[BC] Notebook Suggestions

[Barry Mishkind]

At 07:01 PM 3/12/2007, James Kuzman wrote
>I'm not unhappy in the least with my Dell Inspiron 6000, in terms of 
>hardware. It's a great machine.

         My main complaints with the Thinkpad are
         1. relatively weak sound
         2. The IBM wifi software fights with the XP software,
                 often causing problems.
         3. support is for one year from manufacture. In past,
                 IBM has often been more concerned with verifying
                 the date of manufacture than solving problems.
         4. Battery life is decent (depending upon disk access), but
                 could be better.

         Probably the key issue for me is the hassle I go through
         a different hotels when the wifi software fight each other.

>But I've had it up to here (hand raised as far as it will reach) 
>with Microsoft and Windows in general.  The weekly upates.  The 
>patches.  The viruses.  The reboots.  The blue screens.

         I cannot argue with most of this, although I have yet
         to have a virus running on my machines. (I just do
         not click on files I do not know and expect)  There is
         no question that Windows has been a prime target
         of the hacker community. But ... we have to realize
         that the same ubiquity also makes software easier
         to get in most cases. (Yes, linux is an alternative,
         but not for everyone)


>This will be my last Windows PC (laptop or desktop).  Next time, 
>Macs all the way around...

         That is if you are ready to buy all new software.

         I have to admit I also worry about the learning curve,
         and the price is quite high for a machine that is
         to be used mainly on the road.