My first laptop?

[Fraoch]

Well I've got to start looking for laptops now for my new job.

It's interesting, but when I assumed this would be a regular-type job, I didn't really care what laptop it was. In fact, I was hoping for one of the super-fast Dothan-powered P4s. However, now that I will be part owner of the business, costs count!

So I'm looking for the least expensive laptop that will do the job adequately and reliably.

Obviously I'm looking at a Canadian retailer, and NCIX.com and Vibe Computers both have much higher prices than the ever-present FutureShop.ca and Staples.ca (Business Depot).

At Future Shop, I'm avoiding the super-cheap "Averatec" notebooks - something doesn't look right there. But I'm really interested in the Compaq 2197CA. About the only thing it lacks is USB 2.0 capability. It looks fast, powered by an AMD Athlon XP-M 2800+ with 512 MB of DDR memory. Could the 2 hour battery life be better though?

Staples.ca has the similar Compaq 2198CA for even less. However this one has only 256 MB of memory, is powered by a 2500+ XP-M and lacks wireless LAN capability. I don't know how useful 802.11b/g would be, but it's in a lot of airports and hotels now.

So what do you guys think of these two, and Compaq laptops in general? Remember I'm not looking for a performance machine, just something that will do e-mail, web browsing and spreadsheets, plus maybe the occasional simple game or two.

Also, what's up with those darned Celerons? They're considerably more expensive than the AMD XP-M powered notebooks, and in the desktop market, a 2800+ XP would crush any Celeron ever made. Is this the case in laptops as well?

[KingTermite]

I don't know much about Compaq laptops, but I don't think 2 hours will be enough. The thing that most people don't "get" like I didn't at first until I bought a laptop is that "2 hour battery life" means "1 hour batter life and then working with dark screen various other power saving schemes for the 2nd hour".

I strongly recommend going with a Pentium Centrino processor that gives 4-5 hours of life (e.g. 2 1/2 hours "good time" and about 2 hours of "power saving time").

Not that I have anything against AMD, I don't. But unless they have an ultra-low power processor like the centrino, I'd go with a Pentium centrino.

[yamawho]

I have had two laptops and battery life is a problem.

I hate them

I use a Ipaq PDA these days ... same thing, battery life sucks.

You feel always stressed on battery power.

I was looking at the ECS desktop replacements last winter.
These need an external power supply to work however.
You can add your own standard CPU, memory and hdd.

I have been looking at Tablet PC's for future consideration however.

[specter_abx]

Ive never heard anything bad about Averatec. I think the only thing that really seperates them from the rest is the lack of GPU and they dont push tons of software on you that you will probably never use. Averatec seems to be getting popular pretty fast.

Check out Dell small bussiness too. They have some great prices. Much cheaper than their regular prices. Be sure to check out bensbargains.com for sales.

Toshiba makes some real nice laptops. Prices very a lot between them.

A cheaper way to go normally is buy more memory online after you get the laptop.

If you want something really small the sony TR series is only 10inches widescreen format.

I went laptop shopping yesterday and I was disgusted at the size of laptops. I firmly believe a large laptop pretty much negates the need of a laptop, might as well have a desktop. These things were 15inches about 2 inches thick and probably weighed a ton!

[Underwater Mike]

As the previous owner of a Compaq Presario 2700, I totally agree with specter's criticism of sizes. I bought that machine as a desktop replacement, but discovered that in trying to get portability and power in the same package, I really got none of either. (The build quality was terrible, too.) Right now I use a Dell Axim with a collapsible keyboard for my travel needs unless I'm presenting something. But, the PPC screen is too small for my needs, even in landscape.

If you're looking for a desktop "companion," rather than replacement, you might consider a Sharp Actius MM20. This thing is incredibly thin and light. It has a 1 GHz Transmeta Efficeon, so it's not going to break any speed records, and the RAM is fixed at 512MB. IIRC, retail is about $1300 USD.

But, the portability is incredible. One interesting feature is the machine's "dock," which not only charges the battery but keeps the drive synchronized with your desktop machine. This, or its successor, will be my next notebook.

