Looking to issue new laptops to family

[roberttran]

Hey,
I haven't been really up in the mobile computing world since I was doing research when I bought my IBM T40 (2 years ago). I know I'm getting a T43p, but not sure what laptops would best fit the needs of my family.

It's about time that my family upgraded to new computers. They've been complaining about there slow computers for awhile now and my mom gave me approval to start researching for new computers.

Background:

My mom has a Pentium 200, 64megs of ram, 20GB HDD computer with a 15inch CRT from the mid 90s. It was state of the art back then, but just isn't up to the task for things she wants to do now. She's currently using it for web surfing and emails, but this computer just isn't up to the task of VoIP and video conferencing.

My two brothers have a Pentium III 800Mhz, 512meg of ram, 80GB HDD computer with 15inch LCD. They are both college students so I want them to have something they can use at school as well (they live at home and travel to campus each morning). They also do some mild gaming (not the latest and greatest game). Their current video cards are GeForce 4 4200 cards.

My sister has a 15inch iMac. At first she hated it, but has gotten use to Mac OSX. Not sure yet if she wants to stay with this mac or not. She uses her computer for school work, massive amounts of MP3s, and IMing. She's also in a band and has expressed interest i using her computer for band stuff.


Requirements:

I'd like to keep the laptops similar in configuration for the purpose of managability. I don't want to keep 4 different stores for drivers and apps when I can only have 1 or 2. Warranty and reliability are also top priority, they have to last a long time. Since these are laptops, I can't swap out a CPU or motherboard when it goes bad. 802.11g also required since the new network I'm building will be 802.11g only. A full fledged CPU is required, no Celeron or AMD equilivant.

For my siblings, lots of RAM and HDD space is a must since this would be their desktop replacement. It should also be reasonable sized since it'll be mobile for the most part. Because it is mobile, battery life should be something like 4 hours with moderate use. I'd like a docking station in their room too so they don't have to plug and unplug everything whenever they want to take it somewhere. Graphics performance should be better then a GeForce 4 4200Ti. Screen resolution should be better then 1024x768 (wide screen a plus).

For my mom, her computer would be stationary 90% of the time. She'd only take her computer somewhere if she were to travel overseas or something. She doesn't game so graphics aren't an issue at all. It would be nice to have a webcam built into the laptop, but not required. She already has a webcam. Screen resolution is not that important since her eye sight isn't the best and she would probably have the resolution set low so the fonts are bigger.


So which laptop would you guys recommend? Some vendors I thought about were Acer, IBM, and HP. I refuse to look at Dell from all the awful experience I've had. I really love my IBM T40, but I think IBM (now Lenovo) might be a little too expensive and business oriented for their needs. My dad has an cheapo Acer laptop and it does what he needs, but it seems like their support and warranty isn't as good as IBM. I use an HP at work, but I think they try too hard to compete with Thinkpads while not offering the same build quality, features, or engineering.

Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[dx2]

Requirements:

I'd like to keep the laptops similar in configuration for the purpose of managability. I don't want to keep 4 different stores for drivers and apps when I can only have 1 or 2. Warranty and reliability are also top priority, they have to last a long time. Since these are laptops, I can't swap out a CPU or motherboard when it goes bad. 802.11g also required since the new network I'm building will be 802.11g only. A full fledged CPU is required, no Celeron or AMD equilivant.

Ah I see another person has to play the role of systems admin for there family too

Keeping everything standard within one brand may be doable but across the board it is almost impossible as everyone will have to sacrifice a little.

IBM's will not meet the graphics demands of your brothers needs and though I hate dell they do have some decent mid-range laptops that will fit your brothers needs almost perfectly. The Inspiron 6000m i think.

For Mom a Thinkpad of your choosing would suit her best and for Sis the iBook G4 would put her in heaven for the needs you described. It seems you know everyone's need fairly well, just order them what you think is best for them and they would never be the wiser. Have them shipped to you and make sure to install all the updates and anti virus/malware software of your choosing.

oh and for the Brothers also a small lesson pertaining to "just because its small and can fit in a book bag you can't carry it around like a normal text book or it will break."

 

[Marduk]

Personally, I think an Acer Travelmate 4402 would be a good match for at least your brothers and mother. It's powerful enough to be used as a DTR, has a decent battery life, and should be pretty damned reliable. For $1150, you'd be hard pressed to beat it without some seriously decent coupons(which don't matter, as you don't want Dell).
Docking station is extra, of course, but it is an option.

Acer is the only other laptop manufacturer besides IBM that I've been happy with. The Toshibas I've had are junk or break easily (although the Tecra A4 was pretty good), I don't like the Dell's I've used(cheap plastic on the inspirons, or in the case of the Latitudes, simply inferior to IBM). Compaq and HP...well...I know HP has used Acer as their ODM's before, as I was looking at an Acer a year ago only to see that HP was using a slightly modified chassis, but basically the same model.


I'm seriously thinking of getting a 4402 if I proceed with my plans on getting rid of my gaming system. the 4402 should handle my games pretty well, as I had no issues playing Quake 4 on my Ferrari 4000 (the 4402's big brother).


As for your sis....if she's a mac-lover, I can't say...but if she's indifferent, she might like the 4402 as well.

 

[Cross]

Check the laptops in my FS thread in my sig. I still have 6 or o T30 Thinkpads (All P4's and ATI Radeon 7500's) and the Averatec in my Sig is up for grabs there to ^-^ They sound like they would work.

 

[roberttran]

The 4402 seems perfect for my brothers. I may get something alil lower end for my mom like a 4021. As for my sister, I'll have to find out if she even wants a new computer and if so, mac or PC. I wouldn't mind her getting a powerbook so I can play with it too, but from a management standpoint, it wouldn't work out too well. I plan on setting up an Active Directory structure for my house so it will be trouble managing the mac through AD and GPOs

 

[Vengance_01]

Well Dell has the 6000D with the X300 128MB card, 15.4 inch WS Laptop, Pentium M, DDR2 memory(Cheap) Solid battery life, DVD+RW capable, and best of all Price, dell has cupuons ect...