[ale] OT Laptop pref

[James P. Kinney III]

I've been watching this thread go back and forth and I finally have
something to say.

It doesn't matter _what_ hardware is purchased. # months after the
purchase there will be something faster, more toys/goodies/works better
with OS-of-choice, etc. Laptops are looking like cell-phone plans. The
option list doesn't match up to a pricing list!

I used to put parts data into a spreadsheet and crunch least-squares
fits on pricing curves. Or at least I tried. It's not possible! The
"most bang for the buck" builds a machine that won't run!

So what to get? Pick one, and ONLY one, factor that is required and toss
the rest of the devices that don't have it. Then pick ONE new "must
have" feature to narrow the list again. Then look in the wallet and see
if it matches the harsh reality in front of you :)  Be prepared to spend
more money than you _really_want_to_ because upgrades are not always
possible after a year or so on laptops.

The really big question for me and portables is "how long do I HAVE to
have it running unplugged". My earlier laptops were really more for
portable data storage than anything else. Now, I need to move through a
building and test networks so mobility is a bigger factor for me. IBM
Thinkpad T20 batteries have short lives but just fit the bill. There is
a newer Thinkpad with an optional battery in the superbay that puts the
system at 6+ hours with no AC power. Of course, the DVD drive is not
connected during this time so that stinks.

I would like to point out that this months Linux Journal has the latest
"Ultimate Linux Box" article. The hardware was provided by Monarch
Computer. It is just about the same Opteron box I built several months
ago. It still has no non-beta OS on it as RedHat WS 3 will cost $800,
Suse 9 Pro will only cost $119 and I haven't built the setup yet for
Fedora. Debian is not an option as they still aren't ready. Gee, I can
save how much?

On Thu, 2003-11-13 at 22:43, Stephen Turner wrote:
> yea well i decided to hold out as long as i can till i really need one.
> then see whats out. im not really satisfied with any of the laptops. i
> really had my heart out for the mac the way they boasted it (being 3 times
> faster than p4 equivs) but then i realize that the mac compared to new
> cpus really aint much faster if any. the mac laptops look sweet and sounds
> sweet but according to 3rd party tests performs just like amd vs intel,
> better in some respects worse in others. however ive now gotten curious
> about this pentium M, they say it whips the g4 in single cpu tests. altho
> the mhz is higher :-p by the sounds of it a nice 2ghz M processor would
> really be nice but then the price is way up there with mac and the laptops
> include that cintrino package that doesnt work with linux GRRRRR YOU HEAR
> ME INTEL? and even then they dont have a lotta goodies, but ive seen a few
> :D running 3k+ but anyways. Is the pentium M all they claim? faster than
> g4 (1.6ghz pentium vs 1.25 g4) and more power conservative? has anyone
> been playing with that and linux?
> 
> =====
> **  computers are a lot like air conditioners, they stop working properly once you open windows **
> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
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