mattie_uk

Hi all

I attend a lot of meetings abroad (in continental Europe) and am getting a little bit let down by my old Dell laptop. The main problem is it's bulk, followed by it's poor battery life - I can't always rely on power supply at many of my meetings. A lot of forum members seem to be extremely knowledgable regarding laptops, so I would be grateful if anyone could give me any recommendations for decent machines.

After consulting the sticky post at the top of the forum, I'm afriad I might have to bend one of the rules slightly - I don't have a budget per se, however I can't spend extravagant amounts. Around 2000USD is perhaps the ceiling, although I'll find approval easier if it's notably less than that. Any more would require a significant justification.

The main requirement is portability. My Dell is heavy and bulky, so much so that my luggage is dictated by whether I bring it or not. Good battery life is also important, with quick recharging also a useful extra. Wireless and ethernet connections are a must, although a modem is not needed. I would prefer a reasonable sized screen, although there is room for compromise if a smaller screen will reduce the size and weight. Screen quality and graphics acceleration would be useful, although I would sacrifice lightening quick graphics for a sharper screen, Performance, quite simply, just has to be adequate - reasonable RAM would help, and decent storage would be useful, but ultimate performance is not essential. A DVD-writer would also be useful, but is not essential, although I would need a CD-burner at minimum. A floppy drive is, of course, not required. I have quite large hands, so a secondary requirement would be a good keyboard (again, not at the expense of size), and I have no real preference regarding the type of mouse (pad or stick)

In summary, I really just need a compact, lightweight machine with good connectivity, that will not let me down when in lengthy meetings abroad. As I have a reasonably good budget, decent performance would be nice, but not at the expense of portability.

If anyone can recommend a good machine, or even give me shortlist to browse, I'd really be grateful.

Many thanks

Matt

Prometheus

I recommend looking at an IBM thinkpad t series laptop.
short list of reasons:
-its a pure business machine, not too much consumer orientated bells and whistles
-fairly light, starts at 5 lbs+
-best keyboard I've worked with
-dual input devices
-t42 has good battery life in real situations, not sure about the t43
-custom options, im sure you could find a configuration that would follow your requirements
-con is it could get pricey, but i believe it could range from 1400 US before tax to 1650US so in your price range

here is a good review on epinions of a r series laptop
there are tons of reviews on cnet for the t series

other laptops to consider:
dell and hp (but their keyboards dont feel as nice but they are cheaper)

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chainzawz

You should check out Averatec it has a newly improved laptop part of the 3200 series cost about $1,000 USD and it weighs only about 4.2 Pounds! check it out at averatec.com

Apathetic

I'd go with IBM with all the reasons Prometheus. Its got good battery life, a full sized keyboard (I think) and light.