Can someone recommend a laptop with a good, bright screen, cheap, and physically small. I'd prefer something less than 3 years old and widely available second hand. Long battery life, USB 2.0 and wireless would be good bonuses.
I'm fairly computer savvy, but am too lazy to go through a huge research effort. Some suggestions will help give me a short list.
The primary use will be reading previously downloaded audio related documents in bed!
I'm fairly computer savvy, but am too lazy to go through a huge research effort. Some suggestions will help give me a short list.
The primary use will be reading previously downloaded audio related documents in bed!
jeff mai said:Can someone recommend a laptop with a good, bright screen, cheap, and physically small. I'd prefer something less than 3 years old and widely available second hand. Long battery life, USB 2.0 and wireless would be good bonuses.
I'm fairly computer savvy, but am too lazy to go through a huge research effort. Some suggestions will help give me a short list.
The primary use will be reading previously downloaded audio related documents in bed!
IBM X40, no contest. I own one myself.
It weighs 2.7 lbs; has a 3-hour battery life (six hours with extended battery), and is often found on eBay with a warranty for under $650 - that's how much I paid for mine a few months ago.
you can pick up an apple powerbook g4 12.1" ex-demo for under $1000AU. A bit heavier than the ibm mentioned, but longer battery life (upto 5 hours), cdrw/dvdr drive, wireless, bluetooth etc, etc. If you give the guys at http://www.jollymac.com.au a call they usually have reasonable range of machines that have come back off lease at good prices.
cheers
Paul
ps... I'm enjoying the Aleph 30's
cheers
Paul
ps... I'm enjoying the Aleph 30's
spzzzzkt said:you can pick up an apple powerbook g4 12.1" ex-demo for under $1000AU. A bit heavier than the ibm mentioned, but longer battery life (upto 5 hours), cdrw/dvdr drive, wireless, bluetooth etc, etc. If you give the guys at http://www.jollymac.com.au a call they usually have reasonable range of machines that have come back off lease at good prices.
cheers
Paul
ps... I'm enjoying the Aleph 30's
The G4 12" powerbook would often have battery life of under four hours. In addition, unlike the modern MacBooks, the PBG4's cannot run Windows applications.
As a side note, the wireless reception of the Powerbooks was awful - metal blocks RF as we well know. In contrast, the X40 has far above average reception.
In addition, the Powerbook G4 weighs 4.6 lbs, to the 2.7lbs of the X40.
If you want a lightweight laptop, you're better off with an ibook - you can get a 1ghz G4 ibook for about $550USD at geeks.com. While it's a little heavier, the wifi reception is better, and it costs much less.
The IBM T-series is another option if you would prefer a laptop with a built-in optical drive an bigger screen. I saw a T41 with a 1.6ghz G4 and 10-month Lenovo warranty for $450 buy-it-now on eBay a while back.
well that's not quite true... there are several applications that allow you to run windows on the G3 and G4 macs, including Virtual PC which was purchased by MS a few years ago. In fact about 5 years ago I had a Red Hat Linux i386 distro running very happily under Virtual PC on a g3 desktop.
What the core duo macs allow you do is dual boot into Windows or, using parallels desktop, run windows inside a virtual machine, either of which is a speedier option than the emulation of i386 architecture that is required on g3/g4's. I'm using an older version of Virtual PC with win2k pro on my 1.5ghz powerbook g4 and it is sufficient to run the odd windows app that doesn't have mac/*nix equivalent - mainly things like duncans psudII. It doesn't sound as tho Jeff was planning on using the laptop for much except reading documents...
I know the wireless range on powerbooks has been described as woeful but I've been able to use mine at the opposite end of various suburban houses from the base station without issues. I have had some trouble at work, but the walls are 12" thick solid bluestone and a co-worker with a toshiba laptop has similar issues.
anyway it was just a suggestion, not a declaration of jihad.
cheers
Paul
What the core duo macs allow you do is dual boot into Windows or, using parallels desktop, run windows inside a virtual machine, either of which is a speedier option than the emulation of i386 architecture that is required on g3/g4's. I'm using an older version of Virtual PC with win2k pro on my 1.5ghz powerbook g4 and it is sufficient to run the odd windows app that doesn't have mac/*nix equivalent - mainly things like duncans psudII. It doesn't sound as tho Jeff was planning on using the laptop for much except reading documents...
