This machine is an Inspiron 8000, P3-700MHz with 256MB RAM, 10 GB hard drive (I have external FireWire drives so a large hard drive is pointless for me), 32MB GeForce2 mobile video card (blazing fast graphics), DVD/CDRW combo drive and a 15" Display.. bought it refurbished from Dell with a warranty for $1600. At first I had some reservations about buying a refurbished machine but went through with it anyways.. It arrived and I was tickled to find it in perfect condition. I friggin love it.
IBM's are good too, some can be a little pricey but you really get what you pay for when you buy a laptop.. and Fujitsu makes some of the better laptops as well.
If you need to save some money on a laptop you'd be better off buying a higher end brand (Dell, IBM) refurbished model than buying a brand new lower end model (HP, Compaq). Laptops can be a bit quirky as it is and adding cheap hardware and loosely written drivers (as HP and Compaq are famous for lately as they target the consumer market) only compounds the problem.
In the UK Dell is also a lot cheaper than IBM but the build quality etc is as good.
If you buy them over here they come from Ireland, they really are friendly people there. When I ordered mine they threw in a leather case & knocked 10% off of the price & I didn't even try to haggle!
I know several laptops that offer "port replicators" or "mini-docking ports" but if you can find one with a full size station, It'll be well worth it.
But still prefer a mouse........ meowwww
Sometimes when Im typing my hand brushes the trackpad and moves the cursor on me.. sometimes it ends up putting the new characters where the cursor ends up which gets really irritating.. hehe.. my big ol' hands just aren't used to the keyboard yet.
I just like knowing it's mine, all mine, and being able to do whatever I wish with, like customizing the case.
I'm not worried about the upgrade to a new machine in two years with a new lease, laptops just dont get updated as quickly and frivolously as desktop machines and hardware.
If you lease, you spend more money in that time frame for the machine but you dont get to keep it. Buy it outright, spend less money in the long run, and in two years you can drop another $1600 and add a laptop to your collection.
Just wondering!
I too like Rick wanted to get a laptop a few years ago, I also didn't have a 2600 nor a 1600 budget.
I went on Ebay and studied and watched for a while. I ended up buying a Compaq Armada series laptop 4131T, It was still under warranty, while on my mission trip in Georgia is crapped out. Compaq sent a guy to georgia to fix it. I then bought a faster one a Compaq 4220T on e-bay for $600.00 ( at the time ) and then sold my 4131T. The 4220T also had a problem about a year later, when I sent in in for repair ( it also was under warranty ) Compaq lost it!
Then they gave me a Brand New Armada e500 PIII 700mhz. with 2 docking stations & 2 batteries. All Brand New.
So I geuss I made out quite well.
What I'm trying to say here is not necessarilly buy off of e-bay, nor buy a Compaq, but make sure you get a warranty that covers the life you plan on keeping it for. A 90 day warranty on a refurb is not good enough. ( remember there was a reason it was refurbished ) a one year warranty goes by real quick. I would opt, even pay more for a 3 year plan.
Laptops are quircky, & parts are very very expensive. They take a beating from being transported from place to place, batteries if used all the time wear out and are also very expensive.
Just be sure of what you are getting into!
Enjoy, I love my laptop and wouldn't do without it!
Last year I travelled from Arizona to St Louis, and since I was gone for 4 months I had to bring not only my computer, but my vinyl stock, plotter, scanner, drawing tablet and a ton of other junk I needed to keep my business going while I was on the road.
I gotta say, hauling the computer itsself was the biggest pain in the butt. There was the 17" NEC monitor (if you know NEC, you know their monitors are very heavy and solid), the 30" tall full server tower computer, plus two other boxes that held all the miscellaneous computer junk like mouse, keyboard, tablet, scanner, etc, etc.
I swore I'd never move all that junk again.
Last August I got the call again, asking if I could come to St Louis this winter to help on a big project. I took the offer and after the contracts were signed and final, I bit the bullet and bought the laptop.
Now my whole computer and computer related accessories all fit into a backpack. Ahh.. much nicer! I actually had room inside my truck cab this year during the drive to stop and stretch out for a nap!
This laptop is now my main machine.. tons of power behind it too.
I dont think I will ever buy another desktop computer again, laptops are just so handy to take everywhere, they have just as much power as a desktop computer, and they take up alot less room.
Not to mention laptop displays are perfect for creating graphics, they're as sharp as you can possibly get. Even the LCD flat panel monitors dont come close to what a laptop screen can do.
Laptop displays are so sharp, any time I look at a tube monitor (even a good one with .24 dot pitch) it looks real blurry.
