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Laptop Get!
As you may well know, the laptop I previously used belongs to my former employer. When I resigned, I had to relinquish my possession of said notebook computer. My new employer has informed me that they will not be providing me with a new laptop. Due to sudden need, I have been forced to buy a new laptop with my own money. I am going to discuss this experience here because it is unlikely we will do an episode on it. Rym is generally disinterested in laptops and gadgets, so a show about it will not be pleasant.
As you may know, I am the kind of person who needs a laptop that is first and foremost Linux compatible. Secondly, I need a laptop with long battery life, small size and light weight. Of course, price is also a major consideration. If money were no object, I would order the latest hotness like the Fujitsu Q2010, aka "The World's Most Desirable Laptop".
After considering all the other factors, it boiled down to pretty much two options.
First, the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 or X60s. Both of these are small, have long battery life and are very Linux friendly. They both cost a little under $2000 all tolled. What makes these things great is that they are ludicrously fast. The X60s has an Intel Core Duo while the X60 has an astonishing Core 2 Duo at almost no extra cost! The X60 is however, thicker and heavier than the X60s due to additional cooling apparatus. The main problems with these machines is that their screens are 1024x768 at 12". That's great compared to my previous laptop which was 1024x768 at 15", but it's still a fairly meager resolution. Also, there is no interal optical drive available, so one must be attached externally.
The other choice was the Fujitsu P7230. This thing has everything the Lenovo has and more. For starters, it's much smaller. Also, the screen is 1280x768 10.6" wide-screen. That's pure hotness right there. It even has a modular bay which can hold an optical drive or an extra battery. The deficiency of this laptop also seems to be its strength. Where the ThinkPad has a super powerful dual core CPU, the LifeBook has the weakest and lowest voltage Core Solo available. This allows for insane battery life, but also means much weaker performance. Also, this laptop can only support one RAM module. Putting any more than 1 gigabyte of system memory in it is going to cost more than $400 extra. If you tell Fujitsu you would like 2 gigabytes of RAM, they increase the price of the machine by $850.
So what was I to do? I have two machines to choose from which have different pros and cons, but weigh evenly on the scales. The prices are also effectively equal. What do I purchase? I can tell you that I just purchased the Fujitsu P7230. I will tell you why. This laptop is perfect except for the possibility that it is too slow to be useful. See, a laptop doesn't need to be stupid fast. I'm not encoding video or playing 3D games on it. If it is fast enough, I will be satisfied. I called Fujitsu, and they have a fifteen day return policy. If it is too slow, I can get a refund. Unlike the LifeBook, the ThinkPad has irreversible problems. I know it is fast enough, and I know it has enough RAM. However, the lack of an internal optical drive and a low resolution monitor are doom. If the Core Solo in the LifeBook does indeed provide satisfactory performance for my needs, then it is clearly the superior machine. There is also the case in which the LifeBook is fast enough now, but proves too weak down the road. In this case, I can always shell out for a bigger RAM module when prices are lower in the future.
I know a lot of people out there are going to enter the laptop market at some point. People often ask me what to buy, and I have a hard time giving them advice. I always end up telling people to evaluate their needs and select a product that fulfills them. Some people just don't seem to be capable of doing this without someone holding their hand. I hope this anecdote provides some insight into the thought process of a knowledgeable computer geek making a major technology purchasing decision. When I actually receive the laptop you can be sure I will follow up. Please learn from my example when purchasing expensive technology of your own.
As you may know, I am the kind of person who needs a laptop that is first and foremost Linux compatible. Secondly, I need a laptop with long battery life, small size and light weight. Of course, price is also a major consideration. If money were no object, I would order the latest hotness like the Fujitsu Q2010, aka "The World's Most Desirable Laptop".
After considering all the other factors, it boiled down to pretty much two options.
First, the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 or X60s. Both of these are small, have long battery life and are very Linux friendly. They both cost a little under $2000 all tolled. What makes these things great is that they are ludicrously fast. The X60s has an Intel Core Duo while the X60 has an astonishing Core 2 Duo at almost no extra cost! The X60 is however, thicker and heavier than the X60s due to additional cooling apparatus. The main problems with these machines is that their screens are 1024x768 at 12". That's great compared to my previous laptop which was 1024x768 at 15", but it's still a fairly meager resolution. Also, there is no interal optical drive available, so one must be attached externally.
The other choice was the Fujitsu P7230. This thing has everything the Lenovo has and more. For starters, it's much smaller. Also, the screen is 1280x768 10.6" wide-screen. That's pure hotness right there. It even has a modular bay which can hold an optical drive or an extra battery. The deficiency of this laptop also seems to be its strength. Where the ThinkPad has a super powerful dual core CPU, the LifeBook has the weakest and lowest voltage Core Solo available. This allows for insane battery life, but also means much weaker performance. Also, this laptop can only support one RAM module. Putting any more than 1 gigabyte of system memory in it is going to cost more than $400 extra. If you tell Fujitsu you would like 2 gigabytes of RAM, they increase the price of the machine by $850.
