Question:
Development Notebook: Any other choices?
Due to the need to work from several locations and countries i've decided to enter the world of notebooks. The notebook will be used for software development and thus needs to be powerful as well as fairly portable. My needs are:
Use: Software Development including the need to run a few rather large, complex databases. No gaming. Will be carried around quite a bit.
OS: Windows 2003 (what problems should i expect trying to run this on a notebook?)
CPU: Core Duo 2Ghz
Memory: 2GB (If it's expandable to more that would be a good bonus)
Battery Capacity: 3 hours or more
Price: Doesn't matter...
Location: Norway (this probably leaves out a couple of odd choices that would be hard to get shipped abroad)
I/O: DVI
Monitor: 1600 pixels width minimum (wide or not is of no importance). I'd prefer a 15"/15.4" as 17" laptops are a bit too large to carry around much.
Weight: Preferably not more than 3.5 kg or thereabouts.
Disk: 100GB or more
I've been looking around some and the Acer Travelmate 8204 seem to be the only one supporting all of the criterias above (got no idea if it works with windows 2003). The quality of that one seem to be rather varied though. Does anyone have any other alternatives to suggest?
Answer:
Re: Development Notebook: Any other choices?
Usually, the T2400 has a much better price/performance ratio than the T2500.
Don't even think about upgrading to more than 2 GB for now. A 2 GB stick will set you back $1500.
Buy something designed for corporate use; it will last long and will resist to traveling. I guess the DVI requirement narrows the list a lot.
Suggestion: ThinkPad T60p. Has everything you want, except the DVI (I think you have to buy a separate advanced dock for that). You only need to put in another stick of 1 GB, and you are good to go.
Answer:
Re: Development Notebook: Any other choices?
Thank you for the suggestion. I've been looking at that one too, but I'm afraid i really do want the DVI out badly as I will be connecting it to LCD monitors almost everywhere i go. I am not going to use an analog connection to connect it to my Eizo LCDs. That would be like torture when you've gotten used to the DVI quality. Other than that the Lenovo seems like a very good laptop indeed.
I won't be buying more than 2GB of memory unless there is an extreme need for it so that is mostly a nice to have upgrade possibility only.
PS: Are you saying that the Acers are not made for corporate use? I haven't seen any of these Acer laptops myself so i would not know.
Answer:
Re: Development Notebook: Any other choices?
I am not an expert, but people report that Acers are hit-and-miss. They look good on paper, but don't always deliver. Personally, I would check the HP business lines (nx/nc/nw) before even thinking about an Acer.
Again, this is not based on personal experience, but on hearsay.
I would definitely call Lenovo and HP and see what they advise.
Answer:
Re: Development Notebook: Any other choices?
you should take a look a the dell d820. you can get a max resolution of wuxga. also, you can configure it the way you want, with 2.0 ghz and 2 gig ram. not to mention, it is upgradeable to 4 gigs. i'm not sure if it has a dvi port, but you can get a port replicator for that.