Purchase of New Dell Laptop - QUESTIONS

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sam
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Sam

My son needs to purchase a laptop for use when visiting potential customers.
He currently has a Dell Dimension 8400 computer with windows XP Pro (SP2)
and QuickBooks Pro and a small graphics program. When visiting potential
customers, he would like to have the laptop to show some of the work he has
completed for past customers (reports, graphics, and photos of buildings,
etc).
I don't have any experience with a laptop so would very much appreciate any
help and suggestions. I should note that he expects to have to purchase
additional application programs such as QuickBooks Pro for the laptop.

I have suggested a mid range or higher Dell laptop as far as cost is
concerned with windows XP Pro, but don't know which model to recommend.
However, I have suggested two internal physical hard drives if possible, DVD
recorder, wireless card, the fastest or next to the fastest CPU available,
three year full warranty if possible, the next best screen and video card
available, and one GB RAM memory as a minimum. Another area I have no
experience with, is the ability to sync the files from the Desktop to the
laptop and back again if necessary. Is there a program to do this function
or does windows XP have this feature built in? Also is a docking station
necessary?

Any other information and suggestions would be also very much appreciated,
Sam.
 
From: "Sam" <samnewsgrp71@REMOVE THISsbcglobal.net>

< snip >

|
| I have suggested a mid range or higher Dell laptop as far as cost is
| concerned with windows XP Pro, but don't know which model to recommend.
| However, I have suggested two internal physical hard drives if possible, DVD
| recorder, wireless card, the fastest or next to the fastest CPU available,
| three year full warranty if possible, the next best screen and video card
| available, and one GB RAM memory as a minimum. Another area I have no
| experience with, is the ability to sync the files from the Desktop to the
| laptop and back again if necessary. Is there a program to do this function
| or does windows XP have this feature built in? Also is a docking station
| necessary?
|
| Any other information and suggestions would be also very much appreciated,
| Sam.
|

I don't suggest wireless unless one fully understands the security ramifications of "War
Driving" and accessing an un-secured wireless setup. I suggest a wired network interface.
He can always get a PCMCIA wireless card down the road after he fully understands securing a
wireless connection and has the networking infrastructure at home already setup.

The Desktop should have a DVD Writer, not the notebook. What would he be doing that would
need creating DVD disks ? The only reason I can see is for a backup medium. in that case
he should be getting a DVDRW drive so he can write to re-writeable DVD disks. However, once
networked he could be backing up the data to the desktop PC. One must examine "his"
business model to make the decision.

It does not have to be the "fastest" notebook, just shy of the fastest will be fast enough
and save money. However, one should look at Full Pentium 4 processor and not Celeron based
notebooks.

The video is NOT that important.

As for syncing files, once networking it can bve done via the OS or I suggest doing it
manually. One should not levae data process up to automatic processes (except backups) one
should fuullu know what files are up-to-date and where and this is best ascertained through
a manual process.

Two hard internal hard disks is NOT needed. Most notebooks don't have two hard disk bays.
An external USB v2.0 or FireWire hard disk can be used for holding common data between the
desktop and notebook. In the scenario he could use Norton Ghost and image the internal hard
disk to the external hard disk as a backup and for disaster recovery.

Again, one must examine "his" business model to make the decisions.
 
Many thanks for the applicable information!! That would accomplish what he
would need for the two computers. Have a good weekend, Sam.
 
David, many thanks for your detailed thoughts. As to the wireless, I have
already suggested that he have a local tech come out and setup the wireless
configuration in a secure manner. The reason for the suggested second
internal physical HD, was to use it for Ghost image backups. He already has
an external HD that he uses for the desktop but I figured an image backup
from an internal HD would be faster and more dependable for a restore than
the external HD. So appreciate your information about laptops having have
only one internal HD. The DVD recorder would be to make a DVD+R image
backup to keep off site as another available restore option. Have a good
weekend, Sam.
 
From: "Sam" <samnewsgrp71@REMOVE THISsbcglobal.net>

| David, many thanks for your detailed thoughts. As to the wireless, I have
| already suggested that he have a local tech come out and setup the wireless
| configuration in a secure manner. The reason for the suggested second
| internal physical HD, was to use it for Ghost image backups. He already has
| an external HD that he uses for the desktop but I figured an image backup
| from an internal HD would be faster and more dependable for a restore than
| the external HD. So appreciate your information about laptops having have
| only one internal HD. The DVD recorder would be to make a DVD+R image
| backup to keep off site as another available restore option. Have a good
| weekend, Sam.
|

Make that a DVD+/-RW drive. This way it reads/writes DVD+, DVD- and DVDRW disks. Although
it is not too expensive for DVD media, using a DVDRW disk is much like using a tape in that
you can rotate the backups and not waste discs. For example I do my data backups on
Wednesdays Do I want to make 52 DVD's per year just in data backups ? No way, I use six
DVDRW discs and rotate them.
 
David H. Lipman said:
From: "Sam" <samnewsgrp71@REMOVE THISsbcglobal.net>

| David, many thanks for your detailed thoughts. As to the wireless, I
have
| already suggested that he have a local tech come out and setup the
wireless
| configuration in a secure manner. The reason for the suggested second
| internal physical HD, was to use it for Ghost image backups. He already
has
| an external HD that he uses for the desktop but I figured an image
backup
| from an internal HD would be faster and more dependable for a restore
than
| the external HD. So appreciate your information about laptops having
have
| only one internal HD. The DVD recorder would be to make a DVD+R image
| backup to keep off site as another available restore option. Have a good
| weekend, Sam.
|

Make that a DVD+/-RW drive. This way it reads/writes DVD+, DVD- and DVDRW
disks. Although
it is not too expensive for DVD media, using a DVDRW disk is much like
using a tape in that
you can rotate the backups and not waste discs. For example I do my data
backups on
Wednesdays Do I want to make 52 DVD's per year just in data backups ? No
way, I use six
DVDRW discs and rotate them.
Click to expand...


David, many thanks for the excellent information, Sam.
 
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