[Chicago-talk] laptop, which brand is good.

[Steven Lembark]

-- Imran Javaid <ijavaid at usa.net>

> When it comes to brands, there are several decent (mail-order) brands to
> choose from (Dell, IBM, Panasonic). Mail-order works better. You get
> better selection through customization. I would stay away from brick and
> mortar stores since those are consumer oriented mostly. 

As a linux user, from now on I'll avoid Dell like the 
Plague. As they've grown, Dell has followed the same
path as Compaq: designing mostly-custom hardware that
doesn't have out-of-the-box support from anyone but 
themselves. As the hardware gets more proprietary even
people I know running windows have probelms with it.

> When connecting to a linux desktop, use Cygwin (and Cygwin-X). Its not too
> hard to get it working if you follow the instructions. You can run your
> X-windows apps from your laptop easily with that.

Apple makes excellent hardware -- even better if you
don't plan to run linux on it :-) I picked up a Dell 
I8600 for the screen but for a "portable desktop" 
Apple has larger, cleaner screens with rather nice
keyboards availble for decent prices these days.

If you are using the thing on-site for a multi-month
gig (what I use my machine for) then size is less of 
an issue than if you haul it to work every day (or
home on the plane every week). At that point I'd go
for the best-looking screen and cleanest-feeling 
keyboard/pointer: they are what you really use.


-- 
Steven Lembark                                       85-09 90th Street
Workhorse Computing                                Woodhaven, NY 11421
lembark at wrkhors.com                                     1 888 359 3508