Lightest possible desktop replacement

[Guest]

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

I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful and with big screen.
Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.

So I need a laptop with the most of following features:

- screen with 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 resolution;
- possibility to mount two hard disks for software raid 1;
- two pcmcia slot
- centrino
- long battery life or possibility to mount second battery;
- gigabit and wireless internet;
- as small and light as possible.

Thanks in advance for any reply!


--
Mario Giammarco

 

[Guest]

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

This is about the only notebook that I know of that has RAID, a large
display, nice vid card, full size KB, and a nice desktop speed.

http/www.sagernotebook.com/pages/professional_systems.html

At the bottom look at the 8790. Get rid of the TV tuner card option, and opt
for the 12 cell batter, and you are set to go, especially if you throw in a
pair of 60Gb 7200 rpm drives, Raid 1, and you have a laptop that most
desktop owners cant beat.

Dan

PS. If you are in the US, then this is where I recomend you buy one, great
customer support.

http/pctorque.com



Mario Giammarco wrote:
> I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
> Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful
> and with big screen. Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.
>
> So I need a laptop with the most of following features:
>
> - screen with 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 resolution;
> - possibility to mount two hard disks for software raid 1;
> - two pcmcia slot
> - centrino
> - long battery life or possibility to mount second battery;
> - gigabit and wireless internet;
> - as small and light as possible.
>
> Thanks in advance for any reply!

 

[Guest]

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

> I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
> Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful and with big screen.
> Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.

..Laughing..

Powerful & big screen will never correlate with lightweight & long
battery life! The fact of the matter is simply that the more you want
it to do, the heavier a laptop will get.

That said, if you don't need super-powerful (eg. don't need a 3.4Ghz
P4 in a laptop), you can go light and decently powerful - all the way
down to the 1.2lbs Sony U50/70 series palmtop 1Ghz Pentium-M laptop:

http/www.dynamism.com/notebooks.shtml

---

Otherwise, decide on the upper weight limit you absolutely won't go
over, then pick a powerful laptop based on that.

----

For fast, but not worrying about weight, you've got a handful of
choices.

eg. HP zx5000 series, customized with 3.4Ghz P4, 2GB RAM, 80GB HD,
4x DVD burner, wireless & bluetooth everything, 1920x1200 15.4"
widescreen => all about ~$3400 at about 8-9lbs.

Toshiba P25 w/17" screen and TV tuner
http/www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-26379&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021


---

Cheap & decently powerful, but nothing amazing (eg. no 1920x1200
screen)?

emachines M6809
http/www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_M6809

"PC Magazine rated it as the fastest laptop they've ever tested in
the May 2004 issue"


toshiba Satellite A70
http/www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-27944&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

toshiba m30
http/www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?seg=HHO&coid=-26380&sel=0&rcid=-26367&ccid=1291021

---

If you simply want the highest-resolution LCD laptop on the planet
today, the NEC VersaPro VY32Y/AE-M or VJ32Y/AE-M with 3.2Ghz P4 + 15"
QXGA LCD (that's 2048x1536 pixel LCD! -- in other words, you can fit
four (4!) regular 1024x768 windows side-by-side on the screen at once
w/o overlapping. Far better than a wide-screen at 1920x1200 since you
can't fit two 1024x768 windows vertically w/o overlapping.).

http/www.express.nec.co.jp/products/versapro/office_grd/index.html
http/www.express.nec.co.jp/catalog/versapro.pdf

Baby like this will let you have the program window up in window 1,
the code in window 2, help in window 3, and whatever else -
debugger/internet/etc. up in window 4 all at once for very efficient
programming.

----

For fast HD access, skip the RAID (which is only on expensive &
heavy laptops) and pull the original one out, replace it with the latest
60GB 7200rpm model and you'll get faster with just one HD alone. (Some
laptops have this option - pick it if you want fast!)

However, if you really want RAID, try the 1 Beyond laptop 3216-X
with triple 7200rpm RAID HDs (or you can RAID standard 4200/5400rpm but
larger HDs as well) and TV tuner:

http/www.1beyond.com/products/3216.asp?search=laptops

Nothing like having 300GB of online storage once Toshiba's latest
100GB 2.5" HD comes (for now, it's only 240GB = 80GB * 3 at 5400rpm;
180GB = 60GB * 3 at 7200rpm).

http/www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2004_04/pr2201.htm

Of course, if the $5000 price tag doesn't kill you, the sheer
weight of this baby will

------------------

As an option, keep in mind that if you have wifi or cell phone
wireless access to a host PC running VNC, you can run anything as a
client that has VNC (even a PDA) and simply utilize the power of the
host PC (eg. fully loaded, killer desktop PC) and program remotely.

http/palmvnc2.free.fr/productinfo.php

eg. see web browser running on host PC remotely accessed through Palm
VNC on Palm Tungsten T3 PDA.

http/palmvnc2.free.fr/screenshots/vnc-t3.jpg

This allows you to keep the client laptop weight down, and lets you
run the very fastest PC processors available (even dual CPU) on the
host. No problems about limited HD space either since you can easily do
a 4x400GB RAID on the host PC for 1.6TB or storage.

