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Contractor Laptops

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    Contractor Laptops

    For once, an IT Contractor related (and possibly useful for some) thread.. the background isn't to help me with my next purchase but came simply out of curiosity of what's out there and how do they perform in the real world after realising how hot my laptop gets..

    1) What laptop do you have?
    2) Roughly how long have you had it?
    3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)
    4) Would you recommend it to others?
    5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase?

    So, to kick things off:

    1) What laptop do you have? Dell Precision M4400 , Core2Extreme with upgraded battery and 8Gb RAM

    2) Roughly how long have you had it? 18 months

    3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)
    The speed (3.06Ghz) is excellent, it feels sturdy, average weight (2.7kg) for the screen size (15.4") and I've had no issues with it, it does get VERY hot after a short while

    4) Would you recommend it to others? yes, unless you plan to have it on your lap most of the time, then it might cook your balls/lady bits.

    5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase? possibly Dell M4500 but initial reviews say they haven't sorted the heat problem, ideally something slightly lighter as carrying it around the city for any length is noticeable..
    47
    Asus
    4.26%
    2
    Toshiba
    4.26%
    2
    Dell
    38.30%
    18
    Apple
    14.89%
    7
    IBM / Lenovo
    8.51%
    4
    Acer
    6.38%
    3
    HP
    6.38%
    3
    Sony
    4.26%
    2
    Other
    8.51%
    4
    a laptop? Chalk and a Blackboard is good enough for me
    4.26%
    2
    The proud owner of 125 Xeno Geek Points

    #2
    I bought the new Acer Aspire Timeline as it's light weight and has an 8 hour battery life (required for some of the brown-out locations I end up in).


    Don't remember the spec, but have not had any problems with it.
    Fiscal nomad it's legal.

    Comment


      #3
      1) Dell Precision M65
      Intel Core2 2.16Ghz
      4GB Ram (3.25 useable) Upgraded from 2
      Windows 7 upgraded from XP
      Nvidia Quadro FX 350M
      1920x1200 15.6" screen

      2) Owned for just over 3 years

      3)
      Good Points:
      Well built, solid feel to it still going strong after 3 years and not looking too worn.
      Decent processing power - still feels like a quick machine after 3 years
      Very nice screen - not sure about the colour accuracy but for sharpness/ease of reading its spot on
      Support - had to use them a couple of times. Laptop fixed within 24 hours both times
      Bad Points:
      Fan gets clogged up with dust which leads to over heating which led to the graphics card developing a minor fault. Regular cleaning seems to fix that although that means taking the entire laptop apart!
      Battery life isn't much over 90 minutes but to be expected with a desktop replacement laptop

      4) Yes, although mine is now obsolete

      5) really not sure. I have a long list of criteria which needs to be met. Although I might decide to get a laptop and seperate desktop next time which will make choosing easier.
      Coffee's for closers

      Comment


        #4
        Lenovo Thinkpad T500, coming up for two years old.

        2 x 2.4Ghz (I think) CPU
        4GB RAM
        80GB Intel SSD (fitted myself)
        15.4" 1650 x 1080 screen

        The keyboard is about the best you can get on a laptop, it has the touchpoint thingy (I hate trackpads), and it's designed to be easily upgraded and serviced. It's easily the most solidly built laptop I have come across, but not stupidly heavy. I've had a couple of top of the range sony ones before this as well as dell, fujitsu and sony ones supplied by client cos, and they all feel cheap in comparison.

        Having said that, the keyboard actually broke recently. Initially they said it wasn't covered by the guarantee but relented 3 hours later without me even asking, which was nice, although by then I had already ordered the replacement.

        On the downside, there is no built in eSATA port, and the firewire port is on the front which puts the cable right where your wrist sits.

        For my next one, possibly the T510 or whatever the equivalent is when the time comes, which has fixed both of my port related dislikes and offers a full HD 15.4" screen. I will also check out the W series ones, and the HP Elitebooks, although I might consider something smaller & lighter as by then I'm likely to have a new desktop workstation to do the heavy lifting.
        While you're waiting, read the free novel we sent you. It's a Spanish story about a guy named 'Manual.'

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by chef View Post
          For once, an IT Contractor related (and possibly useful for some) thread.. the background isn't to help me with my next purchase but came simply out of curiosity of what's out there and how do they perform in the real world after realising how hot my laptop gets..

