laptop recommendation?

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> leo wrote:
>
>>"Lauren" <applevalleymn@aol.com> wrote in message
>>news:aeea69eb.0404251906.18b2e890@posting.google.com...
>>
>>>My daughter is looking to buy a laptop for general use. Her tendency
>>>is to buy whatever is the cheapest. She, also, will probably not do
>>>much research. Since I know very little about computers, I thought
>>>I'd ask you folks what you would recommend. Something inexpensive
>>>and reliable. I guess that is what everyone wants, isn't it!
>>>
>>>Thanks, Lauren
>>
>>Toshiba
>
>
> IBM Thinkpads cost more, but wear a lot better.
>
>
Hi,
Thinkpad is built tough.
My T21 is more than 3 years old. Not a single problem so far.
Tony

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Karl-Heinz Zimmer wrote:
>
> Am Sonntag, 2. Mai 2004 19:14 schrieb Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC:
>
> > If word processing, DVD and MP3 are its only bill of fare, then he
> > can do with a LOT slower and LOTS less costly PII or PIII notebook.
> > There is NO need for some P4 screamer. My kids have a 366 and
> > 400MHz PII Thinkpad 600 and 600E. They type their homework, listen
> > to music, both MP3 and CD's, and watch DVD's even in the car with a
> > cig. lighter powered brick. Highest cost(600E) model was $335,
> > 10GB HD, 288M RAM and 8x DVD. My own Thinkpad 600X was a 500mhz
> > PIII I upped to 750mhz, 20GB HD and 576M RAM. Total invested in
> > this one, $460.
>
> Great, but wait a moment: Did you say they watch DVDs on a 400 MHz
> machine?
>
> I might be wrong but I always thought watching DVDs requires at least
> a 600 MHz prozessor!?
>
> Do they have hardware MPEG decoding or is it just the processor's job?
>
> Karl-Heinz

You certainly do - not - need a 600MHz cpu. My kids were watching movies on a
266MHz Thinkpad 600 and 233MHz 770 using PowerDVD, a software decoder. The
233mhz MMX 770 was a little choppy but the 266mhz model 600 I upped to a 366
cpu, tho a 333 or even 300 would've been fine. If you want a hardware decoder
go with the Margi pc card. PowerDVD works just fine tho. Try it, you'll like
it.

TJ


> Karl-Heinz <mailto:khz@indeview.org> <mailto:khz@kde.org>
> Zimmer I n d e V i e w K D E
> Föhren Presentations Beyond Limitations Conquer your Desktop
> www.fiehr.de www.indeview.org www.kde.org

--
=========================================================================
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Michael Geary wrote:
>
> Karl-Heinz Zimmer wrote:
> > Great, but wait a moment: Did you say they watch DVDs
> > on a 400 MHz machine?
> >
> > I might be wrong but I always thought watching DVDs
> > requires at least a 600 MHz prozessor!?
> >
> > Do they have hardware MPEG decoding or is it just the
> > processor's job?
>
> Yes, a ThinkPad 600E with the 400MHz PII will play DVDs. There's no hardware
> decoding, just software. IBM's bundled Mediamatics player works well on the
> 600E.
>
> -Mike

Not as well as PowerDVD.

TJ
=========================================================================
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

> Michael Geary wrote:
> > Yes, a ThinkPad 600E with the 400MHz PII will play DVDs.
> > There's no hardware decoding, just software. IBM's bundled
> > Mediamatics player works well on the 600E.

Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC wrote:
> Not as well as PowerDVD.

That's good to know, thanks. I didn't try PowerDVD on the 600E. I did try
WinDVD and it didn't work well at all, although it does do a nice job on my
A30p. Will have to try PowerDVD on both machines sometime and see how it
compares.

-Mike

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Karl-Heinz Zimmer wrote:
>
> Am Sonntag, 2. Mai 2004 22:37 schrieb Tony Hwang:
>
> > Michael Geary wrote:
> >
> >> Karl-Heinz Zimmer wrote:
> >>
> >>>Great, but wait a moment: Did you say they watch DVDs
> >>>on a 400 MHz machine?
> >>>
> >>>I might be wrong but I always thought watching DVDs
> >>>requires at least a 600 MHz prozessor!?
> >>>
> >>>Do they have hardware MPEG decoding or is it just the
> >>>processor's job?
> >>
> >>
> >> Yes, a ThinkPad 600E with the 400MHz PII will play DVDs. There's no
> >> hardware decoding, just software. IBM's bundled Mediamatics player works
> >> well on the 600E.
> >>
> >> -Mike
> >>
> >>
> > Hi,
> > The more memory, the better.
>
> what do you thinik: Would a 450 MHz Thinkpad 690X with 256 MB RAM do?
>
> Karl-Heinz
> --
> Karl-Heinz <mailto:khz@indeview.org> <mailto:khz@kde.org>
> Zimmer I n d e V i e w K D E
> Föhren Presentations Beyond Limitations Conquer your Desktop
> www.fiehr.de www.indeview.org www.kde.org

Did you mean a 450mhz 600X? Yeah, that would work nicely.

