Recommended Laptop, Accesories and Programs?

[Suz]

Although I would not buy something at Circuit City because of their return policy - check this out instead: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8221530

I'm with you on that. I just happened to have that link handy.

[Suz]

One more question: If I ruled out the importance of DVDs and CDs, would the Asus be a better choice for net access and email?

[Patrick M.]

Did I understand that constant WiFi can be a security issue?

I would not be concerned about wifi security as long as you are running a firewall and virus program, and don't connect to unknown wifi hotspots. (Starbucks - good; your teenage neighbor's house - bad).

[Patrick M.]

One more question: If I ruled out the importance of DVDs and CDs, would the Asus be a better choice for net access and email?

I am seriously considering (i.e., will probably) buy one of these when my rebate check is received, and my spousal unit will use it for, drum roll, net access and email at home, and I will use it for the same when traveling! But do consider the small screen size, weighed against the portability of it.

BTW, Costco has it via mail order so you could try it out for several months and see if it works for you!

[Suz]

Thanks, Patrick!

The thing that (I think) I like about it is its size. It doesn't look much bigger than my little dvd player.

Now to decide which one.

[Greg A]

My thoughts are that if you have a nice 15" wide screen normal laptop with a DVD RW drive, then you can add a TV tuner PC card, and you eliminate having to put a TV or DVD player in your rig. You get a computer, TV, and DVD player with one device and it's very portable to use outside the trailer on the patio, etc.

Just my two cents on laptop brands as I've been buying laptops for businesses for over twelve years, I generally stay with Toshiba, IBM ThinkPad(now Lenovo), HP business laptops (not consumer lines) due to consistent quality, warranty availability, and history of performance. I always get three year warranties that cover everything, and most business line laptops come with that. When you drop a laptop the most vulnerable parts are the screen and the hard drive. Good business line laptops have automatic hard drive shock protection and advanced screen protection built-in which is generally not available on consumer laptops.

[Coach George Jessup]

What about Tuff Books? Would they not be good for the ruff and rugged use in a camper?

[Roger H]

What about Tuff Books? Would they not be good for the ruff and rugged use in a camper?

They'd be a great choice... at $4,000...

Panasonic Toughbook 30

Roger

[Coach George Jessup]

They'd be a great choice... at $4,000...

Panasonic Toughbook 30

Yikes.... thats more mula than it take for me to buy and refurbrish the 5thW Im looking at.

figure I'd have to go used but still.... if it's that high from the start; used wont be reasonable either.

[Roger H]

I think most of the Toughbooks are sold to corporate interests and the military. They'll take life on an oil rig or inside a tank. They don't make much sense in any other application though. I've seen some used in police use as well, but for the money I can replace it about six times if they're broken. Just not cost effective.

Used ones ARE still outrageous, and by the time they're turned over they're such old technology as not to be competent in the world any more.

Roger

[Greg A]

A good business class notebook that I mentioned in the post above, I.E. a Toshiba Tecra A9 or M9 you're looking at a $900 to $1500 range nicely equipped.

[peterh]

One more question: If I ruled out the importance of DVDs and CDs, would the Asus be a better choice for net access and email?

Suz, if all you want is a laptop for web surfing and emailing, the Eee PC is a great choice. I use mine for all that and more (word processing, reviewing digital photos (the screen's too small and processor seriously underpowered for serious digital photo editing, but just right for sorting out usable and unusable shots), and lots of word processing. Just make sure you're comfortable with the smaller screen size.

And it might replace your DVD player, too. Some people are using their iPod with the Eee as an in-flight video player.

--Peter

[Donna D.]

A new article on Yahoo.. for what it's worth:
How to Extend Your Wireless Network's Range

[Patrick M.]

Finally got my Economic Stimulus Check, and thus the Asus Eee PC 900. Here's a couple of pictures (low light, and a little shaky). I have it running XP. Should be great on our next trip for scanning Streets and Trips, or Sat settings for Directv, and of course, web access. Could also load movies and run on TV with VGA input. Nice little (!!) computer!

[peterh]

Finally got my Economic Stimulus Check, and thus the Asus Eee PC 900. . . . I have it running XP

You'll have to let me know how the Eee running XP works out, Patrick. I bought one of the Eee PC 700 4G models that runs Linux, and have been really very happy with it; the 900 with its larger screen and bigger memory capacity would have been even nicer. I'm considering getting one for my son, though I was thinking Linux instead of WinXP; I just can't see the Eee PC's slower main CPU and graphics processors keeping up with the demands of XP or XP-centric software.

Reading one of the Eee PC groups I saw that someone had rigged a small solar panel on top of his backpack to charge his 700-series Eee PC so he can use it to keep a journal of his trek across America. Very cool.

--Peter

[Pete Dumbleton]

I was looking at the ads and in one case (may have been a typo), the 'hard' drive had less capacity with the XP OS than it did with Linux which I thought was kinda strange... A friend of mine travels by air often and HATES weight -- Got him interested in one of these.

[Patrick M.]

Greetings from the Malibu Beach RV park via my Eee PC 900 running XP. This XP is the lite* version, and takes up less than 2GB on the 4GB operating system "drive". The other solid state drive is 16GB for programs, pictures, etc.

XP runs just like it does on my other computers. One person claimed at 15 second boot time, mine is 50 seconds as I have already starte to load flosum and jetsum.

* A special program is used to remove excess baggage from XP before loading.