Comments on Laptops

[carrot]

Lit Up, I think Netflix is going to do just fine.

They already have a standalone box (Roku), integration into TV sets & Blu-Ray players (LG, Sony, Vizio, Panasonic), TiVo support, and support for all three video game consoles (Wii, 360, PS3).

Netflix is also already in some HTPC software, like Boxee.

You are right that plenty of companies will want to compete, but against a competitor that has already set itself up to be very nearly ubiquitous, it will be an uphill battle.

As for Linux support, it sounds like they are waiting for Moonlight (the Linux SilverLight implementation) to catch up to version 2.x. I got tired of being shafted as a Linux user many years ago and jumped to Mac.

 

[Centropolis]

Thanks for everyone's comments.

I tried hard to think about the need for an optical drive. I think it will turn out to be one of those things that you'll seldom use it when it's there. And when you don't have one.....you'll regret that once or twice that you need it. Now I know it sounds like I am going in circles....and stating the obvious....I mean everything is like that in a way.

My main use for an optical drive on the road will be watching movies and backing up photos onto DVDs for friends and myself. Now someone mentioned external hard drives being safer and cheaper. I am not sure about being safer......I don't know if it is just me but I feel safer when my data is stored on a non-electrical device. But I do appreciate that the prices of externals have gone down alot in the past few months.

As for budget and what I am looking for:

- relatively portable
- long battery life - Ultra low voltage CPUs (SU7300 for example)
- I think I am leaning towards no opitcal drive now
- around $700 to $800

 

[StarHalo]

You don't need an optical drive for movies, this aforementioned 11.6" unit has a broad range of movies on it, many in HD; the SU2300 dual-core processor means it'll do the entirety of movie night without flickering or recharging. Not bad for $430 :thumbsup:

 

[paulr]

My main use for an optical drive on the road will be watching movies and backing up photos onto DVDs for friends and myself. Now someone mentioned external hard drives being safer and cheaper. I am not sure about being safer......I don't know if it is just me but I feel safer when my data is stored on a non-electrical device. But I do appreciate that the prices of externals have gone down alot in the past few months.

The issue with backups to DVD is that DVD's are just too small, you need dozens or 100's of them to back up a hard drive. Blue-ray burners are getting more affordable but the blank discs are still way too expensive. Next step past that is a tape drive, which is big $$$ and needs a lot of supporting infrastructure. Anyway you can always get an external USB optical drive.

I like Lenovo laptops and if you watch www.thinkpads.com you can often find good discount coupons for them.

 

[StarHalo]

If it's about backing up data, remember that one copy is not a backup - just moving a file to a disc won't seem ideal should the disc have an error, get scratched/lost/etc. An external hard drive is a better option, but least one copy of your data should be non-physical/in the cloud; this method is often the safest and cheapest route anyway (under $60 a year for unlimited storage: http://www.carbonite.com/).

Every time one of my desktop computers retires (or dies), I pull the hard drive and put it in a USB enclosure, presto, instant external hard drive. I have two so far. The best bang-for-the-buck model I've come across is only $20 and takes only a couple of minutes to set up: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182155. This is a great way to get a bargain external drive; just find a sale on an older/clearance hard drive and slap it in the enclosure. Newegg has a couple of bare internal 1TB drives for $70 and free shipping; add the enclosure and you've got a 1TB external USB hard drive for $90..

 

[Egsise]

Now someone mentioned external hard drives being safer and cheaper. I am not sure about being safer......I don't know if it is just me but I feel safer when my data is stored on a non-electrical device.

If your CD or DVD disc fails there is only small chaces you to get the data back.
External hard drives are more safer, well not safer but the valuable data is salvageable when the accident happens.
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk/columbia-drive-recovery/

If the files are important store them in two separate places, if the files are really important store them in three separate places.

 

[Fallingwater]

Now someone mentioned external hard drives being safer and cheaper. I am not sure about being safer......I don't know if it is just me but I feel safer when my data is stored on a non-electrical device.

That was me. Consider this: an optical disk has a surface that's exposed to wear and scratches and has a natural degradation that is fairly quick. It's also very easy to break.
A hard drive, especially if it has head load/unload ramps (and so doesn't have heads that park on the platters themselves, ready to scratch them if you drop it), only wears down when it's spinning, surface wear is absent and bit rot takes a long time to affect a hard disk's magnetic media. So if you record your information on a hard disk and then leave it there in a drawer, it'll still very likely all be there a decade or two from now. Of course, finding a machine in which to plug the drive might be a problem...

 

[HarryN]

The optical drive will have the same security issues, and if it's a personally owned computer then the corporate security policy wouldn't apply.

The way to deal with corporate security is to have your own HD for the laptop. This usually will allow it to be used as a "personal" computer with all of the useful value of this, while protecting the IT dept. needs. A second HD is not that heavy to carry on the road.

Perhaps fast becoming a useful alternative is if the cell phone companies ever figure out the simple value proposition of putting some video out options on their phones and allowing more reasonable video access to storing on it. I would love to be able to copy one of my home DVDs onto the phone and play it back on the road, esp. on a hotel TV.

