Laptop recommendations

[oraclesmith]

I got a couple of Dell machines including a laptop. They're pretty good spec for the money. The thing I find is that the software (eg. Office) is starting to be a much larger proportion of the cost than it should be - thanks Bill.

[DaveB]

Every sys admin i have worked with has told me that dell are nice and cheap for the money but expect to replace them after 2-3 years, however this is talking about rackmount servers. I would guess it is probably the same for a laptop, but then you have to ask yourself if you are likely to upgrade in 2-3 years anyway....

2-3 years is the standard upgrade cycle for IT kit in a business environment. Hardware lasts a lot longer than that but the spec becomes obsolete. It also relates to the depreciation on the kit. The bean counters usually run this over 3 years so the kit is effectively worthless from an accounting viewpoint.

I was running an old Dell Inspiron XP500 up untill 2 months ago that was pushing 10 years old. Using it as the family music server. P3 500 and 512k ram and it chugged along quite happily. Was sad to see it go really.

[Ardesco]

Depends what function you have them set up for. If its a database server that is doing lots of work yes I would expect it to regulary be upgraded, but not a gateway, or a dns server, or a file server (Just whack in extra/bigger drives), or even a mail server (if you are using something like exim, however if you are going to constantly upgrade to the latest version of exchange you will probably need to keep upgrading)

[able]

i've got one of these babies... HEWLETT PACKARD DV2058

http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/572_339075.html

it's packed with goodies. lightweight. the battery is decent. runs like a dream.

[bogeyman]

Having said all kinds of nice things about Apple products, had a scary moment this morning when my MacBook Pro wouldn't power on.

Removed battery. Checked power supply. Checked both with a volt meter. Both OK. No cigar

Googled for a solution. Fortunately there was one: -

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319

Love this bit: -

Over time, the settings in the Power Manager may become unusable, which can result in operational anomalies with the computer. Examples include not turning on, not waking from sleep, not charging the battery, or not recognizing the AC Adapter, among others.

I was about ready to throw the fecking thing hard against the wall and vow never to buy another Apple product ever ever ever again.

Bit calmer now

[roger rabbit]

Laptop recommendations

A tight little Thai bird, not too heavy and not too sweaty, that's my suggestion.

[bogeyman]

A tight little Thai bird, not too heavy and not too sweaty, that's my suggestion.

Hi Roger.

Do you ever stop masturbating?

Rgds

Bogey

ps. I take it you have no need of a stapler as all of your tax advice reports are permanently glued together.

[expat]

Dell have become the IBM of the PC market. You might get a cheaper deal if you look and you might get a better spec, but nobody ever got fired for buying IBM and you can say the same about Dell PC's these days.

In laptops, Thinkpads are still the IBM of the market.

[roger rabbit]

Hi Roger.

Do you ever stop masturbating?

Rgds

Bogey

ps. I take it you have no need of a stapler as all of your tax advice reports are permanently glued together.

I do indeed stop Bogey - it's not me whose rating is "fingers like lightning"....

[BoredBloke]

"I do indeed stop Bogey - it's not me whose rating is "fingers like lightning"...."

That's only because you are typing with one hand and your keyboard is somewhat unresponsive due to the vast amounts of 'paste' which has found its way onto it.