          1) What laptop do you have?
          2) Roughly how long have you had it?
          3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)
          4) Would you recommend it to others?
          5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase?

          So, to kick things off:

          1) What laptop do you have? Dell Precision M4400 , Core2Extreme with upgraded battery and 8Gb RAM

          2) Roughly how long have you had it? 18 months

          3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)
          The speed (3.06Ghz) is excellent, it feels sturdy, average weight (2.7kg) for the screen size (15.4") and I've had no issues with it, it does get VERY hot after a short while

          4) Would you recommend it to others? yes, unless you plan to have it on your lap most of the time, then it might cook your balls/lady bits.

          5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase? possibly Dell M4500 but initial reviews say they haven't sorted the heat problem, ideally something slightly lighter as carrying it around the city for any length is noticeable..
          Poll is no good as there is no option for more than one laptop. (I have six)
          "A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices," George Orwell

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Paddy View Post
            Poll is no good as there is no option for more than one laptop. (I have six)
            apologies, I made it multiple choice then added more options but it seems that the multiple choice option got unticked. Now I can't find a way to edit the poll to make it multiple choice

            So, unless someone knows how I can, assume the poll refers to your main laptop (however you define that)
            The proud owner of 125 Xeno Geek Points

            Comment


              #7
              1. Main powerhouse, Dell M1730, Bought Nov 2007.
              Pro: Good for db work, and fast processor, Bluray, 17" HD screen.
              Con: Weighs about 4 tons, its a desktop replacement laptop really. Good if I need to travel and do some real work.

              2. Mobile machine, Dell M1330, bought as above.
              Pro:Much lighter than above, Good for light work, Excel, word, Invoicing etc..
              Con: Not really up to anything majorly heavy CPU wise.

              M1330 excellent for a light mobile machine, although have had to have 2 new keyboards and 1 screen early on in its life under warrranty, Good service though, next business day.

              M1730 is a great piece of kit, although overkill for most normal work.
              Last edited by Scrag Meister; 27 August 2010, 09:35.
              Never has a man been heard to say on his death bed that he wishes he'd spent more time in the office.

              Comment


                #8
                1) What laptop do you have? Acer Travelmate of some model. Windows XP professional, 2GB memory.

                2) Roughly how long have you had it?
                Two years

                3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)
                Great battery life, good value for features, poor sound though.

                4) Would you recommend it to others?
                Yep. I've tried other models, and with the exception of the Sony, they've all disappointed. The Sony's are great, but not as good value for money.

                5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase?Another Acer, with 4GB memory and Windows 7.
                Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by chef View Post
                  apologies, I made it multiple choice then added more options but it seems that the multiple choice option got unticked. Now I can't find a way to edit the poll to make it multiple choice

                  So, unless someone knows how I can, assume the poll refers to your main laptop (however you define that)
                  Admin's sorted it for you - it's now multiple-choice.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    1) What laptop do you have?

                    Apple MacBook (white) 13", Intel Core Duo 2GHz, 2GB (self-upgraded from original 1GB), 256GB HD (self-upgraded from original 80GB), now running Snow Leopard after being on Tiger for three years.

                    2) Roughly how long have you had it?

                    Four years.

                    3) What do you think of it? (quick summary of good/bad points)

                    Good points: reliable; runs OS X; easily runs XP Pro in a Parallels VM for things like Visual Studio (I can't be bothered to dual-boot); loads of excellent software available (much of it free or dirt-cheap); underlying FreeBSD (Unix) system (the integration of Terminal.app with the GUI when working at a bash prompt makes Window's command prompt app look like a sick joke); excellent developer tools come with the OS; no need for nine options to turn it off just to keep managers in work: close the lid and it goes off to sleep, open it and it wakes up immediately. I think the only times I've ever fully powered down have been when doing a hardware upgrade.

                    Bad points: a sliver of plastic about 0.5mm by 40mm came away from the front edge after I dropped it on some concrete steps. It woke from sleep just fine though and showed no other ill effects.

                    4) Would you recommend it to others?

                    Unreservedly. Careful with it on those steps though.

                    5) What laptop (if any) are you looking at for your next purchase?

                    Another MacBook, although I'm not yet feeling any need to upgrade - this one is still more than capable of doing everything I need. I may upgrade it to a 512GB drive at some point.

                    Comment

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