbers. With an enhanced client (tailored for this processor's instruction set) my RAC (recent average credit) is 1485 and climbing (hasn't been running long enough for this number to stabilize). We've got an 8 core (dual quad core) Xeon server running in a lab under Linux with the stock client that is currently showing an RAC of 2223 (and climbing for the same reason). Same clock speeds on both processors (2.66 GHz). Looks to me like the Core(TM) 2 Duo is a better number cruncher than the server oriented Xeon. 1/4 the number of processor cores, over 1/2 the performance.
Why bring this up? I'm sure my new system would be faster with XP than Vista, but Vista brings some new capabilities to the party and I would be upgrading to it eventually anyway. This machine will be on-line for at least 5 years, probably longer if history holds in our house. And, speed difference aside, Vista is plenty fast on this machine. Heck, if you want speed, I'll bet DOS would FLY!
wsuffa
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Dave, the upper limit on most laptops is about 10K. The limit is hard-drive. The spec sheets will generally say 8-10K, but realistically the hard drives themselves are rated at 10. The cabin on most airliners is 10K or below... I'm not aware of a laptop that doesn't function in an airliner.
Ergo, most likely you'll be OK in the pressurized aircraft.
Visibility of the screen is going to be a much, much bigger deal.
Ergo, most likely you'll be OK in the pressurized aircraft.
Visibility of the screen is going to be a much, much bigger deal.
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
I'm leaving town that next weekend (beginning the 29th). Be good to see you if you can break free on of those first few days.
Best,
Dave
wsuffa
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Sorry, I can't make that one.
rpadula
En-Route
Ahahahaha, boy that reminds me of when I was in high school. My friend and I were trying to decide which kind of 5 1/4" floppies to buy for our Apples (//e's btw) and the sales guy sold us on some kind (Elephant maybe?) coz he said his cat peed on a whole box of his and they all worked!
-Rich
astanley
En-Route
Sure thing. I'm flying down the 23rd but connecting on to IAH to visit a friend at Baylor Med. Should be back evening of the 25th, and I should have at least one free night (probably the 26th?) that week.
Cheers,
-Andrew
rpadula
En-Route
Now that would be a trick if MS-DOS was multi-procesor, multi-core aware!Heck, if you want speed, I'll bet DOS would FLY!
You may think you're joking, but a guy I know still uses DOS. He's running some ancient nuclear simulation program and he says Windows just slows things down!
-Rich
I like my Toshiba U205 small, light for travel. Big monitor for home.
JohnR
Final Approach
I think they're all loaded with junk software these days.
Maybe you want a Panasonic Toughbook. They cost twice as much, but are more robust. I had an old one I bought on Ebay and loved it until something unidentifiable started to go wrong inside. I gave it to a friend who runs a cyber cafe in Nicaragua.
wsuffa
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5-1/4"??? I found a box of 8" floppies in the garage the other day. Inmac...
Lawreston
En-Route
Yup; during the ongoing process of cleansing my garage -- the receptacle for odds and ends of having sold my two stores(1990 and 2004) I found many Mini Kas-ette/10 Library Case plastic containers. These strange names appeared on the exteriors: COBOL / BASIC / TDL BASIC / FORTRAN / SMALL C / JRT-PASCAL / BORLAND. Once the contents were discarded, what to do? They become perfect storage containers for those "new-fangled" things called CD. And it negates the need for buying CD storage albums(and requiring less space).
HR
How do you deal with the limited write life for flash media?
Don't those look absolutely HUGE now?I saw a guy on the train yesterday that had a 3 1/4" "floppy" in his backpack. I wondered what data he could possibly have to take home that fits on a 1.44MB drive.
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and the next user was Mr. Mike Mugutu who is the next of kin who has $535,417 in a bank account he needs to get out of the country?It would be funny if you supplied it with a keylogger pre-installed.
I remember when I bought my ($1499) Osborne 1 in 1982 my buddy got the computer store to throw in a box of premium Dysan 5 1/4" inch floppies - SINGLE SIDED SINGLE DENSITY - 92K formatted - and the price sticker on the box of 10 said $114. That was the same scam then as the $39 printer cables today, but the street price elsewhere was still in the $50 range.
flyingcheesehead
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Mike: Repeat... Apple does not have their tech support overseas.
