I've had many Laptops and by far the most rugged is the THinkpad, I travel a lot and ruggedness and reliability are key for me. I currently have a T42. I'm an engineer and I've done lots of Video Post Production Hardware designs for the MAC desktops but I'm not a big fan of Apple products in general (Liberals prefer Macs for some reason too, yet another reason I won't own one). I was in Aruba this December and my wife's cousin's 6 month old personal Powerbook died and he was absolutly unable to get it serviced or buy even a battery for it there. I've had bad luck with Dell products and will never buy another laptop from them.

 

Hi ralper

I'm going to chime in here as this is probably an area that I can comment on. I've read the previous replies to your question and I'll offer the following.

If your running those windows apps as you say, going the apple way with leave room for configuration issues and not to mention that the powerbook will have to run your applications INSIDE another application just to get them to do what they would do normally on a windows based system. And, also taking away processing power for that app within an app.

So apple although a nice product may not suit your needs that well.

The other fellows that said that the ThinkPad line was a way to go are pretty well ontrack here. If you look at the majority of corporate leasing departments and see what they go with.. IBM holds a huge market share. Theres a reason for it too. Dependability. Now having said that, if your going to look into a ThinkPad, do it now. IBM has sold off this part of the company to another company we don't know much about and those notebooks will start showing up soon on retail counters everywhere.

If your looking for a rock solid system, the IBM's are a very good choice. The final thing I'd ask you to consider is going with the Centrino line. The combination of parts added to your notebook to make it 'Centrino' will aid you in the future for your wireless needs and greatly add to your battery life by 3 fold over say P4 models. Just be sure to get new stock with the 802.11 G and not B.

Good Luck

 

Personally, I own 2 Mac's, a G5 iMac and and a 15" Powerbook. You'll find nothing better in my opinion. I agree, you should take a good look at the Mac.

 

If you want to stay with a windows based system I suggest posting a Need a New Notebook thread in the Southern Cal forum. Back-Cracker seems to come up with these online Dell deals that are too good to be true. His deals are through Dells small business sales. Wells Engineering has a new Dell printer and PC purchased for a ridiculously low price thanks to a heads up from BC.

 

Even a raving liberal like Rush Limbaugh? I know that a few years ago he was a huge Mac fan.

I suppose politicizing laptops is fair. If Halliburton/KBR made laptops I certainly wouldn't choose to give them my money. Waitaminit - I don't have a choice. Those crooks are getting billions from taxpayers. Oh well...

 

I haven't owned many laptops. But I have a thinkpad, my dad has a thinkpad, my mom has a thinkpad, my brother has a thinkpad, the girl in the room next to me has a thinkpad. They seem to be very rugged computers that are very hard to break. I saw one driven over by a garbage truck once and it turned on afterwords(years ago), although the screen needed replacing. Someone I know had dropped it off a desk, the computer started, the screen needed replacing. At that time (a few years ago) I think it was around 700 to replace. Probably much more now. Another friend of mine had a Toshiba, after 2.5 years he was complaining about it breaking down, power cord, and power connection slot weren't working right (may just be how he treated it I don't know since I've never seen him mistreat it). Another friend had a sony, and spilled soda on it. The computer cost 1800, it would start but the keys wouldn't work correctly. They told her it was 1800 to replace the keyboard.

I honestly have a bias though, as most people I know own a thinkpad and its what I have the most experience with. Nobody has yet complained about their thinkpads, even after years of ownership (although to my knowledge non of them have spilled stuff on them or mistreated them except the one that dropped it) Oh and I love the click of the keys on thinkpads...nobody seems to get that the same haha.

 

I got a fully loaded Sony VAIO for $1,300 brand new... DVD Burner and everything..

 

I have several different computers (I never seem to throw them out). My current laptop doesn't suit your needs (ultralight Dell 300m), but my secondary laptop is the reason I'm posting.

While it doesn't fit the bill, either (1998 vintage IBM Thinkpad 600), it is representative of what I have experienced with IBM laptops over the years. That laptop didn't get replaced because it died or had too many malfunctions...it just wasn't powerful enough anymore. My old IBM has been dropped...kicked...stepped on...spilled on...and it still runs strong to this day.

I would HIGHLY recommend that someone searching for a Windows-based laptop look at IBM. They're not always the highest value upfront, but I think their durability will more than make up for it.

If you're not constrained by having to be Windows-based, I would recommend the Apple 15" PowerBook. I've talked to people that have the 12", 15" and 17" and the consensus seems to be that the 15" is the sweet spot in the lineup if you need a mix of screen space, power and portability.

 

Hey Rob

For a Windows-based laptop, the IBM Thinkpad is the standard against which all others are measured.

I've used a number of different brands of laptop/portable over the last 15 years or so, from Compaq to HP to Toshiba (among others) and for me the Thinkpad cannot be beat. I do computer support for one of the major insurance companies, and we have something like 15,000 Thinkpad laptops in use for business & IT functions. In addition, each and every claims person has one, complete with wireless cellular connection direct into the corporate network. The reliability has been superb, and when something goes wrong IBM has resolved it quickly.

My latest machine is a Thinkpad T42 with the extended battery, it's a Pentium M running at 1.7GHz with 1GB of Ram, a 40GB drive, and built-in 802.11g wireless. I routinely get over 4 hours of use on battery. I run Photoshop, some intensive network monitoring/troubleshooting utilities, and the full Office suite, and this thing just keeps on humming along.

The screen is big, bright and fast; pages just seem to "snap" when they load.

I wouldn't worry about the pending sale of IBM's personal computer business. If it even happens, IBM has told us the transfer of manufacturing will not happen for 2-3 years, and indications are that the feds may not allow the deal to go through due to fears of technology transfer to China. You can buy with confidence.

Very highly reccomended!!!

 

Rob,

My business notebook PC is also an IBM T40. It has all the right stuff as far as I am concerned including built in wireless and RWCD burner/drive. Nice display and very thin. There is only one negative thing that I can think of: It does not have a serial port if you have any requirement for one. I recently did have to flash some equipment and had to pull out my old Windows 95 Compaq to be able to do this. I also like the fact that it has but a glide pad (which I dislike) and a mini joystick (which I prefer) and one can disable one or the other depending on one's preference.