Ideal laptop configuration?

by philg

After four years and a few drops my 500 MHz IBM Thinkpad seems ready for retirement.  This posting and associated comments are intended to produce a collaborative ideal configuration for a new laptop.


The mission:  Use exclusively when traveling, often for weeks at a time.  I would like to play music in my hotel rooms, ideally from built-in speakers but possibly from little portable speakers that are packed separately (I have a weird little AAA-powered Creative speaker system now that is sort of okay for background music).  I would like to copy large high-res photos from professional digital cameras, usually by pulling a CF or SD card from the camera and plugging it somehow into the laptop.  I want every possible means of connecting to the Internet, wired and wireless, except for telephone (don’t have an ISP and life is too short for dialup).  Battery life is not very important as I’ll usually be using the machine some place where power is available.


Here’s what I think I want



  • 120 GB (or larger) disk drive.  I upgraded my current laptop with a 48 GB drive nearly 2 years ago and am dismayed to discover that the largest 2.5″ drives available right now are 80 GB.  Was Moore’s Law revoked for notebook drives?  Anyone with inside knowledge know when/what the next step in disk drives will be fore notebooks?  I don’t want to bother re-installing all my old software onto a disk smaller than 120 GB.
  • TrackPoint nubby pointing device in the middle of the keyboard, as popularized on the IBM Thinkpad.  I was never able to adapt to those pad devices that are most common for laptops.
  • analog video/audio output to enable playback of DVDs on hotel room TVs, some of which have A/V inputs
  • reasonably high quality built-in speakers
  • as many USB 2.0 ports as possible (at least two because I’ll want to use an accessory mouse that will chew up one)
  • a built-in Webcam and microphone suitable for video conferencing.  Supposedly MSN Messenger contains a reasonable quality video conferencing feature.  Would also be nice to be able to make phone calls from the laptop in cases where a hotel provides high-speed Internet but expensive voice calls and/or the cell phone isn’t working in that area.
  • built-in sockets for CF, SD, and other digital camera memory cards
  • built-in 802.11b for sure, Bluetooth?, maybe something for mobile phone Internet would be nice, e.g., a GSM radio
  • at least two PC card slots for expansion and the weird little card burner that I must use to keep my airplane’s GPS databases up to date
  • mid-size screen and keyboard to keep the weight below 5 lbs. and the size compact
  • Windows XP operating system (most aviation software is Windows-only)

It might be fun to play with the TabletPC software in order to add sketches and other personal annotations to emails, documents, photos, etc.  Is this software ready for prime time?  And does having a TabletPC interfere with the other goals?


Ideas anyone?

54 thoughts on “Ideal laptop configuration?”

  1. Ive gone through maybe a half dozen laptops over the years. I would recommend sticking with IBM. Currently I am using a Thinkpad A21p (pIII850/30gb/15″ screen) and combined with wireless, it seems to be my primary computer.

    As far as hard drive space, have you considered carrying around an external USB drive also?

    Look at what video cards specs are built into the laptops you are considering.

    802.11b can be a pcmcia card.

    A webcam can also be some external usb device.

    Id try to get a 15″ screen so you can enjoy 1280×1024 but that might make it heavy for you.

    Also, dont forget a DVD drive.

  2. I would recommend the IBM ThinkPad T series. Certainly less than 5 pounds, two PC card slots which can take CF cards with a simple physical adapter (the ThinkPad X actually has a built-in CF slot, but no DVD drive), internal 802.11b.

    Other nice features include Gigabit Ethernet, up to 2 GB of RAM and a 1400×1050 14.1″ display.

  3. If I may completely disregard a few of your stated criteria, I recommend a Powerbook G4 running Mac OS X. You’ll be a Mac user within the next few years anyway, why put it off when you’ll already be in transition? Don’t fight it. It’s time to switch. 🙂

  4. I think that 5lbs seems to be a bit heavy. Once you have included the perpherials such as power adapter, mouse and necessary cables in the padded bag, it becomes quite cumbersome. I think the IBM Thinkpad is surely the route to follow, but via the X series. Granted, the screen is a bit smaller than your requirements dictate; however, I don’t think it is that big of a strain on the eyes and you can always plug into your larger screen at home. Furthermore, with a very small machine, you can most likely fit it into your standard carry-on bag eliminating the theft-prone computer bag. The end result is a single more secure bag with wheels that you are carting regardless of the level of technology. The great thing about the X series is with it modularity you can decide what, when, and where to carry the components.

    As for speakers, I suspect you want these for DVD movies. If you are anticipating plugging into the hotel TV (I would) why not simply also run the audio through these. Minimalization is key when traveling.

