Best laptop computer for pilots?

[freeflyer14]

Buy a dual core intel chip. They are just starting to hit the market now. Don't waste money on older models, as they are/will be extinct very quick with this new technology.

http://www.notebookreview.com

Actually the dual core stuff is more hype than anything at the moment. Casual users like most of us will get little if any benefit out of it. They are still 32 bit technology, which is going to be replaced in short order by 64 bit versions of vista and other operating systems. I'll stick with my 2.13 pentium m for the moment. For the original poster, try possibly looking into the dell 700m, is a good road choice. I don't have one myself (I went the other route with a desktop replacement 17in behemoth for gaming and audio production), but several friends I know have them for their respective business travel.

 

[heph224]

A very important thing you need to worry about is getting a decent processor and video card. The Pentium M is still a very good processor even though the dual core processors are now available. The big reason why you want a pentium m or the new dual core is that they can produce amazing results with increased battery life. Id say 30 to 45 percent longer operating time than a pentium 4. Stay away from celeron processors since they drain power like a mofo and are not that good.

The other option you want to worry about is the video card, stay away from intergrated video cards because they kill productivity, so opt for dedicated cards.

A good laptop will cost you around 1500+.

 

[taloft]

First choice: iBook 12" $1000
Second Choice: Averatec 12" $900

Both are small, light and inexpensive. Great for travel. You could pay more, but usually the size and weight goes up with higher prices (exceptions Sony, Powerbook).

 

[blzr]

Thinking about buying a laptop computer to take on trips. It sure seems like the price goes up fast as the computer gets smaller and easier to carry. There's a nice Sony Vaio that's really small and light and has a DVD burner/player but it costs over $2000 even at a discount place! Way outside my budget.

What's the best tradeoff these days between laptop computer price, size and weight? What is everyone using? Which ones are most robust and likely to survive life on the line? Which ones should be avoided? Why? Is a used one from eBay worth the risk?

I'd want to keep it in my flight case and not my rollaboard so it can't take up too much space or be too heavy. Battery life isn't all that important I guess because it can be plugged into the wall in the hotel or crew room. Must have WiFi and a DVD drive.

I'm hoping to start a useful discussion here that many can benefit from.

Dude, I'll pay for half of it if you have some skin pics of the chick in your Avitar.

 

[taloft]

First choice: Ibook 12" $1000
Second Choice: Averatec 12" $900

Both are small, light and inexpensive. Great for travel. You could pay more, but usually the size and weight goes up with higher prices (exceptions Sony, Mac Powerbook).

 

[Jumpseater]

A conundrum. Can you surf porn on the one Jetblue gives you. I mean, yeah, you probably can. But........

We have a lot of hairy palms a jetblue

 

[Mike man]

The Toshiba 380 thats on sale at Best Buy for $450. If you are going to drag it all over why spend the big bucks? (think dropping it while going through security, or a passenger knocking the plastic bin that you laptop is in on the floor breaking you laptop) Go cheap and spend the bigger bucks on a desktop for home.

 

[lamank]

Ls-800

My company provides the pilots with the Motion Computing LS800. It is great.


www.motioncomputing.com

 

[CA1900]

Actually the dual core stuff is more hype than anything at the moment. Casual users like most of us will get little if any benefit out of it.

That may be the case under Windows; I haven't used a dual-processor or dual-core Windows machine, so I haven't seen its impact.

But on the Mac side of things, the OS is very effective at using multiple processors (or cores). The current top-end machine uses two dual-core G5 processors -- basically a four-processor machine.

The OS will divide up the running processes between the two, and it makes the whole machine so much more responsive, letting you do other work while tasks are running in the background.

Say you're compressing video, for example, to burn to a DVD or move to an iPod. Properly-written, multi-threaded software will be able to use part of both cores. But even software that hasn't been written to be multi-processor aware will still be able to have 100% of one of the cores, leaving the other to do everything else, without a hint of sluggishness. On a single-processor machine running a complex task like that, all the other processes will slow down as the system divides up the processor's time. Not the case with multiple processors.

This is a really good thing, and "casual users" will definitely see a real benefit because the whole machine will be snappy, no matter what it's doing.

 

[sweptback]

If you plan on keeping the laptop for more than a few years, buy a business model. Don't buy the cheapo $450 special at Best Buy. Sure you will pay a couple hundred more for it, but it's built better and will last longer. The warranty support will also be better.

Also, think hard about whether you really need the 17" widescreen laptop, or a 2ghz dual core chip and 1gb of RAM. If you're anything like me... you'll be using it to surf the web and write email. That stuff really isn't that taxing.

Buy the smallest, lightest laptop you can possibly find. You'll get sick of lugging around a heavy laptop (my old one was almost 8 lbs), especially if you take it everywhere with you. Light laptops cost more, and if you're on a real tight budget, that is one area where you may have to compromise a little. But I guarantee it will be the area that you won't regret spending the extra money.

Finally, if you decide to buy on eBay, make sure you do your homework. Ask the seller if the laptop is refurbished or just used. A refurbished laptop will be good as new, with a new battery, manuals, etc. If it's used... inquire about the battery life, and how old the battery is. Even if a battery has good life, after about 2 years battery life decreases rapidly. Also, ask if it comes with the Windows XP certificate of authenticity. I've seen people sell laptops with the COA certficates removed from the PC, yet it ships with Windows. Guess what, that's most likely a pirate copy. I've bought a laptop on eBay and it worked well... I got a practically new laptop for about 2/3rds of the price. It's a good place to check, at least, to give you an idea of prices.