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« Forest Lakes | Main | RE: Which new laptop... »
Monday July 21, 2003

Which new laptop would you buy?

If you could pick between a new Dell Laptop or a new Powerbook, which would you choose? If performance was your top priority? If you were going to buy a Windows-based laptop, which would you buy (doesn't have to be a Dell)?

Powerbook Dell Inspiron 8500

Update: OK, I'm at the Apple Store, on a 17" Powerbook with 512 MB of RAM. Let's do some performance numbers. If you have a laptop that you think I should get, post your numbers as a comment.

  • Opening Photoshop (7.0.1): 13 seconds
  • Starting Eclipse (3.0 M2): 12.5 seconds

Posted in Mac OS X at Jul 21 2003, 10:11:34 AM MDT 17 Comments
Comments:

Matt, forget about the Dell and Mac... I just got one of these Sony Vaio's. The 16.1" screen on it is simply awesome, and that's an understatement. Yea, its a bit heavy, but it has everything and the kitchen sink.. firewire, memory stick port, comes with 802.11b card, etc. Not as expensive as the Powerbook as well. Also runs Redhat 9.0 like a charm :)

Posted by Pratik Patel on July 21, 2003 at 04:44 PM MDT #

Do you really need the 17" screen? I'm running a GHz PowerBook 15", and loving it. Runs snappy, and saves a good chunk of cash, too.

Posted by D'Arcy Norman on July 21, 2003 at 05:30 PM MDT #

I have the 16.1 Vaio and also highly recommend it, it is awesome. But if i am buying a laptop now i would consider the 17" toshiba.

Posted by Unknown on July 21, 2003 at 07:10 PM MDT #

Hmm, the Dell laptop I bought a year ago (1.6 ghz, 512 mb ram) opens photoshop in about 15 sec. I don't know about eclipse (I'm an intellij user).

Posted by Bill Lynch on July 21, 2003 at 07:25 PM MDT #

If you are interested in the Powerbook I would consider waiting a few months, especially if you are going to get the 15 inch PB. There will probably be an update soon to the at least the 15 inch PB. Check out rumortracker.com to keep on the rumors. :) Personally I am waiting for an updated 15 in PB which should reach speeds of 1.33 Ghz with a 200 Mhz bus.

Posted by Kurt on July 21, 2003 at 07:56 PM MDT #

On the PC side I would get this or this.

Posted by Erik C. Thauvin on July 21, 2003 at 08:44 PM MDT #

If you take a Dell, don't forget to buy an ear-protection headset :-)

Posted by Damien Bonvillain on July 21, 2003 at 08:52 PM MDT #

Erik - thanks for the links! I dig the Hibersonic ZX7. The way I configured it, no RAM ($300 from Crucial.com, and no OS, it's $3700. So $4000 counting the memory from Crucial. A good desktop-replacer for sure!

Posted by Matt Raible on July 21, 2003 at 09:38 PM MDT #

I have owned 2 ThinkPads. If I were in the market for a new PC-compatible notebook I would probably buy the T40 with the Pentium-M for decent battery life -- although some of the other models may be better choices depending on what you want to do... However, I am waiting for the refreshed 15" PowerBook.

Posted by anonymous on July 21, 2003 at 10:15 PM MDT #

I've owned two ThinkPads, a Sony VAIO (which just died (it was 3 years old)), am typing this on a 15" TiPB, and we just bought a 12" iBook for the kitchen. But, since performance is what you have in mind (I am guessing this will be a dev machine), I'd get a Wintel box. I love OSX, but I find that I'm still going to do my hardcore dev work on my Windows or Linux boxes. OSX is however my preferred "admin" machine (email, IM, some dev work, blogging, playing around, fun toys, etc.). If I could only have one box, I'd have an Intel based laptop, and it might be a 17" one, but if you have a desktop, don't waste your money and your energy with the 17". They're fancy and have high wow factor at the moment, but if you really plan to travel with it, even just a little, it's crap, get a 15". Bigger isn't always better (in fact, I nearly went with a 12" Powerbook instead of this 15", but my employer's standard is the 15" unit right now and it'd have been more of a struggle to get the 12"). I'd also do some different benchmarks. Everyone wants their apps to launch fast, but that's not where you spend your real time. Try compiling AppFuse and all your other projects and such and see how those times work. Also, just determine which OS you're more productive in and which simply feels faster to you (I'm going to guess Windows based on what I've read for you, and in my own perception of which OS feels faster). In terms of "cool" laptops, also check out the AlienWare one - especially with the Chamelean color!!! Rambling only a little more: in laptops, since I do my main dev work and such on a desktop machine, I go for light weight, quality screen, runs my email app of choice, good mobile and networking configurability (both Windows and OSX have strengths here, Linux blows in comparison), good keyboard, has all the ports and devices I want, but without having to add on weird things or use funky connectors; and good general mobile mobile needs (I like OSX in fact, because it can run Hydra, but that's a relatively small point).