Do the right things, they'll fix it. They will, of course, go through the standard list of crap to try. I went through all this with my kernel panic problem. I'd sent in a few of the automatic bug reports when it first started happening, but I got frustrated and gave up.
After going through things with the phone support people, things were working better but I still had the issue. I started sending the reports again and a couple of days later... Voila, a firmware update appeared and I haven't had the problem since.
iflyatiger
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iflyatiger
I agree with Dave..
I own Sony for the last few years and it has been great.
I setup a small Sony for a customer 2 days ago and it is loaded with so many trial programs and c**p it took me hours to remove some of the programs, then when I joined it to a domain I ran into many problems including blue screens.. Guess what.. The fingerprint reader software is not compatible with a domain they suggest uninstalling the fingerprint software and that disables a valued ( ?) feature of the notebook. I ultimately had to restore the system to it's factory state and I will start again tomorrow. After this mess I will no longer recommend Sony notebooks.
Jon
I own Sony for the last few years and it has been great.
I setup a small Sony for a customer 2 days ago and it is loaded with so many trial programs and c**p it took me hours to remove some of the programs, then when I joined it to a domain I ran into many problems including blue screens.. Guess what.. The fingerprint reader software is not compatible with a domain they suggest uninstalling the fingerprint software and that disables a valued ( ?) feature of the notebook. I ultimately had to restore the system to it's factory state and I will start again tomorrow. After this mess I will no longer recommend Sony notebooks.
Jon
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Limit the writing
I've never really seen any issues with compact flash failure. Typically I make a Windows XP Embedded image custom for the system and it supports something called EWF (Enhanced Write Filter). Depending on the purpose I can setup EWF so that all writes are done to memory in a ramdisk overlay. Of course this does not work for everything because some things need to be able to write data for permament access. In that case you just let it write to the compact flash and try to limit it as much as possible. Compactflash is smart and will try to spread writing out over the card to make it last longer.
I never really said it was ready for consumer use
DON'T BUY SONY! I would suspect they woulds love to make the fingerprint reader so only one person can listen to Sony/BMG Music CDs and only then a limited number of times.
The PC makers get paid handsomely for pre-loading the crapware. That's how they can sell a PC for $500 when Microsoft gets $50 if that for Windows.
I just tried to import a CD I happened to have using iTunes. It ran really slowly and then consistently hangs with 7 seconds to go on Louis Armstrong's "Sleepytime Down South." I forced quit iTunes about 6 times and gave up. I also hadda manually delete the duplicate imported songs. This is maybe the 3rd time I ever ripped a CD to iTunes. I had to use Help to figure out where the Import button was on iTunes 7. It actually works for most people, right?
Apple really is getting close to the Windows experience.
BTW, my experience with Apple Support was with Jann's iMac non-functioning and unreliable AirPort client. I typed away with 'Roger" on Apple's online support site for 20-30 minutes after which "Roger" abruptly disconnected. About the same as the gas company only they put you hold for 20 minutes first. They fixed that non-existent problem in an later update, too.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
What happened when you tried to import just the one song? Why'd you re-import all the ones you'd already finished? I'm guessing something very wrong with the CD in that spot. Could you play it OK? *ahem* Audio Hijack... If you could play it that is. iTunes certainly should have handled the error better.
This is maybe the 3rd time I ever ripped a CD to iTunes. I had to use Help to figure out where the Import button was on iTunes 7. It actually works for most people, right?
Uhhh... Could it be the big one on the upper right that says "Import" which appears after you insert a CD?
Bull****. I dare you to install Windows on your MBP and use nothing but Windows for a week and see how you feel.
And no cheating and using Parallels either. Full-bore Windoze, buddy... And you know damn well you'd hate it, and I know damn well you don't really mean what you said there.
They gotta know there's a problem to fix it... If you're the first guy to call it in, well... There's no problem as far as tech support is concerned. For tech support, "no problem" = "no known problem."
