Re: Best Laptop?

[sen_ml@eccosys.com]

opinion time ;-)

From: Michelle Murrain <mpm@norwottuck.com>
Subject: Best Laptop?
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 21:14:55 -0500

> Right now, I'm thinking primarily of getting a Dell Lattitude CPx or 
> Inspiron 8000, or a Sony Vaio PCG.

i've never used dell machines, but the sony machines i've used usually
end up frustrating me to no end because of failures and so much of the
hardware not being usuable for non-m$ os-s.

i recommend against machines that try to store bios info on the hard
disk -- some compaq models do this, and it is a very evil thing.

boy, am i negative today...

> Any advice would be appreciated - also I'd like to hear about any 
> other notebooks people really like.

my current favorite machine is the thinkpad x20.

nice points, imo:

  -hard disk is very easy to swap
  -built-in ethernet (mini-pci, so eth0 does not appear as a pcmcia device)
  -xga
  -c. 1.5 kg
  -2 usb ports -- no legacy ports (you can get a dock, replicator, or bay 
   station for that stuff) -- even the floppy is usb
  -three mouse buttons + non-trackpad (trackpads are my least favorite
   pointing device)
  -built-in external vga port
  -1 pc card slot and 1 cf slot

my gripes (mostly minor) w/ it are:

  -the built-in modem is a winmodem(?) (i think the lucent
   binary module may work, but that goes against my principles)
  -pc cards and cf cards are hard to eject unless you have small
   fingers
  -the fan is a bit noisy
  -i don't think it can be booted from pcmcia (not that many laptops can)
  -usb floppy means that one may encounter problems booting from 
   standard rescue disks (i used to have this problem, but i haven't
   checked lately)