LAPTOP FORUM

I have been using a 17 powerbook for a couple of years. Fairly happy
with it although constructing it of grey cheese makes it a bit fragile.
I now need to run Linux and Windows as well.

The 17 wide screen is a requirement as is the need to move it around
fairly easily in a briefcase. Powerbook weight is fine and a bit
heavier tolerable. High speed graphics and high speed processing are
not important. Battery life of a couple of hours editting text is fine
but 30 minutes is not. Robustness is desirable since it will get moved
around a lot and used quite heavily every day.

Suggestions and/or experiences gratefully received.

On 2005-10-25, andy wrote:

Ive been satisfied with my HP Pavilion zd7000 17 widescreen (1440x900)
laptop running Linux. I bought it re-conditioned with no installed OS
and I havent tried it with Windows. I get about 90 to 100 minutes on
battery for light use. I havent carried it around much so I cant
comment on that aspect.

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-- Whiskers
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Thanks for the response. Like the full keyboard - no excuse with a 17
screen for a cutdown keyboard - and it look fairly robust although a
bit heavier than ideal.

Does it get hot and do the fans run all the time? I have a few shelves
of boxes with this kind of Intel processor and they get sufficiently
hot under sustained load to need extra fans.

No OS is good because there is a site license for XP. Is this usual
with a refurbished computer? I have unsuccessfully tried to get Windows
removed from new computers in the past. Is it a UK or US keyboard?

What does not work under Linux? I can live without the modem (only
needed when visiting my mum) but use wi-fi all the time.

On 2005-10-26, andy wrote:

The keyboard is a joy to use compared with some laptops. The on/off switch
for the touchpad is a very good feature given the stupid (but apparently
industry standard) location of the touchpad.


The fans run all the time for me, but heat doesnt seem to be a problem.
My monitor program (GKrellM) indicates 35 deg C at present, compared with a
room temperature of 21 deg C, and only increases if I do CPU intensive
things such as image manipulation - then the fans get faster until the
temperature drops again. They can generate quite a draught at full speed.


HP do seem to offer some support for Linux, although not very publicly.
There were HP-branded installation CDs for Mandrake 9.2 in the box - but I
used Mdk 10 instead, and am now running Mandriva 2005.

Ive only seen these reconditioned HP laptops as an occasional item in one
shop in north London; I dont know how widespread their availability might
be. Generally, second-hand computers are sold with disclaimers accepting
no responsibility for any installed software and not implying any
transfer of any software licence or words to that effect.

I have a UK keyboard.


The WiFi doesnt work with the SMP Linux kernels, but apparently will work
with the standard kernels; you might notice some loss of CPU performance
with one of those. I dont use wireless so Im not worried about that.
The analogue modem hasnt worked for me although some people seem to have
managed to get it to run with Linux. I havent tried the multi-card reader
or infra-red.

I use an external real modem, connecting via a Serial-USB converter, for
dial-up.

I dont think it would be too difficult to give yourself a boot-time option
to run Linux with either an SMP kernel, to get best usage from the
dual-thread CPU, or with a standard kernel, to have the wireless working.
New kernels, or new drivers, will I hope overcome the problem anyway.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

andy wrote in message
news:1130239524.833812.132270@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

The Dell Inspiron 9330 I have is superb. Fairly light for a 17
(3.6kg-ish), good-looking chassis and gorgeous glossy display - the envy of
my colleagues! Youre being short-changed with less than 1920x1200 pixels.

I got a 1.7Ghz/60GB model from ebay - fellas there sell them on from the
Dell Outlet store - which is public, but can be a bit vague about specs.
Added 2GB of RAM and it still came under Ł1000. And it had 11 months of
warrantee balance. I thought the WiFi might had been faulty (I was wrong)
Dell had me a new one couriered out next day.

Concievably I can upgrade the HD, video card (PCI-X up-to GeForce 6800
Ultra) and even CPU - which I may well do unless anyone releaes a nicer
laptop.

No, I dont work for Dell. Just quite happy.

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while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

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On Thu, 27 Oct 2005, Mugwump wrote:


Yes, their laptops are excellent, arent they? Mines a 8200 with 512MB
bought secondhand for 700 quid three years ago and still works a treat.

I might upgrade to a 9300 series in the near future.

--
http://www.munted.org.uk

Anyone that thinks an imaginary deity is going to protect them against
earthquakes and hurricanes needs psychiatric help.
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Thanks for the response. This is on the list and I have had reasonable
experience with a Dell switch for the last 18 months (not that Dell
made it - it is a rebadged Taiwanese jobby which is also sold by SMC
who provide much better manuals). The price looks good compared to
Apple kit, plenty of positive linux experience, can configure what I
need with the only obvious problem in the specification that it writes
DVDs the powerbook cannot read although vice-versa is OK.

I borrowed an old portable with Windows on today to see if I could work
out how to make Windows do what I wanted - not yet but it looks a lot
better than NT did 10 years ago. But I have now established that after
years of working in quiet under no circumstances will I buy a computer
that has fans running when editing text under Windows. The big
quesiton: do the fans run?

andy wrote in message
news:1130448407.284747.263730@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

Without getting into the technicalities of the above, and cut to the
question, the 9300 fan seems to be constantly running - but at a very low
level - a very faint wirr.

Obviously it picks up up under stress, and there is a 2nd fan which I think
covers the video component. Despite this, it never gets unpleasant -
considerbly quieter than any single-fan notebook Ive used in the past.
Ive had a few oh watch-out, the lights are going to dim comments where it
has appeared, and always its been the quitest computer present (btw the
speakers are excellent!).

When I say stress, I mean real stress - I regularly run several Virtual PC
sessions (and loads else), so the higher fan-speed modes are often in need
but never annoying. If youre not suggesting that MS Word is a CPU hog (it
isnt) then you may be pleased at how civilised PCs are in the Pentium M
age.

Out of interest, what is it you cannot do with Windows?