Monday, November 26, 2007

Finding a laptop and Windows Vista

My current laptop is exhaling its last breath; what with its fan becoming increasingly louder, its battery hotter and its memory ultra crowded despite regular reformatting processes in addition to the letters on the keyboard merely becoming the ghosts of past shapes. Basically, I need a new laptop ....

How can this be achieved if you have budget constraints, big dreams and a strong attachment to a particular product/software.

My dream machine is light, slim, pretty, powerful and includes DVD long battery life, webcam all the works. Easy? think again, here are the narrowed down choices:
pretty , ultra portable and practical.

My second problem is that most 2007 models carry the Windows Vista software while I have just finally come to terms and made my peace to accept gasp (insert gulping sound) Windows XP, I refuse to upgrade. So I decided to check what do my blogger buddies think:

Anglo Libyan recently bought this , updated to Vista and loves it.

Safia updated to Vista, her review deserves a place in a magazine, she says: " So far (less than 24 hours) Vista has been running stable and okay. Not a great invention to ooh and ahh about, but an interesting little improvement to Windows XP. I think I´ll keep it."

Adam has actually issued a warning "Whatever you do - do not, I repeat not, buy a computer with windows Vista on it. It will be well invested money to pay extra for the good old and solid Windows XP."

So between bloggers taking the Vista to the stars and those dragging it in the gutters; Claim 2B wise's opinion is the one which made me dig in my heels and remain in the non-Vista camp.

He starts with a comparison between Mac and PC and simply tears down Mac's marketing strategy. "i never thought about a Mac computer until this crazy advertisement ofMac Books are hitting around almost everywhere trying to lower down the pc's oddsby counting and mentioning apparently nonstabilty nonreliability incompatibilitiesof a PC.but hey wait a moment ?aren't Mac is just Trying increase their selling by adopting the intel processors which arebasically created for PC and also correct me if i am wrong Mac Introduced Boot camp which allows you to use both operating system in one device.But would it be possible to fully benefit from both ?this is what i would hear from users Now why would Mac Do such a thing ?i believe that you can do almost everything with a pc with no need for having a mac on the other side you can do nothing by a mac but playing with sound video graphic editingand? what else oh yes playing chess and some really boring games".

But here comes the best part "for those who created windows Vista i ask you only one question why? if i was in bill's position i would go for trying perfecting Xp in stead of ending it's services on 2011 i would tell Microsoft one thing i have regret nothing in my life but one thing which is buying an original Vista.I'd rather call it windows disaster in stead."

Wish Bill Gates is listening... sigh

Now I know I don't want Vista; remains to decide on the laptop... your suggestions are most welcome as usual.

11 comments:

LadyCroc said...

Whatever you do, sis LH, remember to fill your laptop up with RAM. I´m currently using 2 GB and both my onboard fan and my screen card fan are running 24/7 - and my laptop is still terrible hot when sitting on my lap!

Anonymous said...

Adam has actually issued a warning "Whatever you do - do not, I repeat not, buy a computer with windows Vista on it. It will be well invested money to pay extra for the good old and solid Windows XP."

I agree with him and here is an article which supports Adam point of view.

www.informationweek.com/news/
showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204203975

www.download.com/3000-2086-10070530.html an excellent program to free memory.

I am using an old desktop computer with 3 internal and 5 external hard drives connected, 3 different browsers open at the same time, 25 open windows,2 different 24 hours downloading program, 2 different messengers open. All this with 750MB RAM, Windows XP, AMD Athalon XP Chip.

Apple computers can run Windows XP and OS X at the same time.

You can buy a decent laptop for $450 in USA but if you want ultra portable then you need to pay extra . You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It Too.


If you want help, you need to say how much you want to pay, what programs you will use specially if you are using Adobe products. Adobe products work best on apple computers.

By the way Dell gives you the choice of Vista, XP and even Linux :-)

Service Pack 3 for windows XP was just released.


I recommend you to seek advice from Libyan Bloggers who have quite knowledge about computers.

The only thing I use computers is just email, surf and download.

MusicLover

Anglo-Libyan said...

salam highlander and welcome back

while I did and still do like Win XP, I got used to vista in no time and im actually still happy with it.
I know its not an easy decision, it took me ages to decide which laptop I want and even after I bought it I kept thinking maybe I should have gone for another model but at the end of the day, I have a good machine that does alomost everything I want :o)
Best of luck with your search and InshaAllah what ever you decide on will be the ideal machine with the ideal software for you.

mani said...

salam H:

how about a new IBM Lenovo machine? This will be my new toy.. ok so it comes with vista but for on balance... vista can do a lot for a tablet lap.. and I guess you could always have your xp on a desktop at home as a backup, to use IF the gizmo fail ;)

heres a link:http://www5.pc.ibm.com/uk/products.nsf/Products?openagent&brand=Thinkpad&series=ThinkPad+X+Series+Tablet

btw, you are very missed :)

libyan said...

