Laptops: Is it a love or hate relationship?

[KTorak]

Whats your idea about them..do you love them or hate them? What ones do you suggest, etc?

I'm currently in the market and have stumbled across this:
Satellite P30
Microsoft® Works, Atheros® Wireless LAN (802.11b/g), Mobile Intel Pentium® 4 Processor 550J supporting HT Technology (3.40GHz, 1MB L2, 800MHz FSB), ATI RADEON® XPRESS 200M IGP w/up to 128 MB shared memory, 60GB HDD (4200rpm), CD and Instant Play Keys, 17.0" Wide XGA TruBrite display (1440 x 900, CSV High Brightness), 512MB PC2700 DDR333 SDRAM (256MBx2), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2), DVD/CD-RW multifunction drive, harman/kardon® speakers, 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty
for $1279, not bad imo...best deal I have seen.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I actaully read an article on this in our school newspaper the other day.

I am kinda tied between laptops and desktops. I really enjoy the convenience that laptops bring, especially at events, whether they're robotics comps or other things. However, the whole battery thing is immensely annoying, and I prefer just plugging it in and leaving it there.

I don't have terribly strong skill with doing specific rendering or programming, so having an advanced computer isn't critical for me personally. I'm a user, not a skilled comp operator >_<.

[Kyle]

I love my laptop like a second child, the first being the robot. I am able to take my work and everything else with me.

[AIBob]

I like laptops more in many situations.
The only two problems that I have when using peoples laptops is that they do not have mice(normally), and that they have an Fn Key where I like the Ctrl key.... this gets very annoying for my because I use the Ctrl key a lot, to copy, paste, undo, redo, cut, find, and so much more I cannot think of right now(I am too tired to remember them all), but desktops are very annoying because they are in one specific place all day...
I do not like this because I am never in one place throughout the day, excluding sleep, I spend at most maybe six hours in one place, sometimes more, sometimes less.

[Ryan Albright]

I swore i would never get a laptop, then college came. I needed one for class. I have to say that i have a new found respect for laptops, they have come along way and i love mine. I still have a desktop but honestly i have not turned that on in like 3 months. I am always on the laptop, and surprisingly i get really good battery. With an external gps pulling power from my battery i still get about 2 hours on my laptop battery.

I am almost got a satellite, but i went for the Compaq because of the price and what they were offering. I know alot of people hate Compaq but i have no complaints yet

[Ben Lauer]

LAPTOP BABY!!!

I had to get one for school.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/TSC/lapto...tebook_nw8000/

Tis awesome, i <3 them.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by AIBob

I like laptops more in many situations.
The only two problems that I have when using peoples laptops is that they do not have mice(normally), and that they have an Fn Key where I like the Ctrl key.... this gets very annoying for my because I use the Ctrl key a lot, to copy, paste, undo, redo, cut, find, and so much more I cannot think of right now(I am too tired to remember them all), but desktops are very annoying because they are in one specific place all day...
I do not like this because I am never in one place throughout the day, excluding sleep, I spend at most maybe six hours in one place, sometimes more, sometimes less.

The vast majority of laptops should have the ctrl key in the proper place, and the function key to the right of it.

As to the original question, if you don't care about having "Dell" "Gateway" "Toshiba" etc plastered all over your laptop, buy direct from the companies that make the laptops for all the big names(ODM's). I bought mine from the company that makes the basic chassis for Voodoo, and Velocity Micro laptops. It's the exact same stuff as you'd get (minus the fancy paint), and I paid like $400 less than the Velocity Micro would be, and around $1000 less than a similarly outfitted Dell. They come with the same warranty, and use the same tech support as all the big name companies use. Literally, the only difference between some of these computers is the stickers on them.

See this article. http://www.powernotebooks.com/Name_Brand.php3

I bought from www.discountlaptops.com I got the Compal CL-56. The real reason I liked the ODM's is because everything is user customizable. A lot of the bigger brands give you limited customization options, or just have a basic set of models to choose from. I got what I was looking for in a fast processor, good graphics card, lots of RAM, big, fast hard drive, etc. Most mainstream companies tend to skimp on the HD and the graphics card to cut costs.

I've had my laptop since July, and I haven't yet had to call tech support. Don't have a single complaint about it, which is more than I can say for the Gateway I used to have. It works great for CAD, games, general work. It's nice and thin and light which was a big selling point, and it gets around 4 hours of battery life with web browsing, word processing, etc.

Oh, if you're going to buy a laptop, wait a month or two until Intel releases their Sonoma platform of the Centrino chip, and PCI Express comes out.

