Laptops & Sites

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Looking for the latest and greatest laptop? Know of a brand we should stay away from? How about the best websites as far as price and reliability?

There are so many to choose from -- I can see Linda Blaire's head still spinning. Okay, it's mine. Please post your "lusty" finds here.

Here's someone who can customize an IBM ThinkPad/Lenovo laptop. If he asks how you found him, just give him my name, April McMillan from CSR Nation. Good Luck!

Robert (Bob) C. Bogutsky
5064 Overcrest Drive
Kannapolis, NC 28081 USA
Telephone (Home) 704 785-9276
Primary Email ID: [e-mail]
Facsimile: 704 782-4911
Mobile: [phone]

[Darline Marie West]

Hi, April! I Googled "best" laptops a couple months ago. Lenovo kept coming up, the "T" series. However, recently a good friend of mine and fellow reporter had experienced a crash, which she is attributing to the fact that when she bought it, they wiped the Vista off of it and downloaded Windows XP. She has stated to me, and I agree, that Windows 7 is going to be the next best thing, and this is what I am waiting for. Up to the point of the crash, she had a few other problems also, the details of which I am not privy to. Now, this is not to say that the Lenovo is not a good computer. I think she just got a bad one or a lemon of sorts. As I said above, Lenovo just keeps coming up as the best laptop. I like to read all the reviews by consumers and also reviewers of technology. One reviewer I respect very much works for the Wall Street Journal. If you go on their site, you will find him. His name slips my mind. He's an older gentleman with gray hair. Anyway, his reviews have always been very fair and very helpful to me. He posts videos of his reviews so you can see the product he's reviewing and see how it works. If you can't find who I am talking about, e-mail me and I will check and get back to you with the URL. He now also has a young lady working with him who does the reviewing also. He reviews everything from computers to phones and keeps up with the latest technology out there. Let me know what you think. Darline

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Thanks, Darline. I'll try that. I'm going to check out ConsumerReports online, too. I keep forgetting I have a membership. D'oh!

I just love the ThinkPads! They are absolute workhorses. Checked out their site last night and today, and HP's, Dell's, some Acer sites. Uh-oh, my head's spinning again :)

[Audrey Ricks]

My head's spinning too! After buying the Sony and not having luck with the sound card, I'm now wondering what I should've purchased.

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Oh, Audrey, I'm sorry to hear about that. Are you still within the returnable timeframe? With the expense of updating our technology, it really stings when something doesn't work out.
There's another discussion in the Forum, someone's gotta find a laptop fast and this is what I posted:

"I too am looking for a new laptop and went to EclipseAdvantage's website and ThinkPad/Lenovo's. I have the T43 right now. Advantage's laptop T500 pkg is about $2695, and yes, they load Eclipse for you. But on the Lenovo website I customized/built the same T500 with a 250 G hard drive and 2.66 GHZ and it has Vista Home Basic instead of Vista Business. No biggie for me. Lenovo's asking price for the T500 that I customized is $1271, and that includes the same screen size as Advantage's at 15.4". ThinkPad has a 1 yr warranty, Laplink PC mover w/USB cord to move files super easy and ThinkPad's privacy filter. At a $1400 savings, I'll load Eclipse myself.

"I haven't hit the Buy Now button. Not yet anyway."

I have also contacted a laptop builder that Marge Teilhaber recommended in a laptop thread from months ago. I'm waiting to hear from him. I saved his info if you're interested.

[Audrey Ricks]

I almost hit the "buy now" button on that site as well! After sending that info around to several computer tech friends, they all said it's WAY too much money for just the "convenience" of having them preload everything and shut off your screen savers, etc. LOL! I will definitely save this info and keep it handy if/when I need to go to the next level. For now, it's been suggested that I contact Sony and download the latest drivers for my soundcard. Hoping that does the trick. Then I've got a couple other things I'll try. All else fails, this *new* Sony will end up as an extra computer for realtime feeds to attorneys. Shame! I wasn't planning on retiring it 6 months after purchasing it! I did pay the extra $$ to cover replacement of the laptop, so maybe I'll even look into that and upgrade to something else. (?)

