From: jdbeard@patriot.net   
      
   On 06/22/2012 12:14 AM, Moe Trin wrote:   
   > On Thu, 21 Jun 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in   
   article   
   > , Jim Beard wrote:   
   >   
   >> My basic want list is largest screen I can get, multi-core cpu,   
   >> large hard drive, DVD R-W, and the usual assortment of connectors   
   >> (ethernet, USB, ?anything else I will need?)   
   >   
   > "Look" at the amount of memory is has/supports.   You may also find it   
   > useful to have wireless capability.   
      
   Looking around on the Web rather than in the store, I am finding   
   both HP and Dell offer 8GB memory and 1TB SATA hard drive.  All   
   seem to have wireless capability.   
   >   
   >> Battery life is not really important, as I expect to tether it to a   
   >> wallwart for use, but desktops are too much trouble to   
   >> assemble/disassemble and haul around in a car or maybe (if absolutely   
   >> necessary) on an airplane.   
   >   
   >>  I've got a HP G62-340US...which has ... a 101 key and touch-pad,   
    >> I find it less comfortable than the run-of-the-mill 101 key   
   and mouse   
    >> of the desktop.   YMMV   
      
   This is an area of potential concern, and one I think requires   
   physical access to the exact model being considered.  I hate bad   
   keyboards.  If I wound up with one, I think there are USB or   
   bluetooth keyboards and mice that could be added, but that adds   
   to the stuff you have to carry around and impairs convenience   
   considerably, not to mention the addition to the original cost.   
      
   >> My don't want list includes anything by Toshiba, Sony, or other   
   >> Japanese company, plus Lenovo.   
      
   Sidenote for Dan C.:  My understanding from press coverage is   
   that some Lenovo equipment was found to contain design "features"   
   (or bugs, maybe) that would facilitate unauthorized access.  If   
   the Chinese (or any other professional-level hackers/crackers)   
   want to look at what I have on my machines, they can, but I   
   decline to deliberately make it easy for them.   
      
   > We nearly bought a Samsung - the HP was slightly cheaper and had a   
   > bigger drive at the time.  My wife has an ASUS K50IJ (about 2 years   
   > old) that is quite similar to my HP.   
      
   I may see those before I finish my survey and take a selection.   
      
   >> I looked at an HP DV76C63NR that has an i5 cpu 640GB HD and a   
   >> Dell i17RN-2943BK that has an i3 and 500GB, both with 17-inch   
   >> screens and Win7 64-bit home edition or some such,   
   >   
   > Japan's on your list - Dull is on mine.  The more expensive i5 is   
   > probably worth it over the i3.   
      
   Any particular reason?  I can get a Dell or HP at about $200 off   
   the list price, but for HP I have to take whatever is in stock at   
   the brick-and-mortar.  I can get the full range with the discount   
   via Dell's website, and that looks to be significant.  The store   
   offers i5 cpu and 500 or 640 MB HD on its top laptops for the   
   two, but the Dell website offers i7 and 1 TB HD, at modest   
   increase in price.   
      
   >> which I would likely shrink to maybe 50GB and keep for dual-boot,   
   >> just in case I might need Willy's Wonker software.   
   >   
   > In both cases, when we got them home, we booted after putting on the   
   > protective clothing, and registered with ms and the manufacturer.  We   
   > then booted a LiveCD, and poured the disk to a separate partition on   
   > the file server and verified it.  My wife took hers into her company,   
   > and they did a wipe/install.  I did my own - there is nothing on the   
   > windoze side that either one of us felt we needed.   
      
   My wife argues (with some truth in it I suppose) that I may need   
   interoperability with M$ software or equipment made to work with   
   it.  I think it would be quite rare, but inconvenient if I needed   
   it and did not have it.   
      
   I still have one more brick-and-mortar to visit.  The oddity of   
   my looking around was a gamer notebook that offered the i7 cpu,   
   TWO large hard drives, 16GB memory, 8GB SSD, a USB three-button   
   mouse (for an extra $5 or $6), and some other nifty features.   
   Cyberpower I think it was.  The price was more than I paid for my   
   main desktop machine.  For a machine I expect to rarely use,   
   paying double is more overkill than even I favor, plus the video   
   card was nVidia which is not working real great with Linux at the   
   moment.  That said, other machine specs were impressive!   
      
   Cheers!   
      
   jim b.   
      
   --   
   UNIX is not user unfriendly; it merely   
         expects users to be computer-friendly.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)