Laptop advice needed Thread poster: eva75
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Thought it was best to address this question to other freelance translators.
I currently have a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a Celeron processor.
I want to purchase a new laptop, preferably Toshiba, as they are the most trusty, I am looking for a light laptop, with quite a large screen and a either pentium or centrino processor.
Can anyone advise me?
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uFO 
South Korea
Local time: 01:56
Korean to English
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| same problem | Jul 16, 2005 |
eva75 wrote:
I currently have a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a Celeron processor.
Hi I am also thinking about getting a new laptop, and I was actually considering Toshiba Satellite series. Could you please specify what it is with your current computer that you don't like?
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eva75
English
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TOPIC STARTER | Celeron outdated | Jul 16, 2005 |
Hi,
The satellite model that I have is an older one and thus has a celeron processor. I am not happy with the speed of the computer, celeron has lower cache, clock speed and bus speed. I've tried reformating my computer and doing other things to make it run faster to no avail, so I put its slowness down to the celeron processor.
uFO wrote: eva75 wrote:
I currently have a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a Celeron processor.
Hi I am also thinking about getting a new laptop, and I was actually considering Toshiba Satellite series. Could you please specify what it is with your current computer that you don't like?
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| toshiba website | Jul 16, 2005 |
Hi Eva,
eva75 wrote:
I want to purchase a new laptop, preferably Toshiba, as they are the most trusty, I am looking for a light laptop, with quite a large screen and a either pentium or centrino processor.
Can anyone advise me?
I personally love Tecras (I have a Tecra S1 Centrino), and I see that they have launched a customisable Tecra S2 in the US starting at $1049.00 (don't know where you are located) that doesn't appear in the UK site
Did you have a look at the Toshiba website?
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/clin.to?rcid=-26367&coid=-26368&ccid=1291021&seg=HHO&sel=0
Regards,
Grace.
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eva75
English
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TOPIC STARTER | too expensive | Jul 16, 2005 |
The same model costs over 2000 euros in Europe where I am located.
Also the model you were talking about weighs a little too much, there are lighter Toshiba models available.
Graciela Carlyle wrote: Hi Eva, eva75 wrote:
I want to purchase a new laptop, preferably Toshiba, as they are the most trusty, I am looking for a light laptop, with quite a large screen and a either pentium or centrino processor.
Can anyone advise me? I personally love Tecras (I have a Tecra S1 Centrino), and I see that they have launched a customisable Tecra S2 in the US starting at $1049.00 (don't know where you are located) that doesn't appear in the UK site Did you have a look at the Toshiba website? http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/clin.to?rcid=-26367&coid=-26368&ccid=1291021&seg=HHO&sel=0 Regards, Grace.
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Ines Burrell
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:56
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
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I bought a new laptop two month ago. Before that I was gathering all sorts of information on makes, processors, speed etc. Although I ended up buying Acer - not the make you want - I can still advise you on processor. The best ones for laptops are Intel Centrino Pentium Mobile. They have reasonable battery life (mine has 3.5 hours), they are quite light (up to 3 kg), and they are very powerful. For example my 1.6 Ghz is equivalent to Pentium 4 3.20 Ghz. Celerons do no usually have that much batt... See more I bought a new laptop two month ago. Before that I was gathering all sorts of information on makes, processors, speed etc. Although I ended up buying Acer - not the make you want - I can still advise you on processor. The best ones for laptops are Intel Centrino Pentium Mobile. They have reasonable battery life (mine has 3.5 hours), they are quite light (up to 3 kg), and they are very powerful. For example my 1.6 Ghz is equivalent to Pentium 4 3.20 Ghz. Celerons do no usually have that much battery life. Of course everything depends on the model.
Happy shopping!
Burrell ▲ Collapse
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Jerzy Czopik
Germany
Local time: 06:56
Member (2003)
Polish to German
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| Please be very carefull with comparing laptops and desktops | Jul 16, 2005 |
and especially when comparing the "power" of CPUs.
You state, your 1,6 GHz CPU is "equivalent" to a Pentium IV 32 GHz. This may be true under very special circumstances.
The power of any computer is not equal to how fast its CPU is.
You can build a PC with the fastest (read: most expensive) CPU you can get and save money for other components: what you will ge... See more and especially when comparing the "power" of CPUs.
You state, your 1,6 GHz CPU is "equivalent" to a Pentium IV 32 GHz. This may be true under very special circumstances.