Thanks so much for the info!
As always, you're a wealth of information and help! ;-)
Audrey

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Sure thing. Good luck with those drivers:)

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Well, I bought a laptop, and I ended up getting it from Bob, whose info I listed above. I got a ThinkPad W500, 15.4" widescreen, a docking station, 2 A/C power cords, notebook carrying case, a USB floppy disk drive, and these are the specs and software:

· PROCESSOR/CPU – Intel Mobile (CORE 2 DUO) 2.53GHZ CENTRINO VPRO T9400 (2X – 2.53GHZ
· RAM – 4.0 GB
· HDD – 500GB 5400RPM WESTERN DIGITAL Model # WD5000BEVT-11ZAT0 / OR AS AN OPTION, INSTALL THE 320GB/7200 RPM – FASTEST AVAILABLE TURBO MEMORY HARD DRIVE AT NO ADDITIONAL COST (I took the fastest avail:) )

· VIDEO/GRAPHICS – 512MB (DEDICATED VIDEO RAM) ATI MOBILITY FIREGL 5700
· DISPLAY – 15.4” WUXGA (1920X1200) VERY HIGH RESOLUTION WIDE SCREEN TFT LCD
· OPTICAL DRIVE - CDRW/DVDRW MULTI-BURNER – MATSHITA (MATSUSHITA, PANASONIC) DVDRAM MODEL UJ862A ( Burns/Records/Plays/Reads CDRs, CDRWs, DVDRs, DVDRWs.)

· MODEM – THINKPAD MODEM ADAPTER
· BLUETOOTH - BLUETOOTH BUS ENUMERATOR &THINKPAD BLUETOOTH WITH ENHANCED DATA RATE II

· LAN/ETHERNET – INTEL 82567LM GIGABIT ETHERNET CONNECTION
· IEEE1394 BUS HOST CONTROLLER & CONNECTOR
· HDMI CONNECTOR
· WIRELESS - Intel Wireless WIFI LINK 5100 802.11A/G/N. NOT a PCCard/PCMCIA OR USB

· WWAN READY – THIS MAY HAVE A WIDEBAND WIRELESS ANTENNA INSTALLED THUS BEING READY TO INSTALL A WIDEBAND MINIPCI CARD.

· Secure Chip (TCPA)
· BIOMETRICS – TOUCHIP FINGERPRINT COPROCESSOR
· ULTRANAV - TRACKPOINT AND TOUCHPAD
· CAMERA – WEBCAM INTEGRATED INTO TOP BEZEL OF LCD
. Docking station with 4 USB ports
· THREE (3) USB Ports, 2 – PCMCIA/PC Card Slots, RICOH - SD/MULTICARD (MMC, MS-PRO, SD, SD-PRO, XD ETC.) MEMORY CARD READER

· AUDIO – Conexant High Definition SMART Audio 221
· BATTERY – 9 CELL EXTENDED CAPACITY LI-ION
· ThinkLight, Keyboard light built into the top frame/bezel of the LCD
· AC Adapter, Worldwide Voltage 100 – 240VAC

Software Loaded:

· Operating System – Win XP PRO, All Latest Updates, Microsoft Verified WIN VISTA CAPABLE – WIN VISTA BUSINESS COA HOWEVER LENOVO INSTALLED WIN XP PRO

· MS OFFICE 2007 ENTERPRISE EDITION INSTALLED – EXCEL, WORD, POWERPOINT, OUTLOOK, INFOPATH; OFFICE 2003 COMPONENTS ACCESS, FRONTPAGE, VISO, ONE NOTE, PUBLISHER – NOT THE 60 DAY TRIAL VERSION

· INTERVIDEO WINDVD (For Viewing DVD)

· INTERVIDEO WIN DVD CREATOR (FOR BURNING/RECORDING DVD’S)

· ROXIO / SONIC - RECORD NOW (FOR BURNING / RECORDING CD’S)

· ROXIO CREATOR BUSINESS EDITION (RECORDING/BURNING CD’S & DVD’S)

· MY DVD (FOR VIEWING DVD’S)

· SIMPLE BACKUP

· Adobe Reader 9.x & Adobe Phototoshop Starter Edition 3.x AND ADOBE MEDIA PLAYER

· ThinkVantage Software Suite With Rescue & Recovery

· MCAFEE SECURITY – Not activated so you can extend your time period of validity

And you'll never believe what I paid! Total, out the door, shipping/insurance, the whole shebang = $1500.


Can you see the smile on my face? :D

[Audrey Ricks]

Yay for you, April!
Let us know how it's working out for you once you start using it in depos! If I end up getting another laptop, I may do a carbon copy of what you've done here. Keep us posted! I'm interested in things like power source next to audio plug-ins, number of USB ports, audio quality, etc., and how that all works out for you in the working world! Enjoy!

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

Sure thing, Audrey. I should receive it next Thurs/Fri, and then I'll transfer my programs and files from old one to new over the weekend:)