    802.11 (a)(b)(g) should be incorporated and not require the use of a valuable PCMCIA slot. I don’t want to have to begin upgrading a new computer the day it arrives.

    You hard drive size seems reasonable; though I don’t know that you will find much over 80GB in an ultra-thin unit.

  5. Nobody has spoken to the “built-in camera and microphone” item. I seem to remember that some Sony laptops were coming out with these as of a few years back. Did the idea never catch on? I don’t want to have a huge bag of USB junk to lug around (including a USB hub by the time I get it all plugged in).

    As for the Macintosh idea… I seem to recall that Apple had some of the desired features in early laptops, e.g., video output. But I just saw an article about how Linux has overtaken Mac in desktop market share. Being #3 in a market that really only supports one vendor isn’t a good sign…

  9. Tablets are definitely ready for prime-time, and are incredibly addictive. Word of caution, however: most are pretty small, so they tend to have slower processors. Don’t skimp on CPU.

    Another warning: my boss has a Compaq TC-1000. It’s a beautiful design (guess: done by the iPaq people, not the laptop people), but it has a Transmeta processor. That CPU is junk. Slow as hell, bogs down at the slightest hint of heavy work. My 300MHz Celeron is faster.

  10. Except Mac users are willing to pay for software, unlike Linux users.

    Hence even though the Mac market may be smaller, it’ll continue to be more profitable to write Mac software than Linux software.

  12. I’m pretty happy with a toshiba a-45
    pentium-4ht
    1/2GB ram
    dvd r/rw
    s-video (convert to composite with external box)
    built in wireless
    4-usb slots
    (only) one pc card slot
    external monitor support(card supports dual-head monitor display)
    ethernet
    firewire
    memory card format that I am not familiar with
    harmon kardon speakers with bass boost

    It does not meet your requirements on these points
    no built in camera or microphone
    max 80gb hard drive
    only one pc card slot
    no bluetooth
    no nubby pointer (but I would rather use a mouse anyways)

    Also, this thing is massive, like 12″ by 13 1/2″ by 2 1/4″
    Pretty heavy also, and sucks up batteries really quick.
    I’m willing to live with the size and power usage because I run oracle and sqlserver as well as development tools on it. I haven’t had a chance to try halo on it yet so…

    A couple of co-workers went for the p-25 with the 17″ screen, seems like overkill tho

    HTH

  13. I would suggest you reconsider a Mac, those machines are very well designed and have excellent battery life. Granted, you wouldn’t have your GPS software and other oddball stuff.

    You won’t find very large drive capacity, but it makes more sense to have an external USB2/Firewire drive rather than a sinhle point of failure. You will need a backup solution in any case. Have a look t Wiebetech, they have some interesting “DriveDocks” that allow you to use 2.5″ or 3.5″ drives without the bulk of a full-fledged drive enclosure.

    USB Bluetooth dongles are inexpensive and easy to use, don’t worry if your laptop does not have bluetooth built-in. Make sure it supports 802.11g, upgrading a laptop that only has 802.11b is nontrivial because those daughtercards usually have proprietary interfaces.

    Also, make sure the hard drive is easy to access. I have seen many Sony and Sharp models where you have to disassemble the keyboard and remove the motherboard to access the hard drive, not an acceptable situation in my opinion.

    Only get a Pentium-M (a.k.a. Centrino, NOT the same thing as a Pentium III-M or a Pentium IV-M), those processors have significantly longer lasting battery life. The limiting factor on performance is more likely than not to be your hard drive speed, nothing much you can do about it. Maxing out on RAM can help by increasing the size of the buffer cache.

    For your USB connectivity needs, there are a bunch of compact and well-designed USB hubs available, I wouldn’t make a big deal about it.

    Look at after-sales support. Laptops are inherently fragile. When I look at my experience with my Toshiba (3 year warranty, support tech 2 block away so I didn’t lose 2 weeks in UPS/FedEx transit) compared to my colleague’s dismal experience with his Sharp, I am quite happy in retrospect. IBM, Toshiba and Dell have good support (albeit Dell has higher failure rates fo laptops in the first place).

  14. Just one quick comment, Moore’s law never applied for storage devices. It was designed purely for processors and chips. For the past 8 years storage technology has been increasing exponentially. That’s why you can now get an 8 gig CF card, and even smaller 2 gig SD cards. Consider a laptop with the new cardbus adaptor. The card readers are faster than Firewire (IEEE 1394) in some cases.

