Sam Elassar

hi there
i know alot of you guys are in the IT industry and i need some advise.

i am about to buy a lap top to replace my aging desktop pc at home. it will be mainly used for the web and some wordprocessing and spread sheets work. maybe some presentations with power point but that is really about it.

i have looked at 1G Hz PIII Advent for around £1300 but what are they and who makes them. the other one is a sony vaio 800 AMD so it is less specified than the advent but it is a sony. the salesman was saying although the sony is less specified it will be a better built machine and it should be better than the more specified crap names. both of them have 14.1xvga screens

what do you guys think ? advise will be appreciated. as i don't have a clue about laptops. i need something solid that could replace the desktop.

fdpxfunix

I'm typing this response on a DELL Latitude CPx. It's a company laptop and has done me proud since I got it in August last year.

I'm in the IT game and have given this machine a good run for it's money. I've installed all mater of operating systems and applications and the box seems to cope quite well. (Does not like SOLARIS x86 tho).

The only down side is the weight. It's quite heavy and along with all the other kit you get with it, it can weigh the bag down alot.

I've got a work mate who's got a VAIO. Cool looking machine, but not as practical as the DELL.

My advive is go with one of the big boys. DELL, COMPAQ, TOSHIBA, or even SONY. You'll get far better on-line support with one of these companies.

As far as spec goes . . . . it'll be out of date in 6 months, so don't worry !

Cheers

J8YWS

fdpxfunix

I'm typing this response on a DELL Latitude CPx. It's a company laptop and has done me proud since I got it in August last year.

I'm in the IT game and have given this machine a good run for it's money. I've installed all mater of operating systems and applications and the box seems to cope quite well. (Does not like SOLARIS x86 tho).

The only down side is the weight. It's quite heavy and along with all the other kit you get with it, it can weigh the bag down alot.

I've got a work mate who's got a VAIO. Cool looking machine, but not as practical as the DELL.

My advive is go with one of the big boys. DELL, COMPAQ, TOSHIBA, or even SONY. You'll get far better on-line support with one of these companies.

As far as spec goes . . . . it'll be out of date in 6 months, so don't worry !

Cheers

J8YWS

CLS

Thought I was in general questions..oops I am

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I had an Advent laptop:
PIII-700
192MB RAM
12GB HD
S3 Savage Mobile chipset

Plays UT like a goodun'

Only got it when I cottoned onto the fact that it was an ASUS L8400B laptop, which won tons of awards last year. Just loaded updated ASUS bios onto it and voila! Don't know about their current range, but ASUS sell to Hi-Grade as well. Look at the detailed spec of the laptop and approx look and then scout around at

Andy W

I Recently bought a laptop and spoke to several friends in the IT industry all recommended DELL so I bought an Inspiron 4000.

Check out

Deputy Dog

Sam,
Ive got a Dell Inspiron 3800, in 8 months both the cd and fdd have died and now the display is failing, and the modem hasnt worked from day one, Dell Support has failed my company totally, first responding to mails, then when it gets to the crunch to replace the said items, they ask for my address and either return the mail or ignore me completely. I wont buy another dell..EVER...get the sony but with xtra warramty for the screen

Paul M

Andy W

I have no connection with Dell, any time I have needed to contact them I have never had any problems.

Sam Elassar

thanks guys for your replies.

the only thing that worried me about the advent is the fact it is adentical to another one in the shop called the patriot. the only difference is that the advent had a more classy silver paint jop. that made me wonder really.

it looks like i will be trying to pick my self one of these viao from the duty free on tuesday. so do you think i should get the extra warranty with it ? they are usually around £300 or so and thats around 20-30% of the price!!!!!

sam

Miles

Feel that I'm qualified to comment: at work we are bound by an agreement to *only* use Dell equipment, I've personally got a CPx H and the office fleet consists of about 40 Latitudes/Inspirons. Whereas at home I've got a 2yo Vaio.

Firstly I would only buy a "brand" name machine, ie Dell/Compaq/Sony/Toshiba. If only because parts will be easier to find in 3/4 years time if anything breaks. Companies like Advent and the smaller names tend to buy their machines from Far Eastern clone manufacturers and hence tend to jump from one (incompatible) supplier to another (incompatible) supplier. Making life hard trying to source, say, a replacement battery/PSU/floppy. Been there before

Inspirons are home/SOHO machines - they don't withstand heavy use and the knocks that that travelling life will bring aren't good for their light build. Saying that the spec/price of these machines is very competitive. Some features are actually available on the Inspirons before the Latitudes.

