Being a Contractor / Consultant has it's good points and not such good point, on the not so good points is that you don't get a nice funky company notebook, unless you buy your own. So it's shopping I go, now we all know Geeks have no concept of how to manage money, so it's off to the internet to find the “baby”, then it's off to the real boss (wife) for the money... kabooom “type mismatch”, “cashola underrun” call it what you may, those funky little radio control toys have eaten nicely into the “New Notebook Fund” HUH?
So it's back to the drawing board when choosing a notebook for “work”, which I'm told is what I do with it !?! Some realities have to set in, wish list and functional requirements don't always meet in the middle. It's time to look long and hard and find something that will do more than you require (For the job at hand) at a decent price. Easy.... Riiiggghht.
Well it's taken a while and eventually I can say I'm ready to go get my new baby (Almost), taking these new rules into account I have managed to single out a few options.
High on list: HP nw8000.(http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/321957-64295-89315-321838-f1-364189.html) Now this is a really cool machine, has all the right spec, the power vs the resources match my requirements nicely, it's not much of a looker, but then it's a workhorse, perfect, except for the price, it fails the “Boss's“ budget rule.
Next on the list would be the HP nx7010 (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/321957-64295-89315-321838-f33-380679.html) , also a very nice machine, a bit heavy, nice looker, with a wide SXGA screen, the power vs resources match in not ideal, gonna have to up the RAM and HD a bit, Budget rule: almost makes it, gonna have to squeeze a sales Rep a bit.
Next the fujitsu Siemens s7010 (http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/products/mobile/notebooks/lifebook_s.html), very nice machine, spec close, power vs resources a good match (cause you can customise a bit), XGA screen (ie 1024x768) which is not idea for me, I want SXGA. budget rule: same as HP nx7010
Outsider: MSI M510C (http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/notebook/nb/pro_nb_selling.php?UID=588), Gotta say, impressive, perfect power vs resource match (customisable at pre sale), has a ATI 9600 card, 7 hour battery life, XGA (real pity), not much of a looker, but fit's the budget with room to spare, You can get a SXGA screen overseas, but not in South Africa , at least that’s what distributors say. If it had an SXGA I would probably have taken it there and then, (even though the nw8000 is the machine I really want).
Oh well, Like I said, I'm almost there.
So what's important to me... In today’s world where the Centrino power is pretty awesome already, it's now all about RAM and HD speed and capacity. Requirements on my list are: Decent VGA card, ATI 9200 or better, SXGA LCD (must be greater then 1024x768 on screen), 1Gig RAM, min speed HD: 5400, min capacity 60Gig, would prefer an 80Gig ++). Funny but things like onboard bluetooth don't impress me, dongles are R190 a pop, Battery life 4 hours+, weight 3kg or lower (unless it's a wide screen then I'll put up with a little more).easy access to things like HD,RAM,CPU. As for the CPU, honestly dudes 1.5 Centrino will buz along nicely with these resources, I don't understand why people put a 1.7 ++ Centrino CPU into a book with only 256mb RAM and a 40Gig 4200 Drive, (don't laugh I've seen it, and at places that don't do in shop upgrades), DVD combo or better, as for the rest most stuff is pretty much standard on all notebooks.