Advice on purchasing a laptop

OK, so in a bizarre twist of fate, a friend has agreed to buy me any laptop no money limit!

However, I don't know a lot about laptops; so here I am.

I want to use it to stord dasa and e-books (and whatnot), music, etc. But I would also like to use it to code, write and calculate extremely complex math problems.

So "ideally" it would have two processors, a lot of hard drive space, and decent RAM (the more the merrier :))...but I have no clue which companies are good and bad as far as laptops are concerned.

I hear anecdotally that Gateways, and HPs are bad for laptops; the better ones were AlienWare, Dell, and IBM (ThinkPad).

Any advice on laptops would be welcomed.

IBM and Toshiba are by far the best...

However I've heard that Acer is pretty good nowadays... Dell's aren't bad and I'm neutral on HP's... Stay away from anything bearing the Gateway logo...

I'd go with IBM or Toshiba...

What is so wrong with Gateway? Just curious. I've never had and *major* issue with their harware. However, my experience with them is limited.

I use both Dell and HP for my laptop vendors.

Gateway uses a vast amount of proprietary hardware (and I've even heard software) and they're customer support is very shady when it comes to warranties... They've been going downhill for quite some time now...

I would buy a Mac Powerbook.

:D

Quote:

---

Galdron

---

said:

Quote:

---

I would buy a Mac Powerbook.

---

I would probably do the same.............chance to learn at no cost?..............I would find it hard to justify the cost of a MAC otherwise ;)

A craptop?.............well "chacun a son goute" as they say?

:D

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Arkimedes
So my friends and I, being the betting coders we are, have agreed to a wager: whoever makes the most novel operating system wins the bet.

We can use command line kernels like DOS or 'nux. But the problem is making something unique and different.

I was thinking about making each file represented by a fish, and each folder be a school of fish; the OS would be coral reefs, being necessary to keep the other things living. Then I realized this was too complicated.

So I thought about a Java OS that runs itself! A sort of bootstrap of an OS. Then I heard that JNode did this :mad:

So then I thought about an OS sorta like the internet, except instead of websites there would be specific locations in RAM, and that the OS is entirely dependent on RAM with the exception of a start up. It evolves in ram depending on the circumstances. But I have no idea how I would even start doing this!

So, I have ran out of ideas! Any Help on making a unique and different OS would be greatly appreciated!

---

Arkimedes-


Not trying to be an ass, yet after reading all of your posts, I am a little confused by your Laptop Question. You want to write a Unique OS and you are an "Old School Coder". Yet you are posting that you don't know much about laptops.

Dude I suggest reading up on reviews which can be found all over the web. With all your Coding Java, Nix experience this should not be too much of a problem.

......................................................???????????????????




:confused: :rolleyes:

if money is no object..........go for alienware



http://www.alienware.com/Intro_Pages...px?source=1925

Well, I would rather ask you, how would you use this laptop and what for? .... I don't think investing heavily on a laptop is a good idea unless you really find a resonable usage ... otherwise you would be wasting money ....

Anyways .... HP Compaq has always been a good choice ....

I am sorry if I sound a little rude or testy in my reply, I got five minutes of sleep last night (huzzzah for coffee! ::coffee:: ).

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Galdron
Arkimedes-


Not trying to be an ass, yet after reading all of your posts, I am a little confused by your Laptop Question. You want to write a Unique OS and you are an "Old School Coder". Yet you are posting that you don't know much about laptops.

---

Haven't you ever made a "bet" before? If you had actually read my post on making a unique OS, you would've read that it was out of a bet. (Hence the first line being "So my friends and I, being the betting coders we are, have agreed to a wager: whoever makes the most novel operating system wins the bet.").

That's how I got the choice of a laptop where money is no problem. I found it to be easier to modify a Linux kernel, and that technically wasn't against the rules of the bet. So I turned in something that resembled SuSe and my friends turned in half working command line interfaces...so I won the bet.

What can I say, I'm a sporting man :D

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Black Cluster
Well, I would rather ask you, how would you use this laptop and what for? .... I don't think investing heavily on a laptop is a good idea unless you really find a resonable usage ... otherwise you would be wasting money ....

---

Well...

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Arkimedes

I want to use it to stord data and e-books (and whatnot), music, etc. But I would also like to use it to code, write and calculate extremely complex math problems.

---

I am, "by trade", a physicist that's why there will be the "extremely complex math problems", the e-Books (and technical articles), and the writing/coding...and possibly playing tetris, so I look busy and hardworking :p

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by Arkimedes

I want to use it to stord data and e-books (and whatnot), music, etc. But I would also like to use it to code, write and calculate extremely complex math problems.

---

so you know what you want it for.....

anything can store data, ebooks, music etc. and most of them can code, write and calculate extremly complex math problem, you just need the right program for it.

just buy anything off the shelf.

reading your question and other's reply and your reply, i could make out the following......
1) you know you want a computer
2) its got to be a laptop
3) you want a brand name

what is confusing is......
do you want to show it off or you just want to get work done?

these are two different things

make up your mind on that...


cheers

Quote:

---

"So my friends and I, being the betting coders we are, have agreed to a wager: whoever makes the most novel operating system wins the bet.")
That's how I got the choice of a laptop where money is no problem. I found it to be easier to modify a Linux kernel, and that technically wasn't against the rules of the bet. So I turned in something that resembled SuSe and my friends turned in half working command line interfaces...so I won the bet..

---

again....so you modified linux kernel and turned in something that resembled SuSe. and your friend was actually working on command lines trying to actually make something new?

Quote:

---

What can I say, I'm a sporting man

---

true, true


let it be known, who copied and who made something.


didnt you guys wanted to make something new?

Quote:

---

true, true

let it be known, who copied and who made something.

didnt you guys wanted to make something new?

---

First, I didn't "copy/paste" suse, I "turned in something that resembled SuSe and my friends turned in half working command line interfaces...so I won the bet."

Technically I did "make" something new (inasmuch as Redhat or Suse is different from a Unix kernel)...used different widgets; no seriously I "found it to be easier to modify a Linux kernel", but they started from scratch.

Even then, their scratch was not new, as a lot of their driver interface and booting was taken from DOS.

Lastly, my friends and I are sporting people, we make wacky bets like this all the time; why I bet we make more wacky bets than you and your friends :D

To return to your original question:

Personally, I would go for an Apple Powerbook, but that is only so that I would have an up to date Apple to play with (my current one is at OS 8 :( )

For scientific applications I would guess that there is far more choice of software for a PC, so I guess that is the way for you to go.

I would go for IBM based on the fact that I have not come across one with a problem (apart from battery replacements or upgrades, which I don't count)

Whatever you get I would recommend investing in a cooling pad (I bet you it makes it more stable and last longer :D )

Toshibas are good, but they have had heating issues in the past "the phantom typist syndrome". This may well have been fixed, and it only seems to happen after a couple of years of regular use, so it is hard to tell if this is still a potential issue.

Dells are OK but I have encountered some compatibility problems with data projectors, both old ones and the latest.

I realise that I have no idea of the sample population I am dealing with, but IBMs are quite popular around here, and, as I said, I haven't had any issues with them.

Alienware is far too exotic for this part of the World, and I have always looked on them as a gamer's machine and would suspect that they might be a little too "videocentric" (Hey! I just invented a new word for ya! :cool: ) for a physisist.

Look for a fast processor and fast RAM?

All in all I would suggest IBM

Cheers