BRENNER_T@WUMS2.WUSTL.EDU (05/09/91)
I have been asked by my future father-in-law to recommend a laptop and would appreciate any input you can give me. He is retiring soon and will be travelling by trailer home around the U.S. for the next couple years in search of the right retirement area. He wants the laptop mainly to do simple word processing and spreadsheet input to keep notes on visits and keeptrack of expenses. Of course, he wants to spend as little as possible but has the money to buy whatever is needed as long as the expense can be justified. He has little experience with any computers. Since he is doing simple computing I can't see the need for anything more powerful than a 286 machine or more than 1m ram. I would appreciate suggestions on: 1) most importantly, this is to be a stand alone machine, so I am a bit worried about the integrity of the hard disk: how often do they crash in laptops and what sort of backup procedure should be followed (how often - some names of some good utilities for doing this?) perhaps use a tape backup? 2) much of the input will be done while riding in the pickup truck - what is the minimum quality screen to get (including size and display type) 3)any reason for bigger than a 20m hard drive? Thank you for your help, Tim Brenner WUMS Computing Facility BRENNER_T@WUMS2.WUSTL.EDU
tomm@hpspdra.spd.HP.COM (Tom Menten) (05/13/91)
| Since he is doing simple computing I can't see the need for anything more | powerful than a 286 machine or more than 1m ram. ---------- Your search is similar to one I'm doing for myself; I'd like to add another question: I've been advised that to properly run a windows environment (which would make the computer a bunch easier to use for an occasional user) it really takes a 386 at 20MHz. Otherwise the computer (and in particular the pointer device) doesn't keep up. Can anyone comment? (The same individual tells me to expect continued price decreases in laptops this summer.)
andrew@frip.WV.TEK.COM (Andrew Klossner) (05/16/91)
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"I've been advised that to properly run a windows environment
it really takes a 386 at 20MHz. Otherwise the computer (and in
particular the pointer device) doesn't keep up."
I have a T3100SX, with a 386SX at 16MHz, and the computer has no
trouble keeping up. It's a gas plasma display, not an LCD, so the
screen changes state quickly (like a low persistence phosphor). Mouse
cursor movement is immediate.
I love everything about this machine except the fact that Toshiba
service put in a hard disk that squeals at 19kHz audio, so now I can't
use it, and Toshiba won't fix the problem. (Wanna buy it?)
-=- Andrew Klossner (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew) [UUCP]
(andrew%frip.wv.tek.com@relay.cs.net) [ARPA]