[galvs]

should my wife buy? Word processor and internet, mostly. HAS to be a wintel machine...(here in Brazil Toshibas and HPs, even Dells are easier to find)
TIA,
Galvs

[Phat Bastard]

In case you didn't notice, this is an APPLE discussion forum, and specifically an Apple POWERBOOK forum. Please ask about PCs at another website.

[pete]

Let's be a little bit more generous here, shall we? I mean there are not many questions like this around here, so it's not like we're suddenly going to be overwhelmed with wintel related questions.

My advice:

1. IBM Thinkpad
2. Sony Vaio
3. Toshiba
4. Fujitsu
5. HP


The IBM is my personal favourite. The THinkpads are the most solid machines around in the PC world. I'd even buy one over a powerbook if they could run macos x! Not because of their beauty or speed, but because of the incredible feeling of durability and quality. And the keyboard - the best there is on a laptop. Good luck!

Having said that, macos x is really the best there is out there....

[wallaper]

I have a dell inspiron 8200 1.7 and a powerbook 15al. They are both great machines. the powerbook runs osx and has a really nice screen. The dell still seems a little faster and can play games! I have had it for about a year now with no problems. If money is no object I would look at the thinkpad t40's.

Wallaper

[Rain]

IBM or Dell. Avoid Toshiba at all cost.

But, really, it would be best to get her a 12" PB. Doesn't apple ship to Brazil?

[-Q-]

Avoid Windows at all costs.

http://www.apple.com/br/

[GlobalNomad]

Originally posted by Rain:
IBM or Dell. Avoid Toshiba at all cost.

But, really, it would be best to get her a 12" PB. Doesn't apple ship to Brazil?

Yeah I agree. Toshiba makes some of the worst laptops. I have had 3 different toshiba laptops. They are so crap.

Go buy your wife a iBook. It doesn't sound like she needs a PowerBook.

[Fellow2000]

If you have to get a wintel machine I would also reccomend the IBM. They keyboard is awesome and they are just solid hardware!

I would stay away from dell. I owned one for awhile and hated it. just too big and clunky. On top of that, I had a lot of things go wrong with it.

[SplijinX]

Definitely a low end IBM ThinkPad or an iBook. If it's mainly for word processing and web browsing, why does it have to be a Windows machine?

[galvs]

Originally posted by Phat Bastard:
In case you didn't notice, this is an APPLE discussion forum, and specifically an Apple POWERBOOK forum. Please ask about PCs at another website.

I thought "first world citizens" were polite; well, all of us are, in essence, animals...
I only post here `cause I have a Pismo, and like the kindness and khowledge of this forum.
Disappointed (whith you, pal) , and thanks for everybody who is OK.

[djjava]

everyone i know that has bought a Dell Laptop in the past year, absolutely hates it, and is likely going to buy an ibook or something next time.

Seriously.

[desillusion.com]

DON'T go for a dell laptop...

they are heavy, thick, unhandy and their fans are loud as crap.. this because especially the cheaper ones got desktop-cpus in there, it just doesn't work to run a desktop-intel at 2.5ghz in a laptop-case..


personally, i'd suggest waiting 3-4 months untill the new ibooks hit the streets..

[Powaqqatsi]

IBM ThinkPad Best build quality ever.

[fhammond]

Originally posted by galvs:
should my wife buy? Word processor and internet, mostly. HAS to be a wintel machine...(here in Brazil Toshibas and HPs, even Dells are easier to find)
TIA,
Galvs

I'll add my voice to the chorus and say "get a ThinkPad". Best battery life, fast, best design, best keyboard. I love mine.

[Phat Bastard]

I didn't think I was particularly rude, I was just pointing out what an admin will inevitably point out in the near future: this thread is in an inappopriate forum. This forum deals with Apple Powerbook issues. This thread should be locked down.

I don't think that's being impolite--can't people disagree anymore?

Originally posted by galvs:
I thought "first world citizens" were polite; well, all of us are, in essence, animals...
I only post here `cause I have a Pismo, and like the kindness and khowledge of this forum.
Disappointed (whith you, pal) , and thanks for everybody who is OK.

