laptop Opinion

hey everyone, iv been trying to think lately, and id like your opinion on what the best overall laptop is in your opinion, i like huge HDs and lotsa ram and basically an overall great laptop, but i also want hardware compatible with anything from Free BSD to Linux to windows 95, 98 and 2,000, im still searching around online but i posted this because id like YOUR opinions before i buy anything, so anyone thats got a laptop or had one that really liked it or know of a great one please reply, thanks alot in advance-
gore

I used a ThinkPad for a couple of years. That thing was built like a brick shithouse. Flew through my car windshiled once in an accident and when I picked it up off the ground 20 feet away it was still running. Made a nice dent in the plastic though. It was easily upgradeable too. Would definitely recommend one to anyone considering purchasing a laptop.

I have an HP Pavilion with a P4M 2.5 gHz DVD/CDRW combo drive 512 RAM 30GB HDD and 15.1 in display... I run Win XP Pro and it has been used in the desert (Afganastan) heat, mountian Cold (Ft. Carson, CO) and on a cruise (The US Virgin Islands... That was fun:D)... It has been abused and beaten by bagage handlers, soldiers, and me for a little over a year and a half and I haven't had a problem with it yet... I doubt that you are going to be taking yours to a combat zone to play Diablo II on (that's what my wife did):) I would recomend it to anyone that was looking for a laptop...

Since you asked. I have an old laptop that I use for basic applications but it must be constantly plugged in. The manufacturer is unimportant because they are out of business.

I have been looking for a new one and so far I have been impressed by the top of the line Toshiba's and Dells. The selling point for me though is the onboard Geforce Go video. In tests this turns the laptop into a passable gaming machine which is something I find very desirable.

At work I used a Thinkpad and have to agree that they seem very solidly built and I love the pointer stick vs. touchpad. My opinion there only, others I talk to prefer the touch pad.

Also on the Toshiba's side is their screen. Comparatively it is quite large. You can find others with the same size or even bigger but few that are then coupled with the video capability (yep back to the gaming graphics which is the selling point for me).

hey thanks everyone for replying, i appreciate it alot:)

It all depends on how much you want to spend. :-) For me, I have a HP pavilion ze1230. AMD Mobile Athlon XP, 256 MB Ram, 15" display. I use it mostly for programming. It goes everywhere I go. The only thing I sometimes regret is not having a floppy dive. It's been treating me pretty well for the money. It doesn't crash, it's not slow, plays dvd's flawlessly, etc. Check out ZDNet for some good reviews of all makes of laptops. Bottom line, consider what kind of use it will get and how much you can spend.

Better yet:
===============

AMD Mobile Athlon XP
Processor clock speed 1.5GHz
Display diagonal size 15 in.
System memory installed 256MB
Rated hard disk capacity 20GB
System weight 6.6 lbs.
Dimensions (HWD in inches) 1.3x12.5x10.5
Model first available June 24, 2002
Graphics memory and chipset Shared (16MB) Via Twister K
Warranty on parts/labor 1 year/1 year
Drive bay 1 DVD/CD-RW


These specs courtesy ZDNet

I bought a ThinkPad off of half.com for $350. I'm running a 333mhz processor, 128mb ram and 18gig harddrive. I run a dual boot system with linux mandrake 8.2 and Windows XP and it rocks. I have around 1000 mp3's and 100 mpegs and its still running like a champ. :-)

It really depends on how much you would like to spend and what the laptop will be used for. As the market gives you thousands of options set the minimal specification you think you`ll need and add some 10 - 20% on top of that for future and set you maximum amount you are prepared to spend. And then only search your local dealers as the stock is changing all the time. Bad point about laptops is that you`ll get half the computer for double the money but if you need to be mobile that`s the price to be paid for ..... good luck

I have toshiba celeron 1800 series but this laptop is a bit hard if you wanna install *nix specially for X configuration..(I've tried Free BSD 4.5/4.7 on this laptop and I've got headache..).

