Laptop Advice

[driftdown]

Having reluctantly had to step away from employment due to managerial disagreement I am now in the position of having to return my company laptop at the end of the month.

This means I have to find a suitable laptop for my personal and possible future employment needs. Having used HP products because that was what the Company supplied I have not been too impressed and would not necessarily consider them for a personal purchase.

I have looked at the spec for two Toshiba products and they seem to meet my requirements:

L70-B-119 and C75

Both have 17" screen, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard disk, enough USB slots etc so it comes down to

L70 - 1.7Ghz / iCore 3 / roughly 6H battery life

C75 - 2.4 Ghz / iCore 3 / roughly 3-3.5H battery life

If anyone can share their thoughts or recommendations it would be very much appreciated.

Is the higher clock speed worth the reduced battery life

Is the 17" screen making things more complicated (cost). Would a 15.6" screen offer more options

I use Office and other Windows related software, do not watch movies, basic gaming etc

[mixture]

Rather than mulling over higher clock speeds on i3, you should rather be contemplating the step up to i5 or i7. Unless you're really on a tight budget, I'd avoid anything with an i3 in it.

Even if that means you buying something with a smaller hard disk ... because quite honestly, a 1TB drive in a laptop is unnecessary and only encourages you to dump more stuff on it and makes backups even more harder to discipline yourself to do because of the larger volume of data. A 500gb or 200gb drive should be more than enough on a laptop... as it helps maintain that discipline !

8GB of RAM is good, I wouldn't buy anything with less than that (or if you do, budget for some extra RAM chips)

Personally I've only ever owned one 17 inch laptop... now I only ever use 15 inch ones. What you loose in display space, you gain in battery life and portability, and given your last phrase (my bold) :

I use Office and other Windows related software, do not watch movies, basic gaming etc

Quite frankly I'd wonder what you're doing looking at 17 inch in the first place if all you do is browse the web and play with spreadsheets.

[driftdown]

Thanks Mixture

Previously I have enjoyed the luxury of a large desk PC for fixed IT work and grown used to the visual luxury a large screen offers. Now I am having to look for a compromise as whatever I purchase will have to do for fixed and portable IT needs.

Your advice re the 15 screen is sound and I will see what is available with I5 or i7 processors.

The hard disk size really does not matter as I usually back work etc. up to at least two alternate external disks every 3 days as having experienced the dreaded blue screen with a less disciplined approach to file storage before I have no wish to be caught out like that again. So providing I am not going to pay much more for unwanted storage space then 500GB or 1TB is of no consequence.

[mixture]

Understand what you mean about the luxury of larger screen estate, but of course there's nothing stopping you picking up a cheap desktop LCD and using that in conjunction with your laptop (and a docking station) when you're at your desk ?

All depends how much of a road-warrior you are.... if you're a travelling sales-rep on your laptop every day with complex spreadsheets, then sure the built-in 17 inch may be attractive.

But if you're only teleworking a few times a month and the rest of your time is spent chained to a desk, then the cheaper and more portable solution will be docking station and external monitor.

Toshiba is a good choice of brand by the way (at least their business range, I haven't looked at or used the range they target at consumers... of course there's nothing stopping you buying a business model ! ). So you're looking in the right place.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Originally Posted by mixture

Toshiba is a good choice of brand by the way (at least their business range, I haven't looked at or used the range they target at consumers... of course there's nothing stopping you buying a business model ! ). So you're looking in the right place.

Oh crap no! Sorry to rain on your parade but in my experience Toshiba have been THE worst brand for laptops in the last 3-4 years. I have lost count of the ones we've had to send back due to hardware issues.

Anyway, I will give you the wisdom I always give anyone who asks about 'what's a good laptop':

1) After ascertaining that they're not wearing a black rollneck jumper*, I send them down to Currys/John Lewis/etc to play around with their laptops
2) I ask them to identify the intel i3/i5/i7-based laptops, choose one they like the look of, and get them to spend 5 minutes typing on it and using the trackpad. This is because the keyboard and mouse on a laptop is the one thing you can't change, and if you can't get along with it then you're buying something that'll annoy you for the next few years.
3) Once they have found a likely candidate, they should note down the model number, dodge the spotty sales-weenie, and head for the exit.
4) They should then go home and order the same laptop online, from the cheapest reputable supplier.

