crazietalk.net

bjornolf wrote:I know what a solid state drive is vs. spinning hard drive, but are there any DISADVANTAGES to them?

Slower random write times. More expensive.

What do you want to do with your laptop? Is it your primary computer? Will you have desktop backup? For me, I don't think I'll ever own another desktop personal computer. I want my laptop to be as powerful as a desktop (actually kind of hard to do) so solid state drives are out for me. But, if you want a lightweight, sometimes laptop, something you might take on vacation or an overnight business trip and you want more power and options than what a tablet will offer, SSDs are pretty sweet. I don't think they're quite there yet for bad ass computing.

As always, your mileage may vary.

bjornolf wrote:So, if it's dead, what should I get?

In my opinion, at the consumer level most hardware sucks, you really do get what you pay for.

I have a 17" Mac Book Pro. Aside from the Mac OS, it also runs (through VMware Fusion/$49) Win XP, Win 2003 and Win 2008 Server, plus a few flavors of Linux. I don't run them all at the same time, but I'm always running at least two at the same time. I get the best of both worlds: I'm running all of my old and new Windows software, get full hardware support (except for GPU) and of course everything native on the Mac.

I think Miles' question is really important: What do you imagine you'll be doing with your computer? Other than keyboard feel and longevity, you haven't otherwise given any info that would meaningfully restrict the field of possibilities?

Questions that might help:
What's your budget?
What do you do with your computer beyond web browsing and email?
Do you watch streaming videos on your laptop?
Do you watch DVDs on your laptop?
Do you take a lot of photographs and intend to store them on the laptop hard drive?
Do you use photoshop or other programs like that to manipulate photos?
Do you work with video recordings?
Do you or any of your users play video games?
How often and how far will you be carrying your laptop?

How would you rank the following in importance:
Price
Weight
Processing speed
Screen size
Keyboard feel
Battery life
DVD or BluRay player
Hard drive space

I heart my Lenovo Thinkpads. I've on my 2nd at work (I can upgrade every two years, so I do), and just bought one for my personal use after I got fed up with my Dell Vostro. They're pricy, but I've never had a single problem with the hardware. (Well, I currently have a dead line on my work computer screen, but I think that's after me dropping it yet one more time. It's already got a cracked case, and a shredded corner, from other droppage incidents.)

bjornolf wrote:I know what a solid state drive is vs. spinning hard drive, but are there any DISADVANTAGES to them?

The primary difference is the (much) slower write speed of the SSD, and the cost. I solid comparison is here:

http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2008/techtips-30MAR08.htm

bjornolf wrote:I know what a solid state drive is vs. spinning hard drive, but are there any DISADVANTAGES to them?

Disadvantage numero uno for a spinning hard drive is that it is mechanical, so it can physically break. But, unlike a solid state drive, the data is also permanently stored on them..meaning that even if your house burns down there is a good chance that you can ship it off and get something off of it (but it's expensive). I've never had to do anything with data recovery on a solid state drive, but I'm assuming it would be a pain.

bluebutton wrote:I think Miles' question is really important: What do you imagine you'll be doing with your computer? Other than keyboard feel and longevity, you haven't otherwise given any info that would meaningfully restrict the field of possibilities?

Questions that might help:
What's your budget?

Don't really have one. I mean, I don't want to go over, say, $5k, but if the perfect laptop is $3k, I'll spend it. OTOH, if there's something just as good for $1k, I don't want to get taken out behind the woodshed, either.

What do you do with your computer beyond web browsing and email?

Write novels. Edit and print photos and burn dvd videos of the kids. Need HDMI and firewire for camcorder. Help kids with projects.

Do you watch streaming videos on your laptop?

Absolutely.

Do you watch DVDs on your laptop?

Once in a while. Blu rays too. It would be nice, but not necessary. I do, however, listen to music cds. <gasp>

Do you take a lot of photographs and intend to store them on the laptop hard drive?

Yes. See above.

Do you use photoshop or other programs like that to manipulate photos?

Yes. See above.

Do you work with video recordings?

Yes. See above.

Do you or any of your users play video games?

Not generally on the laptop, but mostly because I've yet to find a laptop that can handle them. Of course, I haven't been in the laptop shopping game for eight years (inherited the dell from my mom when she passed).

How often and how far will you be carrying your laptop?

Very seldom. It goes from the kitchen table to the couch or to the bedroom upstairs once in a great while, but that's about it. Goes in the closet when there's company.

