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| Thread ID: 40847 | 2003-12-20 08:32:00 | Laptop problems | tedheath (537) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 201935 | 2003-12-20 08:32:00 | I intend to buy a laptop for my Hydraulics/breakdown business. Mainly to print out quotes. I don't want to spend any more than 500 slides. The idea is to impress the snot out of people by going back to the truck and printing out a nice quote. Instead of my hand written one. My handwriting has been called chicken scrawl by people. Could you people please tell me which makes and models to stay clear of. In trademe you see people selling laptops with dead pixels, broken hinges, screen problems, noisy etc. Which brands are best? looking through trademe Toshiba look the one with the least problems. Not worried about battery as my truck has 230 vac. I dont want a Leyland P76 laptop! Thanks for any help you can give me. |
tedheath (537) | ||
| 201936 | 2003-12-20 10:00:00 | > I intend to buy a laptop for my Hydraulics/breakdown > business. Mainly to print out quotes. I don't want to > spend any more than 500 slides. > The idea is to impress the snot out of people by > going back to the truck and printing out a nice > quote. Instead of my hand written one. My handwriting > has been called chicken scrawl by people. Perhaps you forgot to tell them where you were really from X-( > Could you people please tell me which makes and > models to stay clear of. > In trademe you see people selling laptops with dead > pixels, broken hinges, screen problems, noisy etc. > Which brands are best? Without a doubt I would say Toshiba and Acer are by far the leading brands in the market. Both are very reputable, but you'll pay the price for quality too! > looking through trademe > Toshiba look the one with the least problems. They also seem to have pretty good customer service if something does go wrong. Admittedly its not _quite_ as good as Acer's IMHO, but pretty close! > Not worried about battery as my truck has 230 vac. > I dont want a Leyland P76 laptop! > Thanks for any help you can give me. If you dont want to fork out $8k for a Brand Spanking new Toshiba as my boss did a year and a half ago (for a Duron 1.6Ghz with 128MB RAM), then I would recommend Compaq laptops as being good too! Aside from that, I know a few good places to get them at bargain price if you email me, I'll put you onto a contact. Cheers Chill. |
Chilling_Silently (228) | ||
| 201937 | 2003-12-20 10:01:00 | Why not consider a Pocket PC or a palm type device? The choice of printer will effect your end outcome I feel. |
ugh1 (4204) | ||
| 201938 | 2003-12-20 20:50:00 | Ugh1 and Chilling thanks for your replies. Do palms have printer connections? I already have a printer its a HP portable deskjet. Chilling thanks for helping me find a cheap laptop. I work in Auckland but I am originally from Pokororo. My e-mail address is tedheath@xtra.co.albania (swop Albania for nz) tedheath |
tedheath (537) | ||
| 201939 | 2003-12-20 21:23:00 | Pocket PC devices do not interface easily with printers, and would drive you nuts trying to do so . Also while they run a stripped down version of Excel, its painful to use on such a small screen . Stick to a laptop . Your budget is a bit low, but something will be out there, you have the advantage of not needing a battery that works in the laptop (which may help your budget) |
godfather (25) | ||
| 201940 | 2003-12-20 23:35:00 | > Pocket PC devices do not interface easily with > printers, and would drive you nuts trying to do so . I have had no problems with printing from 3 pocket PCs, it is just a matter of picking the right printer . I do not know about PALM devices, but I think they have IRDA . > Also while they run a stripped down version of Excel, > its painful to use on such a small screen . Umm, I saw no mention of Excel in the first post, you could use notepad to print the quoate or pocket word . The small screen and lack of keyboard is a pain, but if you use a template the amount of data to enter would be no more then client details and perhapes a few numbers ($$$$) . > > Stick to a laptop . Your budget is a bit low, but > something will be out there, you have the advantage > of not needing a battery that works in the laptop > (which may help your budget) I laptop would offer you more flexability, but for 500 notes do not expect much . . |
ugh1 (4204) | ||
| 201941 | 2003-12-22 04:39:00 | A $500 laptop (with dead battery) should be a pretty good one. (I got one which Cash Converters had tried to sell for $499 for much less when they put it in an auction -- 700 MHz, 182 MB, 12GB disk ...). The battery is the first part to die, usually, and it's an expensive item. Don't consider a palm/pocket for this ... they do what they do pretty well, but this would be like the famous "dog walking on its hind legs". Yes it is possible. But you need something easily usable, and a palm/pocket would drive you up the wall. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 201942 | 2003-12-22 04:48:00 | >I do not know about PALM devices, but I think they have IRDA. Yes, they do, but check each model if purchasing. If your portable HP printer has an infrared port, you can print to it from a Palm device via IRDA. You could first prepare a doc or spreadsheet template on your PC with Word or Excel, then HotSync it to the Palm and it will open with QuickOffice (the suite includes QuickWord for the former and QuickSheet for the latter). Not sure how QuickOffice deals with templates, but I am sure it should be fine. You then use the template on the Palm to prepare your quote and print from that. From memory the printer software (PrintBoy) is bundled with QuickOffice. Some recent research (lost the url sadly) says that Palm through QuickOffice works better with Word and Excel documents than Microsoft's own operating system on a Pocket PC! Now isn't that weird? Some firms specialise in setting up this sort of focussed application ?Rocomm? John |
John H (8) | ||
| 201943 | 2003-12-22 06:15:00 | > Ugh1 and Chilling thanks for your replies. > Do palms have printer connections? I already have a > printer its a HP portable deskjet. > Chilling thanks for helping me find a cheap laptop. I > work in Auckland but I am originally from Pokororo. > My e-mail address is tedheath@xtra.co.albania (swop > Albania for nz) > > tedheath no palms dont have parallel or usb ports... but most do have inbuilt bluetooth. this means you could impress them more by printing them wirelessly ;) |
Megaman (344) | ||
| 201944 | 2003-12-22 06:19:00 | also i have seen some kind of palmtop (i think it was a palm) that has a rollup keyboard. | Megaman (344) | ||
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