New Laptop needed

[robindurant]

My laptop did not appreciate being immersed in water when I tipped a bowl of water on it. So i need a new one, it was a carp one anyway. Can anyone recommend a make and model suitable for imaging software etc. I inderstand that the new Vista is not good for our use.

Robin

[beamish]

Pretty sure Misco.co.uk are still selling well spec'd lappies with XP/varieties. What sort of budget are you looking at ?

[robindurant]

£300 - £450

[beamish]

How about this one ?

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=297080&sku=140709

or just take a look at www.misco.co.uk Robin you'll find a good few there and their servicce has uptil now, I've found , XLNT.

Karlo

[ringz]

Aldi are advertising a forthcoming laptop special offer so I'm going to see what they come up with before I take the plunge with a new laptop.

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Martyn

[robindurant]

Thanks Karlo, the Acer looks a very good bet. its about 80 - 100 cheaper than others are offering and very good spec. The Aldi is Vista so I wont consider that.

Thanks again

Robin

[beamish]

I must say Robin, my lappy is an Acer with 1GB and 80 gig HD and had it about 18mnths and am very happy with it,comes with an SD card reader and 4x usb ports, card slotand CD/DVD reader/burner and some great S/W as part of the package. If you went for one you won't be disappointed. A case and mini mouse are easily bought too. I tried running Vista and then rtnd to XP.Now that MS will be xtnding XP support I'm even happier.

Karlo

[Keagle]

I use Vista on my desktop PC - and though I don't do any astronomy-related processing as of now, waiting on my setup for that, it works smoothly for things like PS3 and Stellarium etc.

I will be using XP for the actual stuff though, as Starry Night fails to work on Vista and as XP uses less resources, it should do far better.

But just saying Vista isn't completely terrible So long as you aren't copying files. Takes ages.

[ringz]

Keagle,

You should download Vista SP1, it's supposed to sort out the file copying buglet.

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Martyn

[Keagle]

I have SP1. Still a pain in the backside - takes far longer than it should. Thanks though

[PhillyDee]

I bought a Dell laptop. An Inspiron 6400 that cost me £420 with XP and a 9cell battery (6 hours battery life!). Its an excellent laptop, and is customisable.

As far as astronomy stuff goes XP is better, as it is backward compatible with RS232 dongles etc, where nothing is yet working on Vista. This isnt a fault of Vista but the manufacturers of the products. I use Vista x64 on my main PC and find it faultless. It only appears to use more resources as it caches everything in the memory you are not using, suprefetch etc. makes it run faster, but I admit that for any sort of telescope controls and small apps and utilities, EVERYTHING is compatible with XP.

[rawhead]

another option...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140189

[iancandler]

I've just bought this one and its more than up to the job..I got mine from e buyer but their out of stock now.. but asda have them at the same price £349.99

PS its working fine with vista and my scope control/imaging software.

Asus X51RL

* Processor (CPU): Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330

* Memory (RAM): 2048 (1024x2) DDRII 667 RAM

* Hard Drive: 120GB (5400rpm)

* Screen: 15.4" TFT(WXGA, Colour-Shine)

* Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi

* Graphics: ATI X1100

* Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium

* USB Ports: 4 x USB 2.0

* Weight: 2.8kg

* Warranty: 2 Year Warranty

And yes it is wireless enabled..

http://www.asda-electricals.co.uk/shop/product/asus/x51rl-ap036c.html?