Best Laptop For Field Use

[J in Florida]

My Toshiba Portege 3500 Tablet PC got stolen from my car, so it's replacement time.

Any suggestions?

 

[DB]

It is hard to beat an IBM Thinkpad. They are as tough as nails and would hold up quite well to the abuses of being in a vehicle. New, they are pricey, but used or off lease they are VERY reasonable. I have 2 600X's and a newer T-22 .... Check Ebay ... you can find A30's for $5-600.00 .... very trustworthy machines!

 

[Annemieke Roell]

Whatever you do ... DON'T GET A DELL. They used to be really good machines but lately they .... well, you know. And their customer services leaves a lot to be desired, to put it mildly.

 

[Daniel Hsu]

I don't know, I think Dell's are great machines for the price if your looking for value as long as you don't get their LOWEST line models (1000 and 1100), I would highly recomend the 700m, their current lightweight model with a beautiful 12.1 widescreen, they had a HUGE sale recently and some people bought of hundreds of them (don't ask me how I know ) so you can easily pick up a new 700m laptop for around 900-1000 on ebay (retails for $1500). Otherwise if money isn't an issue I would HIGHLY recomend the ibm thinkpad x40, regarded by most people as the best lightweight laptop out. Also if you are looking for an IBM try looking at their certified refurbished selection here:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...egoryId=2576396

since it comes with the IBM warrenty (best buisness laptop customer service you can find) unlike the ones on sale on ebay.

 

[Annemieke Roell]

I have an Inspiron 5100 all souped up as well with increased memory etc etc. The thing is falling apart on me and I am one of those anal people who is very careful with their things.

So far, any attempts to resolve issues has been very difficult to say the least.

 

[renee sommer]

i buy off rack - hp, averatec, winbook, anything but compaq (bad experience with their desk tops many years ago)

the cost is reasonable and then I sell them off every 18 mnths or so and upgrade to something else off the rack. I usually get near what I paid for them on sale.

2 years ago I bought 4 hp laptops which the hard drives all died just after 14-15 months.

It takes about 1/2 hour to replace the hard drive and about $115, plus then you can reload with XP Pro for $99 and you don't get all the extra stuff.

I have been using laptops since 1998 and found the off the rack cheap price to be worth it since the new models are always better.

My "take with me" is a 12 in averatec, i have been toting about a year now. The only thing I hate about it is the touchpad gets really hot after about 1/2 hour so a lot of burned fingers. for this reason, i probably won't buy another averatec.

 

[Daniel Hsu]

I've owned or worked with every brand of laptop made as well as ALMOST every model (I'm a tech junky/comp sci major in college and also use to buy/sell laptops and other high ended gadgets to get through college a few yrs ago, and also I was an IT guy for a mortage/realty company for 2 yrs) and the thinkpads and toughbooks are probably the two best laptops you can get that wont "fall apart" on you through heavy usage. Of course its all relitive to what heavy usage means to you, but when I say heavy usage I mean using it on the road at least 4 hrs a day with minor shocks to the laptops here and there and a few major shocks (falling from 3+ feet) here and there.

If you don't plan on abusing your laptop to that degree, then almost any brand will suite you (although I never liked fujitsu laptops because of their subpar performance) its all a matter of preference. Someone may have had a problem with HP in the past, and would swear off that brand for good, while somone may praise HP because its never failed them.

One thing to note is that there are 2 laptop catagories for most brands, a home class laptop and a buisness class laptop, HP, Compaq, Toshiba, and Dell, amoung others all have differnt buisness class laptop models that have top of the line performance, built more sturdy, and VERY VERY good tech support, but usually at a high cost compaired to their normal line of laptops. So since some of you may have those laptops and some don't, when you argue for or aginst these companies in regards to its build and tech support its like compairing apples and oranges, something to kep in mind.

The hard drive is a differnt issue, ALL laptops use the same brands of hard drives (theres only like 3 manufatures out there that makes laptop harddrives) and its VERY random when they do break down, although its not too often. It has nothing to do with the laptop itself, and hard drives are easy to replace. The only thing is that because of the way a hard drive works, any strong shock to the laptop could ruin it, so keep that in mind. Also you acutally NEED TO MAINTAIN hard drives (yes thats right), which I bet 95-99% of the people here don't do. I won't get into the technical aspects of it, but just know that NEVER completely fill up a hard drive, defrangment and scan disk a hard drive at LEAST once every 6 months or theres a MUCH higher chance of it breaking down on you. (so if your reading this defragment your hard drive tonight and it may last you a few more months, if not YEARS)

In regards to the Compaq comment, Compaq is the same company as HP (they merged a while back), so their tech support and service go hand in hand.

In regards to the Dell 5100 comment, the Dell 5100 laptop is the SAME as the Dell 1100, with just better parts in it. As I said in the previous post, anything below the Dell 8600 I would NOT recomend, their "value" line truely blows for anyone planning on taking their laptop on the road (works just fince if you don't move it around too often, but then whats the point of getting a laptop?), but their 8600, 9200, 600m and 700m I would recomend, and for appraisaers I would recomend the 600m and 700m because if their lightweight and long battery life due to the Pentium M chipset. Ok, gotta stop slacking off and finish my income property report. Seems like I'm always checking the forums when I HAVE something to do, hope that wasn't too long or technical

 

[Daniel Hsu]

Oh yea, also to note, ALL IBM laptops are in the buisness class catagory (hence the high prices and praise from everyone) and just about ALL off the shelf laptops are home class laptops, with a few exceptions. Most lightweight models are buisness class laptops as well, and Sony donesn't diferentiate between the two (same tech support no matter what with sony, usually pretty good though) but if you had the money to get a sony, unless you love their sleek design, your better off getting an IBM. Also in case someone wants to know, the IBM T series are the best desktop replacements, and the IBM X series are the best lightweight laptops out to date, but at a large sticker price. Then again, if your licensed, whats a weeks work in appraisals to getting a top of the line laptop that last you years down the road?