Anyone using a laptop or notebook?

[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I think Alex is right, a new machine is probably the best choice because in 6 months it will be rather old . After checking into various brands I think I'll go for a Dell. Did you know that those machines are manufactured in Dublin only after you order them? I talked to a Dell Rep in Halle and he told me I could have a laptop with a US keyboard and maybe even a US version of Vista. Interestingly enough, I sent an email request to Leipzig based notebook-station.de and never got a response. They are probably afraid of new customers...

Oh, another thing I wanted to ask you: What WLAN provider are you with and what plan have you subscribed to? I think Alex and the ibs founders have an eplus UMTS plan which doesn't include any WLAN usage. By the way, have you noticed that most McDonald's seem to have a T-Mobile HotSpot now? What HotSpot are you using in boring Nordhausen?

Talk to you soon,
Torsten
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[Ralf]

hi torsten,

as far as i know, the notebook station in leipzig only sells used stuff. and they're overprized. computer temple might be a good pick. and, are you sure you don't need a german keyboard? i mean, there are no real advantages in using an english keyboard, you'd also lose your umlaute...

i'm also not sure whether i'd be too fond of surfing at McD's...my wlan provider is aol. the first month is free, every following month you pay ?4,90. works in most cafes in leipzig. not in NDH though. i always pay ?2/hour in the cafe next to the cinema.

i'm also not sure if i wanted to go for vista. apart from new graphics and that i don't see too many advantages. i've still got my windows 2000 me and it works perfectly. 'never change a running system', as they say...

enjoy ndh

ralf
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for your answer. As for the English keyboard, I find it much more comfortable and than the German one because 90% of the time I write in English. I'm sure I can type Umlauts with an English keyboard too. Regarding mobile Internet connections, I'm just testing Alex's UMTS/GPRS card and I must say it's absolutely sufficient for my purposes...

Thanks a lot for your notes and feedback on the NHS groups, I'll send you and update later this week...
Regards,
Torsten
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[prezbucky]

I wish I had the cool-looking German B (isn't it really an S?) on my keyboard!
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Yankee]

Here is a link for you, Tom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9F

(On my US laptop, the Garamond typeface includes the eszett.)

[NS]

Torsten,

Buy a Thinkpad. If you ever encounter any hardware or software problem with your thinkpad, PM me or look for me at thinkpads.com (Not sure i can post link here? ) http://forum.thinkpads.com ....... Same username but the account over there is shared account...
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I can eat 5 plates of chicken rice at 1 go...!

[Torsten]

Hi NS,

Thank you for your advice. I'm somehow suspicious of Lenovo. Also, as I said earlier I want a notebook with a 17" monitor and a US keyboard. I could not find a Lenovo machine with those parameters here in Germany. Dell looks much better to me.
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[NS]

[Torsten]

[NS]

[Ralf]

I think there is a lot of truth in what NS wrote. dell is very expensive for what they offer, and the quality is not quite as good as let's say toshiba, leveno or ibm.

people here make suggestions about what they would buy if they were you. so here's mine: if i were you i would buy a laptop with a german keyboard. because you're used to using it, and the english keyboard does not hold any appearant advantages for you in store. i would also get a 15,5" screen. resolution is better, and you wanna use it for travelling. 17" laptops are too bulky and heavy. and you tend to sit quite close to them, so 17" seems rather oversized.

but it's you're choice. you should also compare the components. for example the leveno laptop you find in this ebay auction (260089121654) is as hot as it gets. at a regular street market value of ? 1,098 its probably best value. but i can see why one could argue that there are prettier gadgets around. so get a toshiba...or an msi 17" if you just want the screen. this baby sets you back ?850 in the shops...

good luck!
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for your advice. You made a couple of interesting points. For example, I was not aware that the resolution of a 17" monitor might be worse than that of a 15" screen. Also, I hadn't thought about the fact that with a laptop you sit much closer to the monitor than with a desktop computer. That is something to consider. As for the 17" laptop being too bulky for traveling, I don't know if 2 inches would make that much a difference. Even if a 17" laptop were that much heavier -- how often do you actually carry it around with you when you travel by car?

Regarding the keyboard, when I was in Kiev last summer I used to use computers in Internet cafes or at friends' homes. They all had US keyboards and they were so much easier to use than the German keyboards. For example, when you type a text in English you often need the apostrophe. On an English keyboard you can type an apostrophe with just one key. On the German keyboard you need two keys which means you have to use two fingers instead of one. When I returned from Kiev I switched my keyboard to English (I added English as a keyboard layout language) and typing has been so much more convenient ever since...
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[Konstantin]

Hello Torsten. I'm using Roverbook laptop (it's a Russian firm) with Turion 64 MT-30 processor, 512Mb RAM, 40 Gb HDD, 15,4' wide screen. So, depending on my own expirience, I want to advice you some things:

1) 15.4" wide screen is an optimal solution for everyday work(the time of the autonomous working is about 2.5 hours and has the resolution 1280x800). Laptop with such display is the golden mean but:
a) if you often work without a plug socket you should choose 14"
b) if you work only at home or at work you should buy 17" (because the 15.4" screen is sometimes too small)

2) About processor: Turion or Turion X2 are quite well, but after 1 hour of work my laptop is hot.
Core 2 Duo - is the best solution. You mustn't buy Core Duo because it hasn't x64 instructions. Sometimes it's not too good.

3) About firms: Dell, Lenove, HP, Sony, Toshiba are the best. Buy one of them.
Acer, Asus, Benq, LG - they are not so good. But the differences between all of them are only in quality of the frame and display.The productivity depends only on the components.

4) Video card: If you like gaming you should buy laptop with the discrete video cart (for example GF7400). If you don't play in any games except TETRIS, the embedded video like GMA 900 is quite well.

5) 512Mb is a minimum. But you could buy the additional RAM any time.

6) About Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is the useful thing, but if the good laptop hasn't Wi-Fi you could buy very cheap USB Wi-Fi module.

7) About HDD: If you haven't desctop the 40Gb HDD is not enough. You must buy the 80 Gb one as minimum.

I suppose that the following models are very well:
HP Pavilion dv6000

Dell Inspiron 6400

Sony VAIO SZ (perfect but expensive)

[Torsten]

Hi Konstantin,

Thanks a lot for your detailed information, I'll digest everything and get back to you soon!
Spasibo i poka,
Torsten
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[Bennie]

Hi Torsten,
I am using a Dell laptop with following configuration:
CPU: 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1.5 GB (recently upgraded)
Screen: 15.4’’
Operating System: Windows XP + SP2
It was allocated to me four months ago. It looks a little old, but everything is OK. I can surf the Internet, watch DVD, and play games such as Stronghold. As for games, do you like to play games?
However, now I don’t suggest you to buy a Dell laptop because of their quality problems and unfriendly service.
Anyway IBM is a good choice, but it is up to you.
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