Need help choosing

Hello all and thank you in advance for you knowledge.

I would like to purchase a new laptop. I currently use a Dell Inspiron
700Mhz that my work was throwing away. I love it. Can't beat free.
Anyways i am looking at either a new Dell e1505 with the Duo Core
1.66Ghz or possibly a used laptop off of eBay like a 3.0Ghz model.

Here are my questions.

1. All I really want to do with this new laptop is use it as a second
PC, if you will, to my desktop. It will be by no means my primary. I
use my laptop when I feel lazy and don't want to walk upstairs to my
desktop. Anyways overall I use my laptop for chatting, surfing, email,
etc. I don't really game at all. But I would like this to possibly be
the last laptop I ever buy. I would like to learn some programming and
stuff but definitely nothing too heavy oriented at all. But I would
like some good speed and all. I am not into multi-tasking and all that
but I do understand the advantages.

2. I fully understand that the new Duo Core uses 2 processors. The
Dell e1505 will use a Duo Core 1.66Ghz. Now, my question here is will
this laptop run like a 1.66Ghz or will it run like a 3.2Ghz? Again keep
in mind I really don't care about multitasking and all that. I just
want to know what the difference is in the 2. And also is there a
difference in a Duo Core 2 as well? Would the laptop stay fairly cool?
Warm? Hot? Would it be noisy? Low noise? etc. These are the
things most important to me personally.

3. A used/refurbished higher speed laptop might be a good buy as well.
I fully understand the risks involved in buying anything off of eBay
but I have had nothing but excellent luck in all my purchases including
an old Compaq laptop which to this day is still being used by a friend
of mine to do all her college work. It's an old 366Mhz and she just
loves it.

The thought of a shiny new Dell laptop at their current price is quite
appealing, especially with the new Duo Core stuff. But I don't really
want a 1.66Ghz for that kind of money. I would appreciate all thoughts
and advice. My main goal is to get educated on the new Duo Core
processors. I am not interested in hearing slams on any product unless
it is well deserved.

Again, thank you all for your words of wisdom.

Please reply to the following email address please.

Iceman 6409 wrote:
> Hello all and thank you in advance for you knowledge.
>
> I would like to purchase a new laptop. I currently use a Dell
> Inspiron 700Mhz that my work was throwing away. I love it. Can't
> beat free. Anyways i am looking at either a new Dell e1505 with the
> Duo Core 1.66Ghz or possibly a used laptop off of eBay like a 3.0Ghz
> model.
>
> Here are my questions.
>
> 1. All I really want to do with this new laptop is use it as a second
> PC, if you will, to my desktop. It will be by no means my primary. I
> use my laptop when I feel lazy and don't want to walk upstairs to my
> desktop. Anyways overall I use my laptop for chatting, surfing,
> email, etc. I don't really game at all. But I would like this to
> possibly be the last laptop I ever buy. I would like to learn some
> programming and stuff but definitely nothing too heavy oriented at
> all. But I would like some good speed and all. I am not into
> multi-tasking and all that but I do understand the advantages.
>
> 2. I fully understand that the new Duo Core uses 2 processors. The
> Dell e1505 will use a Duo Core 1.66Ghz. Now, my question here is will
> this laptop run like a 1.66Ghz or will it run like a 3.2Ghz? Again
> keep in mind I really don't care about multitasking and all that. I
> just want to know what the difference is in the 2. And also is there
> a difference in a Duo Core 2 as well? Would the laptop stay fairly
> cool? Warm? Hot? Would it be noisy? Low noise? etc. These are
> the things most important to me personally.
>
> 3. A used/refurbished higher speed laptop might be a good buy as
> well. I fully understand the risks involved in buying anything off
> of eBay but I have had nothing but excellent luck in all my purchases
> including an old Compaq laptop which to this day is still being used
> by a friend of mine to do all her college work. It's an old 366Mhz
> and she just loves it.
>
> The thought of a shiny new Dell laptop at their current price is quite
> appealing, especially with the new Duo Core stuff. But I don't really
> want a 1.66Ghz for that kind of money. I would appreciate all
> thoughts and advice. My main goal is to get educated on the new Duo
> Core processors. I am not interested in hearing slams on any product
> unless it is well deserved.
>
> Again, thank you all for your words of wisdom.
>
> Please reply to the following email address please.
>

What you need help with is learning to CROSS POST instead of Multi posting!
You'll find people a lot more willing to help you when you do things right.
And, it's easier and more convenient for you, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting

I would not buy a late-model used laptop. You will probably pay as much
as you would pay for a brand new one, and you would probably not get as
good a unit. In particular, unless you are buying a quite old used
laptop (like what you already have), you want one of these processors:

-Pentium M
-Core Solo
-Core Duo
-Core 2 Duo

(listed in order of preference, Pentium M being least desireable, Core 2
Duo being most desireable).

