Travel Laptop

[Don Libby]

My travel laptop is a Dell XPS M1330, dual core 1.66 GHz 4 GB Ram 136 GB Disk. I’ve been getting decent battery life but I also have a 12volt adapter. Dell offers a universal power adapter that you can use on airplanes as well.

I like Dell products and have gotten very good use from them. The replacement to this will be Dell’s newer laptop with 8GB Ram but no time soon.

BTW, the screen maybe on the small size but so is the weight. I used this laptop on my recent trip to Alaska using it to check email, keeping up on our blog, and previewing our images after saving to external drives.

don

 

[losta]

I would look at a Lenovo Thinkpad or Fujitsu. Personally I prefer Macs but if you don't want to go that route look at these brands.

 

[Oxide Blu]

I would look at a Lenovo Thinkpad or Fujitsu. Personally I prefer Macs but if you don't want to go that route look at these brands.

Both Lenovo and Fujitsu have nice machines. The Lenovo is not a light-weight, heavy but well made. Doesn't matter if someone is able to keep a Toshiba alive with a 5-hr commute.

Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba and other Japanese manfrs make 3/4 and 1/2 size laptops. You don't get a full-size keyboard, it's scaled down to 3/4 or 1/2 size, too. I see them use frequently, common with Japanese businessmen that travel, Fujitsu and Sony being the most common I see with them. I have never looked at them, could be they are products intended for Japan/Asia and would have a different keyboard. (Japanese keyboards drive me nuts!)

Overwhelmingly, the most common laptop with business travelers that I see in the airline lounges is Lenovo/IBM. At times, American Airline's lounge can look like a friggin' Lenovo commercial! Very rarely see Apply laptops. But keep in mind that the lounges are not accessible to most travelers, usually execs and folks traveling on sky miles, executive class and 1st class travelers only.

If I were to buy a macbook to run windows on, how much is the software (fusion or is there something called bootcamp?) to do it with?

I would not go there. If you are considering an Apple product, also consider using it with the Apple OS. The two go together very well. That is what made Apple what it is. Microsoft has issued a warning that the use of Windows on Apple machines is a security risk when online, and has recommended NOT using Windows on an Apple machine if accessing the web.

Here's the latest MS warning regarding Windows XP or Vista and Apple's Safari on the same machine:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/953818.mspx





ETA: Lenovo is just entering the sub or mini-laptop market. Take a look at this:

http://gizmodo.com/5038653/lenovos-s9-and-s10-both-pass-fcc-certification-just-in-time

Priced at 280-320£ in the UK.

 

[MrSlezak]

To underscore what Oxide Blue is saying, I do see a large number of Lenovo laptops in Europe and the US, but the closer to Japan I get the more the mix shifts to Sony, Fujitsu and Panasonic. I’ve had the fortune of getting to work with a large number of laptops and I keep coming back to the Let’s Note series, but everyone has their favorites. Use your favorite web translator to check out: http://panasonic.jp/pc/products/w7d/index.html.

Like almost all of the laptops today, this uses an Intel based motherboard with the 965 chipset and the core components are essentially the same. I should call out that Panasonic does sell these in the US under the Toughbook name, but they are not the same systems they sell in Japan. The Japanese laptop market is much different than the US market, and priced accordingly.

Among things I like about the Panasonic include:
-- Light & sturdy
I’ve been banging mine around the world with next to no padding in carry-on for a while.
-- Battery Life
I have made it from SeaTac airport to Heathrow on one battery a number of time. Granted I turned down LCD and turned off the optical drive and WiFi radio
-- SDHD slot
I’ve had 8Gig SD cards in the laptop for a while now

Things I don’t like are:
-- Japanese / International English keyboard
I have been using this http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys/ to remap the keyboard and it helps. I have also considered buying a replacement keyboard for a US model, but never got that irritated with the layout.
-- Memory controller limits the system to 2Gigs.
Some Lenovo’s can sport two 2Gig sticks of RAM for a total of four gigs – only an issue if you are running Windows x64 (which I am,).
-- Analog modem
Haven’t needed one of these for years

Things that don’t sway me one way or another:
-- Liquid resistance keyboards
Panasonic makes a big deal about the ability have liquid (water, coffee, etc…) hit the keyboard and route out the bottom. So far, knock on wood, in my number of times of spilling liquid on any keyboard I count my thumbs
-- Ability to get different color systems
Some like the option, but doesn’t suit me too much

Of the Panasonic line, there are four different models:

-- R
This is the smallest of the units; I love the concept and think I’d have gotten used to it if I had given it a little more of a chance. But for the two weeks I used it I just couldn’t get my fingers used to the smaller keyboard. The lack of optical drive didn’t concern me, and the unit I had was lined up with a 120G SATA drive, so I had plenty of space on the system.

-- T / W
These two units are essentially the same: T has no optical & supports a touch screen, and the W has DVD burner on it.

-- Y
The Y series is a larger system and has a nicer feel on the keyboard as well as the ability to jump up screen resolution to SXGA resolutions. But oddly this only has two USB ports (while the T/W have three).