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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Wintel Laptop Recommendation for Realtor

Wintel Laptop Recommendation for Realtor
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nemanirc
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: St. Louis, MO
Status: Offline
Jul 31, 2004, 11:09 AM
 
My wife works in Real Estate and has been fighting with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that is used in St. Louis (http://maris.rapmls.com/). The company that manages the database and writes the interface (http://www.rappatoni.com/) has engineered the interface so that it will not work with any browser except IE 6 for Windows. She has been using VPC 6 on a G4 Cube with a 1.2 GHz processor, but is can be agonizingly slow.

While it pains me to think it, we may have to get her a Wintel laptop for her work. Is there one out there that is inexpensive but usable?
R. C. Nemanick, Ph.D.
PBG4 12" 867MHz 640 MB RAM
PMG3 500MHz 1 GB RAM
     
SplijinX
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Status: Offline
Jul 31, 2004, 11:47 AM
 
I had posted this deal on one of the other threads, if she's going to be travelling with it and needs something small I would recommend taking a look at this:

http://slickdeals.net/#p5011

HP NC4000 1.6GHz Centrino 1GB 12" Specs:
Intel Pentium-M 1.6GHz Processor
1GB 266MHz DDR SDRAM
40GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
External USB DVD/CDRW drive
Integrated 802.11A/B/G Wireless
56K Modem
Gigabit NIC
12.1" color TFT XGA display with 1024 x 768 XGA resolution (16 M color)
Microsoft Windows XP Home
Weight (lbs) 3.5lbs
3-Year Warranty

On the other hand if a larger, heavier desktop replacement isn't a limiting factor, check out Dell's website. The lowest spec Dell laptops can be had for $800 (inspiron) if not lower and should have enough power to handle anything running under IE6. If you are willing to spend a bit more, the latitudes are built pretty solidly.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=04&l=en&s=bsd

Also check www.currentcodes.com to see if there are any current coupon codes you can use.
Are those free-ranged animal crackers?
     
Tomster
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2002
Status: Offline
Jul 31, 2004, 08:24 PM
 
No need to get a PC. Just use IE for Mac. (When was the last time anyone voluntarily fired that beast up?) IE works just fine. Safari support is planned but no idea when it will be available.
Happily using a Mac since '89
MacPortable: 16Mhz 1meg/40meg System 6.0.8 - 16lbs Yeah baby!
Powerbook 17" 1.33Ghz 2GB/100GB 8x Superdrive
Powerbook 12" 867Mhz 1.125GB/80GB 2xDVD-R RPC1
MacbookPro 17" 2.33Ghz
     
buffalolee
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Syracuse, NY
Status: Offline
Jul 31, 2004, 08:33 PM
 
How much RAM do you have in the Cube? You should try to max your RAM out first (try 1 GB). Working in VPC requires at least 256 MB of RAM to run smoothly.

Another part is that you can try to upgrade the hard drive to a 7200 rpm hard drive, and see how that goes. It could make your computer run more smoothly.
     
nemanirc  (op)
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Jul 31, 2004, 08:34 PM
 
Originally posted by Tomster:
No need to get a PC. Just use IE for Mac. (When was the last time anyone voluntarily fired that beast up?) IE works just fine. Safari support is planned but no idea when it will be available.
IE used to work, but no longer. Several of the functions don't work on IE 5 for Mac or PC, only IE 6 for PC.
R. C. Nemanick, Ph.D.
PBG4 12" 867MHz 640 MB RAM
PMG3 500MHz 1 GB RAM
     
SplijinX
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Status: Offline
Jul 31, 2004, 09:03 PM
 
IE6 under VP6 on my 867mhz 12" PB with 640MB and it works pretty smoothly, almost about as well as my PC. How much ram do you have in that cube? All the other programs do run pretty slowly though.
Are those free-ranged animal crackers?
     
nemanirc  (op)
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: St. Louis, MO
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Jul 31, 2004, 09:09 PM
 
Originally posted by SplijinX:
IE6 under VP6 on my 867mhz 12" PB with 640MB and it works pretty smoothly, almost about as well as my PC. How much ram do you have in that cube? All the other programs do run pretty slowly though.
It can be dog slow on her Cube. It has 768 MB and 1.2 GHz processor. It may be the Brother USB printer we installed; it worked better before that�
R. C. Nemanick, Ph.D.
PBG4 12" 867MHz 640 MB RAM
PMG3 500MHz 1 GB RAM
     
buffalolee
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Syracuse, NY
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Aug 1, 2004, 01:22 AM
 
I am running a 1 GHz Powerbook with 1 GB of RAM, and it seems to run smoothly. I could use a faster hard drive, and that would makes things much better. Otherwise, it's okay for me.
     
Tomster
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2002
Status: Offline
Aug 1, 2004, 01:31 AM
 
Originally posted by nemanirc:
IE used to work, but no longer. Several of the functions don't work on IE 5 for Mac or PC, only IE 6 for PC.
Bummer. Still works on the SF Bay mls and I hope it stays that way.
Happily using a Mac since '89
MacPortable: 16Mhz 1meg/40meg System 6.0.8 - 16lbs Yeah baby!
Powerbook 17" 1.33Ghz 2GB/100GB 8x Superdrive
Powerbook 12" 867Mhz 1.125GB/80GB 2xDVD-R RPC1
MacbookPro 17" 2.33Ghz
     
wuzup101
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Feb 2003
Status: Offline
Aug 1, 2004, 02:50 AM
 
If you do decide to get a PC lappy I would have to recomend the IBM thinkpad T42 (or other recent T series models) as being the absolute best. They are pricy but worth every penny IMHO. In addition to that, the buisness side of dell (latitude models) are pretty decent, as are toshiba, fujitsu, and sony. I would personally pick the IBM. If money is a big factor look into a dell latitude... dell actually does make a few nice machines...
Mac: 15" 1.5ghz PB w/ 128mb vid, 5400rpm 80gb, combo drive, 2gb ram
Peripherals: 20gb 4g iPod, Canon i950, Canon S230 "elph", Canon LIDE30, Logitech MX510, Logitech z5500, M-Audio Sonica Theater, Samsung 191T
PC: AMD "barton" XP @ 2.3ghz, 1gb pc3200, 9800pro 128mb, 120gb WD-SE 120gb
Xbox: 1.6, modded with X3 xecuter, slayers evoX 2.6, WDSE 120gb HDD
     
olePigeon
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status: Offline
Aug 1, 2004, 05:06 AM
 
Gods I hate Microsoft for f*cking up everything.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
Commodus
Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Status: Offline
Aug 1, 2004, 08:33 AM
 
What I would be doing is harassing Rappatoni about the naivet� of limiting access to one browser on one OS, until they accept that not everyone uses Windows and Internet Explorer.

I'd never do it myself, but it would almost serve them right if their systems were seriously compromised by some IE-only spyware or a Windows-specific worm.

On a more positive note: VirtualPC 7 is supposed to be shipping in October, and I've heard that - shock - Microsoft has made substantial improvements to speed as well as functionality. I still wouldn't expect miracles, but maybe that Cube will have a decent time of things after the VPC upgrade.
24-inch iMac Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz
     
tooki
Admin Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Status: Offline
Aug 1, 2004, 11:12 AM
 
This forum is for discussion of PowerBook-specific topics. Wintel laptops most certainly don't qualify.

tooki
     
   
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