RealTown's RealTalk

I've begun researching laptops. I want a 17" screen that will work well with my business, but not have so much "stuff" that I pay a fortune. I've any suggestions? Thanks, Kim

Kim…you didn’t state exactly what you would be doing with the laptop.  I am a have a Toshiba Satellite 125 series I bought at Best Buy.  You can find them for around 499-599.  You want RAM to be a minimum 1 GB and a hard drive of 120 or more.  The processor recommended is AMD or Pentium Dual Core.  I use mine for internet browsing and managing my web sites.  I also use it for emailing, my GPS, creating flyers and brochures and of course my contact manager.  It suits me just fine.  Of course if you were going to spend the money go for RAM and PROCESSOR.  Good luck.

Wolf Parker, Remax Executive Group Inc, The Sales Team of Swartz & Parker, Elizabethtown/Fort Knox, KY www.soldbyus-kentucky.com

Things to consider when buying a Laptop

There are many brands of laptops out there and many models to choose from. How can one decide what should be important? Here are a few things to watch for when buying a laptop.

1. Warranty / Service Plan - The portable nature of laptops means they will fail. You need a warranty. I need a warranty. I've used my warranty on my 6 month old laptop to have the motherboard replaced. But you don't just need any warranty plan, a good plan can save the day, or week in most cases. Most store protection plans will require that you bring the laptop to the store and they will send it out to some service center for repair. Or some service plans will send you a box and you mail it off to some other state across the country. You will be out of service for 5-10 days. That is not acceptable for most people that I know. SO I recommend an "At Home" or "At Office" warranty plan. That's the kind of warranty I have. In my case, the technicial brought the parts to my house, and replaced it in about an hour. Dell provides this type of service plan as an option. So does IBM.

2. Memory - Windows XP is happy with 512MB, but 1GB is better. Vista will crawl on anything less than 1GB. 2GB is better. Memory is cheap anyway.

3. Graphic Subsystem - (See my blog article "Performance Computing" for more details) For best performance, you should buy a laptop (or any computer for that matter) that has a separate graphics card and separate graphics memory, NOT SHARED MEMORY. This one thing will increase the performance of your computer dramatically!!

4. Software - Software cost money to produce. If you need to use Microsoft Office, you should buy Microsoft Office. No, I'm not happy increasing Bill's net worth from 52,000,000,000 to 53,000,000,000 but I believe that work done is due credit. I did buy Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite, and several other expensive applications.

5. Backup drive - Buy an inexpensive Western Digital or Maxtor external USB drive and run backups regularly. Hard drives DO fail. In 1 year alone, I dealt with 6 real estate agents that had failed hard drives. Of those 6, 2 backed up their data. 1 on a regular basis (daily), the other on a 6 month basis. The other 4 lost everything. I back up every day or two. (see my blog entry about backups).

The rest is more or less subjective. Processor speed is much less an issue these days. Even a 1.8Ghz is plenty for most of todays applications. I run a 1.8ghz dual core with 2GB of RAM running Vista and it's very fast. But I run AutoCAD 2008, Photoshop CS2, Adobe Premier Elements, and a few other heavy duty applications such as Outlook. I don't have any problems with any of these apps because of the choices made above.

Hard Drive size is also subjective. I have an 80GB drive and it's just ok for what I do. But I have over 6,000 photos that take up over 12GB of the drive. The rest of my data is over 25,000 files, and takes up another 12GB.

Screen size is dependent on what you want. I went with a 15.4" widescreen with a resolution of 1680x1050.

Brands that I have experience with: Dell, IBM, HP, Toshiba, Sony. Service plan wise, IBM has had the best. But times are changing, and I hear it is not as good as it used to be. It may still be better than the rest. Dell is ok. The others, I don't know about their service plans. I know that Dell and IBM have several to choose from. I don't like 3^rd party service plans (such as from a local store).

This and more at my blog: http://steveho.realtownblogs.com

Stephen Penrose writes in part:

Not being a techno-wiz I can only pass along my own experiences.

1st.  I avoided the Vista operating system for a few reasons:

A)  Vista is a new OS and I didn't want to be one of Microsoft's guinea pigs - I'll stick w/ XP

B)  compatability.  Since I have an older desktop and an older laptop with the XP operating system I wanted the ability to move files between the machines without any surprises.

C) I think the best advise I've heard was passed along from an associate of mine whose brother is an IT guy... he says "buy cheap, buy often".  Seems his company buys Dell machines (and not the most latest, greatest model) with a 3-year service plan and retires them at the end of the service plan - unless they die and then they get a Bonus (a new model replacement).

