Laptop recommendation

[Subyland]

Hello all,

I am looking for a laptop amongst the maze of offerings available. My requirements are:

- XP pro
- I much prefer a pointing stick to a touch pad as it is more precise and I can't get used to not clicking (as in left click on a mouse) when using it
- use will mainly be for surfing the web around the house (including in bed!!!), Skype (inc voice if possible), consulting/modifying various photos documents and e-mails.
- good battery life
- good portability as I will sometime take it with me away (3kg looks a lot to me!)
- I'd like to stick to main brands
- an optional docking station would be a bonus
- budget is around £700-£900

Have you got any recommendation or model to suggest? Also, do you know of any software that would automatically synchronise documents and e-mails?

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[pdwhiteside]

There are not many laptops that use the pointing stick as opposed to the touchpad these days. One make that does use them is Lenovo (formerely known as the IBM Thinkpad)

Lenovo are not the cheapest brand by any means, they sell on quality rather than price.

It just so happens that I own my own computer business and it's in Norfolk too, so if you want a deal on a Lenovo let me know!!

On the subject of syncronising e-mails and documents, what do you want to syncronise with? Or do you just want a way of backing them up rather than syncronising?

Paul

 

[Subyland]

I want to synchronise with my main computer so that when I take the laptop with me the documents and e-mails are up to date.

 

[Tan]

There is an Lenovo think pad around on special at the moment, they were £1600 last year but they going for around £580+ at the moment. It's a very small and light 12" but with a decent size keyboard.

 

[Sp!ke]

Agree on Lenovo, they are pretty much the only laptop that has a decent pointing stick. Others try but the sticks are very vague and difficult to control.

Another consideration is Toshiba.

Whatever you buy, make sure its dual core. Stuff like memory you can source elsewhere from the likes of crucial.

Syncing outlook between two PC's isnt so easy with pop mail. You'll have to set Outlook to leave messages on the server on one PC and on the other PC, set outlook to remove messages from the server after a set number of days. As long as you use both PC's within that time frome, they wil both receive all the emails. Mirroring the sent items folder on both PC's is a real PITA.

To synch documents automatically on multiple PC's is tricky, you really need a file server at home (like a little NAS box) or just a share on your home PC where you keep your files and that your laptop maps to on bootup. Highlight the share and then goto Tools and select "Make folder Available offline". This wil sync the contents between the two PC's.

 

[scotth_uk]

I use a Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad T60 at present - very nice machine. As with most of the Thinkpad range, you can treat them like dirt and they just keep on ticking. I pick mine up by the screen, which is something I wouldn't dream of doing to my Macbook.

This one has both a touchpad, and a pointy-stick - I have the touchpad disabled, and use the stick only.

Battery life is not as good as the old Thinkpads, but still ok.

 

[Subyland]

Thank you all for your replies. I have spotted the Lenovo T43 which seems to be a very good compromise between performance, display and portability. And it has both a pointing stick and a touchpad. It is also slightly cheaper than the T60.
Thanks to Spike for the info re:synchronising. I might come back to you for more once the purchase has been made.

 

[scotth_uk]

Subyland - the T43 is a cracking unit - it's a very tough machine.

 

[Subyland]

Just to bring you up to date: I contacted a company spotted on the web with a view to purchase once I had clarified the difference between 2 models. The telephone experience was so appaling that it has put me off. I did send an email to tell them about my poor experience (after all they claim to care about customer experience) and I am yet to receive a reply. But I have noticed that in the meantime the price of the laptop has gone up (funny that since the thing I was querying about was why the lower spec laptop was more expensive...)