High End laptop recommendation please
Discussion
We've been given the go-ahead to replace our existing development laptops and a good recommendation would be much appreciated.
We have no manufacturer preference, but reliability of our existing laptops has been a surprisingly big issue. So we are looking at alternatives.
The laptops are used for Enterprise Java development and we value performance and a very high res screen. Other features are nice to have, but not essential.
A desktop PC isn't really an option as most of us are home workers but we need to carry on working when we go into the office.
We have no manufacturer preference, but reliability of our existing laptops has been a surprisingly big issue. So we are looking at alternatives.
The laptops are used for Enterprise Java development and we value performance and a very high res screen. Other features are nice to have, but not essential.
A desktop PC isn't really an option as most of us are home workers but we need to carry on working when we go into the office.
I use a Dell Precision M50 ... I think it has now been superceded by the M60. M50 has a 1600*1200 TFT screen and a dual screen grahics card which is fine for dev work with debug windows, help files etc all visible. Mine's got 2.4GHz P4, 1GB RAM, 100GB hard disc, so powerful enough for anything I need. Battery life isn't bad ... ditch one of the hard discs for a second battery and it is good for a day's work. Downside is that it is quite a heavy piece of kit and the case isn't the most robust.
IBM...
I looked at www.laptopsdirect.co.uk and...
G40 looks excellent with it's 3GHz P4 but the screen resolution only appears to be XGA (1024x768) which is pretty pants for writing code.
R50 has a better screen resolution SXGA+ but only seems to have a 1.5GHz Mobile Pentium which is too sluggish for our needs.
Is there a G40 with a big screen or an R50 with more grunt ?
I looked at www.laptopsdirect.co.uk and...
G40 looks excellent with it's 3GHz P4 but the screen resolution only appears to be XGA (1024x768) which is pretty pants for writing code.
R50 has a better screen resolution SXGA+ but only seems to have a 1.5GHz Mobile Pentium which is too sluggish for our needs.
Is there a G40 with a big screen or an R50 with more grunt ?
Nacnud said:
IBM...
Is there a G40 with a big screen or an R50 with more grunt ?
All I really know is that the 'T' model is the best one I think they are up to T40 now - possibly T41.
Like I said, drop me a mail and I'll send you the info you need to get 'inside' for special offers etc.
Just got a new Thinkpad..... you can get better ones than mine, with 1400x1050 or 1600x1280 screens too 
highly recommend them....
the r50p looks a nice bit of kit. remember that the pentium m processor is a pentium 4 but you get the same performance with less clock cycles. my 1.4 pentium m is supposedly as quick as a 1.8-2.0 P4..... it has plenty of grunt for my needs.....
>> Edited by TheHobbit on Monday 1st March 16:49
highly recommend them....
the r50p looks a nice bit of kit. remember that the pentium m processor is a pentium 4 but you get the same performance with less clock cycles. my 1.4 pentium m is supposedly as quick as a 1.8-2.0 P4..... it has plenty of grunt for my needs.....
>> Edited by TheHobbit on Monday 1st March 16:49
Just had an interesting proposal put to me.
Buy a top spec tower and use my existing laptop as a terminal server. The tower would be permanently connected to the internet so I can work from home and the office.
The tower would be inside the VPN so I'll be able to serve my development file structure and still use IDEA, etc locally on my laptop if I want to. It's the heavy stuff (building and deploying) that I'll be gladly shot of.
If the tower is at home then I can still work if the VPN is down for whatever reason.
The tower would offer superb performance and future upgradability at a moderate cost.
Thoughts please......
Buy a top spec tower and use my existing laptop as a terminal server. The tower would be permanently connected to the internet so I can work from home and the office.
The tower would be inside the VPN so I'll be able to serve my development file structure and still use IDEA, etc locally on my laptop if I want to. It's the heavy stuff (building and deploying) that I'll be gladly shot of.
If the tower is at home then I can still work if the VPN is down for whatever reason.
The tower would offer superb performance and future upgradability at a moderate cost.
Thoughts please......
Nacnud said:
Just had an interesting proposal put to me.
Buy a top spec tower and use my existing laptop as a terminal server. The tower would be permanently connected to the internet so I can work from home and the office.
The tower would be inside the VPN so I'll be able to serve my development file structure and still use IDEA, etc locally on my laptop if I want to. It's the heavy stuff (building and deploying) that I'll be gladly shot of.
If the tower is at home then I can still work if the VPN is down for whatever reason.
The tower would offer superb performance and future upgradability at a moderate cost.
Thoughts please......
What sort of power does the tower need..? Should work, but not done it myself...
Nacnud said:
Just had an interesting proposal put to me.
Buy a top spec tower and use my existing laptop as a terminal server. The tower would be permanently connected to the internet so I can work from home and the office.
The tower would be inside the VPN so I'll be able to serve my development file structure and still use IDEA, etc locally on my laptop if I want to. It's the heavy stuff (building and deploying) that I'll be gladly shot of.
If the tower is at home then I can still work if the VPN is down for whatever reason.
The tower would offer superb performance and future upgradability at a moderate cost.
Thoughts please......
I develop over and deploy software through and indeed push it over the web with Citrix Metaframe which is Terminal Server by any other name.
It, quite simply, rocks.
Get the terminal server client for web, bit of vbscript and host it on your webspace and you have access anywhere for menial stuff.
POWERBOOK!!!!! Seriously though, I came from a Windows pc and within a week i was using OS-X. It's capabilities are endless, you can use Word, Excel etc on it without problems, it never crashes, the hardware looks the dogs danglies, they don't depreciate faster than Bentleys (like pcs do...), their battery life is superior, the screens are faultless, lightweight...
why buy a windows based laptop?
pdV6 said:
why buy a windows based laptop?
To develop Windows based software, perchance?
That's actually an interesting issue.
The server side has to run on just about anything, so theoretically we could develop on just about anything.
I've just checked and my development environment (IDEA from www.jetbrains.com ) is available on OSX, so assuming that license transfer isn't an issue...
The biggie is that we are developing against IE5.5 onwards as the percentage of our customers without IE are almost negligiable. I suppose someone is now going to tell me that IE5.5 is available under OSX?
As an aside - Are Powerbooks really that powerfull compared to 3GHz P4?
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