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Best Laptop

Started by Ben, 2007.06.21, 06:45:02

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Ben

It's getting time for me to buy a laptop.

It doesn't have to be new or state of the art.

Anyone want to share their experiences with laptop successes or failures?


warpcafe

Hi Ben,

as a polemic side notice: If the model doesn't have pcmcia slot: The better! :-)

From my experience, it's better to take a model that's not state-of-the-art but uses components which are known to work. Personally, I really much love IBM Thinkpads of the T series. I had a T21 and went to a T41 now, they're great. However, with the newer models since they have "shifted" to become Lenovos, I get a dumb feeling of decresaing quality (case, assembling,... this is just a personal impression, YMMV)

I have tried to run eCS 1.2 on an rather "new" Acer Travelmate 8...WMLI (don't recall what it is called) but although the AMD Turion 64bit cpu works, the built-in WLAN doesn't. Neither does the Ati graphics chipset - even with the latest Snap - which is a shame because it's a great machine. For windows. ;-) With Snap running in VESA or the newer Panaorama drivers, it might work.
Now regarding the support of ACPI with the latest eCS releases... hmm... I can't tell if that makes it possible to run newer models flawlessly - I just don't know.

Regards,
Thomas

"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Ben

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38
Hi Ben,

as a polemic side notice: If the model doesn't have pcmcia slot: The better! :-)
Oh. I'm surprised to hear you say that, but it begs the question; is there anything that a PCMCIA slot gives me that is crucial and can't be gained through other means?

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38From my experience, it's better to take a model that's not state-of-the-art but uses components which are known to work. Personally, I really much love IBM Thinkpads of the T series. I had a T21 and went to a T41 now, they're great.
OK. I'll look up both of those and check out IBM Thinkpads in general.

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38
However, with the newer models since they have "shifted" to become Lenovos, I get a dumb feeling of decresaing quality (case, assembling,... this is just a personal impression, YMMV)
OK... stay away from Lenovos...

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38I have tried to run eCS 1.2 on an rather "new" Acer Travelmate 8...WMLI (don't recall what it is called) but although the AMD Turion 64bit cpu works, the built-in WLAN doesn't. Neither does the Ati graphics chipset - even with the latest Snap - which is a shame because it's a great machine. For windows. ;-) With Snap running in VESA or the newer Panaorama drivers, it might work.
Now regarding the support of ACPI with the latest eCS releases... hmm... I can't tell if that makes it possible to run newer models flawlessly - I just don't know.
Thanks for the info, Thomas. It gives me a good place to start.

BigWarpGuy

http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=notebook2
Even though it says it could not be loaded, there is a list on the left below the notebook/2 heading that shows about four makes of notebook computers plus information on parts.  ;D

I have an IBM Thinkpad T23 that eCS 1.2r works quite well on.  8)

Robert Deed

I work with Lenovo's myself, and have found them to be quite good.  Since IBM took away the helm their choice of hardware has gotten odd..  they pretty much jumped fully on the intel bandwagon (not that I would have bought one with an AMD chipset, but I am referring to intel video (sucks), intel audio (sucks), and intel wlan (sucks).  Lenovo has been the company responsible for making thinkpads for over 10 years, in fact, some IBM AT's and XT's were manufactured by them, and the entire PCJunior line =). 

The newer systems have newer hardware in them though, and that may prove problematic.   I am going to be purchasing a new T or X series soon and I'm going to write up a review of getting it to work with eComstation  (probably testing only 2.0 though).  However, I am afraid I will have to use Windows mostly on it, since one of the reasons I am buying it is for an automotive diagnostics tool which only runs in XP.   (maybe I'll do what I did with my old thinkpad 360X and just have more the one harddrive..  (I hate dualboot)

Quote from: Ben on 2007.06.21, 18:41:48
Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38
Hi Ben,

as a polemic side notice: If the model doesn't have pcmcia slot: The better! :-)
Oh. I'm surprised to hear you say that, but it begs the question; is there anything that a PCMCIA slot gives me that is crucial and can't be gained through other means?

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38From my experience, it's better to take a model that's not state-of-the-art but uses components which are known to work. Personally, I really much love IBM Thinkpads of the T series. I had a T21 and went to a T41 now, they're great.
OK. I'll look up both of those and check out IBM Thinkpads in general.