 

[Lit Up]

I should add something here. I have both kinds of external drives: USB-powered and the kind that takes a wall adapter. The other night I was moving around 30 GB worth of files from PC to the USB-powered drive. When I started, it stated it would be 9 HOURS to move it all. So then I stopped it and tried it on the other drive with the wall adapter and that cut the time down to just one hour.

I'll certainly be glad to see if USB 3.0 or eSATA can cut those times significantly as I really like the locally-powered drives without adapters, but 9 hours is just - yikes!
Better yet, give me the SDXC cards with theoretical transfer speeds of 300MB/sec.

 

[carrot]

Hi Lit Up, you should note that bus-powered drives are laptop drives (2.5") versus self-powered which are desktop drives (3.5"). Desktop drives are generally faster than laptop drives for various reasons and may very well account for the speed differences. You are probably right that USB 3.0 and eSATA can increase transfer speeds but there is also a limitation on the media speed.

 

[JCD]

I should add something here. I have both kinds of external drives: USB-powered and the kind that takes a wall adapter. The other night I was moving around 30 GB worth of files from PC to the USB-powered drive. When I started, it stated it would be 9 HOURS to move it all. So then I stopped it and tried it on the other drive with the wall adapter and that cut the time down to just one hour.

That sounds very much like the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 real world transfer rates. Perhaps something in the connection chain used with the USB powered drive does not conform to USB 2.0 standards.

Hi Lit Up, you should note that bus-powered drives are laptop drives (2.5") versus self-powered which are desktop drives (3.5"). Desktop drives are generally faster than laptop drives for various reasons and may very well account for the speed differences. You are probably right that USB 3.0 and eSATA can increase transfer speeds but there is also a limitation on the media speed.

Even slow laptop drives can easily saturate a USB 2.0 connection. In real world applications, USB 2.0 provides a pretty slow connection.

 

[daimleramg]

That sounds very much like the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 real world transfer rates. Perhaps something in the connection chain used with the USB powered drive does not conform to USB 2.0 standards.



Even slow laptop drives can easily saturate a USB 2.0 connection. In real world applications, USB 2.0 provides a pretty slow connection.

Thats why he should wait for laptops to come out with superspeed usb 3.0(5Gbps) or like my laptop have an eSata(3Gbps) port.


And the optical drive for me is definately not for storage, its for installing programs or games because when you buy a program or game it never comes in a usb stick always dvds or cds.

 

[kaichu dento]

Not all external hard drives are equal and I've found my Samsung 1.8" 250gb drive to be much faster than any other external I've owned to date.

 

[noddy43]

I have had my 11" sony vaio with an optical drive for 3 years now and i can count with my fingers the amount of times i have use the optical drive. There is almost nothing nowadays that cant be installed via a usb drive or virtual drive with an iso. Go with a lappy with no optical unless you get a Bluray drive.

 

[Saaby]

13.3" without an optical drive.

The only things I use my optical drive for are burning DVDs (I do video) and ripping DVDs (I do video). I never do these away from a desk. I'd gladly swap my optical drive for a battery or second hard drive. In fact, I just might do that.

 

[red02]

It would be difficult to watch movies, rip cds, install various software without a optical dvd drive. Its much easier to recover the OS in case of a virus etc. I wouldn't consider a laptop without a dvd drive.

 

[Lit Up]

It would be difficult to watch movies, rip cds, install various software without a optical dvd drive. Its much easier to recover the OS in case of a virus etc. I wouldn't consider a laptop without a dvd drive.

The thing to do with movies is to get an external usb drive of about 1TB, then as time permits, rip dvds to MP4 format and then store them on the drive. You could get about 800+ movies on it. Have a regular BlockBuster at your disposal.
I do that using K9Copy on Ubuntu and leave the actual DVDs stored away in a CD wallet. Just open the drive and there's the movie files all nice, alphabetized and ready to view.

 

[Saaby]

It would be difficult to watch movies, rip cds, install various software without a optical dvd drive. Its much easier to recover the OS in case of a virus etc. I wouldn't consider a laptop without a dvd drive.

This is true, but these things are hardly ever done "on the go" for me, so an external drive would suffice.

 

[paulr]

I should add something here. I have both kinds of external drives: USB-powered and the kind that takes a wall adapter. The other night I was moving around 30 GB worth of files from PC to the USB-powered drive. When I started, it stated it would be 9 HOURS to move it all. So then I stopped it and tried it on the other drive with the wall adapter and that cut the time down to just one hour.

That sounds like usb1 vs usb2. You should make sure the usb-powered drive supports usb2 high speed. I use a drive like that (usb powered 2.5") and get about 20MB/sec transfer, about 1 GB/minute. With 3.5" ac-powered drives I get a few percent more speed but I think that's because the drive itself is faster. Nothing to do with how it is powered.

 

[Lit Up]

That sounds like usb1 vs usb2. You should make sure the usb-powered drive supports usb2 high speed. I use a drive like that (usb powered 2.5") and get about 20MB/sec transfer, about 1 GB/minute. With 3.5" ac-powered drives I get a few percent more speed but I think that's because the drive itself is faster. Nothing to do with how it is powered.

No idea why it gives those speeds, but it's a 2.0.
Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002OB49SM/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I had it hooked up to a HP Mini netbook