The power of any computer is not equal to how fast its CPU is.
You can build a PC with the fastest (read: most expensive) CPU you can get and save money for other components: what you will get will only be crap.
When buying a PC all components should be taken into account. If you do not need the mobility of the notebook daily and will use it as a desktop replacement, think at least twice what you are doing. The notebook is still more expensive than a desktop and a possibility to upgrade it afterwards is very limited. Mostly you can upgrade memory (but not to the extent you can do this with a PC) and IF you find a possibility to upgrade other componets, it will be very expensive.
Notebooks are per design slower than a comparable PC with the same CPU, memory and HDD - the reason is very simple. Due to the mobility your HDD in notebook will rotate slower ans thus must be slower as the one in your PC. You cannot build a mobile system, which has to suit for other tasks, with the same components as a desktop. When the desktop can be cooled with many fans and the temperature does not play that big role, a notebook has a very bad cooling. It must be slim and quiet, so you cannot integrate a lot of fans. So what to do? Simply cut down the processor speed - the easiest way to "blend" unexperienced users! This was very often what cheap offers in Germany included - a very fast CPU, which worked only as long with top speed, as long it did not get hot, and then not more...
I do not want to say, notebooks are bad. Not, they are not. But simply consider what for do you need a PC. If you work at home and do not travel very often, then invest your money better into a good PC and buy a cheap notebook for travelling. If you travel a lot, then buy a good notebook and use it at home too.
Regarding the notebook choice - go for any brand you like, but don´t buy no name products. If you need a big screen, then set the display as the first criterium, then look for the one with the biggest screen you can afford. I would avoid AMD processor in notebook. As the second criterium look at the processor speed AND the offered amount of main memory AND how far upgradeable it is. Then look at the HDD. HDD is not that important, as you can save your finished work extern.
From my own experience I can recommend any Sony Vaio. I´m using a Sony Vaio with 16" TFT display and a Pentium IV with only 1,6 GHz, combined with (now) 512 MB RAM. This is the biggest limitation of my notebook, as no more memory can be upgraded. The HDD is only 20 GB, but this is enough for all necessary programms. Usually 2-5 GB for projects will be enough, as all finished work may be saved on an external HDD for example.
For buying a notebook I would consider looking by eBay too. There are a lot of dealers, who sell good machines for good money - all with a correct invoice and warranty.
Also take a look on the price comparision machines on the Internet. You may save hundreds of Dollars/Euros in this way.
Kindest regards
Jerzy
[Edited at 2005-07-16 19:39] ▲ Collapse
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eva75
English
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for your contribution, Jerzy.
Yes, Sony is also a good make.
I've never owned a PC, so I think I'll stick with my laptop, it's much easier to use and allows for more flexibility.
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Anne Lee
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:56
Member (2003)
Dutch to English
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| importance of back-up in the summer heat | Jul 17, 2005 |
Jerzy, following on from your illuminating explanation, I would recommend that anyone working long hours on a laptop in the current heat would back up the contents of their laptop on an external harddrive, as you suggested. My partner's Sony Vaio (only 1 year old) crashed last week after he'd been working on it for long hours day after day. It turned out that my local computer shop was completely overwhelmed by demands from anxious people whose laptop had crashed and thanks to Jerzy's explanatio... See more Jerzy, following on from your illuminating explanation, I would recommend that anyone working long hours on a laptop in the current heat would back up the contents of their laptop on an external harddrive, as you suggested. My partner's Sony Vaio (only 1 year old) crashed last week after he'd been working on it for long hours day after day. It turned out that my local computer shop was completely overwhelmed by demands from anxious people whose laptop had crashed and thanks to Jerzy's explanation I now understand that the hot weather may be a contributory factor. My partner managed to get his laptop working again by resetting the Bios to factory default settings. He has now bought an external harddrive to back up the contents and I will do the same for my Toshiba Satellite which has been my pride and joy - but only for when I'm working away from home. I agree that as big a screen as possible is important, not just to spare our eyes but also for translation-specific applications. I'm currently working with 3 windows open at the time: Adobe reader for the source text, Windows for my translation and a second Windows screen for a previous version (with my electronic dictionary, Excel glossary, Internet Explorer and mail programme in the background for when I need them. It would put a strain on my eyes to do that on a 14" screen. ▲ Collapse
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I bought a Sony Vaio VGN-FS1115B, it's small, lightweight, doens't make any sound, 16/9 screen with impressive colours. It's pretty fast too.
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