Helping picking out a tablet/laptop.
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:04 am
I'm going to be going to Australia in 2010 for 3 weeks and am gearing up for the trip over the next year. Part of the gear I'm going to need is a new laptop/tablet.
My current laptop is an E-Machine M6805 based on the Athlon 64 bit 1.8G chip that I've had for about 3+ years. It's been a reliable machine but the battery no longer holds a charge at all, it's heavy, and man does it get hot (stupid AMD 64bit chip!). So it's time to move up to a new unit. The problem is here in St. Louis we have no major electronics stores that carry anything but HP laptops it seems. I was at Best Buy and asked the sales rep if any of thier units had biometric locks. His response? "What's a biometric lock." I promptly spun on my heels and walked out.
I've come up with two lists of perameters. List one is things the laptop MUST have. List two are features I'd LIKE to have but can do without. I'm hoping some of you out there have done some shopping and have some good input for me.
LIST ONE - THINGS IT MUST HAVE
1.) Optical Drive Internal - This rules out the Mac Book Air
2.) Good battery life (more than 3 to 4 hours)
3.) Weigh less than 5lbs (less than 4lbs preferable)
4.) Built in 802.11G WiFi (N is not required as my network doesn't have it)
5.) A hardware driven Biometric lock (can not be dependent on OS)
LIST TWO - THINGS ID LIKE TO HAVE
1.) Tablet functionality. (Excellent for watching movies on cramped flights)
2.) BluRay drive.
3.) Bluetooth (for a mouse)
4.) Webcam w/ Mic
5.) GPS functionality
6.) Media Card reader, SD in particular
You'll notice no where in this list have I talked about processor, GPU, RAM, or hard drive space requirements. Fact is, my current laptop still exceeds most of my needs in terms of power and storage. Anything contemporary will be more powerful than it so it should still meet my needs. Mostly this will be used for storing and uploading photos, checking e-mail, and watching movies while on the road. Light and compact are my two biggest requirements as I'll be carrying it with me for about 3 weeks on the trip and a 8lbs+ power house that eats battery life isn't going to do me any good.
I've looked at the tx2500z series from HP and it seems to have most of the things I need but battery life is questionable and there's no BluRay player option which may not be a huge factor as I'll likely rip the movies I want to watch to the hard drive to save carry weight. So, any advice?
My current laptop is an E-Machine M6805 based on the Athlon 64 bit 1.8G chip that I've had for about 3+ years. It's been a reliable machine but the battery no longer holds a charge at all, it's heavy, and man does it get hot (stupid AMD 64bit chip!). So it's time to move up to a new unit. The problem is here in St. Louis we have no major electronics stores that carry anything but HP laptops it seems. I was at Best Buy and asked the sales rep if any of thier units had biometric locks. His response? "What's a biometric lock." I promptly spun on my heels and walked out.
I've come up with two lists of perameters. List one is things the laptop MUST have. List two are features I'd LIKE to have but can do without. I'm hoping some of you out there have done some shopping and have some good input for me.
LIST ONE - THINGS IT MUST HAVE
1.) Optical Drive Internal - This rules out the Mac Book Air
2.) Good battery life (more than 3 to 4 hours)
3.) Weigh less than 5lbs (less than 4lbs preferable)
4.) Built in 802.11G WiFi (N is not required as my network doesn't have it)
5.) A hardware driven Biometric lock (can not be dependent on OS)
LIST TWO - THINGS ID LIKE TO HAVE
1.) Tablet functionality. (Excellent for watching movies on cramped flights)
2.) BluRay drive.
3.) Bluetooth (for a mouse)
4.) Webcam w/ Mic
5.) GPS functionality
6.) Media Card reader, SD in particular
You'll notice no where in this list have I talked about processor, GPU, RAM, or hard drive space requirements. Fact is, my current laptop still exceeds most of my needs in terms of power and storage. Anything contemporary will be more powerful than it so it should still meet my needs. Mostly this will be used for storing and uploading photos, checking e-mail, and watching movies while on the road. Light and compact are my two biggest requirements as I'll be carrying it with me for about 3 weeks on the trip and a 8lbs+ power house that eats battery life isn't going to do me any good.
I've looked at the tx2500z series from HP and it seems to have most of the things I need but battery life is questionable and there's no BluRay player option which may not be a huge factor as I'll likely rip the movies I want to watch to the hard drive to save carry weight. So, any advice?