So what was I to do? I have two machines to choose from which have different pros and cons, but weigh evenly on the scales. The prices are also effectively equal. What do I purchase? I can tell you that I just purchased the Fujitsu P7230. I will tell you why. This laptop is perfect except for the possibility that it is too slow to be useful. See, a laptop doesn't need to be stupid fast. I'm not encoding video or playing 3D games on it. If it is fast enough, I will be satisfied. I called Fujitsu, and they have a fifteen day return policy. If it is too slow, I can get a refund. Unlike the LifeBook, the ThinkPad has irreversible problems. I know it is fast enough, and I know it has enough RAM. However, the lack of an internal optical drive and a low resolution monitor are doom. If the Core Solo in the LifeBook does indeed provide satisfactory performance for my needs, then it is clearly the superior machine. There is also the case in which the LifeBook is fast enough now, but proves too weak down the road. In this case, I can always shell out for a bigger RAM module when prices are lower in the future.
I know a lot of people out there are going to enter the laptop market at some point. People often ask me what to buy, and I have a hard time giving them advice. I always end up telling people to evaluate their needs and select a product that fulfills them. Some people just don't seem to be capable of doing this without someone holding their hand. I hope this anecdote provides some insight into the thought process of a knowledgeable computer geek making a major technology purchasing decision. When I actually receive the laptop you can be sure I will follow up. Please learn from my example when purchasing expensive technology of your own.
Comments
Also, the regular Core Duo has circuitry that keeps a cooler chip:
In addition, the Core Duo processor introduces new integrated per-core digital temperature sensors and advanced thermal management. One advantage of this is that if a sensor shows that one core is running hot, the thermal system will automatically lower the frequency and voltage to both cores to cool the whole chip off.
I personally never have thought that it's worth the premium for laptops that are as small as the ones you are looking at. I don't mind an extra couple of pounds for a bigger screen and a cheaper price. But... that's a totally subjective thing - especially since battery life is not a major concern for me.
It really is true with laptops that you have to balance what is important to you. Bigger screen - shorter battery life. Lighter weight - higher price. And it goes on and on and on. That's what made shopping for one so hard.
Intel has always been the front runner in terms of making processors that are aware of their heat. Years ago there were these great videos of computers playing Quake 3 when the heat sink was taken off the CPU. When they took the heat sink off the AMD processors at the time the computer crashed and the magic smoke came out of the chip. When they took the heat sink off the Pentium 4 CPUs, the frame rate of Quake 3 dropped tremendously. The magic smoke didn't come out, so they put the heat sink back on the chip. This brought Quake 3 back up to full speed. AMD chips are no longer so terrible with heat as they used to be, but Intel is still way better in terms of making chips that deal with heat. I never understood why bigger laptops are worth buying at any price. The point of a laptop is that you can have a computer that you can carry around with you. What's the point of buying any laptop larger than 12"? They're impossibly large, heavy, unwieldy and have horrendous battery life. Desktop replacement laptops are even sillier. If you are hardly ever going to move the thing around, then get a desktop for a fraction of the price. There is a point at which getting something smaller and thinner becomes silly either because the price gets too high or because it is too small to be usable, hence the Q2010.
The only reason I see to get a large laptop is because you need to carry a computer around, but you are poor. Either that or you need to carry a computer around, and you absolutely need the high performance. Perhaps you are a graphic designer on the go? Other than those cases, what use do large heavy laptops with limited battery life have? Oh, maybe you have bad eyesight and need a bigger screen to see. That's all I can think of. I don't see how that makes shopping for a laptop hard. All you have to do is determine what you need and what you want. What I think you're really saying here is that you have no idea what you want or need. If you are unable to figure out what you need, maybe the real answer is that you just don't need a laptop in the first place?
Here's the product page.
I carry my laptop around a corporate building larger than RIT's entire academic quad (Scott can appreciate that). While others tote around clunky power adapters and wireless PC cards, I just kind of show up and use my computer. The weight of it is miniscule; it tires me no more than carrying a notepad. A small computer would do nothing for me.
Now, I don't walk around NYC. But what if I did? I have a carrying case, of course, which holds the computer, the power adapter, and any papers I might want to stuff in there. A carrying case for a 12" laptop would be only slightly less deadweight; you're still carrying either a briefcase or backpack, it's not like you can stuff it in your pocket.
The day they have PDA-sized devices with the full power of at least, say, a MacBook, with unfurlable 10-15" displays, some sort of full-size keyboard (holograph? unrolling plastic?), and a detachable mouse of some kind...I'll be fine with my current laptop.
Has anyone been able to use a high resolution display on a daily basis without scaling being an issue?