Oh, and I do have an old desktop, but it's in my office in the attic, so I almost never get up there with the kids around. Maybe when they're all in school in another two years. Mostly, it's there to run the printer for the laptop. And yes, I know that's archaic.

How would you rank the following in importance: (I'll do 1-5, 1 being most important)

Price. 5
Weight. 5
Processing speed. 1
Screen size. 2
Keyboard feel. 1
Battery life. 4
DVD or BluRay player. 3
Hard drive space. 2

I'd go higher on the hard drive space, but I've never come close to filling my 100 gb hardrive, and most of the laptops these days seem to have 3-5x that. As for screen size, at least 15.6". I'd really like full 1080 resolution if possible though. I know, my ideal laptop doesn't exist, does it?

Since keyboard feel is so important, it may be best for you to get down to a Best Buy or wherever has a TON of laptops sitting out and physically feel every keyboard. Take a camera and take a photo of your top 3/bottom 3.

Barring that, it looks like a site recently reviewed a bunch of keyboards: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20003544-1.html

As far as I can tell, what you're looking for is a "desktop replacement" laptop.

My household has no experience with that class of laptop, so we certainly can't give any feedback in terms of longevity. And since you're so particular about keyboard feel, I suspect that physically examining keyboards is going to have to be part of the purchase process if you're going to be happy in the long run.

I also suspect that from what you've said that the Lenovo Thinkpad line is going to be a good place to start looking. If you don't generally like mac keyboards and do like more "old school" keyboards, Lenovo seems to have been willing to keep function over razzle dazzle form. Lenovo took over IBMs Thinkpads, IIRC and generally has a good durability reputation.

That's my 2 cents, but I'm a linguist. I just live with a computer geek. I'll see if he has any recs.

bluebutton wrote:Since keyboard feel is so important, it may be best for you to get down to a Best Buy or wherever has a TON of laptops sitting out and physically feel every keyboard. Take a camera and take a photo of your top 3/bottom 3.

Barring that, it looks like a site recently reviewed a bunch of keyboards: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20003544-1.html

As far as I can tell, what you're looking for is a "desktop replacement" laptop.

My household has no experience with that class of laptop, so we certainly can't give any feedback in terms of longevity. And since you're so particular about keyboard feel, I suspect that physically examining keyboards is going to have to be part of the purchase process if you're going to be happy in the long run.

I also suspect that from what you've said that the Lenovo Thinkpad line is going to be a good place to start looking. If you don't generally like mac keyboards and do like more "old school" keyboards, Lenovo seems to have been willing to keep function over razzle dazzle form. Lenovo took over IBMs Thinkpads, IIRC and generally has a good durability reputation.

That's my 2 cents, but I'm a linguist. I just live with a computer geek. I'll see if he has any recs.

Cool, thanks. Actually, on second thought, I guess keyboard feel isn't SO important. Afterall, I can always just plug in a USB keyboard or get a wireless one. That's what I did with my old Dell.

bjornolf wrote: Price. 5
Weight. 5
Processing speed. 1
Screen size. 2
Keyboard feel. 1
Battery life. 4
DVD or BluRay player. 3
Hard drive space. 2

I'd go higher on the hard drive space, but I've never come close to filling my 100 gb hardrive, and most of the laptops these days seem to have 3-5x that. As for screen size, at least 15.6". I'd really like full 1080 resolution if possible though. I know, my ideal laptop doesn't exist, does it?

With your budget, I'm thinking you will end up with a 17" screen and an Intel i7 quad core processor, or whatever the latest iteration is (the need for speed!) IBM sold its Thinkpad division to Lenovo several years ago. They used to be made in the RTP, but I think that's being (has been) phased out and moved over seas (?)

Here are some thoughts from my computer geek husband:


I'd start with http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.as ... -Notebooks , and use their filters (left column) to narrow down. If you click on "more options" (near bottom) and move display slider to 1920x1080 (aka 1080p), you'll see 49 matches. Then set optical drive type to BD Combo or BD Burner, you'll see a bunch of items in the $800-$1400 range. Then, pick weight, etc. That's a 6-10lb unit. A 1080p display will consume a lot of power, so a long battery life will be harder to fit in there. Two cheapest links in there seem to be:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834127571 (Sony, 6.85lbs)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115816 (Acer, 10+lbs)

(There's more but more expensive links if you do 1920x1080 plus BD Burner). Of those two above, only the acer has a 1394 (firewire) port. More and more laptops are dropping firewire these days as it has never really caught on. It may well be cheaper overall for you to get a firewire to USB adapter like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817111714

where for ~$30, you can *vastly* expand your possible laptops to big screen w/ bluray only.

