# Urgent Decision Required #
 

Wife stood on my old (open) laptop and killed the screen/lid - Quick call to the insurance and they're paying for a new laptop, which is nice!
The old still works fine via a monitor so will be using it as a desktop (Our old desktop was about to be replaced by me last week so this saves me a few quid!)

Insurance using a company that has given me a choice of 2 laptops, and I need to decide which one I want today (NO OTHER CHOICE HERE SO PLEASE DON'T SUGGEST OTHERS)
Options are:
Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V 2020 - 271002

• 15.1"TFT Laptop XP Home Edition
• 1024 x 768 Pixel
• 1.6Ghz Intel Centrino Processor M725. 2048kb L2 cache. Intel® 855GME / ICH4-M Chipset
• Wireless LAN, LAN and Modem
• Multiformat DVD writer with double layer support
• Ease of use through built-in CDRW/DVDRW
• 400MHz front side bus
• 512 DDR SDRAM
• 60 GB hard disk drive
• 2 Built in speakers
• Li-ion battery (3 hrs)
• Interfaces:-
• 1 x type I/II PC Card slot (32 bit CardBus support),
• 4in1 flash card port SD/MS/MMC/MSPRO,
• 1 x IEEE1394, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x S-Video,
• 1 x VGA, 1 x modem, 1 x LAN,
• 1 x line in, 1 x headphone out, 1 x microphone in,
• 1 x DC-in, 1 x SPDIF
Weight 2.75kg
Dimensions (H x W x D) in mm: 25.3 x 333 x 272
Guarantee:
Labour - 1 Year
Parts - 1 Year




Fujitsu Siemens AMILOV7010-009NT
L/Top P4 2.8ghz 512mb 40gb 15" Xp Hm

• 15"TFT Laptop XP Home Edition
• 1024 x 768 Pixel
• 2.8Ghz Pentium 4 1024kb L2 cache. ATI Radeon 9000IGP Chipset / IXP150
• LAN and Modem
• Multiformat DVD writer with double layer support
• Ease of use through built-in CDRW/DVDRW
• 533MHz front side bus
• 512 DDR SDRAM
• 40 GB hard disk drive
• 2 Built in speakers
• Li-ion battery (2.5 hrs)
• Interfaces:-
• 1 x type I/II PC Card slot (32 bit CardBus support)
• 4in1 flash card port • 1 x IEEE1394, 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x VGA, 1 x modem, 1 x LAN,
• 1 x line in, 1 x headphone out, 1 x microphone in
• 1 x DC-in, 1 x SPDIF

Weight 3.1kg
Dimensions (H x W x D) in mm: 47 x 332 x 270
Guarantee:
Labour - 1 Year
Parts - 1 Year


I have a wireless network at home so I'm tempted to go with the centrino one as its built in.
Any one have an opinion before I call them back and place my order?

Bob

The bottom one of the two has the better processor although it is bigger and heavier. Get that one but you do not have a wireless lan built in but a PCMCIA WLAN card is only £30.

Already using a WLAN card with my old laptop. Its always been a heavy beast using a desktop P4 processor and producing lots of heat as well.
So my thinking was to get the lighter laptop with the mobile processor, as the difference in speed between the 2 processors isn't that much in the real world, well AFAIK.

Bob

I would go for the lighter one, especially if you have to carry it around!

tbh - I wouldn't touch a fujitsu. One of my old employers had a deal with fujitsu and lets just say that the PSU's did not stand up to serious use. :(

i'd take the mobile one!!!!

BB:)

How important is portability and battery life? If it's more important the top one will be better. Top one also has bigger hard disk.

CPU speed wise, despite the numbers (1.6 vs 2.8) the real world difference is that the Centrino is about 2/3 the speed of the 2.8. I have a 2.8 Amilo desktop and the fan comes on about every 20 seconds to keep it cool as it's a desktop CPU. I would imagine the Centrino would also be quieter.

I'd personally go for the Centrino due to the probable better battery life, less fan noise (what with it having speedstep) and slightly lighter weight. It's also a fair bit thinner due to the processor difference.

I've had mine about 2 1/4 years now and so far had no problems with it at all (touch wood) :) Slightly annoying with the fan noise if you are sat in a completely quiet environment, but it's still fully functional ;)

No offence but that's like asking if you should buy a mini or a transit. We say mini and then you complain you can't get 2 pallets in the back of the mini.

What are you wanting to use it for, what applications / business use. Do you need to be highly mobile etc?

I have a top of the range Amilo, nice bit of kit but they do overheat with extended use and shut down quite a lot.

I must have a good one as mine has never over heated or failed on me (watch it go and break now) :D

It's spent a lot of it's life on about 8 or 9 hours a day compiling code as well (inbetween me actually writing it) ;)

Old lappy was a Fujitsu hence why they are offering those as replacements.
The screen failed twice, each time being repaired under warranty, even though the secong time it was 2 months out of the warranty period!
If I was buying new, I wouldn't buy Fujitsu, but as a sort of freebie I'll be happy.

Portability is important as my old was useless at that, more of a desktop.


5 more mins before I'm telephoning my order through . . . and the top one is leading


Bob

Top one for me.

PSU never failed in the 2 yrs I've had it, but it does suffer badly from overheating and causes problems with the WLAN card when it gets too hot.

Not using it for power hungry app's, wordprocessing and internet would cover 95% of its use.


Thanks for replies so far.

Bob

Decision made, the ProV2020 is being ordered

Thanks for the input guys.

Bob

I've had to claim twice for broken screens on laptops, once mine, once for my brother(guess clumsiness runs in the family).

Both times they offered same brand replacements, both times we said no, tell us how much we have to spend, we'll choose and they let us.

I had a grand to spend and could buy wherever I wanted, my brother was offered £900 and had to choose from a Dixons store.

Based on my personal experience (about 30% of 100+ F-S devices being RMA'd!) I wouldnt entertain a Fujitsu-Siemens under any circumstances..... and did someone say that their P4 based F-S shuts down as a result of overheating during extended periods of operation? I rest my case; theyre ****e.

Simon

Toshiba, Sony, Dell in that order :)