7 replies to this topic

[kdog]

 Have been pondering purchase of a Laptop to store service info on (too much paper,fast and furious) and have looked into a few, I like hp, also like compaq presario - gateway is an attractive competitor price wise.

Just some thing to basically store service bulletins, service manuals etc. will equip it with a bit of pizzaz such as wireless net access, If it's gonna be a computer, might as well be able to use it for such at the same time.

I will value your opinions, Thanks in advance

Kdog

[denrayr]

if you are going to use it on the road stay away from one with a glossy screan. Most laptops are built cheap so my theory is to buy a cheap one and replace it every other year. I had a real nice dell with a warranty that i had to have the hinges replaced on, but it was stolen. Now i am rocking an acer that i picked up at walmart a year and a half ago for about $500, I like it other than the glossy screen. i upgraded the ram for about $100 and its been great.

[RegUS_PatOff]

one thought  ... spray paint (part of) the case yellow (or something) ...

no one will want to steal it .. (can't hardly pawn it... )

works well with new Stainless Steel Barbecue Gas Grill..  spray paint some color ... some brown, black... etc..

[kdog]

That's great advice Reg, I currently do that with some of my tools (drill, heatgun, pullers etc) and it works great! splash some graffitti on it and it loses it's charm, but still does the job just fine. I never considered doing that to the laptop, but yeah, would have the same effect

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Stay away from Windoze. You know what they say, "Once you go Mac, you'll never go back."

[Aermeister]

Speaking of theft prevention tricks, I was talking to Jasper the Potter as he packed up his pots and clay etc. after an old-timey-crafts demonstration thingy. Inside his authentic period white canvas wall tent were hidden the heavy duty plastic boxes he hauls his wares in. But among said boxes was a plastic bucket of the sort kitty litter is sold in, still prominently labeled as such. I asked what he used the kitty litter for. Jasper looked around to see if anyone else was listening, then told me in a conspiratorial whisper, "That's my camera case. I've had several cameras stolen, but never since I started using this for the case."

[Pele]

If it's just for manuals and such in PDF form, it shouldn't need a whole lotta computing power, however you might want to have something durable.

I have a laptop for when I work on cars.

I scored a lightly used Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 offa eBay for a few hundred bucks. Waterproof keyboard, solid magnesium case, shock resistant.

It's not gonna play hardcore video games, but when I wanna adjust a Air/Fuel ratio or reprogram an ignition advance curve and go for a drive to test the tuning, I won't worry about hitting the brakes and having it fly into the dashboard... I don't worry about my greasy fingers ruining it or splashing coolant on it either.

[Dan Webster]

Best Buy will augment its holiday computing selection for Black Friday with a first-ever, value-priced HP laptop. Available for $197 in-store beginning Friday, Nov. 27, the HP laptop features an Intel Celeron 900 processor, 2GB memory and a 160GB hard drive. It will be featured in Best Buy Black Friday preview ads breaking today, and airing on network and cable television through Nov. 26.