A few ??'s for laptop owners.

[S. C.]

At work everyone is getting a computer, part of our contract negotiations. We have a choice of a desktop or laptop. since we already have a desktop we are thinking we might want the laptop but are not sure how much we will use it? We have never owned or used a laptop and know nothing about them. What upgrades should i have with the laptop? We can have upgrades at our expense, I was thinking a wireless card, a case, and extended warranty. What else would you suggest? Here is what we get.

Dell
Inspirin 1000 14.1 in, xga, celeron 2.20 GHZ
Memory 256 MB, 266 MHZ1 DIMM
Video Card Integrated Graphics Card
Hard Drive 30 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Home SP1, English
NIC: Integrated Network Interface Card
Midem Internal 56k Modem
CD-Rom/DVD Rom: 24x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
8-cell, primary battery NiMH
and some software picture studio, paint pro shop, photo album premium, word perfect etc.

 

[Pugdog007]

Negotiations? Why would you "negotiate" for a PC if everyone already has one?

 

[S. C.]

Sorry guess i worded that wrong. It was in the last union contract that every worker would get a free computer. We bought our own home desktop.

 

[gr8tpanther]

I assume that your work is paying for this laptop?

How I ENVY you

well, what you have listed up there doesn't sound bad. I would take the laptop if you already have a desktop because you can take it ANYWHERE. I can't wait when I go to WDW next year and I have my laptop. I haven't gone on any trips since I have gotten it, but well, it was the last thing to add to my computer collection, so I got it and it is by far worth the money spent!

PCI card (wireless) is a good idea, make sure you get a GOOD one and you can go to http://www.ebags.com to get a carrying case, I bought a backpack for mine for 20 bucks on ebags.

i would say go for it!!!

 

[Pugdog007]

Ok gotcha.

I have a PC/laptop combo with a docking station that I pop my laptop in when I'm in the office. It's cool! If that isn't an option, I'd go with the laptop. I'd buy the wireless card and case on your own. You can get a very nice briefcase to carry it in at a discount store like Steinmart. A wireless nic card is about $60 at Walmart.

 

[S. C.]

Thank you so much for the link. Yes work is paying for them, I had no idea there was a difference in wireless cards, like i said i don't know anything about laptops. We can upgrade thru Dell if we want at our expense. I haven't ordered mine yet, i wanted to be positive of any and all upgrades i should get before i order it. I didn't think about being able to get the case and stuff cheaper elsewhere.

 

[mickeyfan1]

You don't need a wireless card unless you are going to also get a wireless router.

Do you access the Internet at home via cable or DSL? If you only use dialup, you really can't use a router anyway.

Laptops work the same as desk tops, although more slowly. But it's nice to have if you travel and want to keep in touch. And ofcourse, if you do have cable ot DSL and you travel, even having a wireless card isn't always going to get you onto the www. You may need to plug in an ethernet cable or you may have to resort to dial up. Most of the resorts at WDW still have no high speed connections, but they are working on it.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Just wanted to make a slight correction mickeyfan1. Its not true laptops work slower then desktops. Now days you can get super powerful laptops about the same or more powerful then some of todays desktops. Over the past few years laptop sales have risen because people can get them just as powerfufl as desktops and still have the portability. Did you know that Dell says more laptops then desktops? I didnt either until I read an article about Dell in Us Weekly.

The laptop looks pretty good. By no means is it the most powerful laptop but should work fairly well with todays newest softwares. The only things I would recommend upgrading is the memory. 256 MB will barely run XP. I have 2 gigabytes of ram in my desktop now. Also I would get a bigger hard drive since they fill up quickly. If you plan of using any fancy kinds of games/software I would get a better video card. Somtimes dell charges a lot to upgrade ram but you can do it after the fact by installing it yourself and buying it from another company.

If you got any more questions PM me.

Matt

 

[mommytutu]

I don't know anything about a Celeron processor, but I might look into a Pent 4. You need AT LEAST 512 MB of memory. And for some reason my dh prefers XP Pro to XP Home...I have no idea why...actually, he prefers Pro for everything. Look into getting a CD or DVD burner drive (if you like that sort of thing) and definately a bigger battery...a 12 or 16 cell. SP 2 has come out, but there are some problems with it, so double check that.