Posted by Chris on July 21, 2003 at 10:49 PM MDT #

It kind of depends what you want the laptop for, even though you say performance is the #1 priority. I have a 12" PowerBook and although it's fantastic, it's a little slow for *full-time* development. Not seen the 15" or 17" in action but I've seen benchmarks saying that they are much, much quicker (extra Ghz and the L3 cache). If you want a *portable* laptop, then the 12" PB rocks! I just love way that everything "just works". Sorry, that's probably no help at all! :))

Posted by Simon Brown on July 21, 2003 at 10:50 PM MDT #

I have to say I agree - I have a 12" PB and would never go back (this is my third apple laptop). If you're going to do development on it, get a 15" or 17" - you can't buy a better Java development station. (Oh - except you use Eclipse and Eclipse is a bit sucky on OSX I hear - switch to IDEA anyway ;)) Once you go Mac, you never go back.

Posted by Mike Cannon-Brookes on July 21, 2003 at 11:48 PM MDT #

IBM! I had a Sony, and a Dell Laptop. IBM 15" monitor laptop has a model w/1400 x 1050 resolution. High res. is very important for editors like Eclipse. IBM has top service and is rock solid. (but I would not get a laptop. I just got 21.3 DUAL monitor 1600 x 1200, this way I have Eclipse in right window, and in left I have NetScape and Resin). As a developer, like me, you stare at a monitor for 8 hours a day, so buy something for your eyes. .V

Posted by Vic Cekvenich on July 22, 2003 at 02:20 AM MDT #

Hey Matt. I'd been using Dell laptops for some time and have generally not been pleased. The last one I had (an Inspiron 4150) was awful...it was always running hot and seemed pokey. I've recently switched to a centrino-based IBM T40 Thinkpad, and I'm really pleased with it. And the IBM prices aren't bad at all.

Posted by Robert Rasmussen on July 22, 2003 at 02:39 AM MDT #

Forgot to include eclipse startup time. IBM T40 1.5Ghz Pentium M 766Mb RAM. Eclipse 3M2 with an empty workspace starts in 8 seconds.

Posted by Robert Rasmussen on July 22, 2003 at 03:00 AM MDT #

I love my 17 inch powerbook G4. The architecture is such though that you can leave lots of stuff open and thus start up time is less relevant.. The speed for everything is more than plenty and I'm not known for patience

Posted by Andy on July 23, 2003 at 03:09 AM MDT #

For Wintel, ThinkPad T40 with 1400x1050 screen... yee-haw. Using IntelliJ on my T30 P-4M 2GHz is a pleasure, and the T40 Pentium-M 1.6GHz is supposed to be much faster, much lighter, much thinner, and with much better battery life. Most of my laptop-toting friends either own IBMs or Dells, and the Dell users have all experienced quality problems. Meanwhile, I have yet to hear of a ThinkPad letting someone down. The only complaint is they get "boring" after you've owned three or four of them. (I'm on my fourth one, starting to itch for a Sony VAIO Z1 or PowerBook 15", just for the fun of it.) By the way, a 17" PB may have a bigger screen but there aren't actually more pixels... I believe they're 1440x900? And the 15" PB isn't even close. Anyone have any clue what the future holds for the PowerBooks--I assume they can't just jam G5 processors into those sleek silver bodies?

Posted by Joe Cheng on July 31, 2003 at 08:54 PM MDT #

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