  15. If you are commited to the PC platform, stick to the ThinkBrick (that’s how we see them). It is the strongest travel laptop I have used in many years. My kid once stood on a closed ThinkBrick A Series and his 35 pounds were not enough to break it. I hate the eraser thingie but if you are already used to it then there is no reason to make you change.

    I switched to mac over a year ago, and currently use a Powerbook G4 Titanium. It is a great computer but it is very delicate. The paint bubbles and scratches too easily, and the Titanium flexes too much. One of my requirements for travel gear is that it has to be a bit ruggedized. If I have to baby it then it is not travel-worthy. Wireless reception is not optimal due to its horizontal wireless antennas.

    Before the Powerbook I had an iBook, which is pretty much impact resistant (the hard disk and motherboard mount points are mounted in rubber) and the case is made of polycarbonate. I dropped my iBook many times and the only result was it bouncing off the floor with no damage, cracks, hard disk crashes, etc. The G3 was underpowered but the newer iBook G4 (which has DDR instead of PC133) runs pretty much faster than my own Titanium Powerbook. It is very fast for media usage like downloading and playing with pictures and video. Video conferencing with iSight is a pleasure, and since the antennas are placed on the sides of the screen, reception is excellent.

    You are a programmer, so I won’t bore you with the boilerplate speech about the underpinnings of OS X. What I can tell you is that I am a Microsoft-centric programmer, and I have been more productive doing that stuff in the year and a half since I switched to Mac. There is a ton of Gnu software already ported over, and the commercial software is not bad at all.

    If you are curious about the tablet pc, the artist that draws Penny Arcade (http://penny-arcade.com) switched to a tablet pc last year and he loved it.

    My personal choice: If I am forced to pick a X86 laptop, it is going to be an IBM ThinkBrick. The model is going to be the lightest and most complete I can find for whatever budget I have. If I need a new mac laptop it is going to be a 12″ iBook G4, regardless of the availability of a Powerbook G5.

  17. I’ve hated just about all the laptops I’ve ever used except my current one which is a Mac Powerbook. I spend the workweek on the road about 80-90% of the time now, and the PB has brought the joy of computing back into my life.

    – Networking – wireless, ethernet, & even dialup for those hotels that haven’t made it into the 21st century yet. Can easily stash various configurations (i.e., some client locales have hard gateway & DNS IP#’s.

    – All the power of UNIX with the screen display prettiness. Terminal apps for all my remote server connections (including my own servers), can save settings and the gamma & antialiasing capability blows away what I had on my old Dell & IBM laptops. For someone with poor eyesight like me, it is a compelling reason to run OS X over Linux which I used to do the dual-boot deal with.

    – DVI/video hookup for easy projector/hotel TV use (though the TV in the room I’m in presently is “hardwired” together with no visible A/V hookup and I could not watch DVDs in this room.) Or I can enjoy the widescreen display (I have 15″ model) and play it on there. Have the firewire hookup for charging and DLing (and uploading) to iPod.

    – Still have the power of using M$ Office tools.

    – Understand about the nipple pointer deal as on most PC laptops, the control on the pad is terrible. On the PB, however, this is not the case and it’s very responsive and the best pad control I’ve ever used on a laptop.

    – Can run all of the GNU Linux stuff – there’s a package manager (Fink) or you can build it yourself. Out of the box, I have C, Perl, Python & Apache and it was a cinch to setup PHP & MySQL (or insert your favorite embedded server scripting platform & non-proprietary DB).

    – iLife application – iTunes w/small foldup speakers I travel with serves as a nice stereo replacement and suitable for hotel rooms. iPhoto, while not a robust app by any stretch serves my purposes for the digital camera I travel with (I have copies of Photoshop and Gimp on my PB too).

    – I don’t want to get into the OSX vs. WinXP argument, but for me, OSX wins hands down. Everyday I’m discovering stuff that my older Win patterened mind that makes me immensely more productive. From built in nice-ities like being able to create a PDF from any application running (even applications that arn’t Cocoa or carbonized) to hitting shift-cmd-L after highlighting text to pop into a Google page search results for that selected string (or even writing short AS that allow me do this for Wikipedia, pre-formatted blog entry with hyperlinked formatting and quoted text already prepared, image searches, etc…).

  18. Do you realize you can connect a lot of USB deviced by BlueTooth – the mouse is one such BlueTooth device, could save you on toting a USB Hub. Related subject: Anyone know of / heard about BlueTooth wireless headphones?