TJ
=========================================================================
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I tried Mediamatics on my 600's and 770's. PowerDVD wont run on a 770 with an
enhanced video card. That too bad because its easier to use than MMatics.

The only real requirement P-DVD has is enough RAM, and with a 400MHz cpu, 128 is
more than enough, 288 is lots better, 'course, it doesnt help just P-DVD.

TJ

Michael Geary wrote:
>
> > Michael Geary wrote:
> > > Yes, a ThinkPad 600E with the 400MHz PII will play DVDs.
> > > There's no hardware decoding, just software. IBM's bundled
> > > Mediamatics player works well on the 600E.
>
> Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC wrote:
> > Not as well as PowerDVD.
>
> That's good to know, thanks. I didn't try PowerDVD on the 600E. I did try
> WinDVD and it didn't work well at all, although it does do a nice job on my
> A30p. Will have to try PowerDVD on both machines sometime and see how it
> compares.
>
> -Mike

--
=========================================================================
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Am Montag, 3. Mai 2004 07:04 schrieb Capt. Wild Bill Kelso, USAAC:
> Karl-Heinz Zimmer wrote:
>> Am Sonntag, 2. Mai 2004 22:37 schrieb Tony Hwang:
>> > Michael Geary wrote:

>> >> Yes, a ThinkPad 600E with the 400MHz PII will play DVDs. There's no
>> >> hardware decoding, just software. IBM's bundled Mediamatics player
>> >> works well on the 600E.

>> > The more memory, the better.

>> what do you thinik: Would a 450 MHz Thinkpad 690X with 256 MB RAM do?

> Did you mean a 450mhz 600X? Yeah, that would work nicely.

I am sorry, got the number wrong, the _390X_ is the machine I got:

http/cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4125844249

BTW, I was looking for a big camparison of these hundreds of Thinkpad
models but could not find any.

Is there a chance to see e.g. the difference between a 600E and a 690X
and others... without manually comparing their specifications?

The IBM pages provide tons of information but I did not find a matrix
comparing the features/specs of the different models.

Also the Thinkpad history timeline is quite nice but still does not
mention everything, e.g. the 390er series is completely missing here:
http/www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/anniversary/history.html

Any ideas?

Karl-Heinz
--
Karl-Heinz <mailto:khz@indeview.org> <mailto:khz@kde.org>
Zimmer I n d e V i e w K D E
Föhren Presentations Beyond Limitations Conquer your Desktop
www.fiehr.de www.indeview.org www.kde.org

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Karl-Heinz Zimmer <khz@kde.org> wrote:

> I am sorry, got the number wrong, the _390X_ is the machine I got:
>
> http/cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4125844249

That's a very nice machine, but I will share one piece of information with
you. The 3xx series of machines were retail (consumer) units built by Acer
under contract for IBM. This doesn't really detract from the machines as
they were built to an IBM specification and had to meet IBM quality
standards.

> The IBM pages provide tons of information but I did not find a matrix
> comparing the features/specs of the different models.

You're not likely to find this info other than for current model offerings.
But you can do a quick A/B check of models in the listings to be found in
the "Personal Systems Reference" documents in PDF format you can download
from the IBM ftp servers.

TABOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf Current
models of Thinkpads.

TAWBOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tawbook.pdf
Non-current A, T and X series Thinkpads.

TWBOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/twbook.pdf Legacy
Thinkpads, e.g. 300, 600, 700 and 770 series Thinkpads.

There are also separate books for R series and I series machines.

> Also the Thinkpad history timeline is quite nice but still does not
> mention everything, e.g. the 390er series is completely missing here:
> http/www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/anniversary/history.html

That's just some advertising fluff and is not a true history of all
Thinkpads. The very first listing, stating that the 700C had 120MB RAM,
should be a dead giveaway that it was written by a marketing type and not an
engineer. 120MB was the size of the HD, not the memory!

Various geographic areas received Thinkpads that were customized for that
region alone and you will not find specific descriptions for these models
without resorting to looking them up on the IBM website by type and model
number. E.g. a 2645-850 is a 600 series machine built in Greenock, Scotland
for the UK market and is equivalent to a US model 2645-85U.

There are whole families of Thinkpads that were offered for sale only in
Japan.

Regards,

James

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Am Montag, 3. Mai 2004 18:00 schrieb JHEM:

> Karl-Heinz Zimmer <khz@kde.org> wrote:
>
>> I am sorry, got the number wrong, the _390X_ is the machine I got:
>>
>> http/cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4125844249
>
> That's a very nice machine, but I will share one piece of information with
> you. The 3xx series of machines were retail (consumer) units built by Acer
> under contract for IBM. This doesn't really detract from the machines as
> they were built to an IBM specification and had to meet IBM quality
> standards.

<big grin> NOW I know why I had the strange feeling that there /was/
something different between that machine and the (slower) 770X I bought
one week ago.

The 770X somehow gives a more 'solid' feeling - but this does not
mean the 390X is 'not solid' - only if I have them standing next to
each other and type the keys, then the 770X gives a little bit more
solid impression.

