wonwinglo

Channel 5 had a programme today about laptops,they tested what they considered to be the three best buys for value for money,basing the tests on 1/Multi-tasking 2/Visibility of the screen outside 3/Battery life,these were the three models which may be familiar to some members here-
A/Elenex Firewire
B/Gaten MX66B
C/Sony Vaio FJ15
The MX66B with 100 gig hard drive came out on top ( as it happens the cheapest model ) with a good screen in daylight,2 hours 20 minutes battery life,it also coped well with several applications at once including heavy video applications,high resolution jobs,the others died not being able to cope.
What do our members consider the best powerful and versatile laptop buy on the market today ? you cannot beat personal experience and that is what we want to hear about.

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snoop69

I personally believe that Ibm's range is the best.
I have owned a Thinkpad T23 for the last 2 1/2 yrs with no issues at all.
The only problems ive had have been hard drive failure but i do a lot
of downloading & my machine is on 24/7.
The hard drives have not been IBM products by the way!

Previous to the T23 i have owned a couple of 600e's.
My neighbour has 3 from the 600 range for her family & has just taken
delivery of a brand new R50e.

For performance & reliablity they cannot be beaten.

An old work colleague had a brand new Sony Vaio but spent most of its
life being fixed under warranty & a couple of friends have purchased cheaper laptops from the likes of Tesco & the performance & quality has
rapidly deteriorated.
models

wonwinglo

Thanks Paul,this is just the type of feedback we want here,it will prove useful to anyone contemplating buying a laptop in the future,would anyone else care to comment on their own particular laptop and tell us the god and bad points please ?

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
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Bunkerbarge

My Laptop is about three weeks old and is a HP Pavilion zd8000 widescreen.

I only really need the laptop to be portable as I take it to work then bring it home again three months later so I do not need very light and portable machines. This laptop is consequently a bit on the big and heavy side but perfect for what I want.

At the moment I am over the moon with it as I have never used XP before and it's connectivity is a revelation as regards USB and wireless. The spec is unbelievable, most of which I can't remember, but it has a 3.something Ghz Pentium 4 processor with 100 Gig hard drive. Graphics and sound are stunning with a screen that I still find amazing to look at and a sound quality from the on board Altec Lansing speakers being superb.

The keyboard is a very nicely laid out full keyboard with a perfect touch that is actually similar to my old Dell. It even has a numeric pad so the space on top of the chassis is used to its best advantage.

It has three USB ports, numerous card slots for cards I have never heard of and a neat little SD card reader that plugs into a slot. It also even has a remote for playing DVD's. The DVD is a rewritable drive and seems to work very nicely.

Overall it seems to run a bit warm, obviously this has been an issue as it has three fans underneath it, and the fans are a bit noisy in operation.

All this performance and hardware and the absolutely stunning screen comes in at 1300.00 pounds which I didn't actually see as to expensive when I compared it with the other machines along the line in Curry's.

If you want performance, fantastic screen, amazing connectivity and features and are prepared to pay in money and weight then this is highly recommended.

I also bought a Microsoft laptop Mouse with the transmitter a little unit that clips below the mouse to turn it off. When you want to use it unclip it, stick it into any USB port and you are away. Cordless and optical and the best toy I have bought in ages!!

wonwinglo

Richard,this writeup is worth its weight in gold,nothing like a user appraisal for future reference,interesting comment about those fans,I like the sound of that spec.
My Toshiba will have to do me for a few years yet,but when I do get another it will be for an high spec machine like yours.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

John

Richard how do you get online while on the ship? do all the staff have access to wired or wireless Internet in their cabins?

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Bunkerbarge

There are a number of Senior officers who have internet access as a perk and one or two who are seen as requiring it for their role on board. I actually have a machine at my desk and in my cabin so I can connect in either location. (If the Chief Engineer doesn't pull any weight round here who does?!!)

We have also just installed a few months ago a wireless network for the crew. We have transponders in crew rec's, crew mess, officers bar etc so all crew can now get on with a wireless enabled laptop. Not cheap though at $20.00 for 2 1/2 hours.

I am also lucky enough to be able to pick up one of the transponders in my cabin so I can connect the laptop there as well but the signal is a bit weak. I just use it for software updates anyway so not an issue.

The way forward is all crew having access from thier cabins but that would be a major installation to retofit on a ship. We would probably go down the route of extending the wireless network.

Barry have a look at the hp site for the full spec. It was that and the screen that I found quite amazing at the price.

tigertc

Bunk mate, if she seems a bit warm, and this is only a guess- when on shore has she been used in a bedroom? or an area with a high concentration of dust? I have to clean out the kids lappy every couple of months as he has it in his bedroom. The little cpu fan gets clogged really quick. Simple enough to clean, usually with laptops the keyboard facia either clips off or its a couple of hex/philips screws. lift out the keyboard and the cpu fan is usually directly underneath.
When cleaning the fan though, keep it still. Reverse voltage can sometimes cuase damage.

Bunkerbarge

Thanks for the note TC but it is only three weeks old and has always been a bit warm. It was in the study at home and on my desk in my day room on the ship so it hasn't been in a bad environment. It just runs warm.

A little addition to the write up above, I put a DVD in it last night and thought I would test the remote. I was fascinated by the fact that it is radio and not Infra Red so I couldn't find a spot where it didn't work and when you are not using it it slides into the PC card slot for storage. Very neat and very impressive. You can even put the laptop to sleep with it!

wonwinglo

Tigertc,whilst on this subject of cleaning,my PC is never switched off and must draw in a bit of dust,at what period do you suggest lifting the lid ? also what do you use to get rid of the dust,and do I need to take any special care with anything ? did I read somewhere about static causing damage when you touch the computer ? any advice please.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/