Doug Will Be Waiting Forever for That Laptop

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11812' target='_blank'>http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11812</a><br /><br /></div>Doug Mohney over at The Inquirer has written up a lively column talking about his quest for a new laptop, but that quest seems continually on hold as he waits for new technologies. The same could be said of PDAs - something better is always around the corner. If you're always waiting for the "next big thing", you'll <i><b>never</b></i> get new hardware or software. At the point when your current hardware can no longer do what you need, you buy something new that does - it's that simple. Getting caught up in the never-ending waiting game for "what's next" is a losing proposition. Improvements are always happening, but they're not always as dramatic as we'd like to hope for. <br /><br />Still, when I look at <a href="http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=992723/search=Fujitsu%205010D/ut=44938dd2960a7e55">my new laptop</a> and compare it to my old one (a Lifebook E Series), I can see definite improvements: 10+ hours of battery life vs. five hours (both had dual batteries), CD-R vs. no CD-R, 1280 x 768 vs. 1024 x 768 resolution, 900 Mhz Pentium 4-M CPU with a 1 MB cache vs. a 750 Mhz Pentium III, integrated 802.11g vs. no wireless, Firewire vs. no Firewire, USB 2.0 vs. USB 1.1...and the list goes on. Laptop technology has improved a great deal in the past two years, and it seems a bit sensationalistic to claim otherwise. Here's a blurb from Doug's article:<br /><br />"Some year I'm going to buy a replacement for my laptop, but there's no real incentive for me to run out and get a new one tomorrow. Average pricing and weight of units continues to drop with the only drawback being power consumption. Further, there's no "Great leap" out there like we had back in the days of the x86 to Pentium races. Depending on the shill-of-the-month, there are a lot of new goodies in the R&amp;D pipelines that would make today's laptop much better. Methanol fuel cells seem to be at the top of the list of near-term goodies, but they won't be out in quantity until the end of '04 and it should be interesting to see if there will be plug-and-play units to replace existing batteries. Hopefully airline safety won't freak out about methanol fuel cartridges that are likely twice as flammable as the miniatures on the drink cart. I don't know if this will be the death knell for batteries, but I suspect enviros will make a case that a methanol fuel cell is "greener" than a Lithium or NiCad."<br /><br />How do you decide when to buy new technology? What drives your decision to purchase a new Pocket PC, laptop, or mobile phone?

[Newsboy]

What drives me? Whatever I need it to do.

I'm selling the Intermec HPC because it no longer suits my needs. Too many limitations. Biggest one: it will not sync subfolders in my Outlook Inbox. I need a full version of MS Office for grad school, and also wanted a DVD player. Essentially, I want to replace my desktop with a mobile solution.

So I bought a new laptop. Rather than wait for new technology, or spend an extra $1000 to get the latest slim and light wonderbox, I got a good value laptop. My reasoning is that I'll probably be replacing it with something "newer, faster, better" in a year anyway; so save my money now.

Bought a Dell Inspiron 1100. Got a great deal, and it's gotten some great reviews. Free 256 mb upgrade, free cdrw/dvd, $753 shipped, no tax.

15" XGA LCD
2.0 Ghz Celeron Mobile
256 mb DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM, 1 slot open)
20 GB HD
24X CDRW/DVD
4 hour extended battery

The only thing I might not like is that it's a tad heavy, about middle of the road for laptop weight. But I can't justify $1000 more for a slower laptop just because it weighs less.

[Newsboy]

PS - Nice laptop Jason! That's what I was considering, were it not for the Dell being faster and only half the price! ;)

[chasky]

Whether I buy a new PPC or laptop... or anything that I already have... money!!!!! if I have the money I can buy it.

It can be the best out of the box goody.... but if there isn't enough money can't buy it :? :? :? :?

Never way for the next newest goody..... you'll be waiting for eternity!!!

[shill79]

When it comes to laptops (a large purchase compared to most PDAs and cell phones, both of which I buy and sell frequently) I typically only buy when I "need" to... Case in point, 2 months ago I spilled an entire bottle of water on my Dell Inspiron 8000.... Aside from poor battery life the thing worked fine... The water took care of that... Now I've got a Toshiba Satellite Pro with a 1.4GHz Pentium M and some other goodies...

[easylife]

I got a new laptop not too long ago - and now I get to brag about it! :D

2.66Ghz Pentium 4
512MB RAM
40GB Hard Drive
15" Screen

It's a Toshiba Satellite A25-S207 - and I got it all for $1200 at Circuit City. 8)

[Ketsugi]

For me it's simple: I buy new technology when I can afford it.

[GoldKey]

Bought a Dell Inspiron 1100. Got a great deal, and it's gotten some great reviews. Free 256 mb upgrade, free cdrw/dvd, $753 shipped, no tax.

15" XGA LCD
2.0 Ghz Celeron Mobile
256 mb DDR SDRAM (1 DIMM, 1 slot open)
20 GB HD
24X CDRW/DVD
4 hour extended battery

The only thing I might not like is that it's a tad heavy, about middle of the road for laptop weight. But I can't justify $1000 more for a slower laptop just because it weighs less.

