Choosing a new laptop

[Jesse Guardiani]

Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:

> I've decided it's time for a new laptop.  In the past I've been
> relatively happy with Dell, but their web site is driving me to
> distraction (want info about Latitudes?  Tell them you have a home
> office and they'll give you Inspiron instead).  Questions to you:
> 
> 1.  Which brand?

IBM, if you can afford it.


> 2.  Which model?

I hear the T series has pretty good battery life. I personally have an
A30p. Battery life sucks (1 hr avg), but I've got good power (1.2Ghz PIII),
1600x1200, and an excellent keyboard. I got mine used for $1,350 on ebay.

Everything but the winmodem works with FreeBSD, including firewire and 802.11b
wireless.


> 
> I use laptops when travelling and for presentations.  For the former I
> want long battery life and high resolution (preferably 1600x1200).
> For the latter I need something that will feed run-of-the-mill data
> projectors at 1024x768 and with enough grunt to run an increasingly
> lethargic Acrobat Reader without noticeable delay.

My A30p has TV out and an external VGA port. Projectors are no problem.
Lots of grunt too, but again, crap battery life. T series is good for
battery life. However, the larger the screen, the shorter the battery
life.


>  I'm suspicious of
> the new wide screen versions because of potential problems with the
> data projectors;

I'm suspicious because I don't think I'd get the same # of square inches
on a wide screen model. I think it's a marketing trick. 17 inches of wide
screen isn't the same # of square inches as 17 inches of a normal aspect
ratio.


> if people can allay these concerns, I'd be quite
> happy to have a wide-screen model.  I also want a keyboard which I can
> remap and a touchpad which works; a third mouse button would, of
> course, be a good idea.

Thinkpad's trackpoint shows up as a normal PS/2 mouse. Three buttons.
Fully working keyboard. Even the sound volume control works as it's hardware
based. Mute is slick. :)

-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605
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