JohnR
Final Approach
For the application you describe, you may be right not to recommend Sonys. Mine is stand-alone, it didn't take me long to remove crapware, and it's been perfect for me. It's been the best of the seven computers I've owned.
Every computer I've bought in the last eight years has been chock full of crapware, Compaq being the worst I've had.
Yeah. I see that the CD has some rings of scratches about a third of the way in.
Uhhh... Could it be the big one on the upper right that says "Import" which appears after you insert a CD?
Uhhhhh...don't you think I looked there?
The Import button is on the LOWER left now, wise guy, and it isn't the same icon. It's just a text button. Trust me I looked for a long while running through every selection on the menu, before I used Help to tell me how to do an import. There is no "Import CD" on the menu.
It does pop up a Window asking if you want to import when you insert the CD, but I wanted to check the import settings first.
Maybe you should see what happens when agree to let the system install all of the updates. Most of te iTunes updates are to make it work with new iPods you don't have and to quietly make the DRM stronger anyway, although they did add stuff like Album Art, Movies, and Games along the way.
I am running Windows all damn day long.Bull****. I dare you to install Windows on your MBP and use nothing but Windows for a week and see how you feel.
And you know damn well you'd hate it, and I know damn well you don't really mean what you said there.
I just got these few problems.
I'll admit the problems are routine on Windows and "just working" is routine on the Mac.
An example of how Microsoft has teams working at cross purposes: I installed the "Default Internet Applications" module that Microsoft made available to please the EU and the U.S. judge who told them they couldn't force Internet Explorer down the throats. (BTW, Try to find that at Microsoft or on your XP install CD. It doesn't egt installed by default.) Somewhere along the line I think they added a security option to allow the application to run at all. There's a list of installed applications, on mine, Firefox and IE, Outlook Express and Thunderbird, ... With a radio box to choose the default app to use for browsing or email. There's also a checkbox next to each app "[] Enable access to this application"
So I choose Firefox as the browser and Thunderbird for email rather than the evil Outlook. Save. It locks up forever. Kill app. Try again. and again and again. The next day I decide to troubleshoot by trying one app at a time. Select Firefox. Save. No problemo. I go back and realize that the "Enable" box is not set for Thunderbird. I click the box, select, save and whattd'ya know? It works now!
No reason for the guys who added the "Enable" option to think that when you select the app you also mean to enable it, huh?...or when this combo happens show an error box? Not when the coders are way overworked virgin CS grads fueled by too much free CocaCola. The whole OS is full of stoopid like that.
BTW, after all of this when I run IE on purpose because some site needs it - the config pages on my DSL gateway wouldn't work with Firefox - when I click on a link, it opens it in Firefox. When I select Open in IE and enter the URL, it opens in Firefox. That's why I ran that app in the first place. I had to set IE as the default to get done. More stoopid.
I'm getting too old and cranky for any of this.
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Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
Well, I purchased a Dell Latitude 620. Seemed pretty good, but I couldn't download a manual or get reasonable customer support. I called after it came in and got some simple answers to questions and got it running.
Today I called because it doesn't have a parallel port for the printer; wanted to know what to do. USB to my back up hard drive wouldn't work. PCI--slot had a button come out I couldn't get reset and had a few other questions. Called and got someone in Asia I couldn't understand after going through the long push this button for this and that one for that c^*p. Gave express service number. I asked the lady if she would transfer me to someone I could understand. Took about three minutes for her to spell her name and for me to write it down. She hung up on me.
I finally called back and asked them how to just return the computer--I was tired of this. After a lot of questions, etc. they said it was a business computer and I would have to call someone else. Finally got a guy who said it could be returned but I would have to call tomorrow to arrange it. Just erased all the software I had previously got up and running. I'm just tired of this kind of customer service.
I'll just turn it over to my secretary and probably close our business account with Dell. The only manual was on line; couldn't be downloaded or saved to disk--what crap. So, if I couldn't get on line or didn't want to scroll through on line pages, I had to either figure stuff out or call Tech support.
