posted on October 9, 2001 06:08:40 PM
OK, here's a question many of you will have a good idea on - I am shopping for a new laptop (I have to have a laptop since I commute between grad school and home and travel a bit as well).
I am a high volume seller (600 to 800 auctions per month)and have about 5,000 pictures (antiques and vintage items) on my HD at any given time (I use AW and the sites have to be mirrored I think). I also use some programs for B-school that take quite a bit of memory (RAM). How much power to get? Right now I have a Pentium III with 128 Megs of Ram and it's not enough - I definitely need more and the laptop is only 18 months old!
I have also heard of people having bad experiences with Dell, so I am worried about going with them - any suggestions?
posted on October 9, 2001 07:27:08 PM
IMHO You don't need a faster laptop you prolly just need more ram and maybe a look at how many TSR's you have clogging up your system.
A P-III should run anything you throw at it.
posted on October 9, 2001 07:44:55 PM
I think you're configured improperly, or something else is not quite right. I can't know what you are using for grad school, but you sure don't need more firepower for ebay.
I've got a Compaq Pentium II 233mhz laptop with a 10gig drive, and 160 megs of ram. I listed over 2000 auctions last month, and regularly store over 3000 edited pictures on my hard drive.
I've got software that I use on my laptop, don't use AW (I'm cheap!), and it does everything just fine. I wouldn't think about upgrading. I run Photoshop 6.0 and Visual Studio 6.0 often. Both are fairly RAM intensive. I have NO problems.
My suggestion is more RAM and an upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional if you haven't already done so.
posted on October 9, 2001 08:51:25 PM
touchofeurope,
My RL job is as a computer service & support technician. I second the opinions here that you probably don't need a new system for what you are doing. You do, however, probably want to consider several upgrades. Here is my assesment:
1) Add more RAM. It's dirt cheap right now. Check your laptop manual (or download it on-line) and find out how much RAM it can handle. Then, buy the maximum amount. If it will take a 512MB chip, but it. You can probably get one from Amazon for less than $70.00.
2) Rather than spend your money on a new computer, invest it in a cable modem or DSL. If you're having a tough time uploading images, it's likely a bottle-neck at your ISP. If you can't get those services in your area, see if you can find a better ISP. Better services cost more... but you'll be happy with their speed!
3) If you need more Hard drive space, invest in an external storage device. A nice fast storage unit is an external firewire hard drive. If you don't have a firewire port on your laptop, you can get a firewire PCMCIA card for your connection. Or, depending on how many free PCMCIA slots you have, you could even get a PCMCIA hard drive.
4) Clear out your Windows Temp folder. This folder gets bogged down with all sorts of junk and slows down system performance. Also defrag your system, run anti-virus programs, etc... (the basic system fine-tuning stuff)
5) If you want a new operating system hold off until Windows XP is available. All indications show that it may actually be a decent OS. It is memory intesive, though... so make sure you get the most RAM you can!
Bottom line is... there's no reason for you to waste your hard earned money to replace a laptop that's only 18 months old. You should be able to get 4-5 years out of a computer. You're much better off investing a couple of hundred into this system, and spend the thousands it would cost to replace it later on down the road. Hope this helps!
posted on October 9, 2001 09:10:29 PM
Definitely get more RAM. 128mb is really just a basic amount today. I am using 256mb in an old (98) AMD K6-2 box at 300mhz and it rocks! If I were buying a new machine, I'd buy it with a gig of RAM.
You should defrag your hard drive once in awhile. If your drive is smallish, zip up the pix you don't need right away.
First off, what is the MHz? That can make a big difference. Also, if your current computer is a laptop, adding RAM may be difficult. Gernerally there are only 2 slots for memory. Do you know if both are filled with chips? If not, you should be able to add 128 MB of RAM. If they are both filled you will need to buy 2 128 MB chips to replace the two 64 MB chips currently installed. This would bump you up to 256 MB. Also, check at the mfg website to see if you machine can handle that much memory. Some laptops have limits on the size of the memory chips they can handle.
For the kind of work that you are doing, You want as much RAM and megahertz and a fast hard disk interface (ATA 100, or at least ATA 66). Graphics/video isn't really a large concern other than the size of the screen and an active matrix screen.
The above was composed by my husband, who is a computer consultant for a major IT consulting firm, and has been placed in an internationally known company for 11 years, supporting their operating system, advising them on hardware and software issues, and doing repairs.