Finally, here's my advise. I'd look at the big box retailers for a close-out model on a name brand.  My preference is one with an Intel processor (for reliability) rather than the AMD processor (built for speed - the gamers like these).  See if they'll load the XP operating system.

Mark Jay comments:

Vista is NOT to be avoided….  I’m not a techno-wiz either but here are MY ABC’s….

A)     Vista is NOT a new OS anymore.  You will not be a Microsoft guinea pig.  All the “experimenting” is over.  O-V-E-R!  Vista is “tried and true”-- there are at least 60 MILLION installed copies in the environment right now.  Within the last few days Microsoft’s stock went up on the news of a dramatic increase in their earnings—could that increase in earnings be the result of the sales of Vista and Office 2007 along with other Microsoft upgrades…like Streets and Trips, Encarta, etc?  If there were any problems with Vista we’d have heard about them. It only SEEMS like Vista is “new” because it’s new to YOU.  I’ve been working with Vista Business since March 3^rd and Office 2007 too, for that matter.  Vista is so old now that Vista SP 1 is right around the corner!  Vista is NOT “new” anymore.  Sticking with XP means that you’ll have an operating system on a new machine that was released on October 25, 2001—that’s SIX YEARS and two days ago.  If you were an 8^th Grader when XP came out wishing to be an attorney when you grew up you would now have graduated from college with a Baccalaureate degree and be half way through Law School.  You would already be interviewing with Law Firms to have a job lined up after you pass the Bar Exam.  THAT’S how old XP is!

B)     Compatibility?  You can hook your XP machine to your Vista machine and transfer the settings and files from your old machine to your new machine.  No surprises reported in the computer press… or anywhere else I’ve heard about.  It’s a simple process requiring a cable and some “free” Microsoft software.  You WILL have hardware and software compatibility issues if you’re running a lot of old software or hardware.  If you’re running Office 95 or 98 you may have problems.  If you’re using Office 2003 you’ll be fine.  Better to upgrade to Office 2007….  If your printers and scanners are fairly new and large name brand—HP to name one—you should be OK.  Your Okidata Spin Wheel Writer won’t cut it.  Some older printers will still work as printers but lose some functionality.  In other words; upgrading to Vista means you will also be upgrading some of your software and hardware if you’ve been lax in staying “current” with these items.  Be ready to spend beyond a new Vista Machine….  …And don’t you remember the same thing occurred when XP came out?

C)     “Buy cheap, buy often” IS good advice.  The idea is to be continuously upgrading your hardware and software so that you are taking small steps along the “learning” curve rather than one BIG step every 5 or 6 years.  Did you know that there are still PLENTY of consumers AND REALTORS still using Windows 98 running on a machine of that era… with peripherals and software of that era?  When these poor folks have to move to Vista they will have to throw EVERYTHING out.  You can’t even GIVE AWAY a Win98 machine to a charity anymore… they won’t take ‘em—too OLD… and you haven’t been able to do that for YEARS!  That’s how stale and obsolete Win98 is.  And I remember back in 2001 people giving the exact same advise—stay with 98… don’t be a Microsoft guinea pig…. I remember people looking for new computers with 98 preinstalled…. Near term history repeating itself!

You WILL have to move to Vista.  At a point not all that far away you won’t be able to buy XP anymore and it won’t be supported anymore—this event horizon is MONTHS away rather than many years away.  ….I suppose the good news is that it will never get any harder to acclimate to Vista but the bad news is that it will never get any easier either.

Ideally, you should buy a Vista machine BEFORE your XP machine blows up.  That way you can acclimate to Vista on YOUR schedule….  That’s what I did and am STILL doing.  Although I’m completely comfortable with Vista—I still need some more time with Office 2007 but I do that on MY schedule.  If I I’m not under “pressure” I’ll do a “thing” on Office 2007.  If I’m really in a hurry I’ll go to Office XP (2002) or Office 2003.

This topic has been kicked around a bit over the months and whenever I hear Stephen’s view—if I have the time—I post my position.  YOU decide which way makes the most sense.  THIS bears repeating.  Do NOT wait until you MUST get a new computer.  Buy a new Vista machine BEFORE you’re old machine quits then gradually—but fairly quickly—buy Vista capable printers and other peripherals as time and budget permits all the while “forcing” yourself to use the Vista machine FIRST and only reverting back to the XP machine if you’re under some sort of time pressure….  Really… Vista is no big deal… REALLY!

Mark Jay, e-Pro

REALTOR and Mortgage Consultant

414-771-7713 Voice

262-853-6001 Voice

Fax number upon request

Southeast Wisconsin MLS Region

Mark@MarkJayRealty.com