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From: Richard Carpenter on 12 Apr 2008 12:03
For a while my wife and I have shared my current laptop (Dell Inspiron
6000D), and it's worked out ok. However, lately she's kind of caught the bug
and finally started getting a feel for all the wonderful things she can do
on a computer from getting some of her office tasks done at home to
processing and publishing all those digital photos and videos we've taken
over the years. As such, she's begun monopolizing the laptop a bit, to the
point where it's basically her PC now. I still have my desktop, which is a
very strong machine, but I still frequently need the mobility of a laptop.

That said, I was wondering what some of you folks are using and what
recommendations you may have for a .Net developer on the go. Following are
some of the requirements/preferences I would have:

- Must run Visual Studio 2008 and run it well (or as well as can be expected
:P )
- Must excel at running Microsoft virtual PC environments
- While a 15" screen wouldn't be completely out of the question, I need
something I can carry along to developer events, conferences, training, etc.
without getting a hernia. I've considered going as small as 13.3" for sheer
portability, but I'm thinking 14.1" might be the best balance between
portability and comfortable viewing/suitable development IDE real estate. A
sleek 15" model would be an option, provided it's lightweight with a
smallish footprint for a model with that size display.
- Must have built-in wireless (wireless-n would be a plus)
- Must have an express card slot (for broadband internet access card, eSATA
card, etc.)
- Long battery life would certainly be a bonus, but I will likely often be
tethered to an external HDD, so that's not quite as important to me as it
might be for some.
- *Must* be affordable. Price is a definite issue on this one.
- Light to moderate gaming would be a nice bonus, but I don't have any
expectations in that area. This would most certainly be my lowest priority.

I primarily do VB.Net, C#, ASP.Net and SQL Server development. I also
frequently need to work with a Windows Server 2008, SharePoint and
Performance Point servers environment running on a VPC.

Would anyone care to offer up any tips or insight you might have? Maybe even
brag about that laptop that serves *you* so well in your application
development efforts? As it stands, I'm looking at some of the offerings from
Dell (XPS 1330 13.3" and the 14.1" display version) and HP.

Thanks!

From: BillW50 on 12 Apr 2008 12:36
In news:qfydncssB-aiQJ3VnZ2dnUVZ_saknZ2d(a)comcast.com,
Richard Carpenter typed on Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:03:42 -0400:
> For a while my wife and I have shared my current laptop (Dell Inspiron
> 6000D), and it's worked out ok. However, lately she's kind of caught
> the bug and finally started getting a feel for all the wonderful
> things she can do on a computer from getting some of her office tasks
> done at home to processing and publishing all those digital photos
> and videos we've taken over the years. As such, she's begun
> monopolizing the laptop a bit, to the point where it's basically her
> PC now. I still have my desktop, which is a very strong machine, but
> I still frequently need the mobility of a laptop...

Well I don't have other users on my computers. But this is what I do.
I'll buy a new laptop and say after 6 months or so, I decide if I really
like it. And if I do (and I haven't been disappointed yet), I will buy a
second one just like it. Even if it is a used one on eBay. That way I
can swap parts if I need to troubleshoot it, etc. And it is so nice to
quickly swap hard drives too. You can't do this with different models.

--
Bill

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