New Laptop Advice..

mik_da_man

Hi Guys,

I am setting up my own business shortly and will need a new Laptop for work.
It will be running Oracle 11i so will have to be fairly good spec

I reckon I need
2 gig Ram
160gig+ Hard drive
2.0Ghz duo processsor
Windows XP too as I'm not too sure about Oracle and Vista

That are the main specs I think - Good graphics would be nice too
The budget is around 1300 Ex Vat

I have looked at This on Alienware and it seems to fit the bill - and not break the bank

And This on the dell site - although the hard drive may be a wee bit small

Any other recommendations welcome
Thanks

Mik

mik_da_man

Another question about this - Is there a noticeable difference between the 5400 rpm and 7200 RPM drives?

I see on Alienware you can get 2 drives and RAID them but I dont reckon there would be a need for that?

Thanks

Mik

jjbrien

mik_da_man wrote:

Hi Guys,

I am setting up my own business shortly and will need a new Laptop for work.
It will be running Oracle 11i so will have to be fairly good spec

I reckon I need
2 gig Ram
160gig+ Hard drive
2.0Ghz duo processsor
Windows XP too as I'm not too sure about Oracle and Vista

That are the main specs I think - Good graphics would be nice too
The budget is around 1300 Ex Vat

I have looked at This on Alienware and it seems to fit the bill - and not break the bank

And This on the dell site - although the hard drive may be a wee bit small

Any other recommendations welcome
Thanks

Mik

Mik I think Hp is a good bet take a look at this
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/sm/WF06a/21675-283229-283229-283229-12434682-80117356.html

Hp's have always in my mind been very good laptops, I have had top of the range dell, advent and acer laptops they havent lived up to what I wanted I now use HP and have not looked back. Pity about vista been on all new laptps.

Tom Dunne

Also have a look at my favourite, IBM/Levono along with Sony and Toshiba.

I think Dell are too flimsy for "serious" work and Alienware are overpriced, for what they offer.

As for the drive speed, unless you are actually hosting the Oracle database, I don't think it would matter. Having said that, I've a 10g Oracle database on my humble Pentium-M with 512Mb of RAM.

jjbrien

tom dunne wrote:

I think Dell are too flimsy for "serious" work and Alienware are overpriced, for what they offer.

Agreed Dell is too flimsey for anything that requires serious work.

mik_da_man

Thanks for the replies guys.
I am actually starting as an Oracle Consultant/Contractor so the laptop will have the 10g database installed

I currently have a Toshiba Satellite 2540 but it's a bit old, and i don't think it will be up to the job.
It's a great laptop though and never has given any trouble.

I hadn't really thoought about IBM - although the guys here in work all have them!

And I will check the HP one too, one of my mates recommended it too.

Tom as you have Oracle installed already, how does it work with your setup?
I was told to go for at least 1 gig of RAM

Mik

Tom Dunne

mik_da_man wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys.
I am actually starting as an Oracle Consultant/Contractor so the laptop will have the 10g database installed

OT: We must talk. Seriously. I am considering going down this route. I've just started out on the whole Oracle certification process.

mik_da_man wrote:

I hadn't really thoought about IBM - although the guys here in work all have them!

I've used them for the past 10 years and I would highly recommend them. They have travelled everywhere, connected both wired and wirelessly and taken everything I can throw at them.

mik_da_man wrote:

Tom as you have Oracle installed already, how does it work with your setup?
I was told to go for at least 1 gig of RAM

Bit of a convoluted story, really. It's working ok, but I was short about 5Mb swap space, so the Oracle installer complained, so I had to hack it to get it installed. So far so good, though I haven't yet done anything serious with it yet.

mik_da_man

tom dunne wrote:

OT: We must talk. Seriously. I am considering going down this route. I've just started out on the whole Oracle certification process.

No Probs - I'm starting that soon, have the classroom training done for some modules in UK (Reading) already.

Anyway back on topic - the IBM/Lenovo look good and so do the HP.
Didn't consider Sony really as I thought I would be paying over the odds for the name.

BUT i came across This which seems pretty good to me.
Any thoughts?

Tom Dunne

mik_da_man wrote:

BUT i came across This which seems pretty good to me.
Any thoughts?

Looks good, but do you need all the bells and whistles, such as the in-built camera and the memory card reader?

mik_da_man

Prob not...

But I do love my toys

AlmightyCushion

mik_da_man wrote:

BUT i came across This which seems pretty good to me.
Any thoughts?

One thing I noticed that may be a problem is that the drive is only 4200rpm. I don't know if it's a major concern or even that noticeable but I would look into it.

mik_da_man

I also Spotted this in PC World swords Yesterday for €1299

Tosh A200 1Ai

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500
1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Cache
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
2048MB RAM
200GB Hard Drive
Dual Layer DVD ReWriter MultiDrive
15.4" Brightview Widescreen Display
320MB nVidia GeForce GO 7300 Graphics
Wireless Enabled
4 USB Connections


What do you think?..