[termite]

If you're looking for a laptop strictly for work then take a look at the following companies:

IBM
Dell
Sony

[rizd999]

If I were you, I'd first make a list of things that are most important to you (i.e. Price, Performance (CPU/GPU), Weight/Size, Reliability, Battery Life, Screen, Features, etc.) Weigh each of those things that are most important to you and shop for a laptop within those specifications

For longest battery AND performance, you just can't beat a Centrino notebook. They usually do come at more of a premium price though.

Mobile AthlonXPs have decent performance for their lower price ranges. Laptops that use Pentium4s have smaller active battery life and are usually bigger to sustain the hotter CPU but at a usual better performance ratio than the XPs. Celeron for laptops, I wouldn't recommend it, stick with the XPs. The other new rave now are the Mobile Athlon64s.

I recently went with a Mobile AMD64 based laptop. It has 512Mb ram, Radeon 9600, 60Gb HD, LAN, 802.11b/g (which has been extremely useful on the road. You really don't realize how many hot spots there are out there or how convenient it is until you start using it), 4 USB2.0 ports, firewire, for about US$1300. I'm quite happy with it and I don't think I'd go another way if I were to do it again. Of course at that price range, there are disadvantages to the laptop such as the shorter active battery life (at 2.5 - 3 hours) and a heavier unit weighing in at about 7-8 lbs.

Personally, I'm not much of a Compaq fan (other than their higher-end servers) so I couldn't comment on those specific brand laptop models you mentioned. Between it being an XP and including the very limited features, you're probably paying mid to excess of what you're getting (US$1000?). I'm not sure if Dell delivers to Canada, but they usually have decent laptops for about US$1000 also and usually includes those extra nice features too. But if you want the better graphics capability, you'll always be spending ~$200 more than the vanilla graphic laptops.

[Bofinn]

Sweet Deals for Laptop Buyers

We set a price cap of $1,100 and challenged the leading laptop makers to impress us. We're happy to report that even the cost-conscious can benefit from the advances in the industry, as the five value notebooks we received don't skimp on features. For example, the entries from Averatec, Compaq, and Dell included fast 802.11g wireless networking com-ponents, while the eMachines unit has a wide-screen display.

full story:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1579072,00.asp

[Fraoch]

Thanks guys! As usual, you've centred me on the right things to think about.

It's good to hear that Averatec isn't junk. I've decided on the following priorities:

1. Battery life is unimportant. Since I will be travelling by car, I won't be in many airports. I will primarily be using the laptop in hotel rooms (i.e. powered). This company also uses laptops instead of desktops in their offices, also 120V powered, of course.

2. I do want USB 2.0. Since laptops are so limited, connectivity is important.

3. I do want wireless capability. Many hotels are providing this now and it would be good for around the home too.

4. I don't care about bundled software. I'd probably uninstall it anyway. Besides, there are great shareware/freeware programs out there (I'm thinking primarily of OpenOffice).

5. The CPU doesn't have to be spectacular and the GPU is totally unimportant.

6. Weight/portability aren't that important as I won't be travelling by air much.

With that in mind, I'm now looking at the Averatec AV 3220H. This is very similar to the highly rated 3225HS reviewed at the link Bofinn provided. It only has 256 MB of RAM though, but I'm thinking that ought to be enough for a business machine.

It has USB 2.0 and 802.11g wireless, integrated LAN and modem, and is powered by an AMD Athlon 2000+ XP-M. The battery life is a bit better at 3.5 hours (but that's doesn't really matter for me). Another unneeded bonus is the unit is quite light at 4.2 lbs and thin at 1" (!)

The screen is small at 12.1" but it should be big enough for business use.

Adding RAM would be a problem. Kingston recommends these, (PC2700 SODIMM) which are of course not available at any system vendors I've checked. I found this, which seems to match the specs, but the Kinston site doesn't link this to the Averatec 3200 series. Does it have something to do with "200 pins"? Are there different SODIMM pin configurations? I'm confused.

And how easy is it to add memory to a laptop?

Thanks for your responses!

P.S. The only Dell that can compete with this is the $999 CDN Inspiron 1000. Looks a little too stripped down. It uses a 2.2 GHz Celeron and has no wireless - you can add an "external" wireless for $50. Does use a 14.1" screen though.