[dialo]

Thinkpad. I had an old one in the late 90's that dropped from it's table at least 30 times and never showed it. Thinkpads are great. If it ran OS X, I would absolutely buy it over a new powerbook.

[pete]

I think discussing pc laptops is a good boost to our credibility. Mac users are known to always condemn the other side, so it's good that we get to show that there are things we appreciate about some PC laptops too. Anyway, you're of course right that this is a PB forum......who cares though as long as most people are in on it?

[jrt67ss350]

I also say get an IBM Thinkpad. I have a ThinkPad R40 with a 2GHz P4-M and 512MB RAM. Definitely a solid machine. Awesome keyboard, and with the upper level R40s (as well as some other IBM laptops), you get both the trackpoint and a trackpad. It's fast, it's stable, and it's solidly built. Very nice screen, very clear, nice color, no dead pixels. The speakers are also pretty darn good for a laptop and put out some decent volume. I get about 3 hours battery life with processor speed set on Automatic, built in wireless network running, and screen on full brightness. Very fast, very reliable machine. It's also only about 1.5" thick with the lid closed, which is pretty good for a full featured PC laptop. With the screen open, the base is only 1" thick. It also has a hot-swappable drive bay - I have a DVD/CD-RW combo drive in there. The only gripe I have about it is that it does get kinda hot on the bottom at times. The palm rest areas never get hot, even though the hard drive is under the left one.

I like it a lot.

[Scooterboy]

Obragdo! (excuse my spelling)

Some of the new PC laptops have really nice screens not yet available on Apple. However, if your wife is mainly going to do word processing and web browsing, she can do this on a Mac (iBook or PowerBook) and get the benefit of using OS X which is elegant, stable, and easier on the eyes than Windows (even XP). She'll also get the stylish and beautiful Apple hardware. You can buy MS Word or MS Office for OS X, and she can also use AppleWorks or OpenOffice, and web browse with IE, Safari, OmniWeb, iCab, Firebird, Netscape, Camino, etc...........

IF she absolutley wants a PC, I'd go with Sony Vaio or IBM. I once owned Toshiba and will never buy one of those P.O.S. again.

Good luck!

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
IBM ThinkPad Best build quality ever.

I work at a computer center that does warranty work for IBM.

There are a disproportionately large number of problems with T40s. I would avoid one at all costs. Their biggest problem seems to be hard drives dying, but completely dead displays, or 30 minutes of battery life are also big problems.

[spiderbyte]

IBM Thinkpad. There is no other machine that comes close to the Thinkpad in terms of build quality.

The keyboards on Thinkpads are the best in the industry.

If you order direct from IBM then you have 30 days privelege for full money back return, for any reason.

//// \\\\ spiderbyte

[StiZeven]

It's funny, I just picked up a T40 over the weekend.

As far as Chemmy's comments go, the same could be said for Apple and all the problems they have with their portables, and they are also known for (better) build quality than the competition. Shite happens, and if it doesn't ruin the PowerBook line, then IBM's T40 should keep it's great reputation as well.

HDs can die and it's usually not the fault of the computer manufacturer. I've not read anything about dead screens either. As far as battery life goes, the T40 is a high-end Centrino model with a huge (but small and light) battery (that does not stick out the back) and the average charge time is 4-5 hours (with REAL usage and WiFi on of course). It's been said by many that the IBM ThinkPad T40 is their best machine yet (they now have a T41 which has the 1.7GHz Centrino chip - not much else has changed).

---------------

Here's a mini review in case anyone is interested:

IBM ThinkPad T40, 1.6GHz Centrino, Upgraded WiFi (Cisco), 512MB RAM (1 slot used, 1 slot open), 80GB HD (8MB/cache), Bluetooth, Gigabit, SXGA LCD, DVD/CDRW Combo, 3yr Warranty.

At 5 lbs. (loaded) and 1" thick it's not at all a brick. The screen is positively gorgeous with a crisp and comfortable 1400x1050 resolution (lower res available, but I hate low res screens).

