[TriLUG] Purchasing a new laptop (slightly OT)

[John Franklin]

On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 13:40, Joe Meador wrote:
> Is there any advantage to getting a P-4 M vs a standard P-4
> processor?  

P4M is a Mobile version of the P4.  They're more expensive, but draw
less power.  Which means something has to give.  P4s may have shorter
battery time, or heavier batteries.  In order to keep the machines price
competitive, P4Ms may have fewer features.  Smaller screens, no
firewire, or smaller drives.

> I was looking at the Dell Lattitude 640C for around $1700 but just
> today noticed for around $1400 I can get a similiarly equiped IBM
> Thinkpad G40.  Both have 2.4 GHz proccesors, IBM with 256 Megabytes of
> RAM vs 512 for Dell, both have CDRW/DVD Rom combo drives.  I don't 

Dell laptops are pretty good.  I've got a number of friends who are
happy with theirs, including some Linux guys.  That said, I'd lean
towards the Thinkpad.  They just seem to be better built.

Chris mentioned the Apple laptops, which I'd +1.  I've got a 14" iBook. 
It's a 600MHz G3, so it's not the fastest in the race, but it does
everything I need it to do.

Be careful when comparing Apple laptops with PC laptops.  The
iBooks/PowerBooks tend to have rich feature sets which may be difficult
to find in a comparable PC laptop.  I know of no PC laptops, for
example, that have gigabit ethernet built-in, nor FireWire 800.

jf
-- 
John Franklin
franklin at elfie.org