And specifically you most definitely do NOT want a "netburst" Pentium 4,
which the 3 GHz models all are.

The E1505 is a machine that I'm looking at also. It's a very good
choice with one exception: It has only "Express Card" slots, it has NO
"PC Card" (PCMCIA Card) slots. HUGE MISTAKE BY DELL. It also has no
other legacy ports (e.g. no serial or parallel port).

As an alternate, I'd suggest considering the Toshiba A105, which is VERY
similar to the E1505, but it has one PC Card slot and one Express Card
slot, a MUCH better configuration. Watch what you buy, however, as
there are over 5 dozen different configurations (Sxxxx suffixes) of the
A105 series (actually, at this point, there may be a LOT more than 5
dozen configurations, perhaps over 10 dozen).

Last laptop you ever buy? Only if you don't plan on living very long.
There is no chance that any laptop you buy to day will be more than a
toy in 5 to 7 years.

On the clock speed, you are comparing processors from the "Netburst"
family with processors from the "Pentium M" and "Core" families
(actually the Core and Core 2 were all derived from the Pentium M
design, which came out of Intel Israel). You can't make that
comparison. It's totally invalid. It reflects a total ignorance and
lack of understanding on your part. Forget inter-family clock speeds.
It's like asking how high a boat can fly. The Pentium-M based products
(including Core) are FAR superior to the Netburst family processors
(even for desktops, but especially for laptops where power consumption
matters).

While in desktops there is a HUGE advantage to Core 2 Duo over all
previous processors, in the laptops, there is not much difference
(single digit percentages only) between Core 2 Duo and Core Duo
processors at the same clock and FSB speeds. So Core Duo is ok
(although Core 2 Duo is still slightly better). Of course, if you move
up to the Core 2 Duo models with 4MB of cache, the larger cache size by
itself becomes a major factor.

I buy [and sell] a lot of laptops on E-Bay, but E-Bay works best mostly
for older models (about what you have now, and perhaps through somewhat
later (say 2004) models). For late model current state-of-the art
systems, you are better off just buying new yourself.

Watching for sales is critical, and the best time of the year is coming
up. As of JUST TODAY, almost any machine you buy will come with XP AND
a free or low-cost upgrade to some version of Vista. So you will get
BOTH OS'. Dell has some fantastic deals year round, but especially at
the holidays. It's very important to check out www.techbargains.com for
"secret" sales and codes. They are often running either 20% off codes
or $200 or $300 off machines priced at $999 and $1,499, respectively.
If you combine the deals right, you can get a loaded machine with
virtually every option for about $1,000, including a 4-year warranty
with accidental damage coverage. Last year, in November, Dell had a
coupon for "$750 off any laptop over $1,500" .... that's half off. I'm
hoping that they do that again this year. The key site to watch is
www.techbargains.com. These coupons are not publicized, as far as I can
see, except on that site. By the way, as of TODAY, there are not any
truly exceptional deals. But the holiday buying season starts imminently.


Pop` wrote:

> Iceman 6409 wrote:
>
>>Hello all and thank you in advance for you knowledge.
>>
>>I would like to purchase a new laptop. I currently use a Dell
>>Inspiron 700Mhz that my work was throwing away. I love it. Can't
>>beat free. Anyways i am looking at either a new Dell e1505 with the
>>Duo Core 1.66Ghz or possibly a used laptop off of eBay like a 3.0Ghz
>>model.
>>
>>Here are my questions.
>>
>>1. All I really want to do with this new laptop is use it as a second
>>PC, if you will, to my desktop. It will be by no means my primary. I
>>use my laptop when I feel lazy and don't want to walk upstairs to my
>>desktop. Anyways overall I use my laptop for chatting, surfing,
>>email, etc. I don't really game at all. But I would like this to
>>possibly be the last laptop I ever buy. I would like to learn some
>>programming and stuff but definitely nothing too heavy oriented at
>>all. But I would like some good speed and all. I am not into
>>multi-tasking and all that but I do understand the advantages.
>>
>>2. I fully understand that the new Duo Core uses 2 processors. The
>>Dell e1505 will use a Duo Core 1.66Ghz. Now, my question here is will
>>this laptop run like a 1.66Ghz or will it run like a 3.2Ghz? Again
>>keep in mind I really don't care about multitasking and all that. I
>>just want to know what the difference is in the 2. And also is there
>>a difference in a Duo Core 2 as well? Would the laptop stay fairly
>> cool? Warm? Hot? Would it be noisy? Low noise? etc. These are
>>the things most important to me personally.
>>
>>3. A used/refurbished higher speed laptop might be a good buy as
>> well. I fully understand the risks involved in buying anything off
>>of eBay but I have had nothing but excellent luck in all my purchases
>>including an old Compaq laptop which to this day is still being used
>>by a friend of mine to do all her college work. It's an old 366Mhz
>>and she just loves it.
>>
>>The thought of a shiny new Dell laptop at their current price is quite
>>appealing, especially with the new Duo Core stuff. But I don't really
>>want a 1.66Ghz for that kind of money. I would appreciate all
>>thoughts and advice. My main goal is to get educated on the new Duo
>>Core processors. I am not interested in hearing slams on any product
>>unless it is well deserved.
>>
>>Again, thank you all for your words of wisdom.
>>
>>Please reply to the following email address please.
>>
>
>
> What you need help with is learning to CROSS POST instead of Multi posting!
> You'll find people a lot more willing to help you when you do things right.
> And, it's easier and more convenient for you, too.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting
>
>