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38
However, with the newer models since they have "shifted" to become Lenovos, I get a dumb feeling of decresaing quality (case, assembling,... this is just a personal impression, YMMV)
OK... stay away from Lenovos...

Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.21, 11:10:38I have tried to run eCS 1.2 on an rather "new" Acer Travelmate 8...WMLI (don't recall what it is called) but although the AMD Turion 64bit cpu works, the built-in WLAN doesn't. Neither does the Ati graphics chipset - even with the latest Snap - which is a shame because it's a great machine. For windows. ;-) With Snap running in VESA or the newer Panaorama drivers, it might work.
Now regarding the support of ACPI with the latest eCS releases... hmm... I can't tell if that makes it possible to run newer models flawlessly - I just don't know.
Thanks for the info, Thomas. It gives me a good place to start.


kim

#5
I can't say that I agree that the ThinkPads has gone down the bin due to that Lenovo are now running the shop. To be remembered it's still ex-IBM people who works with the ThinkPad line and so far the only Lenovo ThinkPad that has been launched is the Z-series. But, still there are no other brands that really can compete with the build quality that the ThinkPad T60 offers. Also in a recent test by TechWorld the only real notebooks that actually worked and had as well a working screen was the..... T60. The reason why I'm saying "real" notebooks is that the Panasonics Toughbook CF-29 is far from what I call a normal notebook, it's a brick and dog ugly!

Here are a few of the 13 test that they did:


  • Free fall (2 m)
  • Heating to +80 Celsius
  • Freezing to -18 Celsius
  • Pouring 1dl water directly on the keyboard
  • Pouring a cup of coffee with milk and sugar
  • Sandpapering
  • Battering the keyboard by using a screw gun
  • Pouring indoor dust directly on the keyboard
  • Weight (0.5kg) connected to the USB-port (and other ports avaiable as well) and testing free fall of 50cm
  • Tear out cables for networks, USB, firewire and wire locks of the system
  • Free fall of 1kg weight on the CD-caddy
  • Having the article author standing on the notebook (92kg)

But here is how the ThinkPad T60 looks like after the test:


Here is how the Thinkpad T60 roll cage looks like:


and compare this with for example Dell Inspiron 8600:


Quite a difference in build quality and for some more pictures of other system from above test - even so that the article are in Swedish - can be found here. Another thing, the above photo is taken when I had to repair the Inspiron 8600 since the power socket on the motherboard didn't work any more (and this is a quite big problem when reading at Dell Support forum) and Dell of course claimed that it was the power supply that was busted after 2.5 years use.....

Thomas

Hello,

I am using a T42p for quite a long time now.
Nearly everything is doing a good job. Graphic (with SNAP), Network, USB, Sound etc. Except the internal modem. But I don't care about that.
And the most important thing: I do have a lot OS/2-software and all is running without any problem.

Thomas

Ben

Thanks for the replies ppl.

Kim: Interesting drop tests.


   Q: Did you have any trouble getting all the drivers for the T60?

kim

To be honest I haven't tried to install OS2 or eCS on the T60 yet; primary reason since it's my work system; but plan to give it a try now during the vacation that starts tomorrow :-). But and a big but, it wasn't ordered to used with OS2 and some of the components might be a real pain to get to work, among other the ATI X1400 GPU. There are other T60 models that are more suitable for OS2. But, it's my idea to give try and write an review on how it worked out. I've earlier tried to install eCS v1.2r on a X41 tablet and that didn't work out that well...

Ben

Quote from: Thomas on 2007.06.21, 22:04:18
I am using a T42p for quite a long time now.
Nearly everything is doing a good job. Graphic (with SNAP), Network, USB, Sound etc. Except the internal modem. But I don't care about that.
And the most important thing: I do have a lot OS/2-software and all is running without any problem.
Hi there, Thomas.

