ideal laptop recommendations?

[Michael Collette]

Jesse D. Guardiani wrote:
> Here are the systems I am considering currently. The Dell comes with a
> wireless router and Bluetooth, but it doesn't have the VAIO's screen size,
> and the IBM is entirely too expensive and doesn't include a DVD burner:
> 
> ------------------------------------------
> Sony VAIO GRX700 series for $2339.99
> ------------------------------------------
> 16.1" UXGA screen (1600x1200)
> Pentium 4 M 1.8Ghz
> 512MB DDR SDRAM
> 40Gb HD
> DVD+RW/CD-RW
> 3 yr warranty
> ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32Mb VRAM
> Free 802.11b Wireless LAN PC Card by mail
> 
> The only thing that concerns me about the VAIO is the 32Mb
> of RAM for a 1600x1200 screen... and the unknown of whether
> or not the Wireless LAN PC Card and DVD-RW would be supported.

Watch out for Sony.  I used to buy those damn Vaio's for my outside sales 
people because I could pick them up at most retail outlets.  Only a couple of 
them left in the field these days, as they were FAR more trouble than they 
were worth.

One very notable gotcha.  If you don't register to be slammed by marketing, 
your warranty is only good for 90 days.  After that, even a basic repair 
costs about what it would take to replace the freaking thing.  As you can 
imagine, I no longer purchase anything Sony for my company.

A friend of mine is running FreeBSD on an older Vaio today.  Biggest glitch he 
had was a totally unusable winmodem.  Pretty big deal when you want to take 
the box on the road.

After discussing it with him at length, he's got an order in for the 
following.
http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=8589565&storeId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=2302835&dualCurrId=73&catalogId=-840

Dunno how well it'll run FreeBSD yet.  I can say that I'm still very happy 
with my Thinkpad T23 I purchased a while back.  

If you do decide to go down the road of picking up a Sony, read ALL the fine 
print!

> 
> In comparison, I can get:
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Dell Inspiron 8500 series for $2552 before $200 mail in rebate
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 15.4" SXGA+ screen (1680x1050)
> Pentium 4 M 2.0Ghz
> 512MB DDR SDRAM
> 40 Gb HD
> CD-R/DVD-RW (not sure if that is a CD-RW or not)
> 3 yr "limited" warranty (mail in)
> 64 Mb GeForce 4 4200
> Dell Truemobile 1300 WLAN 802.11 b/g (54 Mbps) miniPCI card
> Dell Truemobile 1184 Wireless Broadband Router
> Dell Truemobile 300 Bluetooth Internal Card
> Free Carrying Case (Nylon)
> 
> 
> Not sure whether or not the above wireless stuff would
> work under FreeBSD 5.0 or not. Does FreeBSD know how to
> burn DVDs?? If not, then I could save $200 more.
> 
> 
> And finally, with expensive IBM I could get:
> 
> -------------------------------
> IBM A31p ThinkPad for $2,811.60
> -------------------------------
> 15.0" UXGA screen (1600x1200)
> Pentium 4 M 2Ghz (512kb L2 cache)
> 512Mb DDR SDRAM
> 40 Gb HD
> CD-RW/DVD-R
> Integrated Wi-Fi wireless and Bluetooth combo
> 3 yr onsite repair warranty
> 64 Mb ATI Mobility FireGL 7800 7.1-7.7
> 
> And I think Kevin Oberman already said that the ATI Mobility
> FireGL card isn't supported. This laptop is too much $$$ for
> me anyway. If I wanted to spend $3000 I would buy a Mac.

For some reason, the entire A series is wicked expensive.  That is a LOT of 
cash for a box with only a 40G drive in it.  IBM used to sell laptops with 
60G drives in them for a comparable price.

At the moment, it looks like the best deals from IBM are there R series.  They 
appear to be the best bang for the buck all things considered.  Unfortunately 
they don't come with a 1600x1200 screen.


-- 
"Always listen to experts.  They'll tell you what can't be done, and why.  
Then do it."
- Robert A. Heinlein