Power Commuting....
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
If battery life isn't a problem, and you dont mind lugging a few pounds, go for an inspirion. Screen is nice enough to use VS on, and it has the horsepower. Ryan
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If battery life isn't a problem, and you dont mind lugging a few pounds, go for an inspirion. Screen is nice enough to use VS on, and it has the horsepower. Ryan
Ryan Roberts wrote: go for an inspirion I'll second that. That's the machine I'm typing this post on right now. It's not the most petite machine on the market, but I don't hesitate to fire up Visual Studio on it. The performance is right up there with my desktop machine. Previous laptops I've owned weren't up to the task. Still, it's not something I'd want to strap on my back and go jogging with. Charlie if(!curlies){ return; }
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
I'm with both Ryan and Charlie - I strongly recommend the Dell Inspiron 8600. I got mine with a 60G 7200rpm drive (the faster speed makes all the difference) and increased the RAM to 1G. The 1920x1200 onboard display is razor sharp, although I prefer to run it at 1680x1050 when not connected to a CRT. My 8600 has replaced my desktop - I love it! :cool: /ravi My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | Freeware | Music ravib@ravib.com
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I'm with both Ryan and Charlie - I strongly recommend the Dell Inspiron 8600. I got mine with a 60G 7200rpm drive (the faster speed makes all the difference) and increased the RAM to 1G. The 1920x1200 onboard display is razor sharp, although I prefer to run it at 1680x1050 when not connected to a CRT. My 8600 has replaced my desktop - I love it! :cool: /ravi My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | Freeware | Music ravib@ravib.com
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
I have an IBM X40, not sure what exchange rate but it set me back $1600USD. Its got more than enough battery life for you but its an ultra portable so mine is only 1ghz and has no optical drives. I have to agree with the others a Dell Inspiron would be perfect for VS, especially the widescreen models (my dad has one, its nice). Matt Newman
Even the very best tools in the hands of an idiot will produce something of little or no value. - Chris Meech on Idiots
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
I bought an Acer Travelmate 8006LMi[^] (2GHz P4M, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD and DVD+/-RW) several months ago for use as a development machine, and I have to say that it's been pretty solid - I've been using it as my primary development box ever since (despite having an Athlon 2500+ desktop upstairs...working on the sofa is so much more convenient :laugh: ) Although it's slightly above your price range (£1400 or so) there are others in the range which may be closer to £1000. I bought mine from Laptops Direct[^], and it arrived within 3 days of ordering. :-D I was seriously considering an Inspiron 8600, but my awful experience of Dell's so called "customer service" (outsourced call centres with no authority to answer questions not on their script) convinced me to cancel the order. I'm told Acer support isn't brilliant either, but at least they're in the UK! Good luck! Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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I bought an Acer Travelmate 8006LMi[^] (2GHz P4M, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD and DVD+/-RW) several months ago for use as a development machine, and I have to say that it's been pretty solid - I've been using it as my primary development box ever since (despite having an Athlon 2500+ desktop upstairs...working on the sofa is so much more convenient :laugh: ) Although it's slightly above your price range (£1400 or so) there are others in the range which may be closer to £1000. I bought mine from Laptops Direct[^], and it arrived within 3 days of ordering. :-D I was seriously considering an Inspiron 8600, but my awful experience of Dell's so called "customer service" (outsourced call centres with no authority to answer questions not on their script) convinced me to cancel the order. I'm told Acer support isn't brilliant either, but at least they're in the UK! Good luck! Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: I'm told Acer support isn't brilliant either, but at least they're in the UK! You ain't kidding. My hoover of an Acer 1700 (which ate 3 power supplies) went back to base for 3 months before I got the bloody thing back, and promptly sold it.. Ryan
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Anna-Jayne Metcalfe wrote: I'm told Acer support isn't brilliant either, but at least they're in the UK! You ain't kidding. My hoover of an Acer 1700 (which ate 3 power supplies) went back to base for 3 months before I got the bloody thing back, and promptly sold it.. Ryan
