I'm currently in the market for new laptop, since my old IBM Thinkpad A22m died on me over the summer, and it isn't really worth enough to buy a new logic board.
I currently have 3 laptops in the running: IBM Thinkpad T40/41/42, Dell Latitude D600, or Sony Vaio Z1. My main requirement is that it is Centrino, SXGA display, relatively light (4-5lbs). Builtin wireless and bluetooth is a plus, but I can buy the modules separately. I've always liked the IBMs, and loved my old A22m, but they are fairly costly. The Dell's are nice, but I don't know if they are as durable as the IBMs. Plus, I just consider the IBM's flat black look pretty sexy. I've also read reviews that say the palm rest can get hot from the hard drive below it. The Sony Z1 is nice, but I think it has a high price tag because of its "sexy" appearance and I've heard it is a little slow and doesn't get as much battery life as the other Centrinos.
Has anybody out there used/owned one of the above ones? Any comments on durability (since I will be on the go a lot)? How do the Pentium M chips compare in speeds to a desktop CPU? Mainly in terms of general OS and Visual Studio stuff. Not quite sure how fast a processor I need for it to be comparable to my desktop (P4 2.8ghz). Also, anyone know where you can get really good prices on the Thinkpads? :)
I've been watching Ebay, but a little wary to buy one off of there. Many of them are refurbished, and I want something reliable. Even though I liked my A22m, I got it off of Ebay for cheap, was out of warranty, and it died ~6months later. Don't want a repeat. Though many times, the new ones are getting out of my price range, since I don't want to spend that much on it. Mainly looking for around $1800 (with cost of upgrading to 1gb ram... manufactures rip you off on ram).
Currently list in order of which I would like the most is: 1) IBM, 2) Sony, 3) Dell.
Andy Smith is absolutely awesome! He is working with us here at
Telligent for the next couple of weeks going over the server controls for
Community Server.
Anyway, up late tonight, churning through code. Came across a major problem. Had to build a number of Repeaters progmatically, but couldn't find a way to build the ItemTemplate without doing it in an ascx or aspx. After some Googling, came across
this post from Andy for a RuntimeTemplate library that he created to allow you to do just that! SCORE! Totally took care of it and made my life easier.
Right as I found his post, I'd just messaged him to see if he knew how... by the time he got back to me, I'd already gotten it working and told him that he is a server control god.
Got the go-ahead on a new project at work, which is to build an addon for another one of our products. So, since I don't know the product all that well yet, and it was becoming a pain to look over the whole ERD in Visio, I figured I'd print it out and hang it up on my wall. Fit quite nicely at 4 pages wide and 3 down. Lot easier to look at the whole thing now when I'm brainstorming.
Always wanted to have a job where I'd put big ERDs and object models on my walls. :)
Anyone guess what application the database is for? It is open source and used by quite a few people.