Of course, I would only recommend they choose one of: Dell/HP/Lenovo/Asus/Acer for laptops anyway....but what would I know, i've only been involved in the procurement of over 40,000 of them in my career

Hope that helps.

Mike.
(*this is a sure sign that they're one of those hipster-types who buy a Mac just because it was forged from the buttocks of Lord Jobs, and no other brand of device would do, because they are of course a brand-whore).

[MG23]

I have an L70, though it's an i5 model. My only complaint is that the touchpad is absolutely abysmal, but that seems true of all cheaper modern laptops.

[mixture]

Dell/HP/Lenovo/Asus/Acer

You hate Toshiba.... I've had years of horror stories of the above brands... Especially Asus and Acer !

I send them down to Currys

You are an evil man Mike !

I wouldn't knowingly send my worst enemy to Currys/PCWorld !

hipster-types who buy a Mac

I'm not a hipster. I've owned a number of macs, they are very robust and reliable. Nothing wrong with them.

[Booglebox]

Get a ThinkPad T530

[mixture]

I've only used i3 machines occasionally and find them rather frustrating and slow, even just doing simple MS Office and browser things, but this may be as much to do with other components being low end also.

The i3 is specifically marketed by Intel as an "entry-level" chip. So that comes with all the wonderful entry-level "features" to be expected at that level such as lo/no cache, poor integrated graphics etc.

So 70% of the slowness comes from the Intel chip, the other 30% comes from the "other low-end components" you mention.

The only thing worse than an i3 are the Celerons and Atoms of this world... which are truly gruesome !

[onetrack]

I run a 5 yr old L300 Toshiba which has performed faultlessly since new. It has a 15.6" screen, 250Gb HDD, runs a Pentium Dual Core T4200, 2.00Ghz CPU and 4Mb of RAM (I doubled the RAM from the original 2Mb, a 2 minute task and not expensive). The CPU was mid-range at the time or purchase. I've never had a problem with any task processing.

I chose a 15" screen because it's an ideal size for a laptop. Then, there's the weight problem as well.
The L300 weighs 2.7kg, it's as heavy as I want to lug around airports and public places.
I know the latest models are getting lighter, but there's also a good balance between weight and strength as well.

I've accidentally dropped the L300 off a bench at the airport security counter, and it bounced and was completely unaffected by the drop.
However, it was also inside its padded Caselogic carry bag, which is also a vital accessory.

I'd buy another Toshiba tomorrow, and I've been checking out the latest offerings from them, as I'm looking to upgrade soon - and they look pretty good to me.

[driftdown]

Thanks for the input all. Sorry been away so not able to get on line.

My wife is still using a Toshiba Satellite bought 12 years ago. It has been upgraded to W7 but the hardware is not worth mentioning here. There is an issue now with the soundcard but overall the unit is still functioning.

I think the 15" screen is the way to go with a cheap LCD for fixed location work.

Aiming for i7 with as much RAM as can be had and 500GB HD, just got to figure out which model to buy.

[mixture]

I've accidentally dropped the L300 off a bench at the airport security counter, and it bounced and was completely unaffected by the drop.

I can also vouch for Apple laptops surviving bounces off airport security benches....

[Ancient Observer]

Whilst Mixture is possibly right in telling folk to avoid the UK's PC World, Mike's overall message of getting there to try out the mouse/trackpad/whatever arrangements is spot on.
Last time I had a Company bought laptop, I just asked for the lightest possible weight, due to my travel schedule.

Er, Dumb!!

The tracking device was usable, just. I hated it.

As he says, if you do not like the mouse/trackpad/whatever, you are stuck with it.

Try it out first!!!!
If you do not, IMHO all the i7/i5 etc stuff is for the birds. You will hate the whole deal.

[mixture]

As he says, if you do not like the mouse/trackpad/whatever, you are stuck with it.

Well, there is this little invention known as the USB port, which sources tell me you can plug peripherals into...

But I digress. Yes you need to pick something you're comfortable with. For example I'd never buy a laptop with a nipple in it.

[onetrack]

I carry a Logitech M185 USB mouse for my Satellite, and it works a treat, and makes the laptop much more user-friendly. The USB dongle slips into, and locks neatly into the mouse for travel, and one AA battery lasts for at least 6 mths.