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| Author |
Message |
mju
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Laptop information wanted
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Mar 2 00:43 UTC 1993 |
I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive, sort of middle-of-the-road
laptop. Key features would be relatively small size (10-12 pounds
is probably the upper limit, and a Compaq luggable is right out),
a reasonably good screen, some kind of hard drive (at least 20MB,
probably), a fairly good keyboard, and at least 1MB of RAM. It should
have at least one serial port and one parallel port. Things that would
be nice, but not absolute essentials, include a mono VGA screen, a
bigger hard disk (40MB or 60MB or even more), more memory, external
keyboard & VGA connectors, and a 1.44MB floppy drive (it should have
at least a 720K drive). A 386SX or SLC would be nice, but I don't
think I'll find something that fast in my price range ($500-$700).
(You never know, though.) Something with a 386-line processor and
enough RAM and disk to have a fighting chance of running Unix (probably
4MB or 6MB of RAM and at least 120MB of disk) would be absolutely
heavenly, but I *know* I won't get something like that in my
price range. I'm very willing to get something used; in fact, the
price would have to be pretty low to get me to buy it new.
Any suggestions for what brand and model of laptop I should be looking
for? Any comments on whether I've got any chance in hell of finding
what I'm looking for in the price range I named? Any idea how much
a reasonable price for one of these on the used market would be?
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| 104 responses total. |
tsty
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response 1 of 104:
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Mar 3 14:51 UTC 1993 |
Maybe you'd also want to enter this in Classifieds?
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mcnally
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response 2 of 104:
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Mar 5 01:49 UTC 1993 |
You could probably run Linux respectably on a mono VGA / 4MB RAM /
40MB hard drive / 386-ish machine for under $1000. Laptop prices have
gone pretty low this year.
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tsty
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response 3 of 104:
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Mar 5 02:50 UTC 1993 |
and Linux is fairly small fromowhat I have read. Not sure if you
could compile it on the laptop, but that may not be a problem ...
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jeffk
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response 4 of 104:
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Mar 5 05:43 UTC 1993 |
You need 4MB to do any serious programming/compiling work. You need 2MB
minimum to run the system, but compiling will be swap-city. X requires 8MB
without doing the disk boogie.
Otherwise, Linux is fairly compact. Supposedly, 11MB will get you a core
system, while 21 will get you just about everything but X and TeX. Check
out comp.os.linux in Usenet news. DEFINITELY check out the SLS
distribution of LInux, as its MUCH easier to install.
Any more questions, feel free to mail me!
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mju
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response 5 of 104:
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Mar 5 10:26 UTC 1993 |
Okay, sounds interesting. But does anyone have any specific brand/model
recommendations? I'm more or less looking for suggestions on specific
laptops to seek out or avoid at all costs when I'm at a swap&shop.
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jdg
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response 6 of 104:
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Mar 6 16:35 UTC 1993 |
Stay away from the Zenith SuperSport series. They're heavy, ungainly,
and I had a miserable experience with one for a long time.
(I now have a TI 3000 notebook. I've *also* had some bad experiences with
it, but nothing like the bad time I've had with the Zenith.)
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mju
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response 7 of 104:
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Mar 7 02:35 UTC 1993 |
How about the AST laptops?
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kentn
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response 8 of 104:
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Mar 7 05:34 UTC 1993 |
When you say "bad experiences" Josh, what are you talking about (hard
drive crashed, bad memory, bad battery, etc.)?
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jdg
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response 9 of 104:
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Mar 7 17:47 UTC 1993 |
Bad disks (both hard and floppy) bad keyboard, bad power supply, bad memory.
Bad battery. Bad case, bad display. I think that about covers it.
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steve
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response 10 of 104:
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Mar 7 17:55 UTC 1993 |
I can talk about the new IBM ThinkPad 700C laptop. We have two of
them at work and I've glomed onto one for the time being.
Its a 486SLC running at 25MHz, 4M ram, 120M disk, and a color VGA LCD
display. It has an internal battery pack that is exchangable, a socket for
a 387 math chip, and capability of 9600bps modem. Standard jacks are
keyboard/mouse, VGA display, serial port, and external adaptor socket to
hook up to a docking station for SCSI disks, 5.25 floppy, etc.
The screen is *wonderful*. This is the first color LCD screen I've
had the chance to really use, and it beats CRTs out completely. The mouse,
(or joymouse as I call it) is a little stick between the G, H and B keys.
Its a strain-gauge that is very responsive to finger movement. Weight is
about 8 pounds.
The 700C is a power pig however. The NiMH battery is rated at 18V 2900mAH
and gives about two hours of life. Recharge time is about 1.5 hours. Since
the battery is modular, you can get extra batteries and an external charger
for them.
Overall, its been very nice. We have the extended service contract,
which has been a good thing. The red transistor on one pixel on the upper
right hand corner of the screen got stuck on after some number of hours,
and it was amazing how aggravating one little pixel can be... So IBM came
out and I got a new display(!). That was bizarre. I also had to get a new
floppy; the original unit developed a problem with its door. I must say
that Teac has produced the smallest floppy drive I've ever seen.
