Computer Question..

[js_paramedic_1979]

I will be buying a laptop before heading to the island in Jan.. I am pretty far from a computer know-it-all, and I was hoping to get some advice..

In general, what stats will I need on the laptop??

Memory?
Software?
Modem stuff?

Also, what if you have a "problem" with your computer on the island?? Are there techs. available??

As always, thanks for the help..

JS

[dolphin]

It depends on what you will be doing with your laptop. For instance, there is a large difference between the needs of a gamer/intensive video editor/encoder and just regular study folks.

But go ahead and shoot. I'm a computer nerd, so I'll try to answer your questions.

What will you be doing with your laptop?

[dolphin]

Assuming that you will want a PC laptop right?

[dolphin]

As for problems with a laptop, I don't see anything that will require you to open it up. Even if you did open up your laptop, there won't be anything that you can fix without replacement parts for your particular model (which I'm sure is very hard to obtain on the rock).

The only problems i prophesy are software compatibility issues and getting your wired/wireless internet connection to work.

But fear not, whenever you have such problems, you can always go to http://www.computerforum.com
many people there will help you.

[dolphin]

For most work people, the lowest priced laptop in the computer store will more than satisfy an office clerk's needs.

Standard configurations are:

Hard drive: 40Gigabytes (unless you are the downloading/dvd ripping type, you won't use more than 1/2 of this space when you are thru med. school)
Memory: 256 Megabytes
Processor: 2.0 Giga Hertz or higher are screaming. (I'm running a 1.33Gigahertz PC and I still consider that top notch for application speed and watching videos).

Softwares:

Microsoft Office 2003 (of course, so that you can view PowerPoint presentations, etc)
Free Adobe Acrobat Reader (purchase Acrobat 6.0 if you want to make notes on .pdf lectures)
An antivirus (if you are really that paranoid. Of course, you can always scan freely for virus online via McAfee's Virus Scan Online.)

Modem stuff:

A modem (basically a phone jack) for dial-up (56kilobits/second, or actually 7kilobytes/second (8 bits=1 byte).
A network adapter (slightly larger than a phone jack), for wired cable internet, DSL, all broad band connections.
A wireless network adapter, for wireless internet access (free if the library offers the signal).

Accessories:

A 256MB memory key for transfer of really large files from campus computers to your laptop.

Stuff to do with your laptop:

I'd like to think this as a fail-safe. If you have the know-how, I suggest you partition your hard drive into 2 halfs and install separate WindowsXP's on each half. You do this so that if one system is ladden with keyloggers, spyware, virii, or just plain crashses, you'll always have the back-up to run your laptop. I usually reserve a partition for softwares which I consider risky to computer security (ie. you won't find me ever typing out a credit card number or the password to my e-mail in the risky partition).

I hope this helps.

[classic]

hey js, this might be a good reference for what to look for in your laptop http://www.valuemd.com/viewtopic.php?t=18149

[Patrik Leonard]

Hi JS,
Considering your original post about being "far from a know-it-all," I'm going to start with the essentials. Like Dolphin was saying, depending on what extra fun stuff you want to do with it will determine where you might want to spend additional money. For simply being a tool for your education, pretty much any current laptop for sale will do the trick. However a couple recommendations.

I would suggest getting a laptop based on the "Intel Centrino" platform. This is a technology which incorporates wireless networking, a processor designed specifically for laptops, and advanced power saving techniques to get you the most battery life out of the computer. Another way of identifying a system based on this is that it will have a Pentium M processor, not a Centrino, and not a Mobile Pentium 4. Look for the M, stands for Mobile. A lot of folks are using the wireless networking more and more, especially for having some fun in the dorms, and you might want it later for sharing a DSL connection with roomates. Plus with the Centrino package, it will maximize your battery life, and still be plenty powerful. The Centrino processor is an anemic version of the Mobile Pentium 4, and the Mobile Pentium 4 wasn't designed specifically for laptops, so it goes through the battery faster. As far as what speed Centrino, unless you're wanting do to Video editing or video games, pretty much any will do.

Since the system will almost certainly be based on Windows XP, I would recommend getting 512MB of RAM. Many of the more basic laptops come with only 256, but an upgrade to 512 would be worth it, Windows XP really runs best on at least that much, but more than that is really probably overkill.

For Hard Drive Space, like Dolphin said, 40GB+ is about the minimum that they even put in new laptops, and that should be plenty unless you're planning on storing lots of movies & music on it, but would still hold quite a bit.

