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need advice - what pc laptop to get?

mcadam

mcadam

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 3, 2004
593
0
københavn
Since I know macrumors to be full of wise and undogmatic people please let me hear your advice on this...

A friend (really) is going to get himself a laptop. He doesn't want a mac, mainly because some key applications are missing in the field of architecture (acad, 3dstudio, rhino...damn) and I've been missioning quite enough already.

He's got around 2000$ to spend, maybe a bit more - in Denmark, where things tend to be a bit more expensive than in the U.S. What should he get?

A
 
He should start with Sony's line of VAIO laptops... they have a wide array of machines, so you can decide how much power you want, versus how large the laptop will be. (Superslims for people who carry them around, desktop-replacement laptops for people who leave them in place, and everything in between.) The quality of construction is quite high.
 
the closest to apple quality you are going to get with a pc laptop is a thinkpad. only problem is they are just as pricey (if not more)
 
man, you are great, thanks a lot.

How about fujitsu siemens? I heard some good things about them..

A
 
three letters... I.B.M.

look at their thinkpads.. it was the next in line after the powerbook i bought almost a year ago... for good reason, they're the best built laptops out there.. look into those for sure
 
I agree about IBM Thinkpads and Sony. Steve Jobs used to own a Thinkpad back in the NeXT days, and we all know he has kind of a thing for Sony. So from an Apple point of view, you would be safe with those two :)

ps. I also heard that when he was back at Apple, he told the PowerBook Wallstreet engineers to look at the Thinkpads to see how it should be done.
 
IBM makes a really nice t42p thinkpad. 128mb ati fire-tl graphics. Aimed to be a high end mobile work-station. Its kind of pricey, but could handle the cad easily.
 
Asus have a W1/W1000 laptop which looks like the Powerbooks,
it also have pretty good specs.

I think asus builds apples powerbooks too.
 
Some of the VAIOs are nice, and they range from 2 pound "Processor and dinky screen" to 8 pound "Kitchen sink AND electric range!"

I have yet to see a laptop of theirs get over 4 hours of battery life however. They are extremely nicely built, look good, strong, etc. But battery life outside of Apple is kinda bad....

I've seen one of the ultra-mini Fujitsu laptops (touch screen, dinky keyboard) and it came with 112MB of RAM (128 MB really, but those integrated graphics...) and WinXP was slow as a dead rat that had some-- well, it wasn't pretty.

Toshiba-- Nice, but have fans on them, OK battery life, and kinda big.
(Don't know much beyond this)

Oh, and Gateways are pieces of JUNK. They break, have conflicts, and all these other major problems-- plus they don't help in the least with getting them fixed. My friend has one.... not a good TWO MONTH long process getting it fixed.
 
Battery-life in PC laptops definately varies greatly among manufacturers, but I have used IBM laptops for over 5 years. I would get between 3 hours on average.

I have dropped them in bags, thrown them on the back seat of my car (lots of dents), and they still work great. VERY reliable. As for the OS, that's another story.

Not sure if you like the "eraser head" pointing stick, but if you do, it is a very precise pointing device.
 
dont get a toshiba. and whatever you do, dont buy from best buy! theres a story behind this but my hands are tired lol
 
I like Vaio's, but seriously considered this nice unit. Why? Windows is an abomination. Why not place it on an abominable laptop?
 
homerjward said:
dont get a toshiba. and whatever you do, dont buy from best buy! theres a story behind this but my hands are tired lol
Click to expand...

Agreed. Upper-level Toshiba's are swell, but the low-end models are beyond crappy.
 
mcadam said:
man, you are great, thanks a lot.

How about fujitsu siemens? I heard some good things about them..

A
Click to expand...

Their ST5000 tablet PC is an incredible piece of engineering.
 
I thought IBM was stopping making personal computers. If so, I don't think you should buy one. You never know what kind of support you'll get if something goes wrong...
 
Toshiba used to be good; I still have my Satellite Pro 425CDT and it was built like a TANK. I wouldn't buy one these days, though. They look cheap and plastic-y. NEC, HP, Fujitsu & Gateway all look like junk, too. I'd vote with everyone else to get an IBM ThinkPad. I've got a really old one at home (380ED or something. P166MMX) and it's quite solid too.

The general opinion on this board seems to be that IBM makes the best pc notebooks.

Also, I'll be the first one to say it: Are you sure your friend cannot use a PowerBook? Is there no CAD software for the Mac? Don't mean to push you, just wondering.
 
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