TWL: Re: Cruising communications
Hi, Joe & Debbie,
Could you or anyone else give us a recommendation for what you think is the
best all-around laptop? We are about to buy one, which we will use on the
boat for various communications functions; we need to be able to compose
and store information on it; and we also want to be able to use it as a
business computer. So we need a good, all-around unit that's rugged and
forgiving.
What say you all?
Portia & Neal on Whidbey
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 08:28:17 -0800
From: Joe Engel Joe@JRE.com
Subject: RE: TWL: RE: Cruising Communications
Sure, that works. The problem is you have to read and reply on-line, while
you are there. An alternative is that many marinas, hotels, libraries,
coffee shops, etc, will let you plug in with your laptop. That's still the
best way IMO.
We grab the laptop, hike up the ramp, find a phone jack. Now, assuming that
your ISP has a local POP or an 800 number (most have one or the other) then
you're home free. You synchronize email, take your laptop back to the boat,
read at your leisure, reply at your leisure and before you leave that
location, hustle back up to the phone connection and re-synchronize. You're
on line for a very few minutes this way. Even a few short long distance
calls might be cheaper than many alternatives.
That's why we advocate a GOOD QUALITY laptop as the navigation system
aboard. It can also be used for this type of email access. Even up the
West Coast of BC there are many places that have some kind of Internet
access now a days.
But there are still many places where no communications... no VHF, no
telephone, no nothing works. That's part of the fun of cruising these
places. Even SSB wont work in some of those deep, steep sided BC and Alaska
fjords.
Incidentally, if any of the readers out there own or work at a business that
uses MS Exchange Server 5.x as your email server, you can use Outlook Web
Access (OWA) to instantly connect to your Exchange server from any Internet
connection in the world. Works slick.
Joe & Debbie Engel
Marine Computer Services & JRE Computer Consulting, Inc.
MV Freda Fly - 1973 40' Tollycraft Tri-cabin
Portland, OR
I have recently purchased two Dell laptops and I have Compaq that drives the
boat. I haven't had any serious problems with any of them. I've had the
Compaq for a few years but I've only had the Dells for a month or two. Here
are some observations:
The Dells are nice. I bought a Dell Inspiron 3700 for the Admiral and 7500
for myself. The 3700 is more elegant, smaller and has a better docking
station. The 7500 is really a replacement for a desktop system, it has a
fast processor (Intel PIII 650mhz), lots of RAM (256MB), heavier(~10lbs) and
is pretty darn expensive. Both laptops have nice screens. I can't attest to
their brightness as I really haven't had them outside much, but they seem
pretty good. The cool thing about the 7500 is that it supports a high
resolution (1400x1050 or so). The 3700 is limited to 1024x768. It does seem
brighter than the 7500. Colors are good on both. Both Dell portables have a
USB port.
The older Compaq Armada 7700(Intel P200) is limited to 800x600, but it runs
the NobleTec suite pretty well so I don't have any complaints. The Compaq
seems a little better built than the Dell (and it has a MUCH better docking
station), but Compaq isn't nearly as aggressive as Dell when it comes to
getting out the latest hardware and faster performance.
The 3700 has both the pointer stick and the touch pad. The 7500 only has the
touchpad, and the Compaq only had the stick. I think it's nice to have both,
but I've quickly adjusted to the touchpad. However, I do carry a mouse that
I use whenever possible.
As far as durability goes, both portables have been on the road off and on
over the past month and a half. I was wearing mine on my back in its
backpack and I ran/jogged for about 5 minutes to catch a plane. Worked fine.
We haven't dropped them, so I can't report on that. Yet. : )
As far as communications go, you can order each with an internal modem. Each
laptop sports the usual complement of two PC card slots so you can do pretty
much anything.
For what it's worth, Dell has been pretty good to deal with. Both machines
shipped earlier than they had promised and they both worked perfect out of
the box. They have a pretty good website for tracking your order and their
support seems to be good (not great). I have a couple Dell desktops, I've
been pretty impressed with their hardware. I expect that if they stay
competitive, I'll buy from them again in the future.
-mike
You will get lots of opinions, but I like the IBM Thinkpad. IMO, it's built
better than most of the others. I've used a bunch of different ones, Dells,
HP, Zenith, Acer, Compaq, etc. I still like the IBM best.