I have a similarly equiped Compaq laptop that I got for $699. I would rather buy the value end laptop and be able to replace it more often. Frankly though, the laptop does everything I need and everything I can forsee doing for a while.

[Newsboy]

Precisely. Not to mention the value end laptop will have better resale value, ironically. Doesn't depriciate as fast as the "latest and greatest". I only play games on my XBOX now. Mmmm...XBOX...gotta go! Gotta play Rainbow Six 3!!!!

Still can't believe I got all that for $753 though. 8O

[jayexel]

There are a few things i look for when i buy new technology, 1 mainly being price. Another is the developing market. Back then when the DVD players came out they were expensive and plus there were no DVDs, so it was pointless. As you mentions i look for features, but most of the times i just buy the product with the most features that i never use.

[jnunn]

My main criterion for buying a new PPC is screen resolution; the PPC screen is the main reason why I chose the PPC over Palm in the first place. As my proficiency with fitaly grew, I became more and more frustrated trying to be a mobile writer and spreadsheet user on QVGA.

The PPC is marketed as a workhorse but the screen cramps my work. I still use my old, dusty, semi-reliable iPAQ3600/SS2 and could never justify buying a new PPC if I would be stuck with the same cramped screen space. I would love to be satisfied enough with my PPC to buy a new device when cool features come out but the screen resolution has always held me back. Screen resolution is a very big deal to me.

I could buy a Sony or wait a little for the Tungsten T3 (HOT !!!) but I admit my PPC bias so I wait for next summer. If there is no screen improvement or promise of screen improvement by summer 2004 then I will become a Palm convert.

[GoldKey]

Really ironic, I bought a portable dvd player with LCD screen when they first came out. Less than 2 year later, I bought a Laptop with a much bigger screen and a DVD drive for about the same price.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I suppose I upgrade when I feel too left behind AND when whatever device I am using develops some kind of problem. So, at the moment I am perfectly happy with my Axim X5 and will probably only upgrade when I get 640x480 screen AND ....... heck - when someone other than Toshiba give us a decent VGA unit. :wink: :lol:

I don't have a laptop as I can do most things I need with the Axim. For everything else I have a few desktops. :mrgreen:

[beq]

There are always exceptions though. Even the ZD columnists were all saying "wait" during the months leading to Centrino release...

[JF in Detroit]

Regarding the waiting game, can you say 'vaporware'? :devilboy:

[Newsboy]

Really ironic, I bought a portable dvd player with LCD screen when they first came out. Less than 2 year later, I bought a Laptop with a much bigger screen and a DVD drive for about the same price.

Actually, I'm selling my DVD player now that I'm getting the Inspiron 1100. Four months ago I went out and bought the best DVD player I could find, the Toshiba SDP-2000. Spent $600. Thing is, the battery only lasts 2.5 hours (less than my new laptop), the screen is half the size, and it weighs over three pounds. I'd rather have the laptop to be honest.

[Sheynk]

I've been trying to keep up with PPC for over a year going through 4 (extended warranty :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: ) and then gave up.

Its impossible.

Ive been patient with my pc though....i upgraded...but thats about it.

650 P3
512 sd ram
128mb Gforce3
13gb HD (getting a 40 soon)
cdrw
8x dvd
dont even ask about the other crap dell puts in their computers....

since im graduating highschool in 2005, (the year longhorn comes out) im gonna get the most top of the line PC possible (prolly a laptop) and have it last me through college!

[Excalliber]

I wouldn't count on that release date if i were you. Remember, we're talking about Microsoft :lol:

[NeilE]

My purchase is usually driven by the old thing not meeting my needs anymore. Of course, one thing leads to another which leads to another...

Case in point: I got a Canon 10D two months ago, leaping from film to digital. I realised that all the slides I was shooting were just getting scanned in anyway, and I was wasting a ton of time cleaning up the slides in Photoshop because of dust and crap. I figured I could either buy a really good film scanner, or just get a digital camera :)

Of course, a month later I ran out of space on my antiquated 30GB hard drive. This, coupled with the grand opening of Fry's downtown (oh dear) lead to a new 160GB drive.

Then I realised that I had Photoshop 5.0, and there were a few subtle things I wished it did. So I upgraded to Photoshop 7. And a Wacom tablet (a cheap one!) to give me better precision while editing.

This weekend I was using Photoshop to edit a 31MB TIFF file, and I realised waiting 5 minutes for the picture to load sucks. My Athlon 600MHz lasted me 3 years, but it was time for an upgrade. That, coupled with the new Fry's downtown, and I convinced myself I needed a new motherboard and CPU. Of course, the RAM is totally different than my old RAM, so I needed new RAM too.