  19. Good to see that the Macintosh users are still happy but really MacOS is impractical for an airplane owner or pilot. For example the Garmin GPS units in my Diamond Star require a monthly update of the database of airports and instrument approach procedures. This can only be done via a special PC Card burner and software that only runs on Windows (because of the hardware interface it might not work through an emulator and you wouldn’t want to take chances with these data!). Similarly the flight planner software from Jeppesen is a (closed-source) Windows-only application. Competitive flight planning tools such as Destination Direct and Flightsoft also are Windows-only. A 1958 Cessa 152 and Windows 95… a match made in Heaven! 🙂

  20. There are a lot of discussions that can legitimately start out “MacOS is great, but impractical for [some thing for which lots of Windows software exists]”, but I’m not sure practical aviation is one of them. You can find flight planning software, GPS tools of several sorts built for Mac OS X, and more coming out often, and a number of users using macs in aviation. And in the worst case, run Virtual PC and keep your Windows software. The weird PC Card burning requirement might still be a problem. Perhaps if you call Apple and tell them who you are and what you’re wanting to do, they’ll give you a loaner and a team of their porters/programmers in exchange for a few minutes of your time for a switch ad.

  21. That flight planner tool looks great. It seems to be designed for people who want to enter in their own GPS waypoints and has no database of terrain, airways, airports, etc. It says “Why pay to maintain a database of a hundred thousand airports, navaids and fixes when you will probably use less than 50 in any given year.” I used nearly 50 waypoints in a single day last week coming back from London, Ontario to Massachusetts on an IFR (instrument flight rules) flight!

    The Windows flight planners have comprehensive databases because you need the data to plan a flight! And they know how to connect to the FAA-sponsored weather briefing systems and then parse the info that comes back to, for example, figure out what ground speed you’re likely to achieve based on the forecast winds aloft. The Windows flight planners also understand airspace and try to keep you from flying over temporarily restricted areas, e.g., when George W. comes to visit, and areas where the military practices dogfighting and missile firing.

    The Macintosh might be stylish in some NYC neighborhoods but the things that you reference wouldn’t even qualify as toys. You’d be a lot better off using Microsoft Flight Simulator to plan a real-world flight than any of the Mac stuff that I’ve ever seen.

  22. It is a shame there isn’t a Macintosh competitor to Jeppesen’s FliteStar, especially since Jeppesen bought the company (MentorPlus) who originated the program on Macintosh! I still have a version, and it works fine in OS X — of course the database is a few years out of date. I do use the current version of FliteStar in Virtual PC, if needed.

    John

  23. If you’re going to tote a mouse around with you (and every laptop owner does), you might want to look for a Bluetooth mouse, and a laptop with built-in Bluetooth. I’m a former laptop user, and always hated mucking with cables on the road. Plus, you free up a USB port in the process.

    Another thought is to use wireless for your disk needs. Don’t they make little things which are basically Wifi hard disks? Use it for things you don’t need as often. Leave the Wifi-brick-gadget in your bag.

    Or just get an external Firewire disk. Not as convenient, but fairly small. Lacie makes some good ones. (Up to 1TB, depending on how big a brick you’re willing to lug.)

    Your goals sound borderline-unreasonable, today, in a laptop — if for no other reason than you simply can’t get 120GB+ disks in that form factor. You’re going to have to cut back, or wait for the next generation of hardware.

  24. I also 2nd (8th?) the idea of a bluetooth mouse. But, More than anything, this post shows that Mac people have an irrational obsession with defending their toy computers. I don’t try to convince people to like the Bucks, I don’t try to convert people to my religion, and likewise I certainly don’t try to convince others to use Windows.

  25. >> But, More than anything, this post shows that Mac people have an irrational obsession with defending their toy computers.

    Huh?

    My PB powers my business – I have all the office applications, plus a full working UNIX environment that lets me access work servers and personal servers, run Apache + relational DB + scripting in a much prettier display (with my failing eyesight is very important). Hardly a toy computer…

  26. Mine is my business too. MS Office suite plus terminal services to manage all our windows servers. Add to that a ton of perl filters that save us over 40 man hours every week. On top of that I get a full Unix environment so whenever I am stuck there is usually a gnu tool that can help me (plus the mac shareware world is very rich, and the apps are usually dirt cheap). On any given work day, my only worries are that any of the few Microsoft-for-Mac apps that I use will crash at the wrong time. I never have to worry about the stability of OS X itself or of BBEdit Pro 7.0.

    I refused to get into a mac v. xp argument in my original reply because Phil has a rich unix history, he does not need a lecture from me on which OS is better for *his* needs. I still try to recommend macs whenever it is reasonable, but this is not one such opportunity: what Phil needs is a ruggedized X86 laptop since there is at least one thing he does that a virtual pc will no cut it for the task.

