Laptop Opinion

**TheCardMan** · June 6th, 2006, 09:07 PM

Looking for a laptop for someone who is not so computer friendly and needs something portable and durable to take with him on service calls. It may get bumped here and there at times.

What brand/models do you suggest? Looking at a budget of about $1k. I was thinking the Dell Lattitude line. Any thoughts?

**street1** · June 7th, 2006, 05:23 AM

When it comes to abuse Panasonic.

http://listings.ebay.com/_W0QQsocmdZ...&so=Show+Items

**3fingersalute** · June 7th, 2006, 06:39 AM

Toughbooks are nice for abuse, yes. If you can pick one up in the spec range you're looking for and keep it where you want price wise, it may not be a bad idea.

Last retail gig I worked at, both the PC and copier/printer technicians carried Toshiba Satellites, and I seen them take quite a beating, and they're not bad priced either.

**Richard1** · June 7th, 2006, 08:30 AM

I'm on my third Dell Latitude. It is a workhorse and I use it everyday.
I've also had an IBM thinkpad a Micron and a Toshiba. They were all good but Dell gave me the most bang for the buck.

I don't really have anything bad to say about the Dell, except battery life. I get about 3 hours out of the battery, Although I think that is a common problem in most laptops. Consequently I had to buy two additional ones.
Good luck, let us know what you purchase and what you think about it.

**Matridom** · June 7th, 2006, 08:42 AM

My work place gave me a Dell notebook (latitude). It's very durable and we beat the crap out of them on the call center floor (You should see what some people do with them) . We have docking stations, but are rarely used. Battery life is about 2:1/2 hours with the modular battery extending that by another 2 hours.

I've also had two thinkpads (back when IBM actualy made them) and they where solid machines that almost never failed. We beat the crap out of those in school and they kept ticking..

My girlfriend has a Toshiba notebook (desktop replacement) with a 17in widescreen, It's nice around the house, but don't ask me to lug it anywhere. It looks to be very solidly built, but we've already had it in the shop (turned out to be a problem with the bios and a flash later fixed it)

**3fingersalute** · June 7th, 2006, 09:01 AM

I didn't mention Dell in my first post, but we have almost 99% Dell machines here at work, and about roughly 40 or so of them are laptops, and we have very little problems with them at all, and I've only seen two that have been physically broken, but both were due to user neglect, not a flaw of the machine.

**TheCardMan** · June 7th, 2006, 09:43 PM

Thanks for all the information. I decided to go with the Dell Latitude D620 with a few upgrades. Got it for just a tiny bit above my $1k budget with taxes. Should work out fine.

Thanks once again to all members who replied, you are helpful resources!!