Recommendations on PC

[Scott B]

In the market for a new laptop... wondering what the alphaholics recommend (and why)... thank you!

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Too many to choose, go for the highest spec that you can afford.

Think about how much you are going to carry it around. If you are going to use it mainly as a desktop then weight wont be too much of a consideration.

Personally I like Acer. Solid machine from a solid company.

[Scott B]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Thank you, Keith. The acer did get great reviews. Appreciate the help.

[Ted Giles]

Re: Recommendations on PC

I use Acer as well. Have one of the Aspire range.
Nice numeric keypad option and pretty quick.
No Microphone though for Skype so do you have a list of requirements?

Also have an EEPC Netbook for demos. Easy to carry, and not bad performance. < �200

Next purchase would be a Laptop with a SSD like I have on the D/t now. Loads Win7 in 15 seconds.
There have been a few issues with HP Laptops, but that may have been caused by the nut on the end of the steering wheel.

[TedBerry]

Re: Recommendations on PC

I was an Acer dealer for years in another lifetime. I was always amazed at how few returns we had. We often put 100-200 desktops along with 50-60 laptops in school systems with very, very few returns or service calls. I have 5 in my office right now. My Acer laptop is about 3 years old and it never has even burped. I like em, others may not have the same experience.

Ted

[DaveM]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Acer was one of the first to make rock solid sure they "matched" the parts that went into their systems. We new that many years ago and it was a "cheap to buy" unit. I have had no experience with their laptops. I have a dell lap that has been great(4 years) and a samsung that is NOT great(6 mos).

[csda1]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Hi Scott,

In the market for a new laptop... wondering what the alphaholics recommend (and why)... thank you!

My tips on Alpha Five Hardware Recommendations might help.

[Bob Moore]

Re: Recommendations on PC

For many reasons, all of my current development work is done on a Macbook Pro.

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB 1333 Mhz DDR3
OS: OSX Lion 10.7.2

For my Alpha Development work I run Parallels Desktop 7 for the Mac and have setup a virtual machine running Windows 7 Home Edition with 2 CPU's and 4GB of RAM.

Performance is stunning.

With over 30 years in this business, I demand the best and IMHO Apple's OS, hardware, documentation, physical designs and support simply blow away anything else out there.
Nothing even comes close.

If you can afford it .. the Mac is worth a very serious look.
Beware .. once you head down this route you'll end up replacing all of the PC's with Macs!

[TedBerry]

Re: Recommendations on PC

We tried that - didn't see the performance gain. The graphics were nice though...


I am editing this to explain our experience.

Bob,

We had a rep from our local Apple/Mac store come in and setup a number of MacBook Pros for us. We had them for 5 days. There was a performance gain, but in the end we couldn't justify somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40 percent difference in the cost of the machines. We stayed with what he had. I have associates/friends that have them and are like you - they won't even talk about anything else. I just couldn't justify the difference in price for 8 to 10 machines. I have often thought of buying one for my personal laptop. Anyway, have a very happy holiday season.

Ted

Ted

[Ted Giles]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Apple is nice kit but too expennsive and the trade of ain't that great.
Too many compromises with M/soft apps etc.

[DaveM]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Were I going to buy a new computer today, I would do the same as last time and build it. (In affordability)Get the best asus board with sound card, bluetooth, 4 processors, video card, modem, a really good hard drive with plenty of space, as much memory as I can afford, a new case(comes with power supply), a really good dvdrw, cdrw drive and go put it together. Definitely windows 7.

It worked for me many times in the past and have no doubt it will happen again. My current work horse is 5 years old with one HD failure and still faster than most anything I could afford for the money.

I like anything I use to be MORE than sufficient for alpha, but I also do a lot of stuff that requires much more computer than alpha requires.

[StevenMcLean]

Re: Recommendations on PC

I have been Using HP Elitebooks, they are "Business Class" machines for a while with good sucess. My current lptop is a Elitebook 8560W i7 Quad Core 16GB Ram, 750GB HD, nVidia 2GB video. Very fast, great graphics and decent battery life (for the power). My only complaint it the weight. I tried the Macbook Pro / Fusion route a few years back. Was not all that impressed. Did not see an upside there are memory restrictions on the VM.

[davej]

Re: Recommendations on PC

I found out (the hard way) that if you assemble your own system, one slight mistake can translate into significant extra expense. To eliminate personal errors, I use CompUSA.

If you are close enough to a brick and mortar location, you can wander around and pick and choose to your heart's content; if not, their website is easy to navigate and helpful. They have all the components (CPUs, motherboards, video, RAM, cases, etc.) that you could possibly want (or need), their prices are reasonable and they stand behind their work.

Dave

[DaveM]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Dave,

I been doing it since the 1970's. It is just not that hard for me and I know where to go for the parts and some timely advice. Also most parts are more compatible today than they were a few years ago.

Good luck, however you do it.

[Keith Hubert]

Re: Recommendations on PC

Hi Guys,

In the market for a new laptop

I cant see Scott building his own laptop!!!!