    Plus what the hell, he is semi-retired, he has time to keep XP patched properly 😛

  27. “My Macintosh was a friendly little toy computer …I was a reasonably happy camper until I connected my Mac to the Internet and watched various network applications shoot each other in the knees.” From http://philip.greenspun.com/wtr/microsoft-achiever.html Face it, you guys are as bad as Jehova’s Witnesses. Anyone here have a tattoo of Steve Jobs on his chest?

  28. There is no laptop in the world that does everything on your list. And when you list “Windows XP” dead last on your list, it leads people to believe it’s least important. So that’s why you’ve had a dozen suggestions about ways to get 120GB on the road with external hard disks (it seems to be a top priority), but Windows XP is pushed aside.

    If you list a bunch of incongruous requirements, people are going to have to ignore at least one of them. I’d bet 9 times out of 10 they’re going to compromise on the bottom of the list rather than the top. If someting is so important to you, put it at the top of the list.

  29. No, Phil, a Jehova’s Witness knocks on your door to give you unwelcome advice. You hung a sign on your door requesting advice.

    It is a matter of religion for some people, and judging by your “toy” comments, you’re a devotee of Redmond. I do agree that a Mac will currently not work for a pilot because of the lack of available programs.

  30. Hmm… someone is spoofing me (this is the real Philip). That last comment about the Jehovah’s Witnesses wasn’t mine (the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t bother coming around Cambridge as far as I know so I would not have written anything about them).

    Ken: I listed WinXP last because I thought people would assume it anyway. Just like I left out the CPU and RAM because I figured that any laptop will come with some sort of CPU and can be ordered with adequate RAM. Having a Macintosh is good for convincing chicks in Starbucks that you’re a hip rebel, I guess, (see the movie Best in Show, for example), but it is useless for aviation and as far as I can tell the MacOS doesn’t help make it easier to achieve any of the requirements that I listed. PowerBooks don’t come with the TrackPoint device. PowerBooks don’t come with super large disk drives. Powerbooks don’t come, as far as I know, with built-in video cameras. The Sony VAIOs that I’ve seen are vastly more innovative in terms of hardware design than the PowerBooks. I guess the PowerBook is okay for a mainstream user and perhaps really good for certain specialized things such as video editing.

  31. On the trackpoint device – I hated the trackpad deal my previous Dell (before that I had a ThinkPad so I can relate to the annoyance) but on the PB it’s a hell of lot more responsive and I adapted to it quite easily wheareas on the Win notebooks I always needed to bring a mouse along.

    And I guess 80gig just isn’t enough space and XP is needed to run those locked-in proprietary applications. But iChat has built in webcam/audio capabilities though you have to purchase the camera separately. And the PB has a PC card slot, USB & Firewire ports. Don’t understand the appeal of a built-in camera …

    I don’t know about market share, but I see a lot of folks now with PBs and when I do my traveling service partner gigs, plugged into a projector, my classes + corporate staff get to see the elegance and all the powertools, quite a few have went out and bought PB after seeing OS X in action.

  32. Here is a unit that offers a built-in camera and microphone.
    It offers most of what you want, except nubby-mouse, only one pc card, no built-in bluetooth.

    it has the bonus of 3-usb ports and 6 in 1 card reader that Supports Smart Media, type 1 or 2 Compact Flash ,MMC,IBM Micro Drive, SD and Sony Memory Stick .

    http://www.mtechlaptops.com/specifications/mtechd400.htm

    as far as processor goes, I think that it is a valid concern to exclude the low-power processors in favor of a full on p4.

    I also understand the desire to limit the varieties of operating systems that I have to deal with. I’ve been using nt since 3.51 beta out of necessity and it just makes life simpler not to have to wander around an unfamiliar gui just to use an application.

  33. Phil: I have used my Mac for a lot of things, but I never realized that I could use it to convince chicks in Starbucks that I was a hip rebel. (Not that I want to be a hip rebel, but it’s nice to know about undocumented features.) Thanks for the tip.

  34. “PowerBooks don’t come with super large disk drives.”

    Nor do PCs, as you said yourself. If having only a wimpy 80GB hard disk is a strike against Powerbooks, it’s also a strike against every laptop. (I’m not suggesting you get a Powerbook.)

    I need to watch more hollywood pop-culture movies to figure out how I should be using my computer.

  35. Drive capacities haven’t gone up much in the last year, both on the 2.5″ and 3.5″ side. The good news is that right now, the drive makers are spending more time working on size, noise, heat, and power than they are on capacity. Some of the larger drive makers are consolidating their 2.5″ and 3.5″ product lines (so even desktops will ship with 2.5″ drives standard), and launching 1″ and 1.8″ drives.

