[james_keene55]

Does anyone have any suggestions on which laptop is the best to use?

[stanleyshenko]

That is like asking what is the best hammer to use.

What do you want the laptop to do for you? What's the job?


Stanley

[Tennesseahawk]

If you'll be using it for stuff like gps, I'd recommend one with a 17" screen. Also helps if you're using it for movies or games. Other than that, the power all depends on what you're using it for.

[unorthodoxneon]

It all depends on your needs of a laptop. If you just need something to just run something such as just GPS and nothing major you can get away with a pretty cheap lowline laptop. If you plan on playing games watching movies and other stuff you will probably need a high laptop. I run a Compaq Presario and very happy with it. It also has an AMD processor which all my systems run (desktops and my laptop) Never had any problems and seem to run better then Intel.

If you get a laptop one thing is you dont have to get a laptop with alot of memory it is best to buy some afterwards and put it in. It will make your laptop run faster (not really noticable but will) and also cost alot less. But you will need to install it which if you have no computer knowledge could be a little issue.

Now one thing i am kicking myself on is not upgrading to the bigger battery to last long. I higly suggest paying the extra to get the next step up battery. My battery only last 1 hour on power save mode and not doing a whole lot. If i was to step up i hear it would last well over 2 hours. And the upgrade would only be like 30 more compared to over 100 to get a new one.

Please let us know your intentions for a laptop and if any catches your eye to post and some of us maybe able to help you with a decision.

[cheri1122]

What Unorthodox Neon said: the Compaq Presario is pretty good, but spring for the upgraded battery! I just keep mine plugged into the small inverter - it's not a major power sucker, luckily.;)

[LDB]

I recently got an HP dv5150us on sale at CompUSA. It is pretty loaded. They had it marked down and then 2 big rebates as well. If you watch their sales they seem to have a much better than usual sale on one or two models about once every 6-8 weeks. I have an older HP that I liked but it was beginning to age and give me power supply problems when bouncing around in the truck. It's retired to the house now. The older one was the 17" and this one is a 15.4" and is a much nicer screen. It's also a much friendlier size in the truck. If you check out compusa.com you should be able to find something that will work well for you.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

[unorthodoxneon]

Like leo said, check all sale papers, the best time to buy a laptop now because of all the back to school specials for kids going to college and such. Thats how i got my laptop. Got a pretty good deal on it, its a year old and i only paid alittle bit more then what its selling for today.

Cheri, do you have your computer on powersave mode? If not you can have your laptop last longer and also the computer will not get as hot. What you do is right click on the desktop. Hit properties. Click on the screen saver tab. Click the button near the bottom that says power. On the POWER OPTIONS PROPERTIES window you will see power schemes. Click it to Max Battery. Now your computer will reconfigure it self to use less battery and run cooler.

On my laptop i have an AMD Turion processor and it has what is called PowerNow technology and what it does is uses less power and also will turn down the speed of your processor in half. But if you were to run something that needed the processor to work hard it will turn the speed up to normal until done then will go back down. Works great and keep the laptop really cool. I know if i put it on full and use it the laptop gets pretty hot which is very bad.

[cheri1122]

Thanks, Unorthodox Neon - it's not much of a problem, to keep it plugged in, & I just prop it up a little at the front, to allow airflow to the fans on the bottom. A cooling thingamajig is on my list, lol, I'm just adlibbing for now.

[freightchaser]

A heads-up to all of you planning to buy any "high dollar" electronics, anytime soon: North Carolina will be having a sales tax
holiday over the week-end of Aug.4. This means an additional seven(7)per cent savings, on top of the sale prices and rebates that will be available that week-end.

[mrgoodtude]

We started with a Dell ($1600) hard drive crashed within 6 mos now it sits in a closet. We bought a Gateway with a 17" screen for just under a grand and it has been bulletproof for almost a year. It has a Pentium 4 chipset and double layer Dvd burn (whatever that means).
Mike and Cyn

[teacel]

Best site to get information on any kind of electronic equipment is
http://www.tomshardware.com/
Why not let the experts help you.