What Kind of Laptop Is Best and ...

I think Ricochet Wireless Internet Service might work for you in Dallas ... check out http://www.link4pc.com/ricochet/
Its all goinna depend if you are within range of one of their towers.

U know what - I jus signed up to AOL broadband here in the UK - and it is working like a dream...

But I have to admit, I use its software only to connect - and aafter that it is just IE....

Hmm, you guys are going to kill me but do most RV parks provide telephone hook ups?

If so then I could use phone lines and forget about high speed internet.

ISP Buying guide

Great site, thank you husker.

Wow. All this talk and no one mentioned Toshiba?

The correct answer is that there is no "best" laptop. There are good laptops from all the company's mentioned, but you have to weigh your needs vs your pocketbook. If you are only looking for a laptop to surf the internet and check email while on the road, you should be looking at the light-weight/long battery life models.

If you are looking for a desk top replacement, then you can look at the higher end expensive models.

If you are looking for an entertainment/gaming laptop, then you would look for one that has a great graphics/sound system.

There is no one model that fits all these catagories, so you must first decide what you want in a laptop and THEN buy the one that fits your needs. That can be Dell, Sony, Toshiba, IBM, or maybe even something else.

Thank you McGentrix. I will need one for just e-mail and surfing the net. Maybe uploading picture to the site from time to time.

Will you be doing extensive travel with the notebook? If not, then you can opt for a bulkier laptop which can save you some money.

Do you want to record CD's? Watch DVD's? Play any games on it? Do you have a cable modem or will you be dialing into an ISP?

Extenisve travel. I plan to be on the road for a year or more. I won't need to record or copy DVD or anything like that. It will be for staying in contact with friends while on the road. I will be hooking up to what ever I can at various RV parks around the states.

Selling antiques, junque, and my paintings (I hope). Summer in the Northern states and winter in the Southern sates.

Last question: How much do you want to spend?

Middle of the road - I do not need the best but I do not want junk either.

For your needs, I would suggest one of the following:

IBM Thinkpad T40
Sony PCG-R505GCK
Toshiba Portege M100
Dell Inspiron 300M

Each has it's individual perks and down sides, but all fit what you are looking for. My personal preference would be the Toshiba, because of the warranty. They have locations all over the US and that is a nice feature.

Have fun picking what's best for you!

There's a lot available from "The Majors" in the sub-$1K pricerange now ... if you don't need ultra-sophisticated capabilities, there's no point paying for them. A few excellent multi-media laptops, and gaming-optimized laptops, are out there, but at several times the price point of a machine suitable for typical casual home-user stuff like surfing, occasional uploading/downloading, and CD playing.
Most folks really have no need for ultra-fast processors, gigs of memory, huge hard-drives, multi-format-capable oprtical record/playback drives, multiple batteries, FireWire, or super-sophisticated video and audio cards, ultra-sharp, large-size high resolution screens, or built-in WiFi and BlueTooth. "Course, all that's fun to have ... ya just gotta pay for it. There probably really is no utillitarian justification for a $4K-$5K laptop, but such a critter does generate lots of envy from less-well outfitted freinds

Anyhow, what you probably NEED, JD, is a pretty simple 'Puter ... don't pay for stuff you'll never use. Almost any current-production laptop, even the cheapest of them, outperforms large desktops of just a few years ago. Look for a unit that has a processor of around 1Ghz or slightly better, get at least 256MB of memory, a moderate 20-30 Gig hard drive, a CD-RW drive, at least a 14" XGA display, at least one PC Card slot, a couple USB ports (USB 2.0 is nice but not critical), a modem and maybe a NIC, a comfortable, intuitive keyboard layout, and don't worry much about the video and audio capabilities if you're not heavilly into gaming or multi-media. You don't even really need a floppy drive anymore, and lots of lnewer machines don't include one. If future expansion is a consideration, look at machines that accommodate a port-replicating docking station..

Yesterday I was thinking maybe because my needs are minimal I might consider a used lap top. There are many refurbished ones on the market right not and I can be at Dell HQ where they have a huge re-sale shop in Austing in about three hours.

I am thinking for me it is worth looking into.

Refurbs from Big-Name outfits can be very suitable; they often have the same warranty and support as a perfectly new item. They are usually customer returns, for reasons varying from "Couldn't figure it out" to "Doesn't match the carpets in the office", never really "used", and are generally thoroughly checked out and brought to "Like New" specs. And while anything is possible, disappointment with a Dell is a rare thing.

WiFi RVing
First of all "Hi everybody". Next, when it comes to WiFi in an RV (van,etc), what I'm finding (my girlfriend and I full-time), is that your biggest potential problem is going to be getting the "radio" waves to penetrate the BigMetalBox. What we're doing to max. our signal is get a roof ant. with an interior access point. This should give us a straight shot thru the steel. As far as what machine to get, pretty much totally personal pref. and end use requirements.
Edit (moderator): Links removed
Hope this helps.
Jay