Laptop recommendations?

[soc]

I'm changing jobs in 3 weeks so I'll have to give my laptop back. As a result I need to buy one asap. Anyone got any recommendations? Ideally it'll need to be able to run Solaris and Linux

[CJ]

You can't go too far wrong with Dell pricewise, I've a few Dell laptops and they've been pretty reliable, never ran *nix on them tho...

CJ

[tymeless]

hey soc,
i've used a fair few laptops in my time and i find the best to be my current one. sony vaio. loads of software with it. very reliable. huge 80 gig hdd. good quality lcd screen. very good battery life. pick 1 up brand new for just a grand.....

[deepseadcs]

Try dell XPS or sony VAIO that uses the dual processor.

deepsea

[soc]

Thanks for the replies guys - I was thinking of an Acer Travelmate with similar spec to a Ferrari cause all the guys in work run them with Solaris. But I know a good few Dell's are also Solaris certified.

I've also been looking at the Viao's but where would I get a Dell or a Viao with decent spec (e.g. 80gb hd, 1gb ram, 2ghz processor, etc.)?

[gtoirl]

You never hear the add, you can’t buy them in the shops, you have to go online www.dell.ie.

Or for the sony, go to any sony centre and they sort you out.

You could also try dixsons / currys / pc world, any one will do as they carry the more or less the same stock as they are all the same company.

[deepseadcs]

Thanks for the replies guys - I was thinking of an Acer Travelmate with similar spec to a Ferrari cause all the guys in work run them with Solaris. But I know a good few Dell's are also Solaris certified.

Dell laptops are mostly made and design by acer, sony and samsung. They only buy this from this manufacturer and they put a dell logo the reason why buying thier laptop is expensive.

Acer ferrari has a good system architecture, northbridge controler and the southbridge controller and has its own GPU(graphics processing unit) ''ATI Mobility X700''
the reason why it does'nt need the help of northbridge chip. Most of the laptop found in the market today especially those cheap pc are using the northbridge chip to control the graphics and shared memory.
making the system communicate more than system with dedicated GPU.

So when buying a laptop consider first the Video graphics controller/memory and the CPU. next is the RAM must be 1gig above although you can upgrade this and dvd drive in the future.


deepsea

[gtoirl]

1 gig for Linux, or even windows sounds allot. A spec really depends on what you want to do with it. Are you going to be surfing the web, editing documents, video editing, or playing games?

You should look for the size vs the spec too. Do you need it to be ultra mobile or a desktop replacement. If you go for top of the line in specs and ultra mobile you’ll be paying to price and will need to opt for all the extra insurance and cover.

On the other hand if it’s for web and photo/document editing a simpler machine will do and skip the warranty, extending you warranty to say 3 years on a cheap machine may cost more then the machine will be worth in 3 years time!!

Also how much do you need in it, will you want wireless access, most would have this integrated now, but a cheaper laptop with usb yokie would do just as good, do you have a PC at home? Do you need a CD / DVD burner, does it need to be integrated or would external detachable be best.

There’s no point getting a lambo to do the weekly shopping.

[soc]

Dell laptops are mostly made and design by acer, sony and samsung. They only buy this from us (acer) and they put a dell logo the reason why buying thier laptop is expensive.

Interesting - I didn't realise that -

Acer ferrari has a good system architecture, northbridge controler and the southbridge controller and has its own GPU(graphics processing unit) ''ATI Mobility X700'' the reason why it does'nt need the help of northbridge chip. Most of the laptop found in the market today especially those cheap pc are using the northbridge chip to control the graphics and shared memory making the system communicate more than system with dedicated GPU.

More interesting info

So when buying a laptop consider first the Video graphics controller/memory and the CPU. next is the RAM must be 1gig above although you can upgrade this and dvd drive in the future

I'll keep this in mind when choosing....

[soc]

You never hear the add, you can’t buy them in the shops, you have to go online www.dell.ie.

Or for the sony, go to any sony centre and they sort you out.

You could also try dixsons / currys / pc world, any one will do as they carry the more or less the same stock as they are all the same company.

I know where to go I just didn't know where you'd get a decent spec laptop for under 1000 euro.....

Sorry, just re-read my original post and didn't realise I omitted the 1000 euro bit...

[kevinod]

I was wondering what you were on about when you started talking about spec like a ferrari for a laptop!

In my own experience I've found Toshiba to be the best, Dell is very hit and miss to be honest (NOI to Acer/whoever actually makes them). I use a Dell Latitude D600 at work and haven't had any problems with it at all, very happy with it, but there's D610s around that all had to have something replaced on them.

My brother got a Dell Inspiron 1100 a year or two ago and has had various problems with it, and I've heard numerous others with Dell laptop problems too.

Stay away from the HP laptops methinks, had one at work running Windows, and it had to be reinstalled every few months to stop it crashing all the time. They were the standard laptop for a while here but they had to get rid of them (in favour of the Dells) 'cos they were too troublesome. That and they weighed half a tonne!

There is the Intel based Apple laptops but I guess they probably won't run Solaris for you, that processor may not be supported, so maybe thats not an option.


Feicers put PGP on my laptop, which means now it takes about 20 minutes from startup to the time I can get to my email!!

[soc]

So I've narrowed it down to 3 for the time being - all Dell notebooks....

Inspiron 630m
Latitude D510
Latitude D620

I just can't decide which one to go for although the Inspiron 630m is edging out in front just because of the price - for 1300 you get a 2Ghz Pentium M, 1Gb RAM, 80Gb HD, 8xDVD+/- RW with free printer.

The Latitude D620 is still up there as it's latest technology - for 1500 you'll get a 1.6Ghx Intel Core Duo, 1Gb RAM, 60Gb HD, 8 x DVD / 24 x CD-RW combo drive and a free bag

I'm torn - spend the extra money for the latest cpu technology or save some money and get a laptop with slightly older cpu technology but a larger HD, better DVD drive and a free printer.... it should be a no-brainer right.... but surely there is a reason the Latitude D620 is more expensive (other than it being new technology)....

[JD]

It would really be down to what you want to use it for. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that the new Duo technology really stands out if you are multi-processing with process hungry applications, i.e. if a lot of what you are doing is using more than one heavy applicaiton at the same time. I think it's pretty much two processers in one so that when multi processing you don't have to wait for a portion of one process to finish before the other can get a word in!

If I didn't need that I'd go for the 1300 one.
JD

[soc]

It would really be down to what you want to use it for. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that the new Duo technology really stands out if you are multi-processing with process hungry applications, i.e. if a lot of what you are doing is using more than one heavy applicaiton at the same time. I think it's pretty much two processers in one so that when multi processing you don't have to wait for a portion of one process to finish before the other can get a word in!

If I didn't need that I'd go for the 1300 one.
JD

I hear what you're saying JD - and tbh I doubt I really need a dual core processor - I'll only be using it for some web surfing, editing docs and some programming (mostly perl and shell though). But I also want a DVD-RW and either integrated or pcmcia wireless plus some USB 2.0 ports (firewire would be nice too). I'm thinking the simplier machine would easily be sufficient...

[MAC 1]

I'd recommend Acer Aspire series, I'm on my third and they are terrific value for money, reliable and good build quality. Can't fault them

[soc]

I went for a Packard Bell EasyNote in the end..... picked it up today.

1.73ghz pentium m, 512mb ram (with another 512 ready to go in), 50gb hd, dual layer dvd/rw, usual ports (firewire, usb2.0, etc), 13" screen and 2kg weight.... all for a shade under 800 squids.