A shame. Used to be a great Texas company.
Now, I've got to figure out where to purchase one. I sure don't what this kind of BS from who every I purchase it.
Guess I'll go to the past recommendations and begin over. I spend several completely unproductive and unnecessary hours on this thing. I'm not a novice.
Best,
Dave
Today I called because it doesn't have a parallel port for the printer; wanted to know what to do. USB to my back up hard drive wouldn't work. PCI--slot had a button come out I couldn't get reset and had a few other questions. Called and got someone in Asia I couldn't understand after going through the long push this button for this and that one for that c^*p. Gave express service number. I asked the lady if she would transfer me to someone I could understand. Took about three minutes for her to spell her name and for me to write it down. She hung up on me.
I finally called back and asked them how to just return the computer--I was tired of this. After a lot of questions, etc. they said it was a business computer and I would have to call someone else. Finally got a guy who said it could be returned but I would have to call tomorrow to arrange it. Just erased all the software I had previously got up and running. I'm just tired of this kind of customer service.
I'll just turn it over to my secretary and probably close our business account with Dell. The only manual was on line; couldn't be downloaded or saved to disk--what crap. So, if I couldn't get on line or didn't want to scroll through on line pages, I had to either figure stuff out or call Tech support.
A shame. Used to be a great Texas company.
Now, I've got to figure out where to purchase one. I sure don't what this kind of BS from who every I purchase it.
Guess I'll go to the past recommendations and begin over. I spend several completely unproductive and unnecessary hours on this thing. I'm not a novice.
Best,
Dave
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jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Service is pretty much going to suck with every company. How do you compete with all the other companies with cheap service? You get cheap service yourself. It's the new economy. Outsource your service--find someone local that knows the product and go through them for problems.
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
I don't know, but an operating manual that can only be viewed on line isn't a great way to do it IMO.
Best,
Dave
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
I can't think of a notebook that gets an operating manual shipped with it in the box. That's including: HP, Dell, Sony, E-machine, Gateway, Medion, Compaq, Toshiba....
Computer operating manuals tend to suck for that matter...
You could consider purchasing from a local store that seems to have knowledgeable people. There are generally mom and pop stores that will sell notebooks. They most likely know quite a bit about them but you will be paying a premium.
I'm confused. Why can't you download the manual?
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd620/en/index.htm
Users Guide:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd620/en/UG/UG_en.zip
Service Manual:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd620/en/SM/SM_en.zip
The cool thing about Dell is that they will LET you have the service manual. Most companies will not provide you with one.
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Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
I tried several times to down load it with the assistance of their technical support person: first, it wouldn't let me chose where to down load it to--I just hate it when they put it somewhere and you have to go back, dig it out and try to find it. Second: even though they said it was a pdf, that's not what downloaded--all I got was a directory of jpg files that were graphics--no text.
The lady trying to help me gave up. Said that's all they had---so slorrry? No can do. Gd Ble!
Thanks for shopping at Dell!!
Best,
Dave
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Gotcha. It's a zip file full of jpegs and html files. Basically it's the web viewable version of their manual dropped into a zip folder. A stupid way to do it, I agree. If you download it and unzip the file and click on index.htm you can view the whole manual.
I downloaded the manual, unzipped it, and placed it here for you.
http://jesseangell.com/forums/dell620/index.htm
Dave, you'll have a hard time finding a notebook with a parallel port anymore. There are cheap USB/parallel adapters. I spotted one at Microcenter for $9.
Once you really decide your time is worth a few bucks more up front take the plunge and get a MacBook Pro for $1500-$1700 and get Applecare for $300 more. You shouldn't need tech support, but if you do they're all in the U.S.
Dan, Kent and I can tell you how to Windows working on it. You'll find after a while you don't need Windows. Windows will be another $80-$100 and Parallels is $79.
Once you really decide your time is worth a few bucks more up front take the plunge and get a MacBook Pro for $1500-$1700 and get Applecare for $300 more. You shouldn't need tech support, but if you do they're all in the U.S.