>> The IBM pages provide tons of information but I did not find a
>> matrix comparing the features/specs of the different models.
>
> You're not likely to find this info other than for current model
> offerings. But you can do a quick A/B check of models in the
> listings to be found in the "Personal Systems Reference" documents
> in PDF format you can download from the IBM ftp servers.
>
> TABOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf Current
> models of Thinkpads.
>
> TAWBOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tawbook.pdf
> Non-current A, T and X series Thinkpads.
>
> TWBOOK: ftp/ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/twbook.pdf Legacy
> Thinkpads, e.g. 300, 600, 700 and 770 series Thinkpads.
>
> There are also separate books for R series and I series machines.

Very good hints, thanks a lot.

>> Also the Thinkpad history timeline is quite nice but still does not
>> mention everything, e.g. the 390er series is completely missing here:
>> http/www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/anniversary/history.html
>
> That's just some advertising fluff and is not a true history of all
> Thinkpads. The very first listing, stating that the 700C had 120MB RAM,
> should be a dead giveaway that it was written by a marketing type and not
> an engineer. 120MB was the size of the HD, not the memory!
>
> Various geographic areas received Thinkpads that were customized for that
> region alone and you will not find specific descriptions for these models
> without resorting to looking them up on the IBM website by type and model
> number. E.g. a 2645-850 is a 600 series machine built in Greenock,
> Scotland for the UK market and is equivalent to a US model 2645-85U.

Yep, seems to be worth writing an academic thesis about this. )

> There are whole families of Thinkpads that were offered for sale only in
> Japan.

Seems you know a lot about this topic, might I ask if you are a former
IBM employee?

While we are at it: I learned that there is no chance to directly post
to the (IBM internal?) group ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad.

This is a bit frustrating: seeing all the interesting postings by
reading google groups, but not being able to actively participate.

Do you happen to know if management might consider making this group a
(perhaps moderated?) public read/write group?

Karl-Heinz
--
Karl-Heinz <mailto:khz@indeview.org> <mailto:khz@kde.org>
Zimmer I n d e V i e w K D E
Föhren Presentations Beyond Limitations Conquer your Desktop
www.fiehr.de www.indeview.org www.kde.org

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Karl-Heinz Zimmer" <khz@kde.org> wrote in message
news:1092468.oogAEcchQC@linhelp10.org...
Am Sonntag, 2. Mai 2004 19:34 schrieb Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat:

> "Karl-Heinz Zimmer" <khz@kde.org> wrote in message
> > IMHO there is no need to spend an additional amount of money for
> > getting a faster machine which can play DVDs: not if in the shop
> > next door I can get a standalone DVD player for 50 USD or EUR.

> Except if you want to play dvds on the train, in the park or somewhere
> where carrying an extra dvd player around with you is not practical. ;-)

~~~
True.
However I don't want to do that, so it means no problem to me.
On trains I either read or talk to people.
In parks I watch the things around me.
~~~

No disagreement there - though it must be said I don't do trains. In parks I
generally have a camera stuck to my eye and can be found lurking by the
flower beds with the camera lens stuck into the flowers. ;-)

~~~
....
Movie watching is done either in a decent cinema or at home.
(probably I am just old-fashioned )
~~~

Would agree with the cinema thing - ex husband is the technical manager for
a big cinema so when it comes to watching the latest blockbusters I'm used
to the best of the best.
However, if I am stuck somewhere where that isn't possible I'd go for the
dvd in the laptop option. If I *had* to take the train for many hours (as I
used to when I lived three hundred or so miles from my parents and went
visiting regularly which involved a seven hour train journey) this would be
my prefered diversion.

.....

> So I would agree with buying what you need rather than what you lust
> after.

~~~
Right, but of course if everybody would act that way the industry would
have a slight problem. <bg>
~~~

LOL, yus.

I apologise for the unconventional formatting of my posts - for some reason.
OE has stopped adding >'s to quoted text, even though I have asked it to in
the options. Odd.




Rachael

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Landsman,

Karl-Heinz Zimmer <khz@kde.org> wrote:
>
> The 770X somehow gives a more 'solid' feeling - but this does not
> mean the 390X is 'not solid' - only if I have them standing next to
> each other and type the keys, then the 770X gives a little bit more
> solid impression.

Correct, not readily apparent until you get an opportunity to view the
machines next to each other. Not really a fair comparison though as the 770
series are absolute bricks.

> Very good hints, thanks a lot.

No problem, there's a wealth of information on a per machine basis on the
IBM website, you need only enter the machine's type and model number in a
quick lookup box and you'll be redirected to a customized page with all of
the info for THAT specific machine. You can also find generalized pages by
looking up a machine type, e.g. 2626. For instance, here's the general info
page for the 390X series:

http/www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4BWVA3

> Seems you know a lot about this topic, might I ask if you are a former
> IBM employee?

No K-H, but you should recognize me from www.thinkpads.com!

> While we are at it: I learned that there is no chance to directly post
> to the (IBM internal?) group ibm.ibmpc.thinkpad.

I have no difficulty posting to that group. as I'm sure you've noticed. What
prvents you from doing so? It's a public group, even though it's hosted by
IBM.

Besides, all of the knowledgeable posters from there can also be found at
http/forum.thinkpads.com

Regards,

James