Which laptop would you recommend?

[riaz]

Having lugged around an Acer Aspire and then a Toshiba, both 17" screens, I have convinced the powers that be that I am too weak to carry anything heavier than 2.5 lbs and they have approved a light laptop and a plasma screen to go on my desktop when I'm not travelling.

My requirements are
Windows XP (one piece of s**tware we use does not run on Vista)
Lightweight
Operating system in English
Sufficient RAM (I leave what is sufficient to your advice)
Reasonable HD, don't do music or movies, data is always transferred back to the server
USB ports at least 3
Wireless n preferably
QWERTZ keyboard
100 mbps network card
Anything important I've missed.

My wish list
Numeric keypad (as I can always pack an external one when I travel).
Runs on 240v AC rather than thru a DC adapter (still less weight to lug)
DVD player (for when I travel)
Good graphics card
Good sound card (gotta keep in touch with the missus)

I need to advise my (your) recommendations on Monday, so I can hopefully break it in gently before taking it on my travels in November.

All suggestions gratefully received.

 

[riaz]

So true - did you notice mine was 2" bigger than Denis'?

Come now, Richard, stop being an accountant and rounding to your advantage. It's only 1.6" bigger.

Besides, in the context of the discussion, big is not beautiful.

 

[RoryA]

If it's too big, you'll do yourself an injury carrying it around all day...

 

[riaz]

Dell should give you the option to downgrade to XP during the configuration process. If you ring them near the end of the month, they can sometimes do you a better deal than you will get on the interweb-thingy.

Why end of the month Rory? Do they push to meet targets or something?

I like the XPS 1330, if I go for a docking station and flat screen for my desk, my biggest draw is the <2 kg weight when packing it. In fact, you would probably guide me better. How much do the laptop plus battery plus power adaptor weigh altogether? What you see on the web is an "artists' impression" of what the weight once was in his dreams and will once again be when you take the hard disk out, but usually bears no relation to reality.

Like your choice of song in your signature.

 

[riaz]

If it's too big, you'll do yourself an injury carrying it around all day...

Unless its in a bag...Can you swing it over your shoulder?

 

[RoryA]

Don't know the actual weight but it is pretty light and the adaptor is not particularly large (it does of course use a totally different connector to every other Dell I've ever had!) - I carry it around pretty much every day. It's a really nice machine and I'm gradually trying to appropriate it!

 

[riaz]

You've convinced me Rory. If I do get the powers that be to approve it, which bit would you like as commission? I'll email it to you as soon as the machine is up and running.

 

[DonkeyOte]

HIJACK...

Quickbooks ? Really ? Oh dear... we used to run that in the US, I remember after one particularly horrendous audit I ended up having to migrate about 10 years worth of GL from QB to SAGE needless to say that was a fun week in NY ... in reality from a nerds perspective SAGE Line 50 (which was our SAGE product -- "cheap as chips" like QB) was little if any better though it is/was a lot better for automating extracts etc... do you or have you ever tried using QODBC - hilarious!!!

(I should add that SAGE won't even support Line 50 in the US as it requires UK Regional Settings to work correctly so I'm not sure that using SAGE over there is a wise decision... needless to say I wasn't "asked" just given the old "make it so No.1" by the boss)

 

[RoryA]

You've convinced me Rory. If I do get the powers that be to approve it, which bit would you like as commission? I'll email it to you as soon as the machine is up and running.

The Windows key?

 

[riaz]

HIJACK...

Quickbooks ?

Don't look at me. I inherited it when I migrated.

Double hijack : By the way, too late but I just thought of another name for you - Don Chaotic?

The Windows key?

Done, Rory. I don't have any locks to go with it tho - well, hardly any.

 

[SydneyGeek]

Dell should give you the option to downgrade to XP during the configuration process. If you ring them near the end of the month, they can sometimes do you a better deal than you will get on the interweb-thingy.

They did with my purchase. I got the Vista disk should I feel the need to upgrade. At this stage I'm not inclined to because I have set the laptop up with virtual PC. The VPC also has XP, but it has Office 07 loaded. I've been caught once with a client on 07 when I only had 03, and I don't want that to happen again.
I like Vista (it's on my desktop) but it uses too much RAM for a VPC setup.

Denis