Tips for selecting a laptop

Thats a limited choice in OS`s :D Apple ***** cat or MS Vista...

And no mention of the eeepc running linux? Pffff.
 
Some points in this article were relevant and interesting, but the journalist made a number of mistakes. I know they have to water the technical content down a bit, but one thing really stood out for me:

"Firewire is a faster form of USB"

All he has to say was that Firewire is similar to USB and is faster.

Also, the stuff about later on sounds like FUD. There's been many programming and underlying changes to the system itself. While not always obvious, it is there, so saying that there are no major upgrades and so on is false.

Ah, maybe it's too early in the morning for me to grump over such things :p
 
Warranty IMO is one of the most important things when purchasing a laptop, since for many people a laptop is the only machine they use daily, on-site NBD warrantees are very important, Acer only has collect-repair-return (taking a couple of day to a week), Lenovo (R1200 on a R series and R250 extra on T series) and HP (around R1300) have onsite 3 years (although lenovo support answer in under 3 minutes and HP support in under 30...).

not sure about Dell, Sony, Toshiba and the like. Apple takes ages to repair anything and a warrantee upgrade from one to two years is insanley expensive at over 2k (no onsite though)

D
 
Firewire faster than USB....... um unless I'm seriously mistaken, (which I am not), this is not true.
USB2 is rated at 480Mbps and Firewire (version 1) at something like ~400-440Mbps. Firewire 2 will be faster than USB2 though (when it is finally released).

I don't think I've ever seen laptops in stores with Linux preinstalled. Why not? Because stores make more money selling machines with Windows, and secondly because not everyone wants Linux (although I've never regretted moving to Linux)
 
Is Blueray backwards compatible with the today DVD's ???????

If i remember correctly this was one of the major missing features.

Perhaps it was added, rightfully so as it is an insult to the consumer
 
The firewire 800 spec is out for quite a while, can't take long to show up on the shelves.

Linux as serious option as OS should have been given a better description as alternative

for Vista.

The fact a machine, be it laptop or desktop requires 2 / 4 gig of memory is in itself

a questionable story and forces people to buy equipment which they would rather

not really go for as a machine with 256 / 512mb 40 gig HD often more than sufficient

The often heard "i need it for my work in the office" is easily tackled with a memorystick and allows to avoid a piece of equipment in every aspect inferior to
a desktop and if possible don't even look at it.
 
What???

In sustained throughput FireWire is faster than USB 2.0.

Yes, USB 2.0 is a 480 Mbps interface and FireWire is a 400 Mbps interface, but the differences in the architecture of the two interfaces have a huge impact on the sustained throughput.

FireWire, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer. Where USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control).

And there is no way South African consumers will go for Linux. There is to little technical support and the software available in stores is very limited. Remember most internet connections are still via telephone modems, and those using ADSL is paying at a rate of +-R70 Per Gig.

I would advises anybody to try and rather import one from the UK. You can get a R20,000 - R30,000 laptop for about 700 pounds (+-R13000). And if you want to save even more $$$, stay away from places like Incredible ConRipoff.
 
Technical support for Linux? Not really heard of anywhere. Unless of course you have an enterprise version such as WILL be found in many a business in South Africa (which is why an enterprise version generally has a monthly cost, yada yada yada). For the general public and those in the IT/computer department making use of Linux, browsing forums or asking someone experienced with Linux is more than enough.
Simply saying, however, if your first experience on a computer had been with Linux, you would have found it as easy to use as Windows.

Linux software on the shelves in stores? That kind of beats the purpose of Linux. Only a handful of Linux software is not open source. Something that I like about Linux software is that I can get just about anything.... legally.
 
I think the major problem with notebooks today is they come loaded with an operating system, and almost without exception the wrong one.

Using my HP 530 as example. It is cheap, no nonsense and excellent for Office use. It comes loaded with Vista Home Basic. It should be loaded with XP pro or Vista Business. Or even better, no software at all. Make it a separate purchase.

Your typical home user that uses Vista Home basic, needs a different notebook to the 530. Music movies and games used by the home user requires decent speakers (530 has a mono cheapie) a 3d graphics card and a nice pretty shell.
 
I am thinking of getting a sahara laptop, can anyone tell me what are their experiences with them? Are they great or ****?
 
If I remember correctly, the HP530 has the Celeron/similar processor and costs around R5000. Vista Home Basic costs about R300 oem, whilst XP Pro is R800 and Vista Business about R3000. would you really pay R8000 for a Celeron notebook? No. I wouldn't either.
 
BBotha said:
And there is no way South African consumers will go for Linux. There is to little technical support and the software available in stores is very limited. Remember most internet connections are still via telephone modems, and those using ADSL is paying at a rate of +-R70 Per Gig.
.
Click to expand...

You are speaking for yourself there mate. SA consumers are changing to Linux.. its no longer just the admins... and yes.. there is support. In fact there is more support for linux than there is for apple mac, so forgive me if I cough. *kof*
 
Sahara notebook

schchris said:
I am thinking of getting a sahara laptop, can anyone tell me what are their experiences with them? Are they great or ****?
Click to expand...

I am thinking you can get a better buy... "goedkoop koop is duur koop"
 
Zero tech support for Linux?

w1z4rd said:
You are speaking for yourself there mate. SA consumers are changing to Linux.. its no longer just the admins... and yes.. there is support. In fact there is more support for linux than there is for apple mac, so forgive me if I cough. *kof*
Click to expand...

I fully agree with you there. A lot of our everyday computing (in the IT/Web/Engineering sector) is done in Linux, believe it or not. 60% of websites are hosted on Linux. There are more Linux download sites in South Africa than Microsoft, and finally, Linux is a lot more fun than Windows.
 
Laptop considerations

My personal considerations into buying a laptop would go as follows:

Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM (I find that 1Gb doesn't but it if you do anything more than just type letters into a word processor)
120GB+ SATA Harddisk
Dual Layer DVD Writer (Lightscribe costs more and is not all that great)
256/512Mb graphics card (preferably Nvidia if you are doing any graphics intensive computing or gaming), otherwise 128Mb Intel Graphics should do
802abg Wireless Networking (abg allows up to 54Mbps)
Webcam (optional)
15.4" Widescreen (this is great, especially for something that requires a wider screen, ie excel or movies)
Bluetooth (generally standard on most mid to high-range notebooks)
Windows XP Pro. (Not Vista)(Yes, I'd rather have Linux on, but you won't get to buy it that way :{. )
 
supersunbird said:
...amount of USB ports, a pox on those new HPs and any others with their 2 USB ports...
Click to expand...

2USB ports? My HP which is new, has three. And the only reason why it has three and not 6, is because putting another two above the current USB ports would make it the same height as a sky skraper. Simply use a usb hub if you have a space problem...
 
froot said:
If I remember correctly, the HP530 has the Celeron/similar processor and costs around R5000. Vista Home Basic costs about R300 oem, whilst XP Pro is R800 and Vista Business about R3000. would you really pay R8000 for a Celeron notebook? No. I wouldn't either.
Click to expand...

Nope!

VIsta business and XP pro are both about R1100. Plus the 530 is about R4500 for the celeron version and R6000 for the Core2 duo version.

My point is that notebook should come with no software, so the client has CHOICE!

btw my 530 Core2 duo is running Ubuntu 8.04. Running very nicely despite the beta software
 
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