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Karl Magdono
Guest
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 Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:23 am Post subject: light UXGA notebook? / Dell Inspiron 5150 |
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Does anyone know of a light (< 6 pounds) notebook with UXGA and a 15"
screen?
The Dell Inspiron 5150 has a lot of nice features, but seems fairly
heavy (starts at 7.91 pounds).
The Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 is lighter (starts at 6.9 punds), but
still heavier than I would like, and I am concerned about its keyboard
and whether its wide-angle UXGA (WUXGA) will be a pain for PowerPoint
presentations with projectors.
I also checked out the Compaq/HP, Gateway, Toshiba, and IBM web sites,
and saw very few UXGA systems, much less ones that weren't tanks
(please correct me if I missed something). It seems like one of the
best ways to achieve low weight is by making the floppy and CD/DVD
drive external, which is fine by me.
Do you know any manufacturers who produce a light UXGA system?
Do any of the search web sites offer the ability to search on weight
and UXGA?
Do you think any manufacturer is likely to offer such a system soon?
Or is the thinking that UXGA is only practical with a 15" screen
(makes sense), and if you want a 15" screen, you must be tolerant of
weight and want a full desknote replacement (here I am in
disagreement).
Do you know if the Inspiron 5150 is likely to be updated soon (perhaps
to offer the big screen and high performance in a lighter package)? I
had heard that Dell updates their systems on a schedule, but can't
find the reference now, and wonder if would hold true in this case
since the 5150 seems popular and they might not want to mess with a
good thing.
Thank you for your help,
Karl |
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Erick
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:01 am Post subject: Re: light UXGA notebook? / Dell Inspiron 5150 |
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"Karl Magdono" <km@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:vtk2qv8q31qnkeuo1ne9qgs83ej6k8cbp6@4ax.com...
| Quote: | Does anyone know of a light (< 6 pounds) notebook with UXGA and a 15"
screen?
The Dell Inspiron 5150 has a lot of nice features, but seems fairly
heavy (starts at 7.91 pounds).
The Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 is lighter (starts at 6.9 punds), but
still heavier than I would like, and I am concerned about its keyboard
and whether its wide-angle UXGA (WUXGA) will be a pain for PowerPoint
presentations with projectors.
I also checked out the Compaq/HP, Gateway, Toshiba, and IBM web sites,
and saw very few UXGA systems, much less ones that weren't tanks
(please correct me if I missed something). It seems like one of the
best ways to achieve low weight is by making the floppy and CD/DVD
drive external, which is fine by me.
Do you know any manufacturers who produce a light UXGA system?
Do any of the search web sites offer the ability to search on weight
and UXGA?
Do you think any manufacturer is likely to offer such a system soon?
Or is the thinking that UXGA is only practical with a 15" screen
(makes sense), and if you want a 15" screen, you must be tolerant of
weight and want a full desknote replacement (here I am in
disagreement).
Do you know if the Inspiron 5150 is likely to be updated soon (perhaps
to offer the big screen and high performance in a lighter package)? I
had heard that Dell updates their systems on a schedule, but can't
find the reference now, and wonder if would hold true in this case
since the 5150 seems popular and they might not want to mess with a
good thing.
Thank you for your help,
Karl
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I'm in the same boat. Right now I have a 14" UXGA Dell Inspiron 4150... but
I know they can make them thinner and lighter.
If you look at the Apple Powerbooks, that should be a good example of a thin
and light notebook with a big screen to the PC makers.
As for updating the 5150... I think the line is pretty new so it won't be
redesigned any time soon. Usually they change their systems 2nd and 3rd
quarter, usually to coincide with new chips from Intel.
Erick
http://www.gadtronics.com |
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Ina Bechhoefer
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2003 10:28 pm Post subject: Re: light UXGA notebook? / Dell Inspiron 5150 |
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The new IBM Thinkpad R50 w/ 15" UXGAS weighs in at 7lbs w/ CD/RW/DVD
in media bay. If you use the travel module, the weight is
6.5lbs.
Ina
"Karl Magdono" <km@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:vtk2qv8q31qnkeuo1ne9qgs83ej6k8cbp6@4ax.com...
| Quote: | Does anyone know of a light (< 6 pounds) notebook with UXGA and a 15"
screen?
The Dell Inspiron 5150 has a lot of nice features, but seems fairly
heavy (starts at 7.91 pounds).
The Dell Inspiron 8500/8600 is lighter (starts at 6.9 punds), but
still heavier than I would like, and I am concerned about its keyboard
and whether its wide-angle UXGA (WUXGA) will be a pain for PowerPoint
presentations with projectors.
I also checked out the Compaq/HP, Gateway, Toshiba, and IBM web sites,
and saw very few UXGA systems, much less ones that weren't tanks
(please correct me if I missed something). It seems like one of the
best ways to achieve low weight is by making the floppy and CD/DVD
drive external, which is fine by me.