Couple of months ago i was looking for a new laptop, for me too i wanted some specific things, i wanted light weight, smaller size, fast dvd writer, large hard disc and RAM, and a good battery, i think i made a good choice, an HP pavilion, with windows vista inculded, actually the first day i had some troubels with it, but now i don't find any difference to XP, i am happy with my new laptop and more happy because i got a good price.

LySpirit said...

hmmm, (My dream machine is light, slim, pretty, powerful and includes DVD long battery life, webcam all the works??? ).

there's one answer, Sony Vaio
and here's the thing: http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=VGN-TZ21VN%2FR&site=voe_en_GB_cons&category=VN+TZ+Series

it's a hell of a machine. sleek, powerful, ultra light and it got it all inside. little expensive yet worth every Penney.
and here's a free advice, stay away from IBM and DELL

if your budget really really restraining, think of Toshiba or HP, but they are ordinary machines with less than ordinary performance.

best of luke.....

giordano bruno said...

Vista is dangerous. I bought a NBook in Hong Kong, tried to "Install" vista. NB there is no CD/DVD, merely a compressed/encrypted? "vista" on the NB harddrive (HD), which is moved/installed to another part of the HD. This is outrageous.
Worse: If the power is cut during the (long) installation, then Vista goes into a hard-loop, cannot be fixed AND the partial install cannot be removed from the HD (maybe a Linux install could reformat those HD sectors. I had to buy a blackmarket Vista, and install it, which lost me all the HP/Compaq features. The (Indian?) help centre woman told me in a hostile voice that I had voided my warranty, so would not get no help from HP. HP in Australia has pathetic service, no help.

Remaining problems: I needed a driver for the LCD screen, which I found.

I needed a Vodec to play DVDs, which I got on the black market

Worst of all: the DVD burner software doesnt work... HP email suggested a $130 product which does work, then they signed off saying they were glad my situation was "resolved"

To Sum up: avoid Vista, if you must have it, ensure its installed before you pay $one, and see a DVD burned and viewed in the shop before you pay.

Look for an OS which is on a DVD.

Roberto Iza Valdés said...

A woman needs a laptop that is pretty, feminine and capable.

As far as software goes, one good reason to buy a Windows Vista laptop is the Ready Boost feature which allows one to use flash memory as RAM.

I must confess that I find your loyalty to Windows XP charming, endearing and ultimately very reasonable.

globetrottingrien said...

H,
You've got a tough job at hand. Based on my experience, I find NEC an unsatisfactory choice if you intend to download softwares as it is very, I repeat very slow as it is. Toshiba, on the other hand, is not a good choice if you intend to hook it with an LCD as it is compatible with Toshiba LCDs only. Another experience I had faced during my varsity days!

My dad's compact lap top is pretty slow too, what other choices do you have? Acer? Sony? Apple?

Hiba said...

امم متأسفة
بس حبيت نقولك علي طلب:


خاطري نتلاقوا يامدونيين في مكان شن رأيكم السبت هدا بعد غدوه
http://h-dailylife.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_06.html

Highlander said...

Wow I am so grateful for all this advice.

Safia - yes I am planning on having lots of RAM :)

Music Lover the only thing I use computers is just email, surf and download that is the best thing I ever heard for a while :P

AngloLibyan - I'm still searching for the fabled machine that would do EVERYTHING I want it to. :) glad you are happy with your choice.

Mani :) thank you I miss you too my friend especially when you stopped blogging. The Lenovo is nice toy but I am in love with Sony don't know why ....

Libyan - welcome to my blog :) - the HP is a good machine but I wanted something sexier :P glad you got a good price.

LYspirit - welcome to my blog as well :) - yes the Vaios are gorgeous aint they ?

Giordano - welcome to my blog too :) - this is scary because now Vista is like forced on us and also there will be no support for it after a certain time.

Roberto- thanks - did not know that flash memory can be used as RAM.

Red :) the Apple is beautiful I'm almost tempted - but I'm not sure that it can be repaired in Libya.

Hibo :) thank you - dont worry and I hope that you had a good time with the bloggers meeting !

Redneck :) I've missed you man - thanks for the short and to the point advice.