Latitudes are Dell's corporate workhouse. They are fairly tough but are heavy - the difference between my own Vaio and the company machine is noticeable. Also, they've got a modular bay for either a CD-ROM/CR-RW/DVD/floppy/2nd battery, that can be a pain having to carry about a separate floppy drive. Or in my case a separate floppy, DVD and CD-RW if I'm using the twin battery arrangement.

The Vaio I've got is extremely tough and has withstood being dropped down the escalators in Frankfurt airport - that wasn't a good moment . It stills feels as tight as well it was new. The integral floppy/CD is handy - compared with the Latitude. Vaio's also have a Firewire port, which can be useful if home editing of digital video is your bag.

From living with both, Dell's support is superb, their support website is the best I've seen, whereas Sony's support (esp web support) pales in comparison. But the Vaio looks nice and has got more street cred

InsBro

I've just brought a IBM thinkpad T20
128mb RAM
20gig HDD
Floppy DD
DVD ROM
14.1
Win 2000P
Modem 56K / v90
Network Card
etc.etc

We had been after an IBM as everyone raves about them but the cost has always put me off until I spoke to Notebook Express, £1450 + VAT - PC World were £2300 + VAT for the same one!!!

Jeremy

nraponi

Hiya.
I'd think very carefully before buying a Sony - I've had nothing but trouble with my new one!

Bought pretty much the most expensive one they sell and its just been a catalogue of disasters. The worst of which is being told by their support that they would take AT LEAST 4 weeks just to look at it! (Yea - I'll just make do without it for over a month!).

Prior to this i've had IBM thinkpads (very nice laptop although the screens a little flimsy) and a multitude of Toshibas (built big but last like you wouldn't believe).

As you can tell I'm not a fan of the Sony option..... :<

regards
Nick

babber

nraponi,

I agree with you mate.

I had a Sony Viao SR11 k (I think) and I got to say, I didn't get on with it at all. Had it for a month!! Accessories were just a nightmare to get hold of, and the Sony support wasn't up to much.

A few others have said go for a branded make, not being tempted to get a cheap make. This is so true.

I have had over the years numerous IBM, Toshiba, Samsung, Compaq, Dells. My personal favorite is IBM. I currently have a IBM a20p, that is fantastic. Full 17" screen, etc.

It must be said that Sony make wonderful Televisions and VCRs. ICE is remarkably good, but I don't like the Laptop range.

Hope this helps, Phill C.

P.S. Had to phone IBM corporate helpdesk once, when I had a software problem. The guy who I spoke to really knew his stuff and talked me through sorting it out.

carl

I have used both a Vaio and a Dell (I'm using a Vaio at the moment). If you use it for a lot of hours, you should note that the screen on the Sony is a lot better and brighter than those on Dell machines. On the other hand, battery life is only 'adequate' -- I spend most of the time with the laptop plugged in the mains anyway.

Sam Elassar

thanks guys

so the sony is not getting as many good response as the dells and the ibms it seems. since it will have to replace the desktop and withstand being used for hours ( connected to the mains ) it looks like i will go for one of them.


cheers

sam

Luke

IMHO the Sony is not a well Built computer. I have heard of so many Breaking. Dont like the sound of buying it from "Duty Free" 95% of those places are more expensive than they should be. Heathrow?Gatwick .I love going in just to wind them up !!!

Stef

Sam.
And this is related to Subaru's how?

Stef.

polarbearit

I Would reiterate what has already said about, brand names. The company I work for only use Dell (100,000 + Dells now, must make them a big customer!!), but being an it contractor and previously working for a laptop reseller/service company, I would say stick to brand name PC's, IBM's are good, but often slow to release new drivers and supply accesories. Dell are good, but generally heavy or with less integrated devices. Sony really don't feel well made, but look good! Compaq have lost the plot with price/features. Toshiba are good all round, but don't feel as well made as they used too.

I would look at the dell and tosh models and see which best suits your needs in terms of weight/specs/price.

Certainly the Advent/asus/kapoc/ajp type 'clone' laptops do not tend to be as well designed and battery life and accessory availablity is often more limited. Spares tend to be less widely available.

HP laptops also look good, but be warey they don't seem to stock spare parts for very long which is a shame.

Jon

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I agree with the Dell comments, but the Asus L8400b laptop of mine is top rate and the feature spec and performance still laugh at most manufacturers, the only laptop really with better all out performance is the Dell Inspiron 8000, which I got into work today, even still, the sound hardware is bad in comparison. However I realise that Multimedia performance is not that important to all and the easy support thing is important to a lot of users, I was just saying that Advent at least let one Great laptop pass through them. Still a ****e brand, I used to work on them as a teenager......