Hey Hardware gurus, need your experience here

Laptop manufacturers have their different product lines, let's take Dell for an example. They have the following:

XPS (Gaming), Inspiron (Entertainment), Latitude (Business / Professional), Precision (Specialized Workstations)

While a guy like me can ask for a desktop replacement, and for powerful laptop for development activities, and also I won't mind gaming and entertainment capabilities.

Navigating into their site I can see that I can get almost the same configuration in most of their lines. (Comparing Precision M90, Inspiron E1705/9400 & XPS M1710)

[Question #1] What should I go for?

[Question #2] In other words if I can get the configuration I need in an Inspiron? why should I go for Precision? and vice versa.

[Question #3] Another question, is the new TrueLife (CrystalBright/TrueBright/ whatever they call it) new technology for screens good for all usage? Or is it only good for viewing movies? isn't it too reflective in normal light conditions? Anybody tried one with those screens?

A 10 pages article would be much appreciated

For Developments purposes I would avoid these new reflective displays... great for watching movies in dimmed rooms and if you worked the night through you dont need to go to the bathroom for a shaving mirror!

But spend the extra bucks for UWXGA means 1680X1050 res. good for many windows!

All the best

Adrian

Walaa wrote:

XPS (Gaming), Inspiron (Entertainment), Latitude (Business / Professional), Precision (Specialized Workstations)

There is definatly some overlap... but generally...

XPS are really for gamers. You will find faster CPU and Graphics in this line, but they are bulky with not much battery life.

Inspiron is the home line. You can get a whole range of speeds and such here. They are durable but not bullet proof.

Latitude are generally a little more durable than the Inspirons. They are designed to take a bit more abuse and be taken on the road more. They are ment for business so won't really be bundled with game/home stuff... not that it won't run.

Don't know anything about percistions.

That said, I just bought my second Inspiron (E1505). It is replacing my Insprion 8200 that I had for 3 years. I got every upgrade that it came with, Core Duo 2.0ghz, 2gig ram, bigger battery, bluetooth, etc. With a $750 coupon I found online it came to about $2500.

I have been happy with it so far. The only down side was that the "docking port" is really a USB port extender. Nothing like the docking port I had for the 8200.

Walaa wrote:

A 10 pages article would be much appreciated

I like cnet.com. They seem to have good info and unbiased reviews. I think they even had an article that covered the different product lines within manufacturers.

Don't buy a Dell without looking for online coupons. They can save you a bunch.

Google for Dell Coupons...

BOb

One good place to find coupons and such is at

http://www.gotapex.com

This site is user fed, with all kinds of online deals and such that are hard to find...

One thing to note is that for every Dell Inspiron there is a corresponding Dell Latitude which has exactly the same hardware but a different BIOS version (the Inspiron bioses have some advanced features disabled, like the ability to use some docking stations) but the bios can easily be upgraded. Typically, an Inspiron is cheaper than its latitude equivalent.

I've been very happy with my Inspiron 510m (Latitude D505). Its 1.7Ghz pentium m is much snappier than my 3GHz P4 and my 1.8 GHz iMac G5. If you can afford a Core Duo then thats even better

I'm not a fan of the reflective screens myself. I much prefer to code on a standard matte lcd.

Notebookreview.com is a great site for reviews. I believe they have coupons on there too.

For me, the real crucial issue here is the HardDisk speed. Make sure you get a 7200RPM HD (I saw new models from HP/COMPAQ that offer 100GB 7200RPM smart SATA). Take my word for it, a 5400RPM HD will pull the machine down no matter what CPU/RAM it has because of the Database intensive work we (developers) usually do!!

That said, I am happy with my 2 year old IBM laptop although I find it annoying that it only has 2 USB ports.

If you can avoid it, don't develop on laptops. Laptops are for on the road. If you're mainly in the same building, buy a desktop, it's much faster.

Make sure you get a 7200RPM HD (I saw new models from HP/COMPAQ that offer 100GB 7200RPM smart SATA).

