Notebook advice......

[James]

I'm looking to purchase a new notebook, to replace my current piece of dell merchandise ;)

I want something lighter weight but with the ability to operate in an everyday capacity, i.e. with a docking station.

I've checked out ZDNet and Cnet, and think I've found a suitable replacement:

HP OmniBook 500 Mobile Pentium III 600MHz

Has anyone out there had any experience with HP notebooks? or any alternative recommendations.

[JTY]

I've heard that the Sony VAIO notebooks are nice.... they look sweet.....

[Joolz]

HP's a good one to go for. What I will say is DELL is quite good at notebooks (they had a bad bout of dodgy screens last year but change supplier and are now OK). The Sony Vaio is good, but not at ALL flexible. You can't just install any OS on it. They have their own custom compiled version of Windows (yep, they do exist). This, as you can imagine, is a pain in the ass.

[Jaiem]

I have a Sony VIAO slim notebook and it's great! The only down side is that all the peripherals (cd-rom,mouse etc) are external so you have to hook up wires. But if you don't use them much it's great little machine!

[James]

Thanks guys!

I'm still liking the HP, it offers the same features as the Sony, but at a better price :)

I even looked at the apple G4 :eek: But quickly came to my senses.....

Do you hold much value in ZDnet reviews?

http://www.zdnet.com/supercenter/stories/ratings/0,12072,458427,00.html

[JTY]

The new titanium Powerbook G4 is sweet.....

[James]

Originally posted by JTY
The new titanium Powerbook G4 is sweet.....

Yep it almost had me :lol:

[akashik]

Do you travel much? I heard a news story recently about a titanium cased laptop setting off the bomb squad at an airport :)

The only problem with slimline notebooks is their feature list tends to be a little low. Only so much you can pack into a 1 inch high computer I suppose. I don't think you'll go too wrong with either Dell, HP or Sony. I have an old Compaq Armada 1500c, and I have to say it's the best computer I've ever owned. The newer one's don't impress me much and Presario and Prosignia's are well known for being rubbish. This old thing was advertised as a drop on the ground, kick around, use in the Amazon jungle or Bosnia type of 'road warrior' thing. To date it's lived up to that pretty well. I can't say I've dropped it anywhere, but it does get a lot of travel time.

I think if you can afford it go for the VAIO. Once you spend a bit of money they all become pretty similar.. The Sony is one fine looking computer though :)

Greg Moore

[James]

OK, youve got me looking at the mac again :rolleyes:

I've been reading more about it on the ZD site and some of the user comments talk about the ability to run a dual operating system. Mac and Windows. I've only seen reference made to Win 98 but does anyone know if it supports Win 2000?

[JTY]

I'm not sure what it would take to run Windows2000, but I'd think VirtualPC would support it....

[akashik]

I was thinking much the same thing when I was looking at it. I kept looking at it, then at my Windows copy of Photoshop, back to the Apple.....

The thing is.. for all that 'cool' it's actually quite reasonably priced. If there's a good program for Mac to run Win I'd be in happy land, doing the dance of joy

Greg Moore

[James]

I'm getting very keen on the mac. From what I've been reading the new g4 processor is very powerful. They offer tow models:

400MHz and 500MHz

I know you can get hold of a new dell with a 1GHz chip, but according to ZDnet and Cnet. The mac 400 still blew away the top end of the pc notebooks with ease!

Its all going to come down to networking. If we can get it running on a win2000 network, I'm going to go for it :)

[James]

For those of you who are interested, it is possible to run the mac on a win2k network.
You need to purchase some additional software from:

www.thursby.com or visit www.macwindows.com for more details.

Will I make the jump from using a PC for the first time in nearly 10 years????? Still not sure

:rolleyes:

[JTY]

The only key reason that I would switch platforms, is if you need to do a lot of multimedia work.

[James]

Your probably right, maybe I'm just looking back to my Mac days with Rose coloured glasses :)

I'm going to make a final decision next week. I'll let you all know which way it goes......

[Tommy]

Just heard on the grapevine that James has made his choice. He's gone for.......the Mac!

[Phoenix]

Originally posted by Tommy
Just heard on the grapevine that James has made his choice. He's gone for.......the Mac!

Just when I had decided that James was pretty cool, he goes and thinks differently.

[DesertSage]

I've seen the new iBook...that's my next computer. :cool:

[JTY]

Well, if it is a Mac, hopefully is a Powerbook G4... cause that thing screams!!!!

[James]

hmmm,

I've decided to go for the Apple Powerbook G4. Its got a great spec, is totally compaitable with all the applications I use daily, and now works seemlessly with a win2k network (no additional software required)

It also looks soooooo cool :cool:

[Tommy]

Originally posted by Phoenix


Just when I had decided that James was pretty cool, he goes and thinks differently.

You have to admit, the accessories are mouth watering. The designs are simply stunning. I think I'm going uncool now ;)

[Mr Chunder]

Originally posted by James Cross
I'm getting very keen on the mac. From what I've been reading the new g4 processor is very powerful. They offer tow models:

400MHz and 500MHz

I know you can get hold of a new dell with a 1GHz chip, but according to ZDnet and Cnet. The mac 400 still blew away the top end of the pc notebooks with ease!

Its all going to come down to networking. If we can get it running on a win2000 network, I'm going to go for it :)

James - you can't compare speed i.e. Mhz/GHz of chips from different architectures - an 800Mhz Pentium is not necessarily twice the speed of of 400Mhz Mac. The speed is measuring cycles per second and the Mac or other chip may achieve more in each cycle that the Pentium. In this case, it looks like it does.

[James]

Just a quick update. My new notebook arrived on Friday. Its the Apple G4 Powerbook.

The build quality is superb, far better than the dell I've been using for the past year. The cost wasnt as bad as you might think, it was pretty much on a par witht the dell.

Getting used to the new operating system will be the fun part, but hey it should be fun :)

[JTY]

It'll take a little while, but you made an excellent choice..... they pack some serious power....

[James]

Very nice to use. Especially if your like me and have lost of aps open at the same time. I loaded it up with 256Mb of RAM, so it can handle my work load no problem!

[JTY]

Sweet... hopefully it'll work out well... :)

[James]

Still going well! A bit advice for those of you thinking about switching platforms. OSX absolutely rocks........ but, not a lot of software has been released yet to support the platform. You still have to run dual OS, for most aps. Most titles are scheduled for release this fall.

It appears that mac were trying to get the drop on XP.

As far as performance goes, the machine really runs smoothly, almost silently. One thing that did suprise me was the operating temp. The bottom of the machine gets very warm after prolonged use. One of the Mac forums I visited for advise, told me it was a design feature that Mac had discovered heat dispates quickly when in contact with human skin :)