Another interesting thing is that the hard disk is removeable. You can
pop it out of the unit. Handy for those situations there you're in great
personal danger and don't can't carry the laptop back home with you...
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kentn
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response 11 of 104:
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Mar 7 20:50 UTC 1993 |
So, the moral here is that laptops and notebooks tend to be more trouble
prone than desktop machines?
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steve
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response 12 of 104:
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Mar 7 23:09 UTC 1993 |
Well, maybe not. Zenith has had a history of producing weird
stuff at lot of the time.
The LCD display on my machine contains 921,000 transistors in a
configuration such that you can't change out a block of them. So
if ANY of them go bad you need to change out a major section of the
LCD display, and I don't think its economically feasible. So IBM
actually didn't have to change out the display on my unit, since only
1 pixel was bad. Apple, for their earlier PowerBooks said that 5 pixels
on the screen was acceptable (ick).
I know of four of the GateWay laptops in use for three months now,
and none of those have had any problems despite extensive use. It seems
the better built units are OK. You just get to spend an extra $600 for
them...
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mju
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response 13 of 104:
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Mar 7 23:09 UTC 1993 |
Probably, although it's also possible that laptops and notebooks receive
more than their share of abuse, and thus tend to break more frequently.
I'd think that STeve's ThinkPad problems were just "growing pains"
type stuff, and that IBM will have the difficulties ironed out soon.
I'd certainly expect them to, if I were paying $4K for a laptop.
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mju
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response 14 of 104:
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Mar 7 23:10 UTC 1993 |
(STeve, slippery fellow that he is, managed to slip in before me.)
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kentn
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response 15 of 104:
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Mar 8 05:31 UTC 1993 |
I understand about the color LCD's -- that's a naturally trouble prone
situation -- but Josh's problems seemed to be more systemic than that.
I've considered getting a notebook for some time, so it's interesting to
hear about their problems. You get what you pay for, most of the time.
It's those times when you pay, but don't get anything that are frustrating.
(And worth hearing about).
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tsty
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response 16 of 104:
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Mar 8 15:14 UTC 1993 |
One engineering note to take care of - steve's batteries last abour
2 hours, but recharge time is abouot 1.5 hours. NOWTHAT'S good engineering.
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mju
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response 17 of 104:
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Mar 9 02:40 UTC 1993 |
It consistently amazes me that laptop makers never seemed to catch on
to quick-chargers for laptop batteries. I've got this 7.2V 1000mAh
battery for my HT that I can recharge in an hour or so, but the laptop
battery (probably 1000mAh-1500mAh @ 12V or so) takes 15 hours. Huh?
Now that more laptops have a sleep mode built in, you can usually change
batteries without having to quit all of your applications. That's
awfully nice if you're running Unix on the thing, and don't want to
have to shut down the system when your battery runs out...
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jdg
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response 18 of 104:
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Mar 9 03:04 UTC 1993 |
Well, I've had some good and some bad luck with the TI (20Mhz386sx).
But on-the-whole, it is vastly superior to the Zenith.
(And everybody I know who has a powerbook just loves 'em)
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bhall
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response 19 of 104:
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Mar 16 10:06 UTC 1993 |
I had a PowerBook 140, and have a Duo 230 right now. The 230 is great -
I have 4M ram, running VM to get 8, a 120M hard drive, and an internal
14.4 fax/data modem. Weighs in at 4.2 lbs, and I get about 2 hours
per charge doing development work, or 3 hours if taking notes, or doing
things that aren't disk intense. The machine is just a tad slower than
a Quadra 700 (mine is a tad slower because I am using VM). Has a built
in microphone, which is handy to catch a sound bite now and then. Can also
drive up to a 16" monitor, but you need a dock. SInce I already have a
desktop machine, I have not bothered with a dock.
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srw
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response 20 of 104:
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Mar 16 13:59 UTC 1993 |
I'm sure that your duo is a wonderful machine. I wish *I* had one.
But I am equally sure that it is way out of Marc's $500-$700 budget.
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bhall
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response 21 of 104:
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Mar 25 10:50 UTC 1993 |
$500-$700 would get you a Mac Portable or a PB 100.
There is much more room to move in th $1000-$1500 category.
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klaus
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response 22 of 104:
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Apr 1 14:59 UTC 1993 |
PB 100? Where.
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bhall
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response 23 of 104:
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Apr 15 06:00 UTC 1993 |
I think they are all gone now (new that is). You can still find plenty
of them used. You can get refurbed Portables in the $500 range - look
in the back of MacWeek.
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mcnally
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response 24 of 104:
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Apr 23 06:20 UTC 1993 |
My housemate is trying to sell his PB 100 (don't know the configuration,
but I *think* it's 6/40 with a 2400bps modem..)
Email me if you're interested and I'll pass it along to him or else
call 761-6204 and ask for Dan (but he's not around much..).
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