need new laptop

[happy pilgrim]

anyone recommend good laptop suitable for carrying in pannier /topbox, must be wifi with good powerful spec.etc. also who's doing good deals at the moment?

 

[-Robbo-]

I personally wouldn't go past IBM/Lenovo which have titanium covers so ideal for your use, wouldn't touch Dell with a bargepole customer service support is shocking;

These guys are quite competitive

 

[happy pilgrim]

ok thanks. i will have a look at their website.

 

[sparkplug]

For £350 this would be my choice.

Powerful enough to do what you need but won't break the bank..

 

[-Robbo-]

For £350 this would be my choice.

Powerful enough to do what you need but won't break the bank..

Schiannini,

I see where you are coming from but I work in the IT industry and unfortunately it is a well known fact that Dell will take your money and run, they do not even have their own after sales support they sub contract to others which gives no consistency whatsoever.

Just my 2pence worth but one only gets what one pays for

 

[sparkplug]

Just my 2pence worth but one only gets what one pays for

I also work in the IT industry (among others ) and know where you are coming from too.

It's a bit like using NTL. Everyone knows the service is rubbish, but at that price you don't complain.

If I was taking a laptop around on a bike (which is unlikely as my smartphone does ALL the IT stuff I want when travelling, and then some) I'd want something that was cheap enough that if it died it wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a cheap compact unit with WiFi. Nothing more nothing less.

I still believe that you should forget about fekkin laptops when on long trips on bikes, unless you're a bike jouro or tour operator or something. Just travel and enjoy - keep you mobile off unless YOU are making the call. Check your texts no more than once a day... etc.

IMLTHO



[size=-2]just made it up - In My Less That Humble Opinion[/size]

 

[themadprofessor]

I work in the IT industry as well and we are a Dell shop. The Off shore call centres are pretty dire, however these are a sad fact of life as my bank, my ISP..... ETC ETC have all moved their call centres off shore.

Anyway the techs may be third party Banktec, Unisys - however my experience of them is fine. We just had a Latitude D600 with a broken USB port (ham fisted user pluggging devices into it) rang the helpdesk on Monday afternoon; the engineer turned up yesterday morning and had a new motherboard installed within 40 minutes. We have 3 year on-site maintenance on all our Dell equipment, 4 hours response on servers and next day on desktops and laptops.

Just my two pennyworth

Chris

 

[SOAA]

a tad expensive I know but I have used a 'Flybook' before now http://www.flybookshop.co.uk/showproduct.asp?pid=778#galleryanchor
They are absolutely amazing, the only draw back is that it doesn't come with a floppy drive or CD/DVD drive. Suppose you could buy an external one for it

 

[mikeh501]

Just got a few Dell D620 Lattitude laptops. Nice laptop. Magnesium shell, shock protection, splash proof keyboard etc etc.

You should get one with either Intel Centino or the new Centrino Duo which is faaaaar faster.

 

[Pressurized]

I bought a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo L1310 from dabs. Quite a good price, nice laptop. When I got it the battery was fully charged - they're supposed to come flat. The Windows validation was playing up as well. I think this 'new' PC had been sold before. dabs agreed to take it back for a full refund. Wonder who'll get it next...

I have just ordered a Dell, which I hope will be newer than the Fujitsu. Dell give you a lot of control over the spec of the laptop - CPU, HDD, RAM, Graphics, XP Home or Pro - all selectable. Prices aren't bad in my opinion. Customer service... hope I don't have to find out!

When you talk about power, do you want a games machine? If so, you need to get one with an 'off board' graphics card. The downside will usually be a poor battery life.

 

[SOAA]

Have a look here: http://www.lanway.co.uk/products/products_systems_results.asp?kw=pentium&x=0&y=0&man=all&cat=AB
We use Lanway as one of our suppliers for IT Systems at work and their service in my opinion is very good. They also have their own resident tech support team who you can talk to should you need any support with anything you buy from them.
Not too sure how their prices compare when selling to the General Public so you may need to check that but it's one other place for you to look at


Oh, a couple of things I'd suggest when looking for a laptop are:
Stay away from Celeron processors, they are very cheap cut back proccessors. Be looking at processors such as the Pentium-M.
Also be looking for Intel Centrino technology as that will allow you to use your laptop wirelessly on the internet at various wireless locations.

 

[Mike Werner]

For something that will survive any motorbike trip try http://toughbook-europe.com/

It's expensive, but ideal for travelling with.

 

[jonnie comet]

For something that will survive any motorbike trip try http://toughbook-europe.com/

It's expensive, but ideal for travelling with.

Agreed.........the computer guys here know more about spec' than I ever will, but we use these at work. They get some really serious stick, at all sorts of temperatures, and just bounce back for more.