OT: notebook shopping

[Vaughn Treude]

Jon M. Hanson wrote:
> Vaughn Treude wrote:
>> Matt Graham wrote:
>>   
>>> After a long battle with technology, Vaughn Treude wrote:
>>>     
>>>> The goal: As high-performance as possible for $2000 or less. In particular,
>>>> I want to be able to boot as fast as possible.
>>>>       
>>> "Boot"?  Ever since I got a laptop that could suspend-to-RAM reliably, 
>>> rebooting was a pretty rare event.  Resuming from S2RAM is tons faster than 
>>> the fastest boot.
>>>
>>>     
>>
>> I never had that working in Linux, but, as I said, it's an old computer.
>>
>>   
>>>> 15" wide screen WXGA+
>>>>       
>>> What's that in pixels?
>>>
>>>     
>>
>> It's 1440 by 900.
>>
>>   
>>>> 2.4 GHz CPU, 2 G, 100 G drive at 7200 RPM, DVD+-R, 802.11n, Bluetooth support,
>>>> 2 USB ports, preferably 3. 
>>>>
>>>> Dell Inspiron 1520, Toshiba Tecra A9, Lenovo ThinkPad R61, Mac Book Pro.
>>>> At the moment I'm leaning toward the Lenovo. As far as I can tell, its
>>>> primary drawbacks are relatively short battery life,
>>>>       
>>> FWIW, I've owned 4 Thinkpads, mostly because I like TrackPoints and no other 
>>> make offers them with any degree of consistency.  My Thinkpads were all built 
>>> like tanks, had field circus manuals easily downloadable in PDF form from 
>>> somewhere on IBM's site, and they all had excellent Linux-combatability in 
>>> terms of hardware.  But all of mine were IBM, not Lenovo.  I don't know 
>>> whether the new ones are cheap crap or not, and won't know until I can scrape 
>>> together enough cash to run a new machine in under my still-usable T42p.
>>>
>>>     
>>>> and the fact that it is (IMHO) one butt-ugly machine.
>>>>       
>>
>> I really don't mind, I just thought I might get a rise out of some 
>> people. :-)
>>
>>   
>>> It looks very similar to how Thinkpads have looked since they started making 
>>> them (classic, like a Model T.)
>>>
>>> The Mac is not worth the price premium unless you are going to be editing 
>>> video all the time.  If you have *ANY* way of doing so, buy a factory 
>>> refurbished laptop.  You'll save hundreds of dollars.  All of my laptops were 
>>> refurbished, and I have had exactly 2 hardware problems with them in 8 years 
>>> (one was fixable with the field circus manual and a $50 spare part.)  HTH,
>>>
>>>     
>>
>> I wonder if Mac does factory refurbs. I'll have to check into that. :-)
>>
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>>   
> Apple does have refurbrished models but they go pretty quickly so if you 
> see one you want at a price that's good for you, you should jump on it. 
> Hopefully the link works for you and it's not tied to a cookie on my 
> machine: 
> http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?sf=wHF2F2PHCCCX72KDY&mco=MTE3NjY&nclm=CertifiedMac.
> 

The link does work, thanks. They didn't have exactly what I'm looking 
for but I'll keep my eye on that one.

VT

> 
> 
> -- 
> Jon M. Hanson (N7ZVJ)
> Homepage:  http://the-hansons-az.net
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> 
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