 

[Guest]

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

http/www.acer.com/APP/AKC/INTERNET/AACPubli.nsf/AllDocs/B222B6B5F539666588256E370003E404?OpenDocument

And if weight really doesn't matter, then you can buy the killer ACER
Aspire 1710 at 15.7lbs! that uses both desktop CPU & hard drive (yep,
400GB if you swap out the 120GB they give you with a 400GB 3.5" HD).

amazing 1 hour battery life, too....

 

[clint]

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

But at 10.5 pounds, it hardly qualifies as "lightest possible". Looks
sweet, though!

Clint

"Angry American" <angryn0spamamerican@dooleyism.com> wrote in message
news:2k0p7gF153ptaU1@uni-berlin.de...
> This is about the only notebook that I know of that has RAID, a large
> display, nice vid card, full size KB, and a nice desktop speed.
>
> http/www.sagernotebook.com/pages/professional_systems.html
>
> At the bottom look at the 8790. Get rid of the TV tuner card option, and
opt
> for the 12 cell batter, and you are set to go, especially if you throw in
a
> pair of 60Gb 7200 rpm drives, Raid 1, and you have a laptop that most
> desktop owners cant beat.
>
> Dan
>
> PS. If you are in the US, then this is where I recomend you buy one, great
> customer support.
>
> http/pctorque.com
>
>
>
> Mario Giammarco wrote:
> > I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
> > Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful
> > and with big screen. Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.
> >
> > So I need a laptop with the most of following features:
> >
> > - screen with 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 resolution;
> > - possibility to mount two hard disks for software raid 1;
> > - two pcmcia slot
> > - centrino
> > - long battery life or possibility to mount second battery;
> > - gigabit and wireless internet;
> > - as small and light as possible.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any reply!
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

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

Ya can't have it all <G> Even a lot of the Centrino solutions are 8 to 9
pounds, like my gateway 450XL.

Dan


Clint wrote:
> But at 10.5 pounds, it hardly qualifies as "lightest possible". Looks
> sweet, though!
>
> Clint
>
> "Angry American" <angryn0spamamerican@dooleyism.com> wrote in message
> news:2k0p7gF153ptaU1@uni-berlin.de...
>> This is about the only notebook that I know of that has RAID, a large
>> display, nice vid card, full size KB, and a nice desktop speed.
>>
>> http/www.sagernotebook.com/pages/professional_systems.html
>>
>> At the bottom look at the 8790. Get rid of the TV tuner card option,
>> and opt for the 12 cell batter, and you are set to go, especially if
>> you throw in a pair of 60Gb 7200 rpm drives, Raid 1, and you have a
>> laptop that most desktop owners cant beat.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>> PS. If you are in the US, then this is where I recomend you buy one,
>> great customer support.
>>
>> http/pctorque.com
>>
>>
>>
>> Mario Giammarco wrote:
>>> I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
>>> Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful
>>> and with big screen. Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.
>>>
>>> So I need a laptop with the most of following features:
>>>
>>> - screen with 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 resolution;
>>> - possibility to mount two hard disks for software raid 1;
>>> - two pcmcia slot
>>> - centrino
>>> - long battery life or possibility to mount second battery;
>>> - gigabit and wireless internet;
>>> - as small and light as possible.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any reply!

 

[Guest]

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

I'd go with a thin & light in the sub-6 pound range with a good video card.
Plan to use a second screen when not traveling. I use a Dell 600 M for this
and have been happy with it.

 

[Guest]

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

"Joe Davis" <davisexpREMOVE@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:10KCc.12791$w07.8530@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> I'd go with a thin & light in the sub-6 pound range with a good video
card.
> Plan to use a second screen when not traveling. I use a Dell 600 M for
this
> and have been happy with it.
>

Agreed. I have nothing but praise for my ThinkPad T40p, and the newer
T-series is even more powerful. It won't do everything the original poster
wishes for, but you're dreaming if you think you can have all that in a
thin, light package. The T40p with Centrino and Mobility Fire GL throws all
the CAD and finite element analysis I can throw at it and crunches through
solutions faster than a 2.3 GHz P4 desktop. The HD is huge for my needs, the
keyboard is great for marathon writing and coding, the 1400x1050 is plenty
of resolution, and as said, you can always hook up another screen, or run
dual screens as I often do at the office. The best thing about the ThinkPad
compared to my previous Dell (no offence to Joe) is the build quality and
heat management. It is twice as fast as my old Inspiron but never gets
warm, wherease the Inspiron would cook eggs on the bottom surface. I also
get almost 7 hours of battery life doing simple office apps. The price is
steep at the retail level, but I got mine through an academic plan, so it
undercut comparable Dells.