    We’ll be stuck at about 80GB/platter on 3.5″ drives for a bit, but look for densities on 2.5″ drives to come up dramatically over the next 12 months. Buy your laptop today and upgrade your drive in a year.

    As to your requirements for a laptop, I agree with the general sentiment that Thinkpads and Powerbooks are the only ones worth owning. Listing a long set of features is just going to get you a kludgy, do-it-all but highly proprietary and hard-to-maintain laptop. You’re better off with a solid, well-thought-out, elegant base like the Powerbook or the Thinkpad, and then using BlueTooth, USB, and Firewire to get you card reading, videocamera, sound, etc.. As St. Exupery said about the airplane wing (and I’m paraphrasing), something is well designed not when there is nothing left to add, but there is nothing left to take away.

    Best of luck.

    Naval

  36. Philip,

    MSN video phone isn’t too bad, but how about placing a real phone call from anywhere you have an internet connection?

    Check out http://www.asterisk.org/ which is the free Linux server software you’d need to put on your home server. A voice modem you probably have lying around the house somewhere should work to connect to your phone line, but a real card costs $99, so that is probably better.

    Then use http://www.virbiage.com/firefly/ to connect to your server and place calls, either to other friends on your network, or to a nomal phone via the analog card.

    I’ve been doing PC to PC over ADSL and it sounds and works great, no delay on the line or breaking up, even from one ADSL to server (also on ADSL) to another ADSL line.

  37. Let us know if you find a neat Tablet PC setup for aviation. After using every marine navigation system for PCs on the market, I’ve finally settled on Maptech Pocket Navigator on an iPaq. A Tablet PC running Pocket Navigator would be essentially the same thing as a $4000 big screen dedicated chart plotter, but be able to do other PC stuff as well.

  38. Although the Mac seems to have been eliminated, one observation: I’ve used Virtual PC 95 and XP, and if you can get away with an older OS, 95 was really perky, while XP was really slow. Both had what seemed to be excellent peripheral support, but I don’t know whether USB or Firewire PC card readers are available.

    I would really avoid the Sony VAIO, which is what I use for stuff I can’t use a Mac for (SAP, and a DB design program). In Japan, where I live, Vaios are really cheap at discount, and some of them are nice, although some are too tricked out, and they all are too tied into Sony’s proprietary storage sticks and stuff. The main problem with Sony Vaios (and digital cameras and anything) is battery life, which is short in the specs and about half as long in real life. The batteries are proprietary, shaped to the shape of the notebook, and change with each 3-month Sony product cycle. You quickly can’t buy them in shops, but have to mail order them. They are expensive, really expensive. The AC adapters are expensive. They change with each product cycle too (the actual plug will change). Isn’t this an anti-trust violation? Also, the other peripherals are really, really expensive. The CD-ROM player was four times the cost of a third party player (I got a tiny Vaio with no built-in CD). I fought the cheaper third party CD player. Guess what? If you’re Vaio goes screwy, the Vaio only tries to reboot from the official Sony CD; it doesn’t understand anything else. You need to make a floppy to boot from, install the third-party CD software, and then load your recovery disk. The whole Sony system is designed to get you to buy the cheap laptop, and then spend a fortune on other Sony crap. Finally, the Vaios have a bad reputation for breaking and being shoddily built. This is probably more that they are pushing the envelope on miniturizing stuff and using tricky manufacturing techniques than shoddy manufacturing, but still, they are not sturdy. Find out when the warranty is up, and then send it in one month before that, claiming the keyboard sticks (and anything else you can think of) even if it’s not true, just to get them to look it over and repair anything that is going bad. All in all though, I would avoid Sony.

  39. I would agree with the others that ThinkPads are the best PC hardware. Good luck getting most of what you want in under 5 pounds! An 80GB built-in disk and a 40GB Ipod would give you 120GB.

    If I were getting a PC laptop, I would consider trying to run Windows Server 2003 on it. Microsoft claims that is their first operating system written after they discovered “security”. And use a non-MS browser & email client. I wonder if the aviation software would run under W2k3? Suspect it would.

    I was very fortunate to talk a prof here into using some grant money to buy ‘us’ a 12″ Powerbook. I support the Windows computers here in the department and don’t much like MS. Haven’t had lots of time on the Powerbook yet, still trying to decide if it is just a cult. Maybe you could try one, and keep your old PC just for the required aviation apps? Guess that would be a nuisance, trying to travel with two.