[yamawho]

Adding memory was easy on two Compaq laytops I owned.

There was a removeable door with screw under the unit like a battery door.

Good luck

[KingTermite]

Fraoch....do consider the battery life.

I said the exact same thing as you did when I got my "first" laptop which had a standard Pentium and sucked itself dead in less than an hour.

You find yourself in places you can't connect power cord anywhere much more often than you think. I thought I'd always be around power sources and within a week I had the thing die on me a few times because I was not around a power source. Not to mention with 1 hour life, it was going into "dim" mode in about 20-30 minutes.

Also...I found that even though it weighs heavier....if you will really be "using" it a lot, a small screen will really be a MAJOR pain in the ***! If you have even two windows open you can never see what you are wanting to see.

[Bofinn]

Originally Posted by Fraoch

1. Battery life is unimportant. Since I will be travelling by car, I won't be in many airports. I will primarily be using the laptop in hotel rooms (i.e. powered). This company also uses laptops instead of desktops in their offices, also 120V powered, of course.

2. I do want USB 2.0. Since laptops are so limited, connectivity is important.

3. I do want wireless capability. Many hotels are providing this now and it would be good for around the home too.

4. The screen is small at 12.1" but it should be big enough for business use.

5. And how easy is it to add memory to a laptop?

1. I agree, you will care about battery power but anything rated over 3 hours should be good enough. If you are going to work a lot from the office you will want a laptop that has a port replicator / docking station so you can use a full size keyboard, mouse, and monitor. trust me, having tendonitis is not fun.

2. USB 2.0 is a must! I'd also recommend getting a 128Mb memory key if you need to transfer files or slide presentations.

3. wireless is nice but you will pay a hefty monthly fee, around $70 USD or so.

4. I know you are trying to save your company money, but if it's only a few hundred bucks you'd be better off getting a better laptop, you will regret 12" screen so don't make us tell you later "I told you so!"

5. Almost all laptops have 2 slots with easy access on the bottom. super easy...

[Bofinn]

I would say 512Mb of ram, 256 will be slow.

[sgaterboy]

Originally Posted by Bofinn

1. I agree, you will care about battery power but anything rated over 3 hours should be good enough. If you are going to work a lot from the office you will want a laptop that has a port replicator / docking station so you can use a full size keyboard, mouse, and monitor. trust me, having tendonitis is not fun.

2. USB 2.0 is a must! I'd also recommend getting a 128Mb memory key if you need to transfer files or slide presentations.

3. wireless is nice but you will pay a hefty monthly fee, around $70 USD or so.

4. I know you are trying to save your company money, but if it's only a few hundred bucks you'd be better off getting a better laptop, you will regret 12" screen so don't make us tell you later "I told you so!"

5. Almost all laptops have 2 slots with easy access on the bottom. super easy...

I would Disagree with # 3 (yeah, bold added) . . . free wifi access points are ALL OVER. Most hotels offer them very cheap, with about half of the upper end hotels being free (marriotts, etc) Panera Bread has free Wifi access, etc. If you are paying for a wifi subscription then consider that all of the free access points are driving UP the cost due to lost business, and the number of free hotspots is skyrocketing.
(if you already have broadband it costs around a hundred dollars down to install the hardware needed for hosting a free wifi hotspot - and no additional monthly costs. VERY good business sense, as a free hotspot WILL attract additional customers at no additional cost to you. . . just eighty bucks for the unit and twenty for the window stickers!)

[Lucas_Maximus]

laptops eat batteries as a rule, after a year ur battery life will be lucky to get over about half an hour.

I would buy a laptop from either dell, toshiba, maybe asus. for the same reasons as desktop computers try to avoid something with a lot of generic parts.

when i upgraded from windows ME to windows XP on my laptop, i had major headaches finding the drivers, i had a sis 630 chipset, i found out later (when i was less knowledgeable about computery things).

built quality is very important, i havent treated mine that rough and i having problems with the vga cable inside the laptop, i.e. 50 quid down the drain for a repair. plus postage (think how heavy it is).

also weight is serious, mine weighs a ton, it a portable desktop not a laptop, okay if u got a car, i haven't. I pulled my neck many times carrying it.