Barry Watzman wrote:

> The E1505 is a machine that I'm looking at also. It's a very good
> choice with one exception: It has only "Express Card" slots, it has NO
> "PC Card" (PCMCIA Card) slots. HUGE MISTAKE BY DELL. It also has no
> other legacy ports (e.g. no serial or parallel port).

IMVAIO, the lack of a PC Card slot is a good reason to eliminate it.

The legacy ports are not found a lot of models anymore, in fact I could
only find one model that has serial and parallel ports, as well as both
Express Card and PC Card slots, IR, and 1394, the Fujitsu E8110. It's
expensive ($1600), but it's the only laptop on the market that still has
a full complement of ports (at least the only one I could find) without
adding a bunch of dongles or PC Cards.

SMS <> wrote:

>IMVAIO, the lack of a PC Card slot is a good reason to eliminate it.

would this keep it from using an air card?

What's an air card?

If you mean a wireless networking card, that model has built-in internal
WiFi, so it's not an issue. There are "express card" wifi cards
available, but they are hard to find & expensive.


wrote:
> SMS <> wrote:
>
>
>>IMVAIO, the lack of a PC Card slot is a good reason to eliminate it.
>
>
> would this keep it from using an air card?

"Barry Watzman" <> wrote in message
news:45414f10$0$7010$
> I would not buy a late-model used laptop. You will probably pay as
> much as you would pay for a brand new one, and you would probably not
> get as good a unit. In particular, unless you are buying a quite old
> used laptop (like what you already have), you want one of these
> processors:
> -Pentium M
> -Core Solo
> -Core Duo
> -Core 2 Duo...

Well not everybody is interested in the above processors. I bought a
Celeron M 1.5GHZ just 3 months back with 4 USB port, S-Video, PC Card
type II slot, DVD burner, etc. And I am happy as pink. As it plays and
streams videos flawlessly and plays all of my high powered flight
simulator games as well. Using shared video memory no less. All for
$499! Why pay more than you have too? Everyone knows you can't hang on
to computers for too long as they become obsolete and can't run any
modern software. So buy cheap and more often.

--
Bill

wrote:
> SMS <> wrote:
>
>> IMVAIO, the lack of a PC Card slot is a good reason to eliminate it.
>
> would this keep it from using an air card?

Not sure what an "air card" is. All the laptops now have built-in
wireless, so it's not a big issue, except if you're traveling to a
country where you need a different WiFi card.

The biggest issue right now is the cellular modem cards. Elan has
created a booming business selling USB to PC Card converters, but they
ONLY work with Windows and they ONLY work with cellular modems (other PC
Cards are not supported). It's not a simple process to go from USB to PC
Card, and drivers are needed for every PC Card. Eventually there will be
Express cards for EV-DO and HSDPA, but for now they are not readily
available.

In the unlikely event that you need a serial or parallel port that is
likely to work with a bunch of older programs, then a PC Card slot is a
good idea.

The other issue with the lack of a PC Card is a niche market issue with
movie producers and editors. While you can still find plenty of Windows
laptops with PC Card slots, Apple has removed them from all of their
Intel based laptops. The problem is that the new HD studio cameras use
PC Card format cards for storage, an array of high speed flash memory
devices are inside (normal SD and CD memory is too slow). It was very
convenient to stick a memory card in and do editing. Now you need a
$2000 Panasonic card reader, to read the cards on an Apple laptop, plus
it's a big device (it holds five cards) that requires a separate power
supply. This omission by Apple has caused a lot of editors to abandon
Final Cut Pro, and go back to Avid, running on a Windows XP platform.
Some people have taken to running OS-X on a Sony Vaio, but it's a messy
process to do this.

SMS <> wrote:

>Not sure what an "air card" is.

An air card is a card for a laptop that allows Internet
access form cell phone towers and systems.

"BillW50" <> wrote:

> Everyone knows you can't hang on
>to computers for too long as they become obsolete and can't run any
>modern software. So buy cheap and more often.

Yep

That's gonna be my strategy form here on out

But cheap.... keep a year..sell on eBay and buy the
next cheapest thing on market