It never ends... Jason, once you get that Digital Rebel, you don't know what you're in for 8O

[ricksfiona]

Yes, I agree with NeilE. I usually purchase new equipment on a 'need' basis. I just built a new computer for myself this weekend:

P4-C 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB
1GB RAM Dual Channel
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
2 - Western Digital Raptor 10k Hard drives in RAID 0
Cooler Master Aluminum case

Did I need this? Well, I just didn't realize the speed difference between this and my basic 800MHz Thunderbird. With my new computer, I can boot it up, do SOME work, shut down, and all of this before my old computer finishes booting up! Plus it looked like my USB ports and motherboard were starting to wig out. EVERYTHING works the way it's supposed to on the new system.

I want to upgrade my 3870 to a 5555 for the simple reason that I KNOW it's not fast enough and it doesn't have enough memory. Throw a good sized database on a 3870 and prepare to wait for a while for searches. Plus you can't put much into main memory. If the 5555 were a little thinner and lighter, it would be SOOO close to perfect.

When it comes right down to it, you upgrade for repair/replacement, performance and capacity. I had a 486-100MHz computer that ran Office applications just fine... Just don't ask it to do much more than that.

And regarding the 'waiting for the next big thing', you'll be waiting forever. Just about any laptop and p.c. is several magnitudes more powerful than just about any normal user can ask for.

[Philip Colmer]

My laptop & mobile phone are company-purchased, so they get replaced on a 2 year & 18 month cycle respectively. Being the IT Manager, I have some influence over the specification of what I get :-)

My PDA is also company-purchased but it is the only one so there aren't any hard & fast rules over when it gets replaced. That said, the battery is knackered and, being an old iPAQ, I can't upgrade it to PPC2003. I am waiting to see the final spec for the X3, primarily because I think Dell will provide better after-sales warranty than other companies. I may end up going for an X3 and then handing it down next year to a colleague if the X7 looks much better & I think I can get away with it :twisted:

My home computer got upgraded last year because I needed to get a new one that was on the compatibility list for the Matrox RT.X100. I went with Dell 'cos I get a good price through our corporate account manager. I think I'll probably replace it some time in 2005.

So I tend to go with timeframes rather than technology and, for the home PC, what my budget can afford. I may have to wait until 2006 'cos I want to buy a stonkingly big plasma screen for my birthday in 2005 (it is a significant birthday 8O )

--Philip

[Traveller]

New functionality that improves efficiency and effectiveness drives my purchase of new technology. That being said, my latest laptop purchase was a Compaq Tablet PC and I'm surprised no one else has indicated that they have a Tablet PC. It "is" the latest toy to have and it compliments my ipaq.

[dMores]

i agree with the feeling of being left behind.

in the rare case when i NEED to get a replacement because the old unit has gone bust, i look at my current device, compare it to the new ones available and ask myself the question, if i have used it intensively, and if it'll be worth the money to upgrade.

most of the time i don't think rationally and just succumb to the urge.

:)

that's why i got myself a shiny new 15" powerbook G4 8)

[Jonathan1]

I'm sort of at a cross roads here. I've been eyeing a tablet PC for a while. With the introduction of the Pentium M it has made the Tablet PC all the more tempting. However. In the last 6 months I've also been tempted by the dark side of the farce. :robot: ;) That 17" Apple surfboard...I mean PowerBook is a thing of beauty. Its the 2003 equivalent of the 1980's luggable but in this case its 1" thick and weights in at5 6.9 pounds. Add to that some of the cooler features like built in DVD burning, backlit keyboard, BT, 802.11G and I'd be sold if it wasn't for this:
http://www.barefeats.com/al15b.html

The Pentium P soundly trounces the "NEW" 1.33Ghz G4 chip. The M at 1.6 is benchmarking out at twice the speed of the 1.33 system. Now I know Apple has the rep of their systems being overpriced. Going into this decision I knew you paid a premium for a Mac and I was fine with that. I'm not fine with paying a premium AND not getting equal or near equal performance of a PC. For the average user 1.33Ghz and its performance really is good enough. But in my case I want to run VPC which needs as much horsepower as it can get its bits on.
So right now I'm at an impasse. I'm thinking about holding off on a new laptop purchase until a G5 shows up in a PowerBook. IBM it debuting 90nm chips sometime this fall. Current G5 chips run too hot and are too power hungry to run efficiently in a laptop. The new 90nm process should bring the G5's into an acceptable range however these chips weren't designed for a mobile device. I just don't see them getting good batt life even with a shrunk chip. It’s like Intel stuffing the mobile P4 into a laptop. It can be done but at a major sacrifice to batt life.

My current laptop fleet is:
1x Dell Latitude 12" 500Mhz, 40GB hard drive, 384MB RAM
1x Toshiba 15" 850Mhz , 60GB hard drive, 384MB RAM

Both "get the job done. But sure take their time getting there. :p The biggest reason I've considered a Mac over a PC is Final Cut Express. I've found myself getting more and more interested in video editing and this software looks godlike. That and the iApps. I like iTunes and its music store. Yes I’ve tried Music Match’s new store. Its still very quirky.
If the hardware was up to par I wouldn't have any hesitations. As it stands I can't warrant shelling out 3 grand on a device with half the performance of a PC laptop. :(