[Rombus]

I love my TabletPC, its the BEST for taking college notes! Best money i ever spent. check out the TC1100 from HP

[Billfred]

Right now, I'm on a Dell Inspiron 5150.

And I only have two pieces of beef with it:

1) It's beefy. (I couldn't resist--but this thing has to be five pounds easily.)
2) Some things just fall apart. (I've had multi-day downtime TWICE since June...but I think that's a Dell thing.)

As for battery life--I've gone from a 12:20-2:15 lab to a short break (for the laptop at least--psychology lab) to the Horseshoe and its wireless internet to a biology lecture on one charge. If it can do that, it's good enough for me.

[evulish]

I wouldn't call a 5lb laptop too beefy. When laptops get into like 8lb+, that's beefy Anyways, I totally dig my laptop. It's a 15" Apple Powerbook and I love it. The nice thing about laptops is you can basically turn it into a Desktop. All you need is a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Even nicer if your laptop has bluetooth. It's nice to be able to just plop a laptop on a table, plug in a DVI cable, pull out a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and have a 'desktop' in 10 seconds. This laptop is about everything for me.. Laptop, Desktop, Media Center. Way more flexible than a desktop, IMO.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Right now, I'm on a Dell Inspiron 5150.

And I only have two pieces of beef with it:

1) It's beefy. (I couldn't resist--but this thing has to be five pounds easily.)
2) Some things just fall apart. (I've had multi-day downtime TWICE since June...but I think that's a Dell thing.)

As for battery life--I've gone from a 12:20-2:15 lab to a short break (for the laptop at least--psychology lab) to the Horseshoe and its wireless internet to a biology lecture on one charge. If it can do that, it's good enough for me.

You're right. It is beefy, all 8.1 lbs of it. 5 lbs would be a rather light laptop. Mine's 6.5 lbs and even that's pretty light.

A heavy laptop can be a huge deal if you plan on lugging it around very much at all.

[davelu]

LAPTOP!!! i got one just beacuse of robotics! and i use it every day.

hmm.. don't know why i hate apple laptops so much.

[Jay H 237]

Having laptops made my life MUCH easier. Now when I go anywhere I can carry everything with me........saved on the laptop, without having to carry multiple binders or books. As a matter of fact I have the whole FIRST manual and team updates saved on them. I'm not into gaming so specs weren't a major concern of mine.

I mentioned laptops because I own two of them. They're both Toshiba Satellites. The first one I bought brand new from Best Buy 3 years ago for $1700 before the mail in rebates. It's a Satellite 1905-S277, and this is what I refer to as my "good" laptop. It has XP Home, 1600 mhz, 512 ram and 30 gig harddrive, combination cd burner/dvd drive.

After I started carrying that one around for a short time I started getting concerned about it getting destroyed so I copied what Elgin did on my team and won a laptop from Ebay. I won a Satellite 2805-S201 for just under $400. The seller was selling it because one of his kids pryed some of the keys off the keyboard and he thought it was destroyed. I checked with Impact before bidding on it and found replacement keyboards were only $70. I also replaced the battery after winning it and the original 6 gig harddrive with a 30 gig because I ran out of space on it. It has 2000 Pro, 650 mhz, 320 ram, dvd drive and now a replacement 30 gig hardrive. I lucked out and haven't had any issues with it so far, so I got a good laptop for just over $600 counting the replacement parts.

As for the mice I have mini USB mice I bought for $20 that I use since I can't stand the track pads or eraser heads. I got them at Radio Shack and they're a cool blue and silver color that matches the Satellites almost perfectly!

[looneylin]

Until my labtop works faster, it's a hate relationship.

[Ashley Weed]

5lbs!!! Beefy!!! HAHA!!! ROFL!! I think my keypad alone weighs more than 5lbs!! Sorry!

If you have a deffinate use for it, don't go for anything but the laptop. I am not in one city/town for more than 4 days. Between Dallas, Towanda, Nashua, Concord, Washington, D.C., State College, and more ....... I am always on the go. Yes, I opted for BIG and BEEFY, after easily frying my little HP ze4100 mobo with rendering, drafting, and databasing there was no way I was taking a chance of loosing another sysem after only a year. My zd7000 weighs in at well over 9lbs, and I wouldn't give up an ounce of it to loose my P4, 1 GB RAM, Internal Wireless, DVD/RW, Harman/Kardon Speakers, 17" WXGA+, or 128mb Nvidia GeForce FX Go5600.

Must say my expansion base doesn't make things too bad either with its RCA jacks, and wireless mouse and keyboard. Putting the laptop screen at "proper viewing height".