Laptop Recommendations - business use

[TimSJ]

My Laptop that i use for work is on its last legs so i am shopping for a replacement today.

Currently i have an acer TravelMate 8100
1.86 precessor 2G of Ram
Decent Screen

New one must Have XP (which seems to be hard to find) in order to run applications that i need here and to be compatabel with Mercedes antiquated systems. Being a salesmen i do take it on the road with me quite a bit when i see clients etc so something not too heavy.

So what should i be looking at.

I have a imac at home and would love a macbook but don't think it will work for me here at this point.

Thanks
tim

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Do you have a price range?

[Rathji]

Well you can run XP on a mac with boot camp if you have a copy.

Other than that, I know you can order Dell's with XP (you pay more I think).

You have 2 choices, The standard entry level Inspiron, which handles pretty much anything a normal user can throw at it, including some gaming. The XPS models which are more expensive since they appeal to the gaming crowd and have a real video card.

The links I have added are for the 15.4 models, as they are almost universally the most economical for the power you are getting. These are base models, and with the exception of the 15.6" at the end might require some RAM upgrades.

For non gaming uses the Inspiron is the best bet, starting at $499:

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...ref=lthp&s=dhs

If you do game on it, or need some extra video power (doubtful for business apps) then the XPS at $1099:

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...ref=lthp&s=dhs

Edit:
I just noticed they have a new Inspiron model that is 15.6" that includes 4 gigs of RAM and 250 HDD for $559

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/...&OC=NI152_F_2E


2nd Edit: The more I look at it, this last one looks like a fantastic value with those upgrades.

[TimSJ]

anywhere up to $2k i guess.. ideally around $1200-$1300 but i use it a ton so price is not a huge issue

[I_H8_Crawford]

Look at the Lenovo Thinkpad T series notebooks. Cost a bit more but are thin, light, and very sturdy and can take a beating.

It's what I always buy as I am a salesperson as well; never had a problem with them.

[TimSJ]

I will check out the lenovo tonight.. thanks for the help all. Any other recs?

[ikaris]

I personally use an HP 8510W. It's one of their "performance" business PCs. It works great for some 3d modeling and recursive calculations that I have to do sometimes.

The other HPs I've seen around the office seem to be OK as well. I know my company used to use Dell, but not right now. In my experience Dell is OK too.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Dell is fine by my books - but I'd recommend the Latitude line if you're going to be lugging it around a lot instead of the more consumer oriented Inspiron. They have moved onto the E series, but my old D series Latitudes were decent. Not as good as my T series Thinkpad, but pretty damn close.

[Bill Bumface]

I also would go with a T series for work purposes.

[Canada 02]

I liked my Samsung even though my last one crapped out on me after 5 years of heavy use

http://blog.laptopmag.com/were-comin...otebook-market

[TimSJ]

thanks for all of the help guys.. i am leaning towards ordering the lenovo T500.. looks like it would be a good machine for me.

[mykalberta]

We purchase nc8530p, great screen (8510p is no longer made)

I have an hp 2510p small notebook, 9 hour extended batter. I would reccomend both. Both come with Vista but you can easily install XP - just make sure to change the SATA emulation in the BOIS to IDE before installing XP.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

thanks for all of the help guys.. i am leaning towards ordering the lenovo T500.. looks like it would be a good machine for me.

I have a Commodore 64 with a cassette tape drive and a 2000watt generator. I can toss it into a box for you for portability. Would that work?