One of our departments needs a new laptop and they have 1,500 to spend, but can probably go a couple of hundred over if necessary. I want a gig of ram a fast processor because they're going to use Arc Map on it. It can't be a mac. Out of Sony, Dell and Compaq, who makes the best. Other brand suggestions besides gateway are welcome.
Laptop Suggestions?
- Thread starter kevwun
- Start date
I buy a lot of laptops, and lately I've been going with Toshiba. They offer more features for less $$, and they've been relatively trouble free. I can't say the same for the Compaq's I've purchased in the last couple of years. Dells are good systems, but they aren't a bargain anymore.
Settle for a few less bells and whistles so you can max the processor and RAM for your budget.
Read the specs carefully so you get Windows XP Pro instead of the home edition.
Settle for a few less bells and whistles so you can max the processor and RAM for your budget.
Read the specs carefully so you get Windows XP Pro instead of the home edition.
AkakHorn
100+ Posts
Sony should never EVER be a choice for any business - their machines and support aren't designed for business users.
I've purchased machines for several companies over the last twelve years, and I just can't go with anything but Dell anymore. I removed Toshiba from my last company because their service was poor, and we had an astonishing high failure rate of their laptops (somewhere in neighborhood of 20% of our 150+ laptops had experience major problems in their first 6 months of use). Compaq support should be a crime, and though Dell's not what is once was support-wise, I just like the laptops better, and they've consistently held up better.
I've purchased machines for several companies over the last twelve years, and I just can't go with anything but Dell anymore. I removed Toshiba from my last company because their service was poor, and we had an astonishing high failure rate of their laptops (somewhere in neighborhood of 20% of our 150+ laptops had experience major problems in their first 6 months of use). Compaq support should be a crime, and though Dell's not what is once was support-wise, I just like the laptops better, and they've consistently held up better.
capnamerca
500+ Posts
Kevwun - just something else to consider. A decent video card with some memory that isn't "shared" (i.e. mapped out of system RAM) will do wonders for system performance for things like Map manipulation. The majority of the map can be loaded into system ram (like you want), and the pieces that are being manipulated can be put into video ram, which offloads the CPU from doing ANYTHING (and speeds up your response time, since you don't ahve to shuffle the changed data from RAM to the video driver's IO space). Just a thought - even 32 MB of dedicated video RAM holds a bunch of data.
TenaciousTgarden
250+ Posts
i agree - sony sucks.
too bad you can't get a mac
too bad you can't get a mac
Black Scholes
25+ Posts
I've always bought IBM because I can count on them for support. The machines are solid; I think it's one of those "hard to go wrong" decisions. I've read a number of rave reviews on the newest model (T41? or something; check CNet); I think they go for right at $2K.
I'm fascinated by Sony, but I think those are largely designed for video and gaming-type applications, and I haven't heard a lot of good things about the support.
Some people had said Toshiba had picked up some cool laptop designs that Sony had discontinued, but I couldn't tell you what specifically.
I don't know what to think of Dell anymore.
I'm fascinated by Sony, but I think those are largely designed for video and gaming-type applications, and I haven't heard a lot of good things about the support.
Some people had said Toshiba had picked up some cool laptop designs that Sony had discontinued, but I couldn't tell you what specifically.
I don't know what to think of Dell anymore.
Longhorn Al
500+ Posts
Haven't bought one before, but when I do, it'll be a Thinkpad. IBMs last forever.
Arc Map? Do you mean ArcGIS or ArcInfo? If thats the case then skimping on the video card would be the worst thing to do. I use ArcGIS on a daily basis. Hard drive space is very overated as well unless your working with aerials or something. I would gladly give up 1 gig of my RAM for the latest video card. I have 2 gig of RAM but an average video card. The redraw on complex mapping layers can be a pain in the ***.
Yes. Many here have opinions about Apple laptops.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, Apple laptops can be a lot of fun and extrememly useful under the right circumstances. They are expensive to buy and maintain, and software availabilty isn't as extensive as it is on the PC side, particularly in the games arena. On the plus side, they aren't targeted as frequently by viruses and worms.
Speaking from personal experience, upgrading anything inside is a real *****. Though that's generally true about all laptops, Apple seems to want average users to pay for service for the simple things. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel that upgrading memory should require anything more than removing a screw and opening an access door.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, Apple laptops can be a lot of fun and extrememly useful under the right circumstances. They are expensive to buy and maintain, and software availabilty isn't as extensive as it is on the PC side, particularly in the games arena. On the plus side, they aren't targeted as frequently by viruses and worms.
Speaking from personal experience, upgrading anything inside is a real *****. Though that's generally true about all laptops, Apple seems to want average users to pay for service for the simple things. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel that upgrading memory should require anything more than removing a screw and opening an access door.