  40. The only good laptops I’ve ever used have been made by IBM, Apple, and Fujitsu.

    Everything else has been a piece of crap, Sony included.

  41. IBM ThinkPad X series (ultra-light, no internal DVD) has built-in microphone. It also has a connector at the top center of the screen where you can attach a special IBM webcam. I’ve never tried this, but I’m looking at the slot right now.

  42. the answer is simple. a mac

    per comment on webcam – a USB device would be too slow. firewire equipped laptop is a must. use FW port for cam if not built in. then you definitely want blue tooth. get a wireless bluetooth mouse. no need for dangles or to be tethered by such things as chords (tails) of mice. IBM announced recently 100-120 GB drives. Expect them on laptops this spring. Too bad about the aviation software. but maybe opt for Microsoft’s updated version of Virtual PC and get a real laptop – an apple powerbook. it has everything you want plus the rear lit keyboard, a superior LCD and the best os for consumers available. it’s that damn aviation software you’ve got to content with… but not insurmountable with VPC.

  43. the answer is simple. a mac

    per comment on webcam – a USB device would be too slow. firewire equipped laptop is a must. use FW port for cam if not built in. then you definitely want blue tooth. get a wireless bluetooth mouse. no need for dangles or to be tethered by such things as chords (tails) of mice. IBM announced recently 100-120 GB drives. Expect them on laptops this spring. Too bad about the aviation software. but maybe opt for Microsoft’s updated version of Virtual PC and get a real laptop – an apple powerbook. it has everything you want plus the rear lit keyboard, a superior LCD and the best os for consumers available. it’s that damn aviation software you’ve got to content with… but not insurmountable with VPC.

  44. the answer is simple. a mac

    per comment on webcam – a USB device would be too slow. firewire equipped laptop is a must. use FW port for cam if not built in. then you definitely want blue tooth. get a wireless bluetooth mouse. no need for dangles or to be tethered by such things as chords (tails) of mice. IBM announced recently 100-120 GB drives. Expect them on laptops this spring. Too bad about the aviation software. but maybe opt for Microsoft’s updated version of Virtual PC and get a real laptop – an apple powerbook. it has everything you want plus the rear lit keyboard, a superior LCD and the best os for consumers available. it’s that damn aviation software you’ve got to content with… but not insurmountable with VPC.

  45. People talk about Bluetooth mice, etc. One of the advantages of USB devices is that they can suck power from the USB cable. If I were to get Bluetooth devices instead wouldn’t I have to carry about a huge bag of spare batteries and/or custom chargers?

  46. Bluetooth mice are very power frugal; You can find models that run for a few months on a single pair of AAs. Even if they die while you’re on the road, you’ll be able to buy another pair in most places. If you’re going someplace where that isn’t possible, well, a pair of AAs will take up far less space and produce less clutter in your bag than a coiled up USB mouse cable. Or you can just plan on falling back to the built-in pointing device if the batteries die.

    I don’t think anyone has suggested Bluetooth for other devices, though; I certainly wouldn’t. At 1/10th the speed of USB 1.1, Bluetooth is way too slow to be the primary solution for any task that involves transfer of large quantities of data.

    Add my voice to the ‘Thinkpad or Powerbook’ chorus. While I’m happy with my 12″ PowerBook, I do think IBM makes some really nice laptops, easily the best on the X86 side. I don’t know of any Vaio owners who are happy with their purchase. And the Dell laptops I’ve used or dealt with were all falling apart within a year.

  47. a few odds & ends:
    1) thinkpads are the primary users of the button mouse. nearly everyone else, afaik, has trackpads.
    2) if you want a huge disk, probably the best you can do is to order a dell (not sure about other makers) model that holds more than one HD. IIRC, there’s a Dell you can put 3 HDs in–one built-in and two in optional bays, which can hold optical drives, batteries, or HDs.
    3) the built-in camera is mostly a Sony thing.
    So, buy 3 notebooks or change your requirements. 🙂
    4) PS – I like tablets, but they’re primarily useful if you’re in lots of meetings and actually take lots of hand-written notes. I find I can take notes as fast as someone else can speak, but writing full sentences as the speed of my own thought (i.e., composing emails) is a task much better suited to a keyboard. otherwise, the trade-offs (small screen top among them) are not worth it. I’ll also second someone else’s strike against transmeta–as much as I want to like the company that employs Mr. Torvalds, a TC1000 with a 1 GHz Transmeta is dog-slow compared to a later TC1100 with a 1 GHz Centrino.

