grawk
Itinerant Miscreant
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2005
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If you have any need at all for it to be reliable, I would avoid compaq laptops as if you had knowledge they were dipped in anthrax.
Originally Posted by MD1032 Another vote to avoid Compaq. Never owned a laptop by them, but I'd had a couple of their computers (for free, fortunately), and they are just built terribly. The laptops in CompUSA that I saw looked terrible. Very cheap construction (all of the keyboards were falling apart on what appeared to be almost brand new display models), and their parts in my experience are, as I mentioned, just really bad quality. Avoid! cpw, to be honest I've always ruled out macs because the world is built to run on windows, and programs made today are built for windows and might not always work on macs. I'm going to be running various chemistry programs and hooking them up to the various lab equipment and I need to be assured of good compatibility. Plus, I'm just used to windows and I've been using it my whole like and know how to manipulate it. Also, I might want to run some games occasionally. |
Originally Posted by nabwong Another vote for IBM. The best thing about ibm is you can parts for repair on ebay or from parts warehouse online. The self maintenance will save you a lot of $$$. I replaced my mobo from a 32mb video onboard to 128mb onboard and it cost me $250 including a new long arm fan. IBM wanted to charge me $600. |
Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer Dell builds piss-poorly-put-together, disposable computers. I wouldn't buy one for anything. |
Originally Posted by MD1032 I think you guys have convinced me that I need a thinkpad. Though Veniogenesis, you have a very valid point and I'll definitely have to consider that. Now, what kind of configurations would you guys recommend for it? There's a well-configred one in my range: http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/st...catalogId=-840 It has a 1.86 ghz. core and a 64 MB video card. However, I'm wondering if I should spring for a larger video card, a 128 MB one. Unfortunately, you can't seem to build one with the 128 MB version without tacking on a bunch of other costly stuff, including the 2.0 ghz. core. I think that the 14.1" version would be a better travel size than the 15", though. Plus, the 15" version only comes with the fancy screen in the really expensive models. |