^^^ I agree on the 17"

Its like lugging around a lunchtray everywhere you go

 

Ferrari Laptop.

 

I too have a 4-year old Dell Inspiron 8000. I think that thing must weigh about 15 lbs! Plus, it never, ever worked properly.

Back on point - I was recently upgraded to an IBM T42 (from a T23). Until a catastrophic hard drive failure, the T23 was bulletproof. This new T42 is an exceptional machine, IMO. It's light enough to lug around everywhere I go (travel Mon-Thurs, every week), and powerful enough to run the applications I use on a regular basis (lots of modeling/analysis in Excel, PowerPoint decks, etc).

ThinkPads definitely get my recommendation for business use.

My girlfriend recently switched to a PowerBook. Oh man, that thing is awesome. If I were buying a new computer solely for home use, that might be it. However, I wouldn't want to run into the possibility of compatibility issues between version of MS Office (or anything else) while at work. That alone precludes me from switching over, even for personal use with occasional work use.

IBM gets the nod from me.

 

Fujitsu Lifebook P series. About 3.5lbs with a built-in optical drive. Only a ~10.5" screen but it's widescreen. Awesome little machine, extremely portable!

 

Hello i have had pcs which really suck and i have macs. Pcs can not compare to the brilliance that is apple, Windows is so inferior you really have no idea. With windows the most programs you can run at one time is about 3 with out crashing if you are lucky. With my apple ibook i can run about 10 programs or more with out the system lagging or crashing. Also lets talk about virus, i like to consider windows as a little kid that does what it is told (windows runs scripts, if you tell it to jump it will jump) Macs on the other hand do not run scripts so the chance of obtaining a virus is slim to none. I have downloaded 13 gigs of movies and music and i have had not one virus on my apple powermac G5 dual praosser. the operating system is sure bliss when it comes to use and stability.



There is a reason why movie studios and recoding artist use mac its for the stability and power that mac has in the design department.



p.s if you decide to get the powermac wait a month the new operating system will be out which is even better than panther.

 

hands down X40 is the most awesome... I used to have a portege 2000, which at the time was the sexiest machine out there.. this thing was razor thin (especially back then). But i switched to the X40 when I decided I didn't want to deal w/ the slowness. The X40 has acceptable performance and awesome size.. If u want truly impress others.. I'd take a look at the Sony X505.. thing's literally razor thin.. sexy sexy

 

i have a Averatec 6100 wide screen Averatec
http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/6100series.htm

the ck out clerk at Sams Club made a mistake and sold it to me for $500, should have been $2000 so i couldnt resist.

i dont think it is very portable because the screen is huge and the deivice is thin, so put it into a backpack and the flex in transport scrambles up the screen, (i have a sleeve). in no time you have a vertical green line burnt in. wide screen format is a good but would get something with a overall smaller screen.

i mostly use it around the house connected to the network. in my portable both slots are taken up to form the 512meg ram total. no open slots and i think this thing would be somewhat better with a full 1gig memory, but would have to replace all the memory.

i find i use alot of usb (make sure its usb2 compatable). its nice to have a built in SD memory card interface (download the camera). eithernet and 80211-b/g is a good.

my portable has a 3mm spdif plug, its optical. odd is you can connect in the same socket to a hard wire 3connector stero earphone, so its both. anyways spdif... for the audio, connect it via an optical cable to a Creative Audio ddts-100 decoder box, then to a set of GigaWorks s750 speakers. functional 7channel sound, better than expected output.

new windows comming out, make sure you can upgrade it. good luck

 

i have a Averatec 6100 wide screen
http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/6100series.htm

the ck out clerk at Sams Club made a mistake and sold it to me for $500, should have been $2000 so i couldnt resist.

i dont think it is very portable because the screen is huge and the deivice is thin, so put it into a backpack and the flex in transport scrambles up the screen, (i have a sleeve). in no time you have a vertical green line burnt in. wide screen format is a good but would get something with a overall smaller screen.

i mostly use it around the house connected to the network. in my portable both slots are taken up to form the 512meg ram total. no open slots and i think this thing would be somewhat better with a full 1gig memory, but would have to replace all the memory.

i find i use alot of usb (make sure its usb2 compatable). its nice to have a built in SD memory card interface (download the camera). eithernet and 80211-b/g is a good.

my portable has a 3mm spdif plug, its optical. odd is you can connect in the same socket to a hard wire 3connector stero earphone, so its both. anyways spdif... for the audio, connect it via an optical cable to a Creative Audio ddts-100 decoder box, then to a set of GigaWorks s750 speakers. functional 7channel sound, better than expected output.

new windows comming out, make sure you can upgrade it. good luck

 

Just wanted to comment on this. You have to realize that there are really only two makes of computer - those that run Windows and those that run Mac. That said, there are only two real quality hardware manufacturers, IBM and Apple. The price of their equipment reflects the high-quality stuff you're buying. Dell's business model is based on cutting costs, and its hardware (and customers) suffers for it. The same goes for any PC maker that tries to compete with Dell.

As for the Mac and its use in business, I plan on augmenting my ThinkPad with a PowerBook for work. It will work provided I have the following software: MS Office for Mac, Lotus Notes for Mac, Contivity VPN, and MS VirtualPC (just in case). I've never yet had any compatibility issues with Macs and work (especialy with MS Office), and I think a lot of people think there may be some big issues, but in practice, I've never seen any. At any rate, with VirtualPC, you can run XP on a Mac, so you get both OS's on one computer.

 

Plugging in a external monitor everytime you need more screen real estate is a pain. Especially if you lug it around a lot. But since you already have a desktop computer, I say you cannot go wrong with the 12 inch Powerbook.

I must say, Virtual PC on any G4 will be pretty slow. You will only be able to run the simplest apps with ease depending on how much RAM you allocate to it. I hear the G4 will emulate XP at about 300-400 mhz maybe. VPC is optimized for the G5 processor so the big daddy Powermacs can emulate much faster.

Personally, I'd get the Mac. The OS really is as nice as people say, you have to experience it yourself. For you, I think it'd be pretty good, but depending on what apps you need for opening your small business, maybe a PC would be better.

The only compatibility issue with MS Office suite is when my sister made a Powerpoint Presentation and had to transfer it to another computer. She's in China. The iBook was bought in America. The other computer was ancient. So when they transferred the PPT, it didn't come out as planned. That may be a compatiblity issue, but it also may be that that computer was just too old.

All my doc files are saved perfectly fine when I move them from my Mac to my PC that runs ME. Same with Excel.

All I know that it was easier to go from PC -> Mac than it was for me to use PC after I got my Mac.

It's little things that count.