  48. The solution to your problem is, as you might have imagined, a Thinkpad. I would recommend getting the most recent T series (T41) since money seems to not as big a concern as it might be for most people.
    Hard Drive Space – As you might have figured out, 80gigs is as big as it gets for 2.5″ HDs, but there is a solution. Get the internal 80gig drive and then get the Ultrabay adapter for a second HD and either put your existing 48gig drive in it (128gigs) or buy a second 80gig drive to give you a nice 160. I know it ain’t pretty, but you certainly can keep your data/system seperate with those two drives. (Note IBM seems to not have correct information about buying an 80gig drive alone, just call them, I’m sure they will be glad to take your $499…part 08K9869)
    Thinkpad’s obviously still have the TrackPoint nipple, but just in case you decide you like the trackpad better it has that too.
    Built in S-Video and headphone (mini) outs. I use an external adapter with mine when there is no svideo available.
    Speakers – Obviously any laptop speakers aren’t going to be great, but I’ve always thought the T-series ones were smartly designed. The are on the front of the laptop angled down so the sound bounces off whatever you have the laptop on (hard surfaces work best).
    USB Ports – It only has a pair, but I haven’t seen many laptops with more. If you truly need more, you could use one of your precious CardBus slots for a USB card.
    Microphone – Although the thinkpad does have an internal mic, why not use a bluetooth headset? The quality will be far better and you can share it between your phone and your laptop.
    Webcam – My thinkpad has an ultraport connector at the top to which you can attach a the Ultraport Camera II. I’ve never used it, but the placement at the top of the screen seems good to me and it is small enough that you could leave it attached all the time without it causing too much trouble. No dangly cables and such. I can’t tell if the T41 has an ultraport…it looked like it did in the 3D view, but you’d need to call and ask. If it doesn’t have that port, your stuck in the same boat as almost every other laptop, with a ineligant camera with cables.
    Memory Card slots – The T series doesn’t have an internal slot, but would you consider keeping a PC Card adapter like this one so you could do SD/MMC/SmartMedia/Memory Stick. This wouldn’t let you do CompactFlash, but you could get a PC Card->CompactFlash adapter as well if you needed it.
    Wireless – Built in bluetooth and a 802.11a/b/g combo MiniPCI card. Or, just like with any laptop, you could buy a GSM or Sprint PCS PC Card and use that.
    2 PC Card slots.
    Display – 14″ with either 1024×768 or 1400×1050.

    Although this doesn’t meet all your criteria, I think it comes pretty close (especially if the T41 does have an UltraPort for the camera.) According to the website, you should be able to do all this for under five grand. With the DVD/CDRW combo drive in, it weighs in at 4.9lbs. The second HD would add a little bit to that and depending on how you use it you might find it a hassle to have a second drive, but personally I find I use my optical drive for little other than playing back CDs and DVDs and would just leave in the second HD most of the time anyways. Of course, YMMV. Others have stated it, but I must remind you that another laptop might have more features than a Thinkpad, but you won’t care about the features if it ever breaks. From my personal experience (Thinkpad T21/T22/T23/T31) Thinkpads are built like tanks and just don’t break, and if they do, IBM fixes them. Fast.

    Best of luck finding a laptop.

  49. short note: IBM with 80GB disk is really 75GB, and then 5GB are taken by a ‘hidden’ partition used for preinstall / recovery. so you end up with only 70GB for windows (total space, not free space).

    in order to get back those precious 5GB, you need to reset your bios settings and reformat your whole drive, reinstall all drivers (>100MB of drivers!) (one long enjoyable afternoon…)

    except that, best laptop.

  50. I am very happy with my Toshiba 3500 TabletPC (and would be even happier with an M200, had money not been an issue), but I definitely second the advice that you get IBM T41 plus bluetooth mouse plus external firewire/USB2.0 combo for your needs.

    One thing about bluetooth though: it is rilly nice, but it interferes with wifi when using both at the same time.

  51. Phil, your spec really seems extensive and cannot go around with the fact that aviation sw is only available on MS.

    However sharing my recent laptop experience: I wanted to have something that works for home use: basic comms, some graphics&pics work, writing. Definitely not MS (been there, done that) and as for Linux – well there

  53. I think the Ibm T-23 Laptop’s Sucks big time.
    If you lose your password Ibm will charge you $800.00 just to fix the system.
    They say they have to replace the system board. Even if your under warr….
    DON’T BUY IBM’S SHIT “AND IF YOU DO NEVER EVER SET ANY PASSWORD IN YOUR BIOS.
    HAVE A NICE DAY……With-out IBM …. 🙂

  54. Buy the IBM/Lenovo X 60 if you travel a lot (Which I guess you do). Dont waste your time on anything else

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