AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

So the laptop I've been perma-borrowing from work has to go back, and I need to look at getting a good all around unit for both tuning the car (small, lightweight, about zero processing power, maybe serial ports) and general work use (can play rudimentary games on airplanes, some battery life, decent screen, loaded with USB ports), and I don't want to drop piles of money or not be able to run windows or watch h264 movies on it.

Any suggestions?

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Check Dell Reman on eBay. They had a smoking deal on my last desktop, and they should do laptops too.

Sentic

iTrader: (1)

I'm happy with my LG r200 cpttv.

12", 200gig hd, 2gb memory, dualcore 2ghz, rather price effective.
couldn't ever go back to 14" or bigger, gotten used to be able to carry this around all the time.

No serial though, but i just use a good usb-serial converter.
http://i.pricerunner.com/prod/12_17_...e_Premium.jpeg

drewbroo

iTrader: (2)

there is a new ASUS EEPC out soon, its got the new Intel ATOM processor in it, and comes with either linux or windows XP. XP will have a 12G HD, and the Linux based one will have a 20G harddrive, both come with 1 G of ram.

I got my last laptop (HP Pavillion dv6875se .) And its great, came with 3 gigs of ram, Nvidia Graphics card (256MB) intel 1.83 Ghz Core 2 due T5550 processor, also has a 320G hard drive . I have no gripes, and it looks cool. I paid 829 for it

looks like at best buy its up to 1049
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1204332255372

TonyV

iTrader: (17)

I got an older dell (used) for under $200...but its heavy as ****...other than that perfect

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Heck, the current gen EeePC will run WindowsXP just fine. It's not a speed demon, but it's perfect for the car- small, light, inexpensive, SSD so no moving HD. If I didn't already have my tablet, I'd have bought one of 'em. Granted, the keyboard is too small to be doing serious word-processing on, but for the car and as an occasional general-purpose machine, it's bloody perfect.

$299 to $399 at NewEgg.

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

Plus it has a DB9 port woo hoo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220261

y8s

iTrader: (8)

new laptops:
I like the fujitsu stuff for the pricey high end side
and hp for the less expensive ones that are good quality.

otherwise the dell outlet has a mishmash of random good value stuff.

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...GHz+%2D+14%2E1

Ok, to read the review, it sounds like ***. But I might be able to get one for <$400, which makes it sound a lot better.

I like that LG, going to check it out later. gotta go to a wedding or something. :-)

definately looking for the cheap thing now, since I have a pretty decent desktop.


edit: Is there a place to get my hands on one of those asus units? I used to have a clamshell winCE machine I liked. I want to see how it is.

Markp

Compaq makes some extremely cheap but good laptops...

Mark

hustler

iTrader: (6)

lenovo

Ben

iTrader: (33)

I have one of these, it's a freaking awesome tuning laptop. I much prefer it to my fancy-pants Toshiba.
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17211

Small, light, compact, fits in the pass seat easily, fits in an airplane tray table easily, battery has a 5 light status indicator on the bottom, has serial port, good screen, etc etc. No built in optical or floppy drive--helps make it super compact. You can always run an external if you need to.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

looks familiar.... lol


How much are you looking to spend? I might be able to help you for the right price range. I can good stuff for $400-$500.

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

what about the HP Mini-note, it's small but has a usable keyboard when compared to the eepc. Pretty cheap too if you get the basic model. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...5-3687084.html

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Sadly, no. It has three USB port, SD/MMC (HD), and a pair of PCIexpress-mini slots.

I haven't seen any around here, but I played with one at Microcenter a few months ago. It's really small, and this is coming from a guy who owns a Vaio TX-N. On the standard (700) series, the screen is 7" and the keyboard is too small for any "serious" use, but fine for light email and such. I expect it will fit in your glovebox.

The new 900 series have an 8.9" screen but are completely identical in form-factor. Same case, same keyboard. This would be *the* ultimate MS-tuning machine.

The really new 1000 series have a 10.2" display and a nearly-normal keyboard, and a big enough SSD to be "real" computers. Frankly, I regret buying said Vaio now that those are out.

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC and
http://eeepc.asus.com/global/

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Interesting, interesting. I didn' tknow the 9" one was the same external dimensions. 20gb hd, and all, but it's flirting with $600 then... Not terrible, but it's getting to the point where I should then start looking at a computer that's a real computer.

So far, a used real computer (small as I can find) or a 4G (7" version asus) sounds good, for the price/feature tradeoff. Hard to say.

I did find a scam site stealing credit card info selling those 4g's cheap.

sammymatik

the leenovos are sweet...

I'd stay clear of those eepc or any of the ultra light mobile or whatever they're called... especially if you ever wanna do any gaming.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

You know.... because we're all a bunch of ******* WOW crackheads here

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Laptops are always a tradeoff.

All else being equal, the power consumption (and heat production) of a microprocessor increases at a rate roughly proportional to its clock speed. Thus, a machine which contains a fast CPU and 3d graphics processor will produce a relatively large amount of heat, and consume a relatively large amount of power. The former requires the installation of fans and heatsinks, and the latter necessitates the use of larger batteries. Both of these add weight and size.

Therefore, if you want an ultra-small, ultra-light machine, you have to sacrifice some degree of performance.

In the realm of the ultra-light yet high-performance PC, there are many entrants, but only one king. Sony have been the masters of this universe for years and, in my opinion, they are still undefeated. If you want a laptop that is tiny and lightweight (<3lbs) yet is still fast enough to compute pi to seventy trillion decimal places in under a second and will run for three weeks on a single battery charge, look no further than the Vaio TZ or its older sibling the TX. Unfortunately, the barebones TZ starts at $1,700, and the well-equipped model is $3,500.


However, a machine that's going to be used for in-car tuning and light-duty general purpose work doesn't really need to be uber-powerful. My in-car PC is a Pentium3 running at 400 Mhz, with 128 MB of RAM. It runs Windows 2000, and even this setup is massive overkill for running Megatune, MLV, and the few other random apps that I use.

For what Abe is looking for, I'd think that the Eee 901, with its 1.6Ghz Atom processor, will be entirely adequate. It's got the processing power of a "real" PC with a form-factor that fits anywhere, and it's relatively inexpensive to boot. If not, I'd suggest checking out either the Vaio VGN-UX or the Vaio VGN-TX / TXN. In particular, the keyboard on the UX is laughable, however the machine weighs less than 1.5 lbs (with battery) and the new ones run friggin' Vista! It's basically a PDA that happens to have a real processor in it.

RusMan

mac