I know the wireless range on powerbooks has been described as woeful but I've been able to use mine at the opposite end of various suburban houses from the base station without issues. I have had some trouble at work, but the walls are 12" thick solid bluestone and a co-worker with a toshiba laptop has similar issues.
anyway it was just a suggestion, not a declaration of jihad.
cheers
Paul
spzzzzkt said:
The problem with VPC is that it costs a lot of money - expect to pay $150 for a liscense for WinXP, plus the cost of the software, which is at least $100.
If you're willing to spend a grand on a laptop, the MacBook ($1100, $1,000 after student/teacher discount) is a very nice machine. It's blisteringly fast (the 1.83ghz C2D in the base model will smoke a 3.8ghz Pentium 4 across the board), and while the video card (GMA900) is lacking, it's more than adequate for anything except gaming - in fact, it's a fine machine for video editing and other such CPU-intensive tasks.
Dual booting into Windows will require the purchase of a WinXP liscense, though.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. They are all a little on the expensive side for what I'm after - I should have said $500 AUD or a little more is my budget. My main motivation is solely to avoid printing and storage of hard copies for bedside reading. I don't really require wireless networking, though it might be nice to have.
An old G3 Pismo (if you can find one) would be a value leader. Doesn't have USB 2 thou (1,1) i think. I found mine in a dumpster (but it needed a new battery (which i had lying around), and a bag of cookies for an old belkin wireless card.
The G4 iBooks are probably your best bet thou. For doing what you need, there is no need to run Windows (and who would if they could avoid it?), OS X is the richest browser environment in the world. With enuff RAM, any of these will run the latest OS
Used Apple laptops are not too common, because they tend to get used to death.
Certainly best bang-for-the-buck in new laptops is the macBook (ie iBook replacement). Not the cheapest laptop in the world, but 100s less than a comparable Windows only laptop.
dave
The G4 iBooks are probably your best bet thou. For doing what you need, there is no need to run Windows (and who would if they could avoid it?), OS X is the richest browser environment in the world. With enuff RAM, any of these will run the latest OS
Used Apple laptops are not too common, because they tend to get used to death.
Certainly best bang-for-the-buck in new laptops is the macBook (ie iBook replacement). Not the cheapest laptop in the world, but 100s less than a comparable Windows only laptop.
dave
I had a pismo until it finally expired last year. Beautiful looking case and solid as a rock.
Just to prove mac 's never truly die, it's been reincarnated as an "art object" thanks to a friend...
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/satta/322819523/
The pismo's struggle a bit with 10.4, so I wouldn't recommend anything above 10.3 personally.
Paul
Just to prove mac 's never truly die, it's been reincarnated as an "art object" thanks to a friend...
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/satta/322819523/
The pismo's struggle a bit with 10.4, so I wouldn't recommend anything above 10.3 personally.
Paul
I agree with the IBM X series. I have a T60 for school work, and just got a free X22 from a client. It is absolutely tiny! IBMs are great computers, but battery life is not a strength. I would think that for bedside reading a couple hours should be good. Keep in mind, all battery life information is calculated with screen brightness at its lowest and often times at lower performance. I find IBM's ThinkVantage very useful, you have many more options with it.
Josh
Josh
edjosh23 said:
Almost all IBM laptops have an extended battery option, which will double battery life. The T-series should, if you have the brightness turned down, give you at least an acceptable three and a half to four hours with a clean install of windows. (Too much spyware will also increase CPU usage, which will in turn power usage.)
I'm on my laptop right now at the library. I get 2:30 after start up. My friend has the ended battery, he definately gets more battery life, but i haven't been on it enough to know what it is. I have adjusted my settings so that when running on battery only my brightness is as low as possible.
Josh
Josh
oh and dont get a mac...
that much ching for a laptop, and they only give you one pointer button...
they say it easier, but how is remembering which damn key to hold down with one hand while pushing the unibutton with your other hand instead of just using one of the other two buttons with your mouse hand any easier...
so when someone asks 'what can your pc out of the box do that my mac cant?'
you say 'right click.'
that much ching for a laptop, and they only give you one pointer button...
they say it easier, but how is remembering which damn key to hold down with one hand while pushing the unibutton with your other hand instead of just using one of the other two buttons with your mouse hand any easier...
so when someone asks 'what can your pc out of the box do that my mac cant?'
you say 'right click.'
ren@darkertek said:
1st off, a MacBook is cheaper than a comparable Dell for instance (you just can't buy a Mac laptop that is a cheap one). And all Macs now come with "multi-button" mice with scroll wheel (the mighty mouse). They drive me crazy, because you can't just click the mouse you have to think about where to click.
Over & over again, PC magazines call the mac laptops the best.
And don't get me started on how bad Windows is...
dave
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