[vox] Looking at Laptops

[vox@lists.lugod.org]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 10:21:38AM -0800, Marianne Waage wrote:
> - Toshibas seem to have frequent problems. The two we have are constant
>   trouble.

I'll second that.  Sony Vaios are generally crap as well, and while
Powerbooks are great machines, I *hate* having a single mouse button
when I'm running X.  Two is a bare minimum.  Three is comfortable.  Five
is bliss.

> - IBMs are solid little bricks. They last the longest of all the laptops
>   we have. Tad more expensive, but if you're hard on your laptop, it's
>   worth it.

I'll second that as well; IBM has a reputation for designing equipment
that will survive the eventual death of the Sun[1].

> - Dells are an either or. Inspirons should be avoided as they are marketed
>   towards home users and tend to be designed on the cheap side. I 
>   personally owned an Inspiron 3800 which lasted about 3 years without
>   much trouble, but the Inspirons in the Math department have more issues.
>   I just got an X200 Latitude which I'm *very* happy with. Physical Plant
>   swore by Dell Latitudes for their durability and more standard hardware.

This is why I didn't by an Inspiron.  Latitudes, while not as "solid" as
IBM laptops, tend to be oriented towards the 'power user' -- people who
plan on using their laptops heavily in a variety of environments.  As
such, they are solidly built, feature-packed, and have decent ergonomics
-- I would have purchased an IBM laptop had they provided a trackpad,
whereas my Dell C600 provides both the trackpad and a nipple.

[1] Both that big ball of nuclear fire, and a certain company whose
    stock is crashing like Michael Jackson's career.

-- 
Don Werve <donw@examen.com> (Unix System Administrator)

Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue,
Orn desh, dee born desh, de umn bork! bork! bork!