Laptop Adventures
Posted on March 14, 2006
I have been on a mission the past few days. My goal, is to acquire a laptop. It sounds simple enough, but I am probably far, too discriminating. (anal)
I go back and forth on what I want, at first, I was going to go cheap, just to get something, then later, upgrade. But, the reality is, I need to just bite the bullet and get what I need now. As I have mentioned, my goal is to leave the security of my job and do my own thing in the church tech consulting world, and anyone else who wants me to partner with them. I am beginning to get out there and it’s becoming more evident that I need to be more mobile.
Mary bought a laptop a few months ago for the same reason, she is getting busier all the time with her website business and her laptop has proven invaluable to her as she has gone out to meet with clients. That process seemed much easier than what I’m going through, that’s for sure. She knew what she wanted and she got it and as a matter of fact, she got a tablet, which serves her well. As I type this, she’s at Panera Bread getting caught up on some work while the girls are at gymnastics. The reason I’m sitting at home alone is…well, I don’t have a laptop! (plus I have some work I need to get done.)
Since I began this process being price conscious, I have upgraded everything about what I’m getting while still being extremely aware of the price. I’ve got a little money to play with, but I still want to keep the price down.
Basically, I’m planning to get a Dell Inspiron 6000 with XP pro, 1.7gb pentium M, 1gb RAM, 80gb hard drive, CD R/W / DVD, Intel internal wireless card, port replicator with stand and I think that’s it.
The only thing I am still questioning is, will I ever need bluetooth, will I ever wish I would have thrown in the extra 40 bucks or so and gotten bluetooth? I doubt it, but it’s still up in the air.
I’m not buying MS Office in any way, shape or form, I’m a big OpenOffice kind of guy and it’s free, plus it’s fully compatible. Everything I have listed above puts my final price at $1110, plus about $45 tax. (shipping is free!)
For a mouse, I’m getting the Logitech MX-1000 Laser Cordless Mouse.
Keyboard will be Microsoft Wired Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000.
As I reflect on my keyboard history, I tend to destory keyboards. That sounds much worse than it is, it’s not like I smash them or anything, it’s more like they die a slow death. I learned tonight you can spend a ton on a keyboard, but this one is less than $25, therefore that’s a much more disposable price, plus, the comfort curve rocks. It wil probably last a year or so. The mouse, on the other hand, needs to be quality and as much as my hand sits on the mouse, it’s got to hold up. My history with mice is much better. I look across my desk and the 2 mice on my 2 computers are both fairly old, in computer terms and still crankin’ away.
Mary has the wireless comfort curve keyboard and mouse and it is nice, but they burn through the batteries. That’s why I opted for the li-ion rechargeable mouse, no maintenance.
Is there any way I can get more for my money? CDW is my retailer of choice for most peripheral hardware lately, if you haven’t bought from CDW, you are not living, those people wrote the book on customer service. By the way, I have looked at Dell Outlet and DFS and I’m not interested in saving 100-200 bucks and losing a warranty. There’s value in going that way, but not for me right now.
The only other element in this equation will be a case, which I’m currently obssessing over. Once I settle on everything, I’ll order it all, although, I might order the kb and mouse tonight.
Ok, enough wasting time, time to get to work!
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8 Responses to “Laptop Adventures”
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Jim Walton is the leader of the Tech Arts Ministry of Fairview Christian Church. This blog is produced independently by Jim and it is his thoughts, his interests, his observations and his ideas. Anything expressed here is not necessarily representative of Fairview Christian Church, but it's likely pretty close! ;)
Ok, I have to tell you that your mouse choice is Numero Uno! I bought one for my wife and I had to go back and get one for myself.
I love the recharging and the base unit. The battery indicator is awesome and I have gotten no interference with mine. And as far
as being accurate, it is the most accurate and smooth mouse I have ever used.
Sweet! Thanks for letting me know that. That has been the easiest choice of this whole process. Wireless seemed cool but not the batteries, I saw this one and just locked onto it. It’s good to hear you haven’t had any issues with it.
Thanks, Philip!
I love my infocase … http://jpowell.blogs.com/jason_powell_church_it/2005/08/laptop_armor.html
Jim, as the new resident church tech guy (sometimes all it takes is opening yer yapper) at my church I’m on a similar hunt for a laptop for my Pastor, and if you haven’t already you need to keep an eye on slickdeals.net and bensbargains.com for deals on Dells. And remember hard drive space for backups is cheap, buy an external…don’t get too reliant on a huge internal drive in a laptop.
long time lurker, first time poster…great blog by the way
Veer
Jason,
I’ve had the infocase in the back of my mind since you posted about it, knowing one day I would be in the market. My only issue with it is that I was planning on getting a docking station and I know infocase does not play well with a docking station. Although the one I’m looking at only uses a single usb connection.
Veer,
Thanks for the tips on those 2 sites, it looks like I can for sure get $25 off and that is great. Great thought on the hard drive, I may bump that down and get an external, that’s another thing that’s been on my radar anyway. I do have 2 desktop machines that have about 350gb available, between the 2 of them, so that is essentially my external drives.
Decisions, decisions……..y’all are not making my life easier, you’re just throwing in more variables. :)Â This is good, though, exactly what I wanted, feedback from the real world so I don’t miss anything. I’ll let you know what I end up getting, it should be within the next week.
Hey Jim, I found this through Darryl Jordan’s blog. I agree with Veer…40 GB is plenty. I have used a Dell D600 for development for about 4 years now and I love it. Its only got 40 GB of HD space and its
been fine. http://www.slickdeals.net and http://www.techbargains.com are WONDERFUL sites. I just bought
a supercharged Dell desktop with 19″ FP for $830 shipped and I saw the deal on slickdeals. If
you search Ebay, you can pay $2 and get a $35 off Dell discount coupon and it works! As far
as bluetooth is concerned, skip the $40 because you can get a USB bluetooth adapter any time
and if you wait, you can snag a deal. I got mine for $15 like a year ago. I have a friend with
that laptop and its super sweet! Make sure you get at least a 1 yr warranty. $1110 seems too
expensive to me…if you can hold off a little, I’d monitor slickdeals for a killer laptop
deal…I think you can find what you want for around $950 with some patience.
Jim, this is my first time visiting your blog (found through MSN Search while looking for eBible invites). Great idea for a blog! Anyways, I think I stand apart from all of you at this point. If you’re really going to “bite the bullet” and need true “mobility”, get the new MacBook Pro. I just the bought the 15.4″, installed Windows XP for all my Windows needs and of course have the stability of Mac on the other side. Yes, it is pricey, but it’s like having 2 computers in 1. Also, the weight is considerably light @ 5.6lbs and 1″ thick…1 INCH THICK!. The features are grand (built-in wifi, bluetooth, webcam; back-lit keyboard, 256MB video card, DVD burner, etc.). Who knows, you might have a client with Mac OS standards instead of Windows. Blessings!
Jim, this is also my first time visiting your blog. buyforless.com is another good site for deals. Just FYI. Thanks and have a blessed day.