Thanks to previous threads on this forums I was planning to get 7200 rpm SATA HD, and you can get it in almost all of the before mentioned Dell models, that's exactly what makes it hard to decide which model to get.

If you can avoid it, don't develop on laptops. Laptops are for on the road. If you're mainly in the same building, buy a desktop, it's much faster.

I already have a nice working PC, but I need the laptop to use it in another places but home. The idea of using a computer anywhere even if it's at home is very appealing. I don't want to be always tied to the PC desk, I like the idea of working on the sofa

Heh Ok, point taken. And indeed, get a 7200 rpm drive, my laptop has one and it's indeed day and night. Still too slow though, if you want to build a proper solution in vs.net.

One possibility not mentioned here is to use Remote Desktop from a laptop to the development machine.

Can easily be done from the couch or across the Internet using port forwarding or a VPN.

I have a 17" Inspiron 1705. Excellent for development, but a bit bulky for travelling. It is too large to use on an airplane or any confined space, but if you can find a proper desk it is very nice to use. The Core Duo processor is very very powerful and the dual threading makes it useful in multitasking. The only problem I have found with it is the heat. The vents are on the bottom of the laptop casing for some reason, so it can be a bit uncomfortable to put on your lap as it will get very hot due to poor circulation (needs a flat surface). I got 1 gig ram, 2.0 ghz processor, 60 gb 7200 ms harddrive, bluetooth, nice graphics card...for about $2200. It was worth every penny. Also good for gaming if you're into that

Call me a nut, but when I'm on the couch I like to relax and read the news. That's why I picked up a cheap Tablet PC from eBay (Motion Computing M1200, about $500 USD). Weighs about 3lbs, I get about 3.5 hours from the battery, and of course it's wireless.

I use it for browsing, RSS reading, emails, and a few hand-scratched notes, nothing more - just sitting on the couch with the tv on and catching up with the world. It's a great way to relax and read. Definitely not a workhorse machine; it's meant for those times when I don't want to be a workhorse either!

(Offtopic) Scott, we tried to contact you via email. Could you email me or check your sparky address? Thanks

swallace wrote:

Call me a nut, but when I'm on the couch I like to relax and read the news. That's why I picked up a cheap Tablet PC from eBay (Motion Computing M1200, about $500 USD). Weighs about 3lbs, I get about 3.5 hours from the battery, and of course it's wireless.

I use it for browsing, RSS reading, emails, and a few hand-scratched notes, nothing more - just sitting on the couch with the tv on and catching up with the world. It's a great way to relax and read. Definitely not a workhorse machine; it's meant for those times when I don't want to be a workhorse either!

Ah! snap . I just myself a IBM T46. Its light, quite, has finger print reader and WIFI. I used to have a Dell Latitude D600...identical in features, but the biggest anoyance for me was that it was a bit noisy i.e. the fan was alway on...very noticable

The WIFI means that I can 'relex' with my PC in the garden as well!.

mikeg22 wrote:

I have a 17" Inspiron 1705. Excellent for development, but a bit bulky for travelling. It is too large to use on an airplane or any confined space, but if you can find a proper desk it is very nice to use. The Core Duo processor is very very powerful and the dual threading makes it useful in multitasking. The only problem I have found with it is the heat. The vents are on the bottom of the laptop casing for some reason, so it can be a bit uncomfortable to put on your lap as it will get very hot due to poor circulation (needs a flat surface). I got 1 gig ram, 2.0 ghz processor, 60 gb 7200 ms harddrive, bluetooth, nice graphics card...for about $2200. It was worth every penny. Also good for gaming if you're into that

I think Mikeg22 is on the right track, although, I would probably upgrade the ram to 2gig and then to 4 gigs in another year. Just dont buy the memory from Dell (too expensive). I'm usually running SQL Server, BizTalk 2004 and Vsnet at the same time, so the extra memory would do me good.

Otis wrote:

(Offtopic) Scott, we tried to contact you via email. Could you email me or check your sparky address? Thanks

Grrr! You're right, I fished through my 'junk' and found your notes. I've put you on the whitelist, and I'll write back today. Thanks for noticing.

Heh no problem