Try IBM think pad is really good for *nix...I've got IBM T22 (running dualbooting RH linux and Fre BSD 4.7) and it's very easy to install..specially for BSD

I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 900mhz, 256 MB Ram, 16 MB Nvidia Geforce Go video -- I've had it for over a year and a half, runs pretty nice. I've had Mandrake, Redhat, and currently Slackware on here - I have had no hardware compatibility issues, and with a little work have gotten every single thing to work fine. As for the BSD's I've heard of people running FreeBSD on some Inspirons -- plus Nvidia is officially supporting FreeBSD now.

One more suggestion: when buying a laptop with a TrackPoint mouse (little red pointer stick in middle of keyboard), be sure to get three or four dozen extra caps for the damned TrackPoint. Once they get dirty, which happens rather quickly unless you are a hypochondriac and wash your hands 15 times daily, they become very slippery and smooth and near impossible to use. Other than that, those little dots are far superior to touchpads, and much easier to use.

As for the best laptop, I really do think that the best one in every sence is Apple's Powerbook. Since you want it PC compatible, its probably not what you looking for (This is actually the only one). But you can run OpenBSD, Linux, NetBSD and Darwin on it + (MacOS X is based on FreeBSD kinda) and you can have a virtual PC within MacOS X to run windows. Just Check the Apple's site for more info. The new ones come with 1Ghz G4 Motorola RISK PPC, which outputs 7.5 GFlops.

i've been using HP Omnibook 6000 , nice one ... but now i'm using toshiba sat P4 ... gr8 , stable, but a bit heavy ... thats the toshiba problem.

well, u didn't mentione anything about ur budget.

i use a Toshiba Sattelite, all my hardware is detected in SuSE7.3 except the winmodem, but theres drivers for it online everywhere, after that it runs great (untill i try and put KDE3 on..... but thats a config problem)

I went through this same delimma about 10 months ago. The only bonus I had was that I was working retail for the last 2 years so I got to see what laptops came back a lot and which ones were reliable. Now after being on the road for the last 9 months I have seen the true test of what laptops are good and which arent.

I purchased a Sony Vaio which you are supposed to be able to install all kinds of OS on it. Now if any of you are interested in reliabilty I have used just about every laptop there is on the road.

Sony has held up the best to normal wear and tear. My sony also has the cleanest, and Brightest Screen of the bunch, only problem is it like to use up power, battery life of 2 hours

Compaq: 3 guys I work with have compaqs and 2 have had battery issues. Battery life of 25 min on both that bombed

Dell Latitude: I have gone through one of these in the last month. I had issues with the LCD screen and then bad sectors in the hard drive, I am currently on number 2 which is doing ok so far. Dell was the only laptop I have had that allows for com port access (needed for terming into routers and switches). Good battery life of 2.5 hours

HP: 1 guy I work with uses a HP, he hasnt complained about anything so far, and I believe this is multi OS compatible too. 2 hour battery

IBM: The other contracting firm that works with me are all supplied with IBM thinkpads. This seems to be a good laptop too, the model they have also has com ports and seems to be able to withstand some heavy duty beating also. 2.5 hour battery

I hope that this will educate some and help some others as to what laptops they want to use, or answer some questions you might have had. This info has all been based on the fact that I make about 4 airplane flights a week and have been coast to coast for the last 8-9 months. I am a newbie to this all so if this is too long of a post lemme know.

well, I haven't seen anyone post about the laptop I use - or even the brand for that matter. I use a Gateway 600XL. It's pretty expensive ($3000 decked out), but work paid for this one, so I can't complain. It's a full desktop replacement. Its a bit heavy for a completely mobile user, but it suits me fine. I use it on the road and in the office. You can't beat the screen (15.7" viewable) and its powerful too. Wouldnt trade mine...

hey thanks guys i really appreciate this, right now my decisions so far either an HP pavilion (they have one at best buy around here with a 60 gig HD and 512 MB ram and its really nice for $1,799) and the IBM think pad which seems really good and the dell inspiron, but thanks again guys=)