Stephen


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[Guest]

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

"Stephen Ferguson" <ferguson@NOJUNKbluewin.ch> writes:
> dual screens as I often do at the office. The best thing about the ThinkPad
> compared to my previous Dell (no offence to Joe) is the build quality and
> heat management. It is twice as fast as my old Inspiron but never gets
> warm, wherease the Inspiron would cook eggs on the bottom surface. I also
> get almost 7 hours of battery life doing simple office apps. The price is
> steep at the retail level, but I got mine through an academic plan, so it
> undercut comparable Dells.

What do you mean by it never gets warm? Does it have a cooling fan?
Does the fan run very much? My A20p doesn't cook eggs, but it does
get warm, and the fan runs when I do anything cpu-heavy.

 

[Guest]

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

"Paul Rubin" <http/phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote in message
news:7xu0x0vtsb.fsf@ruckus.brouhaha.com...
> "Stephen Ferguson" <ferguson@NOJUNKbluewin.ch> writes:
> > dual screens as I often do at the office. The best thing about the
ThinkPad
> > compared to my previous Dell (no offence to Joe) is the build quality
and
> > heat management. It is twice as fast as my old Inspiron but never gets
> > warm, wherease the Inspiron would cook eggs on the bottom surface. I
also
> > get almost 7 hours of battery life doing simple office apps. The price
is
> > steep at the retail level, but I got mine through an academic plan, so
it
> > undercut comparable Dells.
>
> What do you mean by it never gets warm? Does it have a cooling fan?
> Does the fan run very much? My A20p doesn't cook eggs, but it does
> get warm, and the fan runs when I do anything cpu-heavy.

The bottom gets to maybe 35°C. Slightly warmer than skin temperature, but
never enough to be uncomfortable. It was impossible to work with the Dell on
my legs.

The fan rarely comes on for normal office use (i.e. never). During ABAQUS
solution runs, it comes on infrequently and is very silent. It must be an
amazing heat exchange system that they have designed, because the exhaust
air is very warm (but again, the bottom of the computer is not hot). During
3D games, the fan runs about 35% of the time. I'm amazed, given my
experience with previous notebooks over the last 8 years (P133, PII-500,
PIIIM-1000).

Stephen

 

[Guest]

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

You obviously have conflicting requirements ;-)

1600 x 1200 (UXGA) restricts your choices severely.
Fewer and fewer brands provide it today. Going out
of fashion pretty fast. The market and the industry
seem to be converging to 1400 x 1050 (SXGA+) in 14"
and 15" as the best compromise between readability,
resolution and TFT panel yields.

I think you have essentially 3 choices:

a) IBM Thinkpad T42p Pentium M 755 with ATI FireGL
128 MB video and 15" UXGA screen.

b) Fujitsu Celsius H210 same as above.

c) Panasonic Toughbook 51 with Pentium M 735/745
and ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 64 MB w/15" UXGA.

The Panasonics are slightly less powerful than the
IBMs and Fujitsus, however they are superbly built
and extremely reliable. They have superb screens.
(I must confess that I do have a personal bias
towards Panasonic).



dk



"Mario Giammarco" <mgiammarco@nonlibero.it> wrote in message
newsan.2004.06.24.19.04.07.898127@nonlibero.it...
> I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
> Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming:
> powerful and with big screen.
> Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.
>
> So I need a laptop with the most of following features:
>
> - screen with 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 resolution;
> - possibility to mount two hard disks for software raid 1;
> - two pcmcia slot
> - centrino
> - long battery life or possibility to mount second battery;
> - gigabit and wireless internet;
> - as small and light as possible.
>
> Thanks in advance for any reply!
>

 

[Guest]

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

Il Thu, 24 Jun 2004 15:33:03 -0700, David Chien ha scritto:

>> I always liked light notebooks with long battery life.
>> Unfortunately now I need a notebook for j2ee programming: powerful and with big screen.
>> Usually desktop replacements are big and heavy.
>
> ..Laughing..
>
> Powerful & big screen will never correlate with lightweight & long
> battery life! The fact of the matter is simply that the more you want
> it to do, the heavier a laptop will get.
>
>
>

First I thank all pleople who replied me because they sent many and very
detailed replies!

Then I add:

- unfortunately I cannot borrow anymore other computer resources;
- unfortunately I cannot put a second monitor: no place for it;
- I work on train: I make some 3 hours voyages so I need a battery of
minimum 3 hours (better 4 or 5);
- I need the highest resolution display possible and a lot of ram, the cpu
can be less powerful, a pentium M dothan is the best.

There are several notebooks with this features (dell inspiron 8600).

But if I have to buy a "almost desktop replacement" I like it to have:

- 2 hard disks, but for raid 1 I am not interest in speed but in
redundancy!
- 2 pcmcia so I can put there a micro hard disk or a big flash memory (no
usb please!)

Thanks again for your replies I am looking in sites you have suggested!