I will add that he only recommends DELL computers. The company went against his tema's recommendations several years ago, in order to cut costs, and, let's just say it didn't work out well. Dell also has great customer service. Most of our friends have Dell and have had no problems at all.
Dell also has a discount area on their website, where they sell returned merchandise at great prices. (recently returned not 5 yr old returned). That is where my laptop came from [big grin] I have had no problems with it, and I've had it for 10 mos now.
No problems from the Dell side of things that is. Problems originating from living with a computer geek, but that's a whole different story!
posted on October 10, 2001 06:35:34 AM
Thanks for the advice! It had given me food for thought, but I found more problems!
I do have DSL - couldn't live without it, so that's not the issue.
I didn't specify but I can't get more RAM (laptop won't take anymore - HP Pavilion with 450 Mhz). Also, I have a 6 Gb harddrive, and it's not that full (I have 1.8 GB left) but there are several bad clusters on the drive (did a disk scan this week because of problems).
The technician at school told me it was a sign that there might be a hardware failure in my near future... Also, the fan is broken, and replacing it isn't worth the money, apparently thought, not replacing it is a problem too. I can't live without the computer for even a day since I need it in class.
Some of the software I run in school includes Groove, which is a sharing thing, where teams can post documents and stuff and edit them for the whole team (kind of like on a network). NO more slots available either because of network card.
So, I feel kind of stuck. I did look into getting more memory (internal, external, RAM and HD) but the cost added too much or it wasn't possible.
Frankly I am a bit stuck now - I am printing out the responses here, and I am going to trying and figure out what to do - wish I was married to a computer geek too!!!!
posted on October 10, 2001 06:54:53 AM
Just last week there was a seller on eBay selling PIII 500 MHZ/128 MB Ram (expandable)/6-10 GB harddrive/20-24X CDRom/56K Modem DELL laptops for ending bids of around $600. There were tons of people bidding on them. These were used laptops coming off business lease. There are other sellers selling similar business lease laptops. These machines might be coming from some of the dotcom failures.
Doesn't SONY produce the most desireable laptop? Their VAIO line? It seems you need to pay an arm and 2 legs to get one though!
posted on October 10, 2001 07:02:27 AM
Hi eSeller,
I am going to check those on e-Bay out - just a bit worried about problems though since laptops are pretty sensitive.
I heard that about Sony but they only go to a max of 256 RAM - probably not worth the price, they are the same as Dell new ones!
I configured the Dell I would want and it would be over $3,000! I can live without that for now, for sure. I am just worried that if this system crashes, I'll have nada... can't deal with that. I am in my last year of B-school too, and the computer is pretty much surgically attached to my hands.
posted on October 10, 2001 07:21:18 AM
touchofeurope,
Now he has PIII 650 MHZ/12 GB/128MB Ram/20X CDRom/14.1 TFT Active Matrix screen/56K Modem DELL Latitude used business lease laptops up for auction. Bids are still under $600 for all but one I looked at.
He doesn't say they're from dotcom failures but they have to be to let them go for rock-bottom prices. He probably picked them up for pennies on the dollar when companies went bankrupt.
posted on October 10, 2001 08:17:17 AM
touchofeurope,
Well... it does sound like your ability to expand your laptop's capabilities are rather limited. You probably do need to invest in a new computer. Personally, I would be very hesitant to order one off of eBay. I would recommend purchasing a new computer from a reputable company so that you will have a full warranty. (saving $500 now is great... but wait 'till you see the repair bill a year down the road!) The company I would recommend right now would be Gateway. They currently have a Solo 5300se notebook for $1299. It includes: 900MHz pentium III, 256MB RAM, 10GB HD, 12.1 TFT display, integrated modem & ethernet, Windows XP, and 3 yrs parts and labor warranty. For an extra $100.00 you can get the Solo 5300ls model with a larger (14.1" ) display. This computer has several noteable benefits. The main ones are: new Windows operating system (supposed to be more stable and faster), 256MB of RAM included (expandable to 512MB), and the integrated modem & ethernet (means you don't need that PCMCIA card any more!), and of course, the Warranty! Hope this gives you some helpful direction. Visit the Gateway site for more information.
edited to remove unintentional smiley face
[ edited by eauctionmgnt on Oct 10, 2001 08:18 AM ]
