Calling all programmers/coders laptop advice needed

[garrettwc]

Need some advice.

A friend at work is going to night school to learn programming. He has asked for some advice on a laptop he can use for his classes. His only criteria are that it must be backpack friendly, and affordable.

He's starting with web development stuff HTML, scripts, etc. Then working into database stuff like SQL.

What should he look for in terms of hardware? Screen size? Processor? Memory?

[cfabe]

screen, nothing less than 1024x768, more is better. What he'll do isn't particularly taxing, until he gets into compiling some large programs or heavy database work. Run windows 2000 or XP depending on computer capability, and the more RAM the better, 256 min, 512 better.

[charby]

Since he will be a student, tell hime to purchase his computer through the school if he can afford it. Right now Dell is having a sale until the end of July at the University I work for.

I would recommend at least 512mb of ram, 1 gb would be better, 15" monitor and either a P4 2.8 ghz or higher or a Intel M chip at 1.6 ghz or higher. Make sure he gets the wireless ethernet card with it, many campuses have wireless Internet available along with coffee shops and whatnot.

Charby

[cfabe]

On the wireless, get one with a built in wireless card rather than an external PC card. They generally work better, and it's impossible to break off the antenna like on a seperate card.

[mtnbkr]

In addition to the getting the largest screen and buil-in wireless, get the largest hard drive you can get.  With laptops, hard drives are harder to upgrade because you can't normally add one to an existing system as a secondary.  Some laptops can do this, but many can't.  External drives suck to use if you have to carry it around.

I wouldn't get less than 512 megs of ram even if you know you'll only need 256meg because laptop memory is expensive and you'll eventually use it.  

As for brands, I'm not up to speed on what's good other than I haven't seen any improvement in Compaq's junk or service in the 10 years I've been exposed to them. Toshiba's always made a solid product, but they tend to be pricey.  I've seen 10yo Toshiba laptops worked as well or better than 2yo Compaqs.  IBM has always seemed fragile to me.  Dells are middle of the road, but much less expensive.  If I were buying for myself, it would be a decision between Toshiba and Dell.

Chris

[garrettwc]

Thanks for the help so far. Charby, I'll have him check with the school store about a student discount.

So far the consensus seems to be go "big". Big screen, big memory, big hard drive, and mid to upper level on the CPU. Sounds like he's looking at one of the 7 pound plus machines to get everything he needs. He was wanting something more lightweight, he may have to compromise.

[jefnvk]

HP and Compaq are one in the same now, IIRC.  Another brand to look at is Avartec (sp?).  I got one off Wal-Mart's clearance rack for $530 and it has served me well.  Best pre-built computer I have bought, including desktops.

Big screen is a matter of prefrence.  I have a small screen, which I vastly prefer to my friends big screen just because of the smaller size.  Smaller screen can help with the weight.

No less than 512MB RAM if he can afford it, and is doing photo stuff.

I'd reccomend an ATI or nVidia graphics chip over an SiS or intel.  Might not be so critical with what he is doing, but there just seems to be a lot more support for ATI and nVidia than anything else.

+1 to charby on processor, although if you go with the 800 MHZ FSB P4, you could probably drop down to the 2.4 if anyone offers it anymore, and if you would save a bit of money by doing so.  I wouldn't go that low with 400 or 533 though.

As for wireless, in my experience my external card works better than the internal one.  Seems to pick up a signal better, but the downside is that you take up a PCMCIA slot with it, it sticks out, and it is something to lose.

[mtnbkr]

Dell has HORRIBLE support

I haven't had to rely on Dell's support in several years, but when I did, they were decent.  Compaq, on the other hand, is horrible in the extreme.  A couple years ago, I had to call them out to fix my laptop at the office.  The guy came out and made the issue worse.  No problem, he'd be back the next day with the proper part.  Next day arrives, he doesn't show.  I call his dispatcher only to find out that the reason he wasn't back was that my laptop was out of warranty and he wasn't supposed to come out in the first place (they got confused between the support contract for my company and the one for my specific laptop which was purchased under a different agreement).  It took me a couple days to get them to send the guy back out to finish the job.  They were completely willing to leave me with a dead laptop.  To this day, I will not buy Compaq or HP anything, including server hardware.  There are plenty of alternatives.

Chris

[charby]

We have a Dell, Gateway and Compac/HP computer service center where I work at (university) so I don't have to deal with Dell on the phone. I have in a past and it is som much easier just to drop of the machine at the center on campus and get it back in usually less than a week for in warranty repairs.

you can find a sub 5 pound machine with all the bells and whistles we mentioned above.

Charby

[garrettwc]

you can find a sub 5 pound machine with all the bells and whistles we mentioned above.

Charby

Examples, please. All the sub 5 pound machines we have found searching online have been 12-14" screens. One of the must haves listed above was 1024x768 or larger. That seems like a 15"+ screen would be needed.

[charby]

lattitude D510 okay its 5.2 lbs..

Actually probably wouldn't notice the difference between a 14.2" screen and 15"  now a 12" screen yes...

Could look at the possibility of a docking station for at howm use then you could a monitor as big as you can afford. I just bought a D510 with a 20" monitor and docking station and all the crap to go with it for about $2800

Charby

[garrettwc]

OK, I gothcha. I'll pass it on. Thanks.

[jefnvk]

One of the must haves listed above was 1024x768 or larger. That seems like a 15"+ screen would be needed.

My screen is like 12.3" or so, and it runs 1024x768 (that is the highest it goes) just fine.  Not hard to read or see, either.