The word "eek!" springs to mind. So far my TravelMate has been solid...compared to the Viao I had behind it it's doing very well, given the pounding my machines receive. Oh well..if this falls flat on this face at least I can choose from any manufacturer except Sony (need, I say more?), Dell and Acer. :rolleyes: I had an HP Omnibook a while back, and I must admit I was impressed with that (especially their long term support for drivers - even for later OSs). When I was looking this time though they just didn't have anything in their range which matched what I was looking for. Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
Don't go dell!! I've had nothing but troubles with it since I bought it (September) Last week somebody (finally) came to pick it up and I told him it would be the last time I bougth Dell. His reply: "Yeah, I've heard that a lot." (It was a third party company picking up my pc) My father had the same problem. If you buy at a regular PC shop you'll pay a bit more, but believe me, if I would add my phone bill, my Dell would be more expensive. I have to admit that my girlfriends dell never had any problems though. I would think twice if I was you. :-). "If I don't see you in this world, I'll see you in the next one... and don't be late." ~ Jimi Hendrix
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
I was looking at various DELL models, from both the Inspiron and the Lattitude series - as I used to have a lattitude at work the first 3 years, and an IBM T40 the last year. Now I'm self employed and I had to go and buy one, and the DELL laptops are indeed rather inexpensive, but I still opted for the IBM (ended up with a T41P). It has all the performance you'll need (I use it as my main development box connected to a monitor and keyboard/mouse), plus this "more-metal-less-plastic" feeling that comes from the T-series. It IS more expensive - don't know the price in UK - so I had to shell out around £1800, but prices may be totally different depending on VAT etc. What I'm saying is that you should consider the fact that you're buying something to bring with you in various "on-the-road" situations. The Inspirons are powerfull, but I have the impression that they are best as desktop-replacements, not as portable pc's. Also, I find that the older C-series of Lattitude models was a bit better speaking in terms of quality as compared to the newer D-series and the Inspirons. Anyway, you can ponder from now till (next) christmas eve and still find arguments for one or the other. Buy something that you can afford, make sure that it has the pentium M processor and at least 512 MB RAM - and get a 7200 rpm disk if possible. Most displays are 1024x768 on the cheap models, but try to get a 1400x1050 if it's a 14.1" panel. Let us know what you end up with and how you like it :-D Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert
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I now have an hours train commute each way to work ( I hear you 'work from home types laughing out there!:laugh: ), and so I need a decent laptop. Fortunately, there are powerpoints on the train so battery life isn't the main requirement. I want to be able to watch DVDs and also fire up VS .NET 2003, SQL server etc. Anybody got any decent recommendations. My budget is around £1000 sterling. Regards Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
I was all set for a Dell Inspiron after the first few posts, and then went onto an Acer, via an IBM - its a minefield isn't it. I've had a sony vaio for about 3 years and the batteries are nothing short of useless. I've had two batteries and can't get more than 5 mins out of either of them. I rely purely on the power supply. Anyway, thanks all for your comments and I will keep checking here and post back what I went for and why. It has to be in the next couple of days as well. Cheers all Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
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I was all set for a Dell Inspiron after the first few posts, and then went onto an Acer, via an IBM - its a minefield isn't it. I've had a sony vaio for about 3 years and the batteries are nothing short of useless. I've had two batteries and can't get more than 5 mins out of either of them. I rely purely on the power supply. Anyway, thanks all for your comments and I will keep checking here and post back what I went for and why. It has to be in the next couple of days as well. Cheers all Angel ********************************************* The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.
Hi Angel, My Vaio (a PCG-FX502, bought in Spring 2002) had the same problem from Winter 2003 onwards. The battery lasts just long enough to power it up...but not long enough to even launch Outlook and check email. I'll never buy another Sony laptop. Anna :rose: Riverblade Ltd - Software Consultancy Services Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.