The machine is ROCK SOLID and the lid closes securely with a satisfying 'thunk' sound (think Mercedes car door closing). When you pick it up, there is no 'give' at all and the black matte finish has this great soft feel to it as if it's coated with something. Not sure how to explain it. It has both the track-pad and point-stick embedded (along with a cool scroll feature) and the keyboard is one of the best I've used (so far Apple and IBM have the best keyboards in the business as far as I am concerned). It's solid with zero give and no clacking noise.

The T40 is also VERY fast and stable (since Centrino speed is comparable to the G4, imagine a 1.6GHz G4 with a 1MB L2 Cache in a PowerBook) and as I stated above, the battery life is incredible. I am averaging 4.5 hours with real time usage. If you just hang out and work in email and word processing, you'd get much more. DVD playback is stunning and hasn't stuttered at all.

The HD is the Hitachi 80GN (80GB) with 8/MB cache and it is dead quiet. The fan on this machine rarely comes on and when it does, it's whisper quiet. A quiet computer is very important to me.

While not as cool as Apple's backlit keyboard, the IBM ThinkLight is a great little feature which I use every night. It's a tiny little white light (think Xenon style lighting) that's at the tip of the display that shines a light glowing light onto the keys (not interfering at all with the display). Not only do I use it to see the keys, but it also comes in handy when you need a little more light on a piece of paper and you don't want to move the LCD so it shines where you want it.

I also love that I can upgrade the hard drive in 3 minutes using a couple of screws and pulling out the HD tray to swap then push back in, the MiniPCI card (WiFi) snaps in like a RAM Module so it's also easily upgrade-able, the RAM is user upgrade-able via one screw as well (and IBM generously uses 1 512MB chip leaving the another slot open).

Over all I am VERY happy with it. It's built extremely well, is VERY fast and truly snappy, it's very stable, has hordes of memory (popped another 512MB in from crucial $124), has a huge hard drive, awesome battery life, embedded bluetooth, has a great WiFi (a/b/g) signal and it's an inch think and under 5lbs.

While it's not a beauty like the PowerBook, it has it's own sex appeal in an industrial sort of way. It's like a flat thin and black square machine - hard but nice looking. With all these features and quality, it was hard to pass up at only $2350 (shipped). Since I use (and enjoy) PCs as well as Macs, and already have a Mac to 'Run OS X', it's the perfect machine for my PC side.

[galvs]

for your answers. I am a mac fan since 95`, own a 6100/60 (whith Newer G3 240), iMac bondi blue and a Pismo 500, -fantastic machine- and the reason I post here is one: powerbooks out, which is the best laptop machine in the "other side", the "big (but not the best) side".
She`ll go to IBM, and as soon as possible, I`ll go to a G5 Powerbook...
Regards, Eduardo.

[Targon]

Acer TravelMate 600 or 800

Why?

Centrino-1.5ghz is = to P4 @ 2Ghz

Uses vastly less power, thus meaning runs rather cool.

Battery power is amazing. 5.5hours

While not in the league of PowerBook styling, it still looks pretty nice

oh yeah...very powerful !!

[cactacular]

IF an iBook is absolutely out of the question... the Thinkpad is a quality item. I absolutely HATE the pointer thingy though and would not consider buying one until they installed a trackpad. I'm on my second Sony VAIO laptop (GRX-690) and highly recommend it.

[StiZeven]

Originally posted by cactacular:
IF an iBook is absolutely out of the question... the Thinkpad is a quality item. I absolutely HATE the pointer thingy though and would not consider buying one until they installed a trackpad. I'm on my second Sony VAIO laptop (GRX-690) and highly recommend it.

The T40 has both the 'pointer thingy' AND a smooth trackpad with a cool little scroll feature.

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by StiZeven:
As far as Chemmy's comments go, the same could be said for Apple and all the problems they have with their portables, and they are also known for (better) build quality than the competition. Shite happens, and if it doesn't ruin the PowerBook line, then IBM's T40 should keep it's great reputation as well.

Believe me, I own a 15" Alubook, I know how widespread some of you think the white spot problem is. We have one 15" Aluminum Powerbook in right now, because someone dropped it down a flight of stairs.

We honestly have around 100 or 150 T40s in with odd display or hard disk errors. When we check in T40s, the first question we ask is "Is it making clicking noises and not booting?"