Do you know any manufacturers who produce a light UXGA system?
Do any of the search web sites offer the ability to search on weight
and UXGA?
Do you think any manufacturer is likely to offer such a system soon?
Or is the thinking that UXGA is only practical with a 15" screen
(makes sense), and if you want a 15" screen, you must be tolerant of
weight and want a full desknote replacement (here I am in
disagreement).
Do you know if the Inspiron 5150 is likely to be updated soon (perhaps
to offer the big screen and high performance in a lighter package)? I
had heard that Dell updates their systems on a schedule, but can't
find the reference now, and wonder if would hold true in this case
since the 5150 seems popular and they might not want to mess with a
good thing.
Thank you for your help,
Karl |
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timeOday
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2003 11:17 am Post subject: Re: light UXGA notebook? / Dell Inspiron 5150 |
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Erick wrote:
| Quote: |
If you look at the Apple Powerbooks, that should be a good example of a
thin and light notebook with a big screen to the PC makers.
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I don't know... apple's 15" powerbook only has a 1280-by-854 pixel
resolution. And being widescreen it has about 10% smaller surface area
than a 15" 4:3 screen.
Of course they have the 17" powerbook too, but it's still only 1440-by-900
pixels. |
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Karl Magdono
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:21 pm Post subject: Re: light UXGA notebook? / Toshiba Tecra S1 keyboard and coo |
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Thanks to those of you who replied.
Well, I still haven't found anything exactly what I would like, but here is
some info that may be useful for others in the same situation.
Here is a URL for a listing of Dell kiosk stores:
www.dell.com/directstore
The closest to me is in a mall, so I will not be able to really tell how
noisy the keyboard, fan, and HD are. I hope to go today to try out the
keyboards. They don't have any with UXGA screens. When I called, they
were generally grumpy and unhelpful, which seems typical of the poor
service of Dell these days (I remember them being much better years ago).
Ina, thanks for the info on the IBM R50. I re-checked the IBM web site a
few days ago, and for some reason the price shoots from the $2000s for
SXGA+ to the high $3000s for UXGA. Too expensive for me, but maybe they
will come down after the initial squeeze.
The Toshiba Tecra S1 looks mighty appealing, but I do have some concerns.
Here is basic info from Toshiba:
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/te
cra_S1.pdf#
It is relatively light at 6.5 lbs without the power adapter
(http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,111373,pg,1,00.asp), and has
a parallel port, PS/2 port, 3 USB 2.0 ports, IR, and serial (but not
firewire).
Also from http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,111373,pg,1,00.asp :
They liked the keyboard and battery. I like the dual pointing devices. I
like that the optical drive can be removed (don't know how much weight this
drops things).
According to http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_Tecra_S1/4852-3121_7-
21063848.html?tag=box , the fan / cooling system can be a problem and cause
the S1 to crash if used on a lap. Anyone else experience this?
According to http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_Tecra_M1/4505-3122_7-20906186-
2.html?tag=review , the Tecra M1 has pieces cut out of the G, H, and B keys
to make room for the pointing stick. Does anyone know if the Tecra S1 has
this problem?
Another concern: According to http://www.epinions.com/pr-Toshiba_Tecra_S1
_PT831U-102T97_PC_Notebook/display_~reviews , "the keyboard layout (like
all Toshiba's) is abysmal with the location of the INSERT and DELETE keys
near the ALT and CTRL keys. Simply horrible design. Almost as if the
keyboard was an afterthought." Does anyone else find this annoying? I can
see where it would be...
I wish it offered something better than the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000, but
in truth, I probably have no need for anything more since I mostly use
business apps. Even so, does anyone know if Toshba is likely to offer
anything better as an option in the future, or as part of the product line
stability offered to Tecra customers, is this unlikely to change anytime
soon?
Here is another positive review of the Tecra S1:
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/awards/awards_TecraS1_GCN052603.pdf
Here is a link that displays prices on it:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php?page_id=13
&form_keyword=Tecra+S1+UXGA&ut=185f31f4112e16e0
The best value seems to be about $2400
(http://www.pcvideoonline.com/productdetail.asp?level=7&catid=22&productid=
1974), which is more than I would like to spend, but quality costs
something, I know. And I wish pcVideoOnline had a nice 30 day return
policy like Dell (http://www.pcvideoonline.com/policy.asp).
Here are mixed reviews:
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Toshiba_Tecra_S1__CD_RW_DVD_ROM_/4852-3122_16-
21063866.html
Anyway, I am still looking. Thanks to all for answers to past questions
and if you can please help me with my new questions.
Karl Magdono <km@nospam.nospam> wrote in
news:vtk2qv8q31qnkeuo1ne9qgs83ej6k8cbp6@4ax.com:
| Quote: | Does anyone know of a light (< 6 pounds) notebook with UXGA and a 15"
screen?
stuff cut |
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