Great point about firewire. I'll keep that in mind.

Pretty much every brand has something like what I'm looking for. I guess I'm looking for a reliability of brand recommendation. Hey CB&B, what brand do you NOT see a lot of for its market share? ;)

bjornolf wrote:Great point about firewire. I'll keep that in mind.

Pretty much every brand has something like what I'm looking for. I guess I'm looking for a reliability of brand recommendation. Hey CB&B, what brand do you NOT see a lot of for its market share? ;)

I very rarely see any Asus'. I have one, it was cheap, and I love it.

Our family has 2 Asus netbooks and they are very solid both in terms of hardware and software.

The Fujitsu laptop I got ~2004 had keyboard keys that fell off under normal wear and tear.

We have a Gateway notebook ~2006 which is now our home media PC. It's screen has been wonky for years but that doesn't matter now that it sends its output to the TV.

And I have a Macbook ~2002? which had its hinge break ~2006/2007. Repairing was not much cheaper than just buying my first Asus netbook. So I got that instead.

So that's our experiences with brands of laptops. Of course, none of them except maybe the Gateway would be considered a desktop replacement. Well, the Mac might too. But I wouldn't particularly recommend either manufacturer. The Mac primarily because you'd have to rebuy all your software. Although to be fair, Mac has great software for photo and video editing. So there's always that. And it still fits in your very generous budget. And MS Word for Mac is cludgier than it is on a PC. Don't know what you're using to write your novels.

bluebutton wrote:Our family has 2 Asus netbooks and they are very solid both in terms of hardware and software.

The Fujitsu laptop I got ~2004 had keyboard keys that fell off under normal wear and tear.

We have a Gateway notebook ~2006 which is now our home media PC. It's screen has been wonky for years but that doesn't matter now that it sends its output to the TV.

And I have a Macbook ~2002? which had its hinge break ~2006/2007. Repairing was not much cheaper than just buying my first Asus netbook. So I got that instead.

So that's our experiences with brands of laptops. Of course, none of them except maybe the Gateway would be considered a desktop replacement. Well, the Mac might too. But I wouldn't particularly recommend either manufacturer. The Mac primarily because you'd have to rebuy all your software. Although to be fair, Mac has great software for photo and video editing. So there's always that. And it still fits in your very generous budget. And MS Word for Mac is cludgier than it is on a PC. Don't know what you're using to write your novels.

No need to buy all of your software on the Mac. Spend $49 and get VMware Fusion, then run Mac and Windows simultaneously.

Some companies I've seen talking about glass laptops. Thoughts on those?

bjornolf wrote:Some companies I've seen talking about glass laptops. Thoughts on those?

Nothing specific to offer except this, there is a difference between the bleeding edge and leading edge; glass cases seem to be on the bleeding for me.

What does glass offer you? Does it improve the CPU or GPU? Can it hold more RAM? Does it offer terabytes of gigabytes?

Spend the extra money, get a ThinkPad or MacBook Pro, fill it to the hilt with RAM and buy the extended warranty, you'll be happy. Search for bargains and we'll you'll be posting a new thread, asking for the same advice in 12 - 18 months.

Miles wrote:

bjornolf wrote:Some companies I've seen talking about glass laptops. Thoughts on those?

Nothing specific to offer except this, there is a difference between the bleeding edge and leading edge; glass cases seem to be on the bleeding for me.

What does glass offer you? Does it improve the CPU or GPU? Can it hold more RAM? Does it offer terabytes of gigabytes?

Spend the extra money, get a ThinkPad or MacBook Pro, fill it to the hilt with RAM and buy the extended warranty, you'll be happy. Search for bargains and we'll you'll be posting a new thread, asking for the same advice in 12 - 18 months.

p.s. RAM = computing god.

Miles wrote:

Miles wrote:

bjornolf wrote:Some companies I've seen talking about glass laptops. Thoughts on those?

Nothing specific to offer except this, there is a difference between the bleeding edge and leading edge; glass cases seem to be on the bleeding for me.

What does glass offer you? Does it improve the CPU or GPU? Can it hold more RAM? Does it offer terabytes of gigabytes?

Spend the extra money, get a ThinkPad or MacBook Pro, fill it to the hilt with RAM and buy the extended warranty, you'll be happy. Search for bargains and we'll you'll be posting a new thread, asking for the same advice in 12 - 18 months.

p.s. RAM = computing god.

Did I mention that more RAM is better?

I was thinking about going with an HP ENVY 17 with 12 GB RAM. You think a thinkpad is the better option?