Good (non-Mac) Laptop recommendation

[waynerd]

Wifey is looking for a new PC type laptop for work. Since she'll be traveling more with her new position, she wants something a bit lighter and smaller than her current model, likely a 13" screen. And since the company's on a "technology freeze", she's willing to spend her own cash to save her back. In the past, Macs haven't been supported by the company's IT guys.

Since I haven't dealt with the "dark side" in 5 years, and am only familiar with Apple products, I thought maybe one of you guys (n' gals) might have some recommendations on what's new and hot (and maybe relatively inexpensive) out there.

[bigdadi]

DELL M1330 XPS 13" is light and full of features, start at 949.00
Weight less than 4-lb, 4 different colors to choose.
Webcam & fingerprint reader

http://www.dell.com/content/products...=04&l=en&s=bsd

There is also a budget price ... Min-12 at 12" weight under 3-lb, start at 550.00

[rlapid]

i have an old gateway MX6030 laptop that i got at best buy on black friday about 4 years ago. i upgraded the hard drive and memory, and its still running strong. i would recommend dell or gateway, and get a quality cooling pad to keep internal temps down.

[LChisum]

I second the motion on the Gateway. Best Buy often has really great sales on them.


Larry

[sblvro]

any other options? even if I want to say, I'm a PC, my Dell Latitude 520 have given me enough trouble already. I'm not buying dell for now. Still a PC guy but not dell. HP or Sony maybe?

[rocky]

I've got three PCs at home, two lenovo laptops. The third is the Kids $300 Compaq desktop.

The older of the two laptops was bought for traveling, based recommendations and checking into what others were using.

Six years old and its doing well. So I bought another one two years ago for home use and. That was two years ago, thats been solid as well.

The desktop's keyboard is already falling apart......

[macphanatic]

Why not buy a new MacBook and run Windows on it? She can even boot between the two OS's using Apple's bootcamp.

One of the PC Mags had an article several months ago that the Macs actually ran windows better than most PC's.

[waynerd]

She was going to ask about the new Macs after I told her about them being able to run Winders now. Some of the development guys have Macs (and iPhones ) but they have their own separate IT support.

They've been on a freeze for so long, that almost everyone's equipment leases have run out, and as long as it still works, the rule is "keep it". Her current Dell is about 4 years old and has no problems, but it's pretty big (15 or 16" screen) and heavy. And a battery hog. At the time, her only travel was literally 5 minutes up the road. Now it'll be cross country and some international.

Thanks!

[bigdadi]

I bought the Dell M1330 1 year ago mainly for Intl air travel. Light to carry and the monitor opens well in angle on folding board of economy class. I loaded games, music and movies in the drive, put on headphone, what a breeze to arrive Hong Kong after 18.5 hrs long flight from Newark.

As for Gateway, I keep thinking whether the name is still there a few years down the road.

[whizmo]

PC laptops are pretty much commodities these days - they all use similar components and the price competition is ruthless. I've had good luck with Dells so mostly that's what I have. Likewise, I've had several Apple-based friends have nothing but problems with MacBooks, so I'm not inclined towards this brand. These days, I tend to move towards open source and cloud applications whenever I can and avoid proprietary client-based software. This further reduces the need for a lot of client computing power and means you can often ignore the OS issues.

If she doesn't need a lot of computer power and light weight is the main goal, I'd look at the high end of the new "netbooks" like the Mini 12, especially if you can get XP loaded on it or she would be happy with the included suite of applications on Linux based options.

Having said all this, if a work computer is the goal with tech support from them, I would get whatever everybody else is getting and that is best supported. Corporate computing is a whole different ballgame than selecting a personal machine. But then I wouldn't spend my own money for a work machine either.

- Mark

[bigdadi]

Dubbed the Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC, the eight-inch wonder—complete with WWAN 3G broadband, GPS, and an instant-on option for music, pictures, and video—easily stole the show at Sony's CES presser Wednesday.

Set to ship next month and priced at a cool $900, the P Series drew a crowd of photographers after Sony's pre-CES event, and it's easy to see why—this is one of the sexiest netbooks yet. Slim, light, and available in five colors, the P Series Lifestyle PC looks small enough to slip into a jacket pocket (well, a largish jacket pocket), yet it still manages to pack in a tight, 1600 by 768 LED display, an integrated Webcam, and yes—it runs Vista.

Wireless options on the P abound as well, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and integrated 3G through Verizon Wireless. Also on board: GPS, good for location-based services and geotagging photos, as well as an "instant-mode" Xross Media Bar for no-wait access to your tunes, videos, photos, and Web browsing. Sony promises four hours of juice from the standard battery, or up to eight hours with a larger-capacity battery. Under the hood (this from Gizmodo), you've got a 1.33Ghz Atom processor and 2GB of RAM.

Overall, pretty nice—although the $900 (and up, depending on the options) price tag might be a tough pill to swallow, and it remains to be seen how the little guy will handle a monster OS like Vista

[RSQ Pilot]

Originally posted by bigdadi
Dubbed the Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC, the eight-inch wonder—complete with WWAN 3G broadband, GPS, and an instant-on option for music, pictures, and video—easily stole the show at Sony's CES presser Wednesday.

Set to ship next month and priced at a cool $900, the P Series drew a crowd of photographers after Sony's pre-CES event, and it's easy to see why—this is one of the sexiest netbooks yet. Slim, light, and available in five colors, the P Series Lifestyle PC looks small enough to slip into a jacket pocket (well, a largish jacket pocket), yet it still manages to pack in a tight, 1600 by 768 LED display, an integrated Webcam, and yes—it runs Vista.

Wireless options on the P abound as well, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and integrated 3G through Verizon Wireless. Also on board: GPS, good for location-based services and geotagging photos, as well as an "instant-mode" Xross Media Bar for no-wait access to your tunes, videos, photos, and Web browsing. Sony promises four hours of juice from the standard battery, or up to eight hours with a larger-capacity battery. Under the hood (this from Gizmodo), you've got a 1.33Ghz Atom processor and 2GB of RAM.

Overall, pretty nice—although the $900 (and up, depending on the options) price tag might be a tough pill to swallow, and it remains to be seen how the little guy will handle a monster OS like Vista

With most of the "older" netbooks being restricted to the old XP OS, (examples: Acer ONE, Dell Mini, ASUS eepcee, ) its nice to see the newer releases like the Sony P offering VISTA OS (later maybe even Windows 7 ).

[krygny]

Originally posted by RSQ Pilot


With most of the "older" netbooks being restricted to the old XP OS, ...

Some of us think that's a good thing. I have no use for Vista.

[Big_D]

I have had good luck with the Toshiba Satellite. I just got my daughter one also.

[RSQ Pilot]

Originally posted by krygny

Some of us think that's a good thing. I have no use for Vista.

my XP Pro crashed repeatedly with blue screens on a laptop and desktop designed and shipped with it as OEM. Bought a new Dell E1505 with Vista Ultimate...never have seen a blue screen or a problem. Have Vista Home Premium on a desktop as an updated OS from XP Pro, once the Vista Ready INTEL issues were fixed it has run like a top too.

I think the Dell 1330, Sony P or the HP2140 might be my next travel buddy unless Dell coughs up a better netbook.