On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Josh Tiner wrote:
> It's been a while since I last own a laptop - my old one was a IBM
> ThinkPad iSeries 1400 with a Celeron 433mhz proc in it... Well, I'm
> looking to scrap one of my desktop machines in favor of a lappy - but
> the new ones out there these days are horrendously expense (like 2500+
> in some cases for decent stuff). Are there any recommendations out
> there? Obviously I'd like to have a dual boot system to satisfy some of
> my course requirements of @ school - but it's primarily for Java
> programming and Web Development - maybe a bit of C coding in the near
> future...
If you want an x86 laptop, I've always loved the Thinkpads. They have a
feeling of solid construction and quality that I've never seen in any
other laptop. I used to carry a Thinkpad on behalf of an employer and I
was extremely satisfied.
I also used to own an older Sony VAIO. The build quality was awful, and
minor bits and pieces slowly fell apart over the first year after it was
purchased. Cheesy and plastic-y construction. I would never buy another
Sony laptop.
The Panasonic Toughbooks are intriguing, but expensive. I got the
impression that some of them have exotic networking hardware (e.g. packet
radio) that might not be well supported by free Unices.
I've also had experience with Toshiba Tecras and Satellites as of about 3
years ago. They seemed decent enough, not as nice as the Thinkpads but
just "OK". I'd look elsewhere if it were my money.
Finally, if you're willing to consider non-x86 hardware, check out the
Apple iBooks and G4 "TiBooks". OS X is really nice and you can run
Windows inside a virtual machine if necessary. Java is quite well
supported under OS X, you might find it a better programming environment
for that reason alone.
Apple recently cut their prices on a couple of the low-end models as well.
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