[SWLUG] Re: More on laptops

[Rhys Sage]

Ok, so Sony's aren't reliable.

As far as ethics and Dell go, I'm more concerned with
getting a laptop that does what I want at a price that
I'm willing to pay than with hugging trees, saving
Brazilian newts or feeding Armenian peasants.

I've tried to get out of Dell, how long the bigger
battery lasts in the Inspirion 1000 and 1100. Thus far
I've had no answers from Dell. Does anybody here know?

Does Mandrake work well with PCMCIA and Compact Flash
cards? How does the inbuilt CD writer in v 10 work? I
know for a fact that the CD writer software in v 9.2
only ruined CDs instead of writing to them.

I'm intending to use this laptop, not play with it so
I need to decide whether to go for a small laptop or a
cheaper Dell. Thus I'm only looking at brand new
laptops. It'll be used exclusively for word
processing, networking, photo editing/storage/CD
creation (if I go for a big laptop) and possibly
internet too. I need a laptop with a long battery
life. 2 hours is far too little. 8 hours is about
right. 

I'm drawn to the smaller laptops - the size of the
Sony Tr1mp because of its greater portability. I did
see an aged IBM which apparently had a 300 or 600 mhz
cpu. That was about an inch thick, folded and was
about A5 in size. I saw a chap fold one and tuck it
under his arm in a little zipped pouch. Something like
that would be excellent. The keyboard was on the edge
of usability. Anything as small as the keyboards on
the PDAs and pocket PCs would render the computer
useless as far as my use is concerned. Weight is also
an important factor. Despite the fact I'll probably be
carrying it in the storage boxes in the back of a
vehicle,  I'll also be using it while sitting in the
seat of the vehicle and probably carrying it around,
using it in cafes etc. Small is therefore good. I
could get away with larger if I had to but I'd prefer
small.




		
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