Dan has been working on it, hope to have it fixed this week-end.

I don'y like his....if he can't fix mine, I will be geting a laptop....Kona has a dell she customized and loves it....

Anyone here on a laptop, and the pros and cons and type you have???

thanks.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2002

Answers

Sweetie has a Dell, I have a Compaq. DELL RULES! Even with the Compaq crap I've had to put up with, I love notebooks/laptops.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2002

I have a Dell Inspiron (8000?) I have been very happy with. I don't think I could go back to a table top computer, having it mobile is too useful. (Including taking the laptop with me when I went back to the computer store to ask if they would finish install the new printer for me.)

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2002

I use both a PC and a laptop throughout the week.

My laptop is one of last year's Toshiba Satellites. I needed a high- end laptop because I build web sites, do desktop publishing, and need a moble packet station (Ham radio). The Toshiba withstands the rigors of travel very well. It's probably a lot more computer than you need, SAR.

The cons? Well, this is true of most laptops for me -- I'm not comfortable doing extensive building or designing on one, and I'm talking 7+ hours types of projects. I'd much rather use a graphics monitor (they're huge). I don't mind doing quick uploads or routine maintenance (less than an hour) on a laptop, but anything that takes longer leads to eyestrain, neck pains . . . I'm just not comfortable. That's not true of everyone, but most professionals I know don't do major design work on laptops.

My new PC is one of the Sony graphics computers. Since I'm frequently working with large programs (PowerPoint + MS Word + FrontPage) at the same time, I need a huge hard drive, plus CD burner & Zip drive, which is more than I can get on a laptop.

The main disadvantage is that this PC isn't moble: I can't drag it into the bedroom and work in bed if I feel sick or take it on the road easily.

My recommendation, SAR, is to see if you can easily manipulate graphics and whatever you need to do to update IC on a laptop. If you can't easily do work like that on a laptop within your budget, get a PC.

If you shop carefully, you might be able to get both. Best Buy stores will build custom laptops, and you can get a stripped-down version for around $400.00 that just basically does email and word processing. Add a little more, and you have a machine you can drag into the bedroom and surf from on days when you don't feel like sitting at a desk. Such a unit, though, would give you fits if you try to do any major updating of the boards -- the mouse moments aren't precise (you'd need to spend a lot more to get an optical mouse), and the screen'll drive you crazy.

Final recommendation: go to your nearest big city that has a Best Buy and PLAY. Plus read the reviews. You can go to www.google.com and type in the model you want and word review. Example: Sony V2123 Reviews and you'll get a lot of info that way.

Note to the Dell users: nobody likes them around here. The PCs overheat easily and the laptops don't last long on the road (don't survive well, even in a padded case). You folks are probably much kinder to your machines than we are.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2002

Thanks for the imput. Dan is finally getting the PC running, we got new MB, CD burner, and some other stuff..we will wait on the laptop, as IF he gets this job they will supply him with a LAPTOP, and I can see how I like it! I would get one, I am just concerned about what all I do on IC. basically I just get email, post to IC , here and TB...not much time for much else! dan is needing this for tonight now to re-apply apps. so I will be on later or tomorrow!

thanks,again everyone

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2002