Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[tahnan]

OK. I yield. I am now willing to pay someone $20 if they can tell me what laptop to buy.

I'm serious, but I'm also serious about "what laptop to buy"--I don't mean saying "Get an iBook. Where's my $20?" I mean sitting down with me, helping me navigate all of these stupid webpages, helping me figure out what I need from a laptop and what all these goddamned technical specs mean.

IBM and Apple both seem to sell laptops on the premise that you're one of two people: the person who understands all these tech specs and is able to sort through them and decide what you want, or the person who's willing to shrug and say "Yeah, that's probably about right, I'll just take that one." I'm neither of these people.

And I am really, really frustrated.

Comments

[navrins]

What are your requirements? Unless you plan to do something unusual - and other than installing a new OS, I'm not sure what would qualify - most likely the main things you want to consider are:

- Screen size
- Weight
- Battery life
- Keyboard sensation
- Pointing device type
- Other look & feel issues (does it beep a lot? Screen bright enough for you? Sound adequate for your needs? etc.)
- Price

Don't buy a laptop without having held that model in your hands and typed on it for a while - different laptops have very different feels, and what's great for someone else might be unusable for you (I can't type on a Vaio, period, for example).

Most likely the technical specs are all but irrelevant. Pretty much anything sold today will run anything most people would think to run with acceptable speed. Get a faster processor and bigger hard drive if you want it to handle the apps that come out three years from now too - nobody can tell you how fast and big that requires; pick a nice price point and go with it.

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

Personally, I like to have customizable computers/laptops, so I'm a Dell girl. My suggestion is take the criteria from the comment above, go to Dell, find the laptop that best fits your criteria, get price, then go to Gateway or Apple or whatnot and build the same computer. Price comparison. From personal experience (scientists love laptops), I've found that Dell computers are the most compatible for using Linux, having a dual boot system, and interfacing with LCD projectors for PowerPoint presentations. The number of times I've gone to a seminar and the speaker is having trouble with laptop/projector interface is beyond count. Never, in any of those times, has the problematic laptop been a Dell. Dell laptops also seem a bit more sturdy compared to Sony Vaio, IBM Thinkpad and Compaq for PC laptops, meaning the others break faster if you are given to carting your laptop around. Again, this is all personal experience. I'm sure someone else's personal experience is different. Finally, in terms of processing power (ok, probably only important to scientist/math types who want to do serious calculations), an Apple simply can't compare to a Pentium III or IV chip. Not even this new Darwin in OS X on a top of the line Apple can crunch numbers as fast as a Intel Pentium running Linux. As a result, graphics generation is superior. The proof in this statement to me is that for every scientist I've ever met that loves Apple, he/she is also running a Linux on a Pentium to handle the data while using his/her Mac to word process.

I don't really know what you want to do with your laptop, so I'm pretty sure this comment is completely un-useful to you.

[mattbeo.livejournal.com]

While I am neither a laptop owner nor an expert, a few questions may provide some focus, though perhaps you've answered them already:

--What do you need the laptop to do now--in human terms, not in laptop terms? If it will be primarily for word processing and e-mail, you won't need too many bells and whistles. If you want to do anything major with programming, graphics or audio/video, though, there will be speed, memory, and storage issues. (And, if you want to use it as a server on a local network or the Internet, I suspect that's a ball of wax of a different color.)

--What might you need the laptop to do in the future? Can its speed, memory, or storage be extended?

--Technical angle: are you more comfortable with one OS family (Mac OS, Windows, Linux, etc.) versus another?

Anyhow, that's my $.02 (marked down to $.00; other people may have better advice, but I will not be undersold!)

Indeed

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

The first thing that you need to answer is "What do I want to do with a laptop?"

Do you want it to carry around everywhere?
How much do you care about the keyboard? In your case, probably a lot.
Is all you want Word Processing?
Do you want to store lots of music or other random stuff?

Define those things, and you can sort through things more easily. Give me a call; I'll help out.

[mallen.livejournal.com]

The right question to ask is: "What do you expect to do with it?" And "Where do you expect to do those things?"

That'd lead to a much better recommendation than, "I like Sony VAIOs."

[ztbb.livejournal.com]

Word on the street is certainly that the Vaios are a bit brittle, but I've never heard the Thinkpads tarred with the same brush. My impression is that one should consider getting a Vaio if one is interested in a superslim, but that otherwise one should steer clear because of their fragility.

I've had a Thinkpad T30 since November, and I absolutely adore this machine.

[littleowl.livejournal.com]

Agreeing with everyone else here.
I recently decided that I need a laptop because I'm going to start writing a book on my commutes back and forth to work.

Hence my criteria were:

- Needs to word process
- Needs to be fairly portable due to daily carting around
- Needs to have battery life of about 50 minutes -- the length of my commute
- Needs to be dirt cheap or free, 'cos I'm broke
- Prefer a Mac, 'cos I'd also like to see if I can run my poor neglected copy of Photoshop for Mac which has been languishing since I lost access to all things Mac when laid off from SuSE in 2001. (See above for reasons why I didn't purchase Windows version of Photoshop to run on my stupid PC)

The answer to my particular conundrum, no matter how longingly I eyeballed the sleek G4s, was to ask my brother if the old 5000 series Mac laptop I got him for his Freshman year of college back when I had money, was still running.

It is, was fairly easily patched up by my graduating-next-weekend-engineer sibling and while the battery is a bit dicey, I can afford to replace it if I can find a replacement.

So yeah, what do you MOST need to do with this laptop? 'Cos if it's say, mostly for writing, then you don't necessarily need as much processing power as some, and not letting your head get turned by pretty shiny might be good;)