Could you tell us the specifications of your machine?

warpcafe

Hi Kim,

Quote from: kimhav on 2007.06.21, 21:15:39
I can't say that I agree...(snip)
Here are a few of the 13 test that they did: (snip)

wow - that's interesting:
I thought we were talking about laptops and as how the "best" one can be determined in matters of OS/2|eCS support... but you were talking from a totally different viewpoint. I didn't think of that. I already was prepared to scream at you "who cares - what about OS/2 support!?" but then I scrolled back to see what the topic was about... and indeed: There was no mentioning of OS/2 but only "best laptop" in general.
Hmmm... I should take care to read BETTER... :-)

BTW that reminds me that for a short while I had a very cheap notebook from eCS ("elitegroup" in this case ;-)) which was running a Transmeta CPU instead of AMD/Intel. Nice one... but using "exotic" chipsets which were hard to configure for OS/2. And the GPU produced nothing but a "scrolling" picture like in the ol' days when you had to tune that on a b/w TV set... dose some of the "older" peple here remember that effect? :-)

Another one I had years ago was a Compaq (years before they became swallowed by HP - aka "hazardous plastics") which was rock solid... sigh... good old days... back then, Compaq provided OS/2 drivers and something either worked or never would with OS/2. Not like today: One never knows if/when/why/how something (and what?) is supported (or not?) by OS/2 or eCS (and which release/drivers?).
I feel like it's getting more and more difficult to find out what the heck was soldered into a device before you buy it (e.g. what GPU, chipset, USB...) not to mention the real TOUGH challenge of answering a question like "what chipset does your DVB card use?". Wuhaha! This one can drive you nuts, I tell you!!

(calms down)
Ok, sorry for that OT breakout.
;-)

Regards,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

kim

Well, I guess that I read the posting in way that I focused more or the build quality than how well that OS2 runs on the system. But, since the T60, for example, can be delivered in wide range of hardware configuration, you're actually able to pick a system that works really smooth with OS2. One issue that I found with earlier versions of OS2 and eCS was that for example almost impossible to get the USB-function to work well together with the SIS-chipset. On one system I even switched the motherboard straight over to an Intel based chipset board and the system work flawless - in that case I wanted to get Epson USB-scanner to work and with SIS it didn't want to work; with Intel - no problems at all.

Ben

#12
Quote from: warpcafe on 2007.06.22, 12:41:03
Hi Kim,

Quote from: kimhav on 2007.06.21, 21:15:39
I can't say that I agree...(snip)
Here are a few of the 13 test that they did: (snip)
wow - that's interesting:
I thought we were talking about laptops and as how the "best" one can be determined in matters of OS/2|eCS support... but you were talking from a totally different viewpoint. I didn't think of that. I already was prepared to scream at you "who cares - what about OS/2 support!?" but then I scrolled back to see what the topic was about... and indeed: There was no mentioning of OS/2 but only "best laptop" in general.
Hmmm... I should take care to read BETTER... :-)

You are exactly right, Thomas. This is an OS/2 & eCS forum and the context that you took it in is the correct one, and I made an assumption and, unfortunately, I posted no limitations in my original post.

Also, a nod is due to Kim for his substantial and informative post.

Allow me to rephrase for clarity before we wander too far off;


What is the best laptop/notebook available for OS/2?

abwillis

I am really happy with my T42 2379-DXU (the machine type can be important).  I have heard good things about the T43 (though I don't know what machine type to suggest).  I have a T60 issued to me from work that I have installed eCS on.  It has the Intel chipset for video which works, the pcmcia works, the sound card is the Intel HDA which basically doesn't, and the wireless and wired nics I have not gotten to work yet though the latest beta of Genmac is supposed to work with them (it hasn't worked here yet but I decided to wait till I install eCS 2.0 RC1 to try further). 
Whether these are the best is hard to say, I was happy on a Dell Inspiron 8100 but that is quite old now, these are just ones that I know of working well.
Andy

Thomas

Quote from: Ben on 2007.06.22, 03:49:56
Quote from: Thomas on 2007.06.21, 22:04:18
I am using a T42p for quite a long time now.
Nearly everything is doing a good job. Graphic (with SNAP), Network, USB, Sound etc. Except the internal modem. But I don't care about that.
And the most important thing: I do have a lot OS/2-software and all is running without any problem.
Hi there, Thomas.

Could you tell us the specifications of your machine?


Hi Ben,

my machine is a T42p and here is the link to Lenovo/IBM with specifications:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/quickPath.do?quickPathEntry=2373w6m&sitestyle=lenovo
HTH

Thomas