New laptop

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Thomas,

Man you did fine........that computer you got will serve you well and if you are like me...heck I buy new stuff every few years anyway just to spend the money and make the wife upset....

I happen to burn my reports to CD for my clients so they can keep a record of it...I am going to get the new light scribe one soon so I can make them even more PRETTY....everyone likes PRETTY....

[cvowell]

As the parent of a 19 year old boy, may I suggest as much HD space as you can possibly afford? For school, my son uses the Office Suite products (Word, Excel, and Power Point) more than anything. BUT he uses his computer MOSTLY for IM, music and games. He loads his iPod from his PC. If your incoming freshmen is a young lady, maybe she wont be playing as many games and downloading gigs of music.

So speaking from a parents point of view, large hard drive, wireless, dvd burner and DURABILITY are important features.

We bought my son a HP Pavillion, he has been using it since Nov, and it seems to be working out ok for him. (the iPod and PSP have taken the gaming and music burden off the pc) Also, check out the Dells. (I know, I know) My nephew has one, and I dont know how that thing is still running, the abuse that kid piles on that machine, and it is still going strong.

Just my .02

[Paul W. Abernathy]

DUDE.......you got a DELL....lol......

Actually I have no problems with DELL.......very solid.... just know what you are getting if you order one on the phone....check all the details so you are not left wishing you had before.....just a suggestion to DELL buyers...

OPPS.....had to edit......DUDESS.....you know someone who got a DELL....

[rbunzel]

My daughter is about to go to college and we got and HP from Office Max or Depot. For about $600 with 1gb of memory. These days I wouldn't spend much more unless I was upgrading to a DVD burner or 80GB drive. I considered a Dell but they seem to be suffering from quality and service issues according to some surveys, so I passed on the Dell.

AMD vs. Intel I have two of each and I haven't seen it make a difference. In fact just now I had to look at the cases to see which was which. Unless your a big gamer, it doesn't seem to make a difference as far as I can tell.

I see many new inspectors get talked into buying a "future proof" laptop for $2K and have to laugh because they are only buying a little more functionality than a $600 machine. Worst case in two years I throw out my $600 machine (or give it to the kids), buy another and I am still ahead of the game. BTW - if your sending your child to college with a laptop make sure they have a cable lock for it or it will walk off!


//Rick

[Brian E. Kelly]

What Rick said.

Cheryl get an external hard drive for extra crap and backup.cheap,cheap,cheap.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=1591954

Paul I have a presario x1000 that I have beat the crap out of, good machine, a little dated.

[Brandon D. Hawkins]

Has anybody used a Tablet PC, or is it easier to input data into a PDA during the inspection and transfer it over to a cheaper laptop for the report? the Tablet is a little more expensive than both the PDA and a laptop combined......I wanted to put PVS on a Dell Axim, but since they won't comply with TREC, I've been playing with Homeguage, but HG won't work on PDAs...

[tclement]

I saw a 120GB external USB hard drive for $129 at Costco today. Store the music there. BTW the same laptop I just bought on sale at Staples, was 799 after rebate at Costco.

I was going to upgrade the memory on this one, but they were out of stock. I figured I would notice the 512 vs 1GB, but I haven't so far, so not sure if am going to spend the $$ just yet.
Tom

[rbunzel]

Tom,

While your working open the task manager, click on the performance tab. Look at page file usage and physical memory. If page file usage is high and available memory is low (like under 100mb) then consider more. For most people 512K is pretty good but 1GB will perform better because the system doesn't have to page to disk as much.

//Rick

[Wendell F. Cook]

Originally Posted by bhawkins1

Has anybody used a Tablet PC, or is it easier to input data into a PDA during the inspection and transfer it over to a cheaper laptop for the report? the Tablet is a little more expensive than both the PDA and a laptop combined......I wanted to put PVS on a Dell Axim, but since they won't comply with TREC, I've been playing with Homeguage, but HG won't work on PDAs...

I am considering the same sort of setup. I think I will be going with the Fujitsu T4020 convertible tablet with the indoor/outdoor screen and Bluetooth. The Fujitsu is fairly expensive (found it for about $1850 at www.datavis.com). The convertible offers the convenience of the tablet with the keyboard available for input.
I'm not trying to sell anything here, just passing along what I've discovered so far.

[Brandon D. Hawkins]

What

[Brandon D. Hawkins]

What software will you use on the Fujitsu tablet?

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

This just in...

Dell is converting from INTEL to AMD on all of its putas.... hmmmm....

[Wendell F. Cook]

Originally Posted by bhawkins1

What software will you use on the Fujitsu tablet?

I haven't purchased either yet, but I am leaning tward the Homegauge product.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by jcampbell

This just in...

Dell is converting from INTEL to AMD on all of its putas.... hmmmm....

Duh.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

I am sold on IBM ThinkPad and believe they are just the very best, a bit pricy but sometimes you get what you pay for. I am currently in the market for a new T43 this is a strictly business only computer.

If what you are looking for is a highly durable yet light laptop, with great performance, great usability and from a company that will provide good service and support, then the ThinkPad T43 is the hand that fits the glove. On paper you will be able to configure a Dell Inspiron with the same specs as a T43 for a lower price, but you won't get the same build quality and usability with an Inspiron.