Dan, Kent and I can tell you how to Windows working on it. You'll find after a while you don't need Windows. Windows will be another $80-$100 and Parallels is $79.
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
I got to this point before, but didn't know how to save it to my hard drive so I could view it off line. I don't know how to do that with your file either. Wonderful of you to take the time to do this.
Dave
Right click the zip file, and you should get a window letting you save where you want.
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
I'll try and put it in a PDF for you tomorrow.
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
Jesse: Please don't take the time. I'll work with what they have.
Dave
Dave
I've seen that happen, too- it gives you the dialog box asking where you want to save it, but the places where you;d make the selection are greyed-out.
Dave, I have had good luck buying from Micro Center, who have a dedicated business sales guy local to whom you can speak. I call them up, tell them what I need, they arrange it and have it delivered by courier (some nominal delivery charge, like maybe $35.00?).
YMMV, but they at least seem to know what they are doing. If you want the business sales guy's #, let me know.
Larry Liebscher
Pre-Flight
I switched in January and am not going back.
I've used DOS and Windows since 1993. Gateways, Dells, Toshibas, IBMs. My last laptop was an IBM Thinkpad T42. The hard drive just died, but I'll probably get it fixed and give it to my daughter.
I couldn't use a Mac before because there is one program that I have to use for work from home and it requires Windows (specifically IE 5.5 or 6.0). With the Intel chips and Parallels I was able to install a bare Windows XP virtual machine that I connect to work through a vpn. Otherwise I now do everything on my MacBook Pro 15.
I have absolutely no desire to use Windows. It took me about 3-4 weeks to be completely comfortable in OS X.
And remember, Vista is at best an equal or slightly less polished version of OS X 10.4. In the next few months Apple will be releasing OS X 10.5 and it will in all likelihood blow the doors off Vista.
Then there is the whole thing about no viruses or malware, no antivirus programs, proper management of memory, no registery, no .dlls, better security, keychain, ...the list goes on.
For a laptop there is a real benefit in the stability of the system and its memory management. You close the lid and it goes to sleep. You open the lid and it is back up and fully functioning in about 2-3 seconds. You can literally go weeks or months without rebooting.
There is no reason to get into a big Mac vs PC argument. My purpose in posting is to suggest that you give it serious thought. It might be for you, maybe not. But with the ability to use Parallels and Windows for the odd program that you absolutely have to use and only runs under Windows, the unsolvable roadblock that used to exist is now gone.
I've used DOS and Windows since 1993. Gateways, Dells, Toshibas, IBMs. My last laptop was an IBM Thinkpad T42. The hard drive just died, but I'll probably get it fixed and give it to my daughter.
I couldn't use a Mac before because there is one program that I have to use for work from home and it requires Windows (specifically IE 5.5 or 6.0). With the Intel chips and Parallels I was able to install a bare Windows XP virtual machine that I connect to work through a vpn. Otherwise I now do everything on my MacBook Pro 15.
I have absolutely no desire to use Windows. It took me about 3-4 weeks to be completely comfortable in OS X.
And remember, Vista is at best an equal or slightly less polished version of OS X 10.4. In the next few months Apple will be releasing OS X 10.5 and it will in all likelihood blow the doors off Vista.
Then there is the whole thing about no viruses or malware, no antivirus programs, proper management of memory, no registery, no .dlls, better security, keychain, ...the list goes on.
For a laptop there is a real benefit in the stability of the system and its memory management. You close the lid and it goes to sleep. You open the lid and it is back up and fully functioning in about 2-3 seconds. You can literally go weeks or months without rebooting.
There is no reason to get into a big Mac vs PC argument. My purpose in posting is to suggest that you give it serious thought. It might be for you, maybe not. But with the ability to use Parallels and Windows for the odd program that you absolutely have to use and only runs under Windows, the unsolvable roadblock that used to exist is now gone.
gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
What browser are you using? Firefox has a setup option to always save downloads to the same place. BTW I opened the link Jesse posted and the manual showed up. To save it from there or anywhere else you can view the manual, just pick "save file" (IE) or "save page as" (FireFox) and then select a location.