Richard ([info]r1cardo) wrote,
@ 2004-10-21 16:59:00
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Current mood: confused

My first poll. Help me choose please :-)

As you may be aware i am currently on my year in industry and am earning money. Next year i go back to uni and will be doing various computing things as my degree is in Computing.

My uni are gits and generally give us projects which involve software which is either unavailable for anything other than Windows, or to get hold of a version for an alternative OS you'd need to shell out hundreds of pounds because they're usually also so obscure you can't even get them from the net or borrow them from someone (not that i would you understand).

So, as currently the only computer i have which is fast enough to do useful things is my Mac i am in the market for buying a new laptop this year with some of my earnings.

The problem i have is choice. (i know it's not a very bad problem really but it's still a problem :-P )

My requirements are these:

Firstly that it meets at least these specs.
1.6ghz or faster cpu
1gb Ram or more.
32mb or more graphics with it's own memory and has to be ATI or Nvidia to allow for nice use with linux if needed.
60gb minimum hard disk.
USB2 (/firewire)
CDRW-DVD or CDRW-DVDRW either internal or external
wireless B/G built in.

Secondly as it's going to be a laptop for taking places i'd like it to be small and portable so nothing heavier than 3kg but preferably less and nothing bigger than 15" screen but preferably smaller.

Thirdly i would love for it to be a tablet as this would be v.v.v.useful for drawing/photoshop etc, but as i currently am not great at these things and there's only 1 tablet pc which fits my requirements i might have to do without the tablet option and buy one seperately.

So on to the poll, i've found 2 laptops which fit my needs, one of them is the only tablet ive found which is good enough, and the other is just a dell which looked nice.

Please vote for which you think i'd be best with as i can't choose, or if you have a better idea choose other and comment with what you think :-) (no choosing "buy a mac" i already have one :P )

Ok. Thankyou for helping me with this it's very kind of you to spend your time reading all this nonsense :-)

The poll:

Here are the Specs of the 2 Laptops.

Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet

Cpu: 1.8ghz
Ram: 1gb
Hard Disk: 60gb
Graphics: GeForce™ FX Go5200 32mb
Screen: 12.1" TFT
Resolution: 1,400 x 1,050
Weight: 2.0kg
External CDRW-DVD or CDRW-DVDRW both optional so i could even get a different brand one seperately.
And meets all my requirements above.

Dell InspironTM 8600

Cpu: 1.7ghz
Ram: 1gb
Hard Disk: 80gb
Graphics: ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro Turbo 128mb
Screen: 15.1" TFT
Resolution: 1280 x 800 Wide Screen
Weight: 3.0kg
Internal 8x CDRW/DVDRW +-

Both are about the same price, the tablet is a tablet but the dell is more powerful :-)

Poll #370151 Which laptop?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

Which of these laptops do you think i'd be best buying?

View Answers

The Toshiba Tablet PC
2 (40.0%)

The Dell Notebook
1 (20.0%)

Other (Please comment with your idea)
2 (40.0%)



(6 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]fba
2004-10-21 06:28 am UTC (link)
Have you investigated the possibility of Virtual PC on your Powerbook?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]r1cardo
2004-10-21 08:37 am UTC (link)
yep i already have it on my mac. It's slow and not suitable for a lot of the things i'll most likely need to do. Thanks for the idea but i would like a good pc to compliment my mac.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]fba
2004-10-21 09:43 am UTC (link)
I suspected it may not be that great - but didn't know for sure :)

Personally speaking I wouldn't go for a tablet as they are overpriced and underpowered. As Owain said - something teenytiny like a Vaio would give you something more portable even than the Powerbook you already have........

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]dsky
2004-10-21 09:39 am UTC (link)
Buy a Mac...

Uh... seriously though, you might want to look at Sony. They have a wide range of small laptops which are reasonably fast.

There's the S series which is goes from 1.6 to 1.8 Ghz.

The incredibly small (I had a play with one yesterday) X505 and TR5

There are also heavier models

(Reply to this)


[info]kalorlo
2004-10-21 04:02 pm UTC (link)
About the tablet for drawing: I'd suggest a separate graphics tablet, really. Then you can use it with both your Windows and Mac machines. I have a Wacom Graphire 2 - it's more or less their bottom-of-the-range graphics tablet, but it does fine for me. Size is A6, uses USB connector and has a pressure-sensitive pen. The more expensive ones come in larger sizes and with more levels of sensitivity, plus more different types of input devices you can use, but to be honest the Graphire does me fine and only cost ~£80.

They take a little bit of practice to get used to, but once you are they're great. Also, if you find you don't like it/don't use it then you've wasted less money than getting a tablet pc and you can always sell it off.

(Note: as far as I know, on the Mac the pressure sensitivity doesn't work with x11 apps. The pen itself will, but you couldn't use pressure sensitivity in the GIMP for x11. I have no idea about Linux support).

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]r1cardo
2004-10-21 08:29 pm UTC (link)
cool, thanks for the advice, it does sound like a good plan actually. I wasn't sure about how writing on the screen would compare to a seperate device because of the sort of hand eye coordination side of things but then most artists use the external tablet so it can't be that bad.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(6 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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