 

[safetymom]

I would go for more memory and a larger hard drive. I use my laptop on the road for Photoshop demos and I have 512 and it does a great job.

Once you get your laptop you will wonder how you lived without one.

 

[NMAmy]

Most of the folks where I work have gone to laptops. Some keep their monitor and keyboard and use a docking station but I prefer to just use the laptop all the time (and I'm a secretary!) The nice thing is that we can take them home and use them for personal use as well (although I don't because then I'd feel oligated to do some work!) They don't give them to us to have but you can do whatever you want with it until you leave their employ which I think is a pretty cool perk. When my dad was in the hospital, I loaded it with games to give my sisters and I something to do in the hospital.

The college is going wireless so soon we'll be able to use it anywhere on campus. Right now we can take them to meetings but if you need your files or email you have to connect to the network via a phoneline.

I think you'd really enjoy one!

 

[Amberle3]

Definitely bump up the hard drive and memory.

Go for the wireless card, I'd recommend the "wireless g" as opposed to "b". It's faster than "b" but is compatible with "b" in case you happen to be connecting to a "b" network.

I just took my laptop on a trip with me, and used the built-in modem and a dialup connection to get online (man, is that slow compared to cable!). I'm going away again in a couple of weeks, kind of a road trip with a few different hotels, and I made my choices based in part on which ones offered internet connections. One of the hotel has a wireless hotspot in the lobby so you can just connect from there nothing else. I'm hoping that's a trend that continues.

And you never know, you just might get lucky with your connections like I did when my fiance was moving last month - we were planning on buying a wireless router for the new place and I was just going to suffer for a few days at the old place until then. Turned on the computer and hey, whaddya know I'm online. One of his neighbours must have had a wireless router (unencrypted, obviously) and voila, I was online thanks to that.

I was resistant to the idea of using my laptop as my "real" computer, I thought I'd use it mostly for travel. I have everything on it now, and I love it. I'm scared to death of dropping it, or spillling a drink on it, but I love it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

More memory, 512 or maybe a gig, a larger hard drive, maybe 60 gig, wireless G, lithium battery pack, port replicator tp make a desktop. A case from Ebags there is great and take a look at the Elite MS wireless optical keyboard/mouse combo, available at http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=853414, $50 (says refurbed, but is brand new). I have ordered three of them, they are wonderful.

 

[helenabear]

I'll echo more memory; at mimimum 512 MB. I would also try to find yourself a non-Celeron processor. I actually have a true "regular" processor (not even a mobile, which most laptops use) on mine. Wireless is only necessary if you have a wireless router, so unless you'll have that, you can save and wait to get it later... try www.newegg.com for that anyway (I guarantee you'll find it cheaper there).

My laptop is just as powerful as my desktop I am currently running, so it is possible to get yourself a very good laptop. The only reason why I do like my desktop more is the graphics are much better... makes working with Photoshop much nicer.

 

[arminnie]

I had to have a wireless card for my laptop a couple of years ago, but I thought most of the laptops sold today have the "g" built in. That seemed to be the case when I had to get a new laptop last August (when my other one literally went up in smoke).

 

[Beauty]

I'm on DH's laptop right now. He also has it at home for work and I LOVE IT!!!!!

Actually we hardly ever get on the desktop anymore since we have the laptop.

You can take it ANYWHERE! From the couch while watching T.V. to bed at night when one person wants to go to bed earlier than the other.

We've also taken it to Disney and Vegas and never had any problems using it. I adore this laptop. I think from now on we would have a laptop before we would ever have a desktop.

J.C. is the one who uses the desktop usually and thats just because the printer is hooked up to it. When I have to print things out I usually do them on the laptop and email them to the desktop to print them out!

I would DEFINATLY go for the laptop.

 

[S. C.]

Thank you so much everyone for all the info. I told DH this was the best place to find out what we needed for upgrades.