Laptops

[kuhio98]

I have ZERO luck with Compaq Presario laptops. I have had 3. Everyone of them was a piece of crap that eventually fell apart (the monitor hinges are flawed).

For Christmas we bought a Durabook Notebook that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
It is rugged -- even 14.5 pound Willy using it as a landing strip didn't cause a problem -- where it would have shattered the Compaq. We bought the N15RI - 15.1" LCP display, 533 MHz FSP, 2 GB memory, 100GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive, Optical Disc Drive (burns DVDs and CDs) You might also want to buy an extra battery if you're going to be out in the field for long periods of time.

We bought it from gowin.com. We have not had any problems whatsoever!
Rugged Designed Notebook - Drop, Shock & Spill Resistant Optical Disk Lock & Battery Protection

Now for a little more, you can get their Military Standard -- supposedly a laptop that is so rugged it can be taken into battle -- but we didn't feel the need for a screen that cut down the glare of the desert sun!

If you click on the photos at the top of their webpage, it runs a little video showing how it reacts to being dropped and water and coffee spilled on it.

http://www.gowin.com/cgi-jsp/index.jsp

[Freedom]

I bought my first laptop a year ago. Compaq. While I haven't had trouble with the hinges (yet; oh joy, something ELSE to look forward to), it does what it wants a LOT and I am not very pleased. I did realize that compaq is the low end and price was a huge factor for me at the time. But geesh come on, stop going into ALL CAPS for no reason whatsoever! And there is no way for me to get it OUT of ALL CAPS, I just have to wait for it to decide to bounce back. Rebooting DOES work, but who wants to keep doing that? And then when I click on a PT thread, it sometimes decides to open a whole new window, all by itself. Again, no reason, I did NOT hit any buttons and I can't get it back. When it is in this ALL CAPS mode, the numbers and punctuation don't work. SO< A SENTENCE WILL ( TIMES OUT OF !) COME OUT LOOKING REAL WEIRD<

Ok, so I did that one myself. But you get the idea.

I would spend a bit extra for the next quality up.

I don't know what to say about the bouncing. I would just invest in a better bag, as I drop it when carrying it, not when working on it.

Will you need certain software for your work? Check what that needs for space and make sure you buy one that can support the software.

I got the widescreen and really enjoy that. Takes getting used to as it is still smaller than the desktop monitor. And I got a cheap mouse and key pad to connect to the USB ports, they work fine for my stuff.

Good luck.
Sandie