RF said:
All,
I am thinking about replacing my home built pc with a smaller laptop,
(in an effort to help save my marriage). I figure the convenience and
portability will make it worth it. I am not in to gaming, but think
that it would make a nice little dvd player at work. Has anyone else
done this? Do you have regrets? I am looking at spending a grand, and
would like a nice display if possibe, I have seen some nice refurbs at
Tigerdirect.com.
Any advice would sure be appreciated
Since purchasing my laptop nearly two years ago, I've nearly exculsively
used it. I've just purchased a USB 2.0 PCMCIA adapter for my external DVD
burner use, and am now free of the desktop. The big issue for me was
getting away from the desktops that made my ears ring, and this has been a
terrific improvement.
With the laptop, I think it is necessary to buy what you want, rather than
being able to insert PCI cards later for future wants/needs. This includes
having sufficient RAM and hard drive space.
The display is something you want to be careful about. I just got an SXA
because I wanted to stick with a 1024x768 resolution. With a 15" display,
this is as good as the same setting on my 17" desktop monitor, but any
smaller would be too hard on my eyes. However, for my next laptop, I may
go with a better resolution, with the hope of dealing with the size issue
by using a larger DPI setting.
I originally went only with a wired network connection because of concern
about wireless security, but wound up going WiFI and really enjoying this
freedom.
I have a P4 Mobile 2.0 ghz processor, and this is fine, but next time I
expect to go to a Pentium M processor for the better battery life.
Being a NY resident, I was not able to get Dell's complete care coverage
that I wanted, but I now understand that is available by doing a Small
Business purchase instead of the Home purchase. This takes care of
potential problems such as spilling coffee on the keyboard, and dropping
the laptop and breaking the LCD.