About 2 weeks ago, I mentioned in an off-topic post that I would wait a few months to buy a laptop.
Yesterday, I saw 2 different stores selling brand-name new laptops for $ 399 with no rebates or any gimmicks. I played the Vista Solitaire programs on them and they worked slow, but it was still a much better experience than XP. I briefly thought about getting one and just using it as a back-up device to archive files and to play with Vista a little more, but not for loading new games or business programs. One of the new features in the newest laptops is a slot similar to the a CF card, but smaller called a "Express Card" slot. You can currently purchase several gadgets for the EC slot. For example a 16 GB memory card: http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/04/TS16GSSD34E_1.jpg This would be like having a 2nd hard-drive in your laptop. ( pricey ) Or a cell-phone antenna card for surfing the web anywhere there is a cell-phone signal. ( they have USB versions of this now ) One of things confusing laptop buyers now are the dozens of centrino chips to choose from. If you have the $ for a new ( Windows ) laptop, you want to get one that says "T7200." This is processor is getting good reviews. The cheapest one I have seen was in an Acer for $ 1,700. The Intel sticker should say "Core "2" Duo" or "Centrino Pro" and not just "Core Duo." http://download.intel.com/products/centrino/pro/316888.pdf http://www.intel.com/products/centrino/pro/description.htm Of course, you could spend money on the fastest laptop processor, the T7600G See: Dell XPS M1710 ( fully loaded cost almost $ 5,000 ) No laptops appear to have a Direct X10 video card yet, which some are claiming is going to make gaming more exciting. But on a 17" inch screen, who really cares? HP is putting a HDMI slot on their $ 1,700 model, so you can plug it directly into your 52" plasma screen, and watch your HD DVD's straight off the laptop without having to own a HD-DVD player. In a few years, when these high-end laptops drop below $ 1,000 and Vista's kinks are worked out, I think you are going to see everybody walking around with a laptop, just like today we see everybody with a bluetooth ear-piece glued in their ear. By then, the PCMIA slot will be gone, just like the floppy drives. On a related note, I have heard that replacing Vista on your laptop and trying to load another program like the old XP is a major headache. Apparently, Vista doesn't like to be dumped? Wouldn't you lose important drivers specific to the laptop? David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
