Laptop

[snowcat]

Now theres many of you clued in on these type things so I'm all ears, I want el chepo laptop, idea is O2 is doing mobile internet for £8ish for 6 months and £12 there on, so I can get a cheepy laptop to look up on t'ternt, parts, price lists, stock sizes, tech information etc etc directly from the workshop......

Would this sort of thing do the job, and would it stand a chance at running autocad, advice please, remember tho, chances of it surviving much more than a couple of years are slim

 

[Paul.]

I only have cheap comps for work as well, that will do every thing you ask for except maybe auto cad depending on which version, Vista has a compatibility issue with version 2005 and 2007, but runs 2000 and 2002 ok, Im looking at mobile internet myself for the workshop, and a customer of mine (who is not normally easily impressed) has recommended O2, so I may go for it myself after Christmas.

 

[excossack]

You can get some good spec ones on here
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Laptops/

 

[Archie]

Snowy, unless you really need to be able to move it around I'd think about a desktop. You'll get far more bang for your buck plus when muck gets in the keyboard (which it's guaranteed to) you can start again for a tenner whereas a replacement for a cheapo laptop, if available, will be pricey. Plus laptop chargers don't take much abuse and I can't see a trackpad appreciating cutting compound, coolant or whatever else.

 

[Mikey D]

Archie , you can plug a mouse into a laptop you know
i use a laptop and orange mobile internet when im working away, very handy but i usually only get a pretty slow conection but that is in the wilds of north wales (you are lucky to get a mobile phone signal in a lot of places !)
If i use the mobile internet at home the speed is similar to my home broadband .
you can check what speed you can get using your postcode , its not as if you are in the sticks tho
cheers mike

 

[snowcat]

yeah I have a spare desktop, but wherever I put it, unless I finally get round to/the money together building the new shop its going to be in the fireing line for something, so with a laptop it can be tucked away, also it will be handy to do running tallies on invoicing, so I can just take it home and print straight from that....

Id be interested to see how much cop this mobile internet is.....

 

[rtbcomp]

Half decent used laptops can be had for £50 ish these days, or for nothing on Freecycle or on a train at most London stations.

I had problems with a e-Machine desktop, they seem to live in a world of their own and there were compatibilty problems. If you do have any probs with a e-Machine, ask on the USA website, not the UK one.

 

[wyn]

Id be interested to see how much cop this mobile internet is.....

I'm with "3" and only use mobile broadband, it seems fine compared to a landline connection.

 

[Archie]

Archie , you can plug a mouse into a laptop you know
i use a laptop and orange mobile internet when im working away, very handy but i usually only get a pretty slow conection but that is in the wilds of north wales (you are lucky to get a mobile phone signal in a lot of places !)
If i use the mobile internet at home the speed is similar to my home broadband .
you can check what speed you can get using your postcode , its not as if you are in the sticks tho
cheers mike

Good point, smart ****!!!

 

[snowcat]

I was going to avoid S/H tbh, I absolutely loathe having to fiddle with computers, and my own experience is after a few years, the operating system becomes a PITA, so reformatting etc etc..... rather just have a cheepy new en that just needs switching on.

 

[Robotstar5]

Try Morgan Computers I've had good service from them and so have a few friends.

 

[alistairlee]

Don't know if the laptop you highlighted will run Autocad but I do know Vista Basic won't run CS3 (photo editing etc.).
Use a USB mouse, keyboard and a monitor and it will keep your laptop clean. More importantly though what are you going to use to backup your very valuable data?

Cheers
Al

 

[snowcat]

There wont really be any important data on there, I have Instant Invoice and excel running on this machine with periodic back ups, instant invoice can go on the laptop, and just have the database transfered to this machine, Its not the end of the world, say if I lost a month of invoices, as theres normally at the most a few a month as most jobs are fairly big... at the moment running totals are carried in my head, but that sometimes plays tricks on me....

USB keyboard and mouse sounds a good idea, how much are they?

 

[alistairlee]

You should be able to get both for less than £15 easily, from Asda, Tesco etc, wireless kit maybe a bit more but could be worth it.

Al

 

[simon718]

at one point a month or two ago, tescos were selling their wireless keyboard/mouse combo for about 9 quid, which was strangely cheaper than the wired keyboard alone... perfect as i wrecked a few keyboards around that time

 

[andypocock]

I recently went to mobile broadband so that I can work in the van while I'm waiting for the Mrs to look round the shops. My first thought was to go with O2 as my mobile phone is with them but the T Mobile deal is £15 / month and unlimited usage. The others had limits.

Have you looked at the laptop/mobile broadband packages? It might be nice from the peace of mind angle - any problems with either and you just throw it back at them. Just about any laptop available nowadays will do what you want.

Andy

 

[Bullyterrier]

Snowcat,
With a laptop, get the best you can afford. You can't upgrade them like a desktop pc. Try and get an intel centrino duel core processor, if you get a intel celeron it is considerably slower. Its the same advice really as what most people on this forum gives to people asking about which welder to get!

 

[Baz-Cem]

Went with my old man this week to a desktop frpm PcWorld, got a very quick one for £489.

The equivilent speed laptop was £1400.

Go for a dual core pentium with fast FSB and a big cashe ram. minimum of 2 gig system ram. This should see you right for a few years.

If you get basic one now it will be pants in a years time and not run the stuff you want to use it for.

Baz.

 

[madkayaker]

Panasonic do a laptop that's water proof. Seen a few in car garages if they can survive that they should last. Not sure about spec or cost

 

[zzr1200]

Panasonic do a laptop that's water proof. Seen a few in car garages if they can survive that they should last. Not sure about spec or cost

3 grand plus VAT for a CF-30 Toughbook......... and that doesn't include a cd or dvd drive they are extras.