Other options are spending more on the video card, which basically the more you spend, the fancier video games you can play, up to you if that's important. Screen size, most have 14-15", some have widescreen, the most basic will obviously display what you're working on, anything extra you want to spend is just gravy. You might want to go to Best Buy or something and take a look at a few laptops and have someone explain laptop screen resolution to you, if you can actually find someone at one of those stores that knows what the heck they're talking about, best of luck with that. Basically boils down to the higher the resolution, the better the picture, the more text/display you'll be able to see at any one time, but it makes text look smaller, which for some, especially with poor eyesight, is not a good thing. Modem/Ethernet/Speakers/USB/Firewire ports are all fairly standard. Software is also pretty standard, I wouldn't spend any extra on software, pretty much anything you might need can be found from fellow students on the island. One other thing to look into is the size/weight of the computer, you're going to be hauling it around a lot, and something a little lighter can be very nice. Think that's about most of the specifics I can think of for recommending.

Now, about your question about what to do when something goes wrong. If the computer just gets a virus, windows messes up, or something else that's just software related, or just how do I use this thing type issues, lots of students, myself, and others, will be happy and very capable of helping. The problem with laptops is if something physically breaks in them, they're just not really serviceable with spare parts you just pick up at a computer store. They pretty much have to be serviced by a licensed technician for the company that made the laptop. And this is something to keep in mind, b/c with the humidity & always hauling your computer from the dorm, to class, to the library, back to class, back to the dorm, etc, the conditions it will face are far from ideal, and quite a few people have problems with they're laptops, even brand new ones, while they're here that simply can't be fixed by anyone but a service technician. And that's where a recommendation for brand comes in. To the best of my knowledge, Dell is the only brand which you can have your warantee transferred to their Caribbean division for service. What this means is that if something does actually break, they will fly a guy over from St. Maarten with replacement parts to fix it. I know several people who have had to do this, and it was a much better option than having to send the laptop back to the states to get it fixed, then shipped back, a turn around time of weeks to months. I'm not a big fan of Dell laptops to be perfectly honest, however most brands are really fairly similar when it comes down to it, but the option of having that kind of service available is a very big plus.

Related to that, I'd get whatever extended warantee you need to get so that it will cover everything through you're whole time on the island at least. Otherwise after the probably standard year long warantee ends, it can end up being more costly to have it fixed than it would've been to get the extended warantee, considering parts on a repair could run anywhere from $50-300+ and then labor too, I know mine has paid for itself 3 or 4 times over.

Other than the computer itself, I would highly recommend that you get a 256MB or more USB flash memory drive. This will be for transferring files from the computer classroom or classmates computers to your own or vice versa. A lot of times the presentation for the day gets out to a few people and then is disseminated from there. 256 will get you by just about all the time, especially if you don't keep everything on it, but there will be times, especially when getting lots of music, programs, Step 1 review materials that more could be very handy. So if the difference in price isn't a big deal to you, I'd go with a 512MB one, but like I said, 256 will probably be plenty 90-99% of the time.

Ok, I've got to get to bed so that I can wake up for class in the morning!! Hope this helped, please feel free to ask any other questions you have, either in here, or you can PM me. Take care,
Patrik

[microphage]

Just to chime in a bit.

Don't bring down a HP computer if you can help it. If you already got one, well, pray pray pray it'll survive the 20 months in the Caribbean environment.

They go down like Titanic and with no HP center in site, you're on your own with that little whistle waiting for help to arrive(i.e. heading back home during break). It's not even regular software problems, it's hardware related which you won't be able to fix on your own. CD/DVD drives, PCMCIA drives, Wi-Fi problems, etc. Of course they will also undergo hard drive crashes but those are fixable(remember to backup folks).

[Patrik Leonard]

I second the thought on HP, they're no good. If you're not going with a Dell for the service, and considering what other brands to look into, I'd probably first consider Gateway, then Toshiba & Sony. Not sure if Compaq still has models under their name, but they and HP's are trainwrecks waiting to happen. As far as an Apple goes, unless you're familiar with them and just love them like those zealots out there do, I'd stay away from them too, even if they are reliable. If you're used to PC's stick with what you know, if you're not used to anything, well, there's a lot more people that can teach you about PC's than the 3 or 4 people on the island with Apple's. Plus, they cost an arm and a leg for being in a pretty box. I may be biased however b/c I like tweaking with my computer and Apple's are just boring to me. :D

[wolfvgang22]

Don't forget to get a firewall! Sygate Personal Firewall is both free and good.

[js_paramedic_1979]

Thanks everyone for all of the help!! I will do my best to take all of this into consideration when I go buy the machine... It seems like the service plan is a good idea..

Thanks again,

JS