Just musings on Laptops

[kinein]

When I think about laptops isn't it really about:

What each individual laptop offers and what the buyer is interested?

Generally speaking there is no 1 best laptop manufacturer though Apple could probably lay claim to that - then again wouldn't it because instead of offering multiple products they try to do it right with a very small handful.

Notably Macbook Pro or the Air - There is really no other thought that comes to mind with Apple. Whereas Dell Gateway Asus Toshiba Fujitsu Sony HP and others come out with a variety of laptops that have so many naming schemes they really don't have much of an identity other then being associated with a brand name.

Though the Samsung series 9 may join Apple's Air very soon.

Along with the Lenovo and HP new 2011's punching out as they are advertising over 30+ hours of battery life on their extended batteries.

Derno just thinking ~ while laptop browsing and skimming news.

The only other laptop concept I think is different would be the Google CR-48s which could be a new branch in computing perhaps...

Feel free to contribute with your own 2 cents.

 

[Pylon]

My opinion is that if you don't game, business laptops are one of the best options out there.

Why? Because they put function over form. You'll get a really durable laptop with some sort of magnesium alloy construction, a really good keyboard, Trackpoint, matte screen, good ergonomics, matte surfaces throughout, a screen latch, unobtrusive and humble look, and decent support. They're quite expensive for their specs but the improved user experience is worth it IMO.

And if you do game, you can get a mobile workstation, which is basically a business laptop with much more powerful guts.

They really stand out against all the junk at Best Buy. It's still mostly cheap plastic junk where they cram the most powerful components into the cheapest chassis possible.

What I'd check out are Lenovo's Thinkpads, Dell's Latitudes and Precisions, and HP's Elitebooks.

 

[ghoster]

My opinion is that if you don't game, business laptops are one of the best options out there.

Why? Because they put function over form. You'll get a really durable laptop with some sort of magnesium alloy construction, a really good keyboard, Trackpoint, matte screen, good ergonomics, matte surfaces throughout, a screen latch, unobtrusive and humble look, and decent support. They're quite expensive for their specs but the improved user experience is worth it IMO.

And if you do game, you can get a mobile workstation, which is basically a business laptop with much more powerful guts.

They really stand out against all the junk at Best Buy. It's still mostly cheap plastic junk where they cram the most powerful components into the cheapest chassis possible.

What I'd check out are Lenovo's Thinkpads, Dell's Latitudes and Precisions, and HP's Elitebooks.

I agree with all these points, assuming price isn't a factor.

 

[elm669]

I started out with my DTR acer back early last year.. was my bread and butter for everything even though it is quite bulky and heavy, then I acquired my netbook on a frys sell.. it is gutless but so small its easy to keep with me most of the time. So for a while I had the acer for heavy lifting and the netbook for roaming. With big and small it left me with no middle ground so I started looking around and found a HP Compaq 6910P on craigslist for really cheap, popped a seagate momentus hybrid drive in it, 4gb of ram and win7 and it flies, boots faster than my 4.22ghz i7 desktop with a regular spinner,Its a business lappy and its form factor and features are perfect but its only a 2ghz core 2 with a X2300 ati card... Though its enough performance for basic things like internet, office and light gaming.. but any heavier gaming or programs and it chokes up. At this point I'm torn on what to use, my ideal setup would be the power of my acer lappy in the business like HP Compaq 6910P package.

Acer: High Performance machine but hopelessly consumer level in quality and features, gloss screen no pc card slots, etc big, bulky, "battery" might as well be a glorified integrated UPS

Msi Netbook: gutless as hell but small and lightweight, no better than my droidx for most things.. just a bigger screen lol

HP 6910P: Build quality is wonderful, Good battery life with just the standard battery, Magnesium alloy case, trackpoint, matte screen, multibay support, pc card support, docking station support. But, behind the times as far as performance goes

 

[DanNeely]

I agree with all these points, assuming price isn't a factor.

I'll third this, but add that if you're clumsy they're cheaper than the cheap plastic consumer models because you can drop and spill stuff on them without doing damage.