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Devil in the Laptop Details

With no easy way to review the laptop options, I'ld like to ask a few questions before I order a new laptop. I have searched prior posts on some of these items and would like to clarify 3 things.

I currently run a 1ghz Dell Inspiron 8000 with 1600x1200 screen (.0078" pixel size, which needs good eyes for single pixel lines) & Win 2000.

The Dell M60 is highly recommended by lots of people and a former co-worker has a 1 year old M50 which he likes with Swks & XP, which I think is a P4 2.4 ghz (not sure). Hence, on the M60, I'm wondering about the choices.

So the ?s:

  1. 1.7ghz PM (Centrino): Does it really handle Swks that well compared to P4 processors? Couldn't imagine Dell would use it if it weren't top notch, but?

  1. Win2000 vs WinXP: Do you pay any significant speed penalty with WinXP compared to Win2000? I've seen the comments about this, but do note I couldn't get 802.11b wireless to work on my Dell Inspiron w/Win2000.

System maintenance, stability, 802 wireless and uptime are a critical item where opinions on Win 2000 vs Win Xp would be much appreciated.

  1. The screen could definately be wider but...Dell offers 15.4" and then the 15.4" WSXGA Plus Display @ 1680 pixels across (.0078" across) or...
15.4" WUXGA Display @ 1920 pixels across (.0068" wide).

I find that single lines with .0078" pixel widths are about minimum for my eyes which correct to 20/20 nominally. WUXGA might be too faint on thin lines. I am guessing that the WUXGA's 1920 pixels are going to take more video power to handle rotations and thus may be slower than the WSXGA's screen. Is that true?

Just wondering how to make the best choices, since I don't like blowing money in the wind.

It must be said that my 3 year old Dell Inspiron 8000 has served me faithfully without a hiccup except for a screen cable fix in the first month and the wireless card which never worked (at least by my hand). It is just too slow now, though. I'll probably keep it as a backup, though.

I specifically only run Solidworks and MSOffice, so that I don't garbage up my machine with crap that causes corruption and downtime, because I don't have lots of time. I intend to keep that attitude with the new machine. All my other daily tasks are typically done on my Macs (just my pref...no evangilism).

Thanks Much - Bo

Reply to
Bo Clawson
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XP runs like a charm on my computer since a year already. Win2000 is getting old ;) wouls should get good support for wireless in XP pro.

yes a high rez display take more power to redraw the whole screen, mostly more memory. So having a 64mb+ memory on the graphic card is very usefull for some intense graphic programs.

I prefer the p4, because I hate centrino's name :)

I really liked the Toshiba Satelite series, but they are gone in the US. their new lineup is not very interresting. But I don'T like Dell much. I've seen ProE lagging way far behind while running on a Dell and the Toshiba would scream full speed. (very similar machines). but the latest products might have better setup.?.

Dom

Bo Claws> With no easy way to review the laptop options, I'ld like to ask a few

Reply to
Flipper

I have a M60 running on WinXP Pro and can't see any difference from my workstation (Dell precision 530) which has W2K. I use XP with the windows classic settings and I must say I like it better then W2K The workstation is 2x2,8GHz Xeon and the M60 PM seems to be just slightly slower, hardly noticeable. I use the WUXGA with1920x1200 resolution and as You say it takes good eyes to see what happens...but as I never used the other one I can't really compare them .....this resolution gives a good workspace for SW though....and the graphic speed is quite okay...at least for me. Use it for quite big assys....up to 6000 plus components without any problems. Installed 2Gig's ram from start and has some rather heavy PW2 rendering of big plant-layouts on it, had some problems with memory but it was a Win problem

Krister L

Reply to
Krister L

Krister, I will soon be upgrading my Inspiron 8000 to a new M60 (unless they bring out something better!) Any chance you could post (or email me) the full spec so I can check out what's what.

Tia.

Kev

Reply to
Kev Parkin

Ok... I'll scan it in tonight and e-mail it over to You ...no problem

Krister

Reply to
Krister L

Thanks,

Kev

Reply to
Kev Parkin

I got to see a first-hand demo at a user conference last year. Very nice, easy on the hands, extremely cool looking, and REALLY expensive. The model they showed went for nearly $700.00 then. Online now for only $599.00.

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Richard

Reply to
Richard Doyle

When talking about laptops for SW....today I found this one in a magazine... "Space Traveller" from 3Dconnexions .... really neat and as it looks ..handy

formatting link
Krister L

Bo Clawson skrev i diskussionsgruppsmeddelandet: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com ...

Reply to
Krister L

Yepp....talk about love at first sight....I'm gonna order one as soon as possible.... looks as the price is just above a space mouse, but this will fit better in the briefcase.

Krister

Richard Doyle skrev i diskussionsgruppsmeddelandet:bq08mp$1tb207$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-182008.news.uni-berlin.de...

Reply to
Krister L

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