Frank Timpano
Hatteras 38 DCMY "Discovery"
Deltaville, VA. On the Chesapeake
At 09:29 PM 3/1/00 -0800, N. Sims/P. McCracken wrote:
Hi, Joe & Debbie,
Could you or anyone else give us a recommendation for what you think is the
best all-around laptop? We are about to buy one, which we will use on the
boat for various communications functions; we need to be able to compose
and store information on it; and we also want to be able to use it as a
business computer. So we need a good, all-around unit that's rugged and
forgiving.
What say you all?
Portia & Neal on Whidbey
Boating laptop. Here is a queston where I can give some expertise back to
the list in exchange for all the things you have given me.
I noticed you did not list navigation as an intended use so you won't need
one of those ultra-bright screens. Be aware that the standard laptop
screens are not visible in direct sunlight.
Rather than recommend a brand, let me list some features you should look
for in the one you buy. You should be able to get all this for around $1500.
(1) Processor speed is not that important, anything from 200 mHz and up
will do. Spend the money on memory, a minimum of 128 megabytes.
(2) rugged construction. Panasonic makes a very nice rugged unit with a
partial stainless steel case. My friend had one and she could just fold it
up and throw it in the car. Look for something similar. I have a Thinkpad
and a Toshiba and the Toshiba has been very very rugged for many years
while I believe the Thinkpad is somewhat flimsy. However the BIOS on the
Toshiba is touchy and it can be tough to get new hardware to work right.
You need strength not light weight (as if you were carrying it to work on
an airplane every day). Take a close look at the way the floppy or CD disk
drive is accessed, my thinkpad is so lightweight that you could easily
break this off if the boat rolled at the wrong moment. The Toshiba is much
tougher (and heavier).
(3) Screen res. Get a minimum of 1024 x 768 active matrix LCD, 14 inch.
(4) pointing device. Get one with a pointing device you like. I like the
little joystick. My wife likes the touchpad. Everyone hates the
trackball. It will take you some time to get used to whatever you select.
Full size keyboard.
(5) ports for PS/2 keyboard and mouse. You will sometimes want to hook
these up. Not important after you get used to the laptop keyboard and
pointing device itself.
(6) docking station. Nice but unecessary on a boat, unless you are
planning to take a full size monitor. That said, we are taking ours,
because it provides an extra disk drive, more ports, and an internal floppy
dirve.
(7) hard disk. Get at least 8 gigabytes.
(8) Operating system. Windows 98 is more reliable than Windows 95.
Windows NT is better, but many of the power save features do not work.
(9) internal 56K V.90 modem. In the laptop not the docking station.
(10) PCMCIA slots, there should be 1 or 2 available. This is for your
network card or future interface devices.
(11) USB port. Printer port. You will need the USB port for interfacing
to that nice, new, digital camera.
Invest in a good carrying case with foam pads, and double bag your computer
in ziplock bags when not in use. Electronics hate salt water.
Here's a key question, are you going cruising long term? Where? If so you
will want to buy a brand that has the best nation-wide or international
arrangements for service.
-JimB
Jim Baumgart
<")))>><
(760)749-4257 San Diego
I have used Thinkpads for the last five years or so, and am on my fourth
one. Obviously, they work great for me. You can't go wrong with Compaq,
Dell, or Gateway IMO.
My next portable will have Firewire, aka i.Link, aka IEEE1394. This high
speed port will be used for inputing digital video (miniDV tape) in real
time for linear editing.
I installed Windows 2000 when it came out on a spare hard drive for testing.
(The Thinkpad has a user-changeable hard drive.) It eliminates the major
objections I had with NT 4.0, which were lack of support for Plug and Play
and lack of support for power management functions. It installed easily,
found all my hardware, and has yet to crash. I am switching from W98 and am
in the process of reinstalling all my applications. I think W2K is the way
to go for boat management. (Caution - professional computer jock speaking.
Your mileage may vary.)
Hal
new post-delivery photos at http://www.halwyman.com/quelinda.htm
There are a lot of options on lap tops but I've been using IBM Thinkpads
for years and have never had a problem with them on the boat. I do keep
them dry but that's about the extent of the protection they get. My
current machine is a model 600 that's right at two years old. Just my
opinion.
--
Regards;
Forrest Myers
Aboard MV Trident
(36' Willard Vega Pilothouse #36)
URL ( http://fmyers.com )