I needa new small laptoop computer. Main criterius are the size weight and accesisbilyt for upgrade. Pespifically it must be literglly 9" or less in height, no more than 2.0 KG weght, run the xP, support largest STAA drives updrades (up to teh 500Gb in a year or so), intrenal oooptical drive burner, and displayo of the range ~12-13' WZGA. Than ks.,
N0tebook replacement
- Thread starter LOST6200
- Start date
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Fatwah on Western Digital
I'd look at a Lenovo X61.
They weigh about 1.5kg and have 12" screens. They *do not* have internal DVD burners. The last ones I deployed, I gave out with 8GB thumb drives, which cost quite a bit less than the Ultrabase that those things need to have their "internal" DVD drive. A T61 (I own two of them) weighs a little over 2kg with a 6 cell battery and one of the smaller screens... which are still at least 14" and therefore out of spec.
You could also look at a Latitude D430, which meets your criteria. None of HP's notebooks match your criteria, as their new models are still PATA-based and their old ones appear to have older Core Duo CPUs in them.
Apple is supposed to have a subnotebook coming soon as well. Apple notebooks are made by Asus, so it's likely that Asus will have a branded and very possibly an unbranded version of the same product later in the year.
Lenovo, Dell and HP have the only business notebooks I'd even consider purchasing (and a note to Tannin: HP's business notebooks are considerably nicer than their vomit boxes. They also cost even more than Thinkpads do).
They weigh about 1.5kg and have 12" screens. They *do not* have internal DVD burners. The last ones I deployed, I gave out with 8GB thumb drives, which cost quite a bit less than the Ultrabase that those things need to have their "internal" DVD drive. A T61 (I own two of them) weighs a little over 2kg with a 6 cell battery and one of the smaller screens... which are still at least 14" and therefore out of spec.
You could also look at a Latitude D430, which meets your criteria. None of HP's notebooks match your criteria, as their new models are still PATA-based and their old ones appear to have older Core Duo CPUs in them.
Apple is supposed to have a subnotebook coming soon as well. Apple notebooks are made by Asus, so it's likely that Asus will have a branded and very possibly an unbranded version of the same product later in the year.
Lenovo, Dell and HP have the only business notebooks I'd even consider purchasing (and a note to Tannin: HP's business notebooks are considerably nicer than their vomit boxes. They also cost even more than Thinkpads do).
Fushigi
0
A note on the D430, my employer has had an on-again off-again affair with the sub-notebooks and they have never proven as reliable and/or non-quirky as the slightly larger versions. I'd do a D630 (of which we buy a couple thousand per year in the US alone) well before a D430. I can't say that sub-notebook experience extends to other brands but that degree of 'shrinkage' is where I think the manufacturers are having to make compromises/trade-offs.
Whatever you choose, I'd strongly recommend the best warranty they offer.
Whatever you choose, I'd strongly recommend the best warranty they offer.
GrrRr... There is never anything in the right size. The dell 430 uses onl y a 1.8' drive. The 600 sries is hugo and out of the realmo possiblilty. The Levovo x series is too limtied with the lack of DvDC bruner and the T series too large,. sonys have some SMALL notebooks, but they are overpricked and I dont; trsut SOny to work with teh Xp. T^hre is old Assu under consideration (W7SB) - maybe too late in its lifesnap for a good chpoice. Yet I must do something soon berfor ethe end of Xp notebook possibitat. 
Fushigi
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Have you considered re-considering your requirements? 100GB of internal storage is generally fine when traveling and there are external drives and online storage mechanisms for cheaply adding extra capacity. Likewise having an internal optical drive. What are you doing on a regular basis with the machine not at it's "home base" that requires such a drive? Media can generally be streamed from a WiFi connection and software is almost universally available as downloads.
Of course I use a 'monster' Dell D830 now so you might say I've no room to talk, but the extra couple of pounds don't bother me as my carrying distance is short distance and I prefer larger screens.
If it's media capability you're after, get a D430, X61, or equivalent and add an Archos 605 for video & music. If it's not media you're after, let us know what is driving your requirements and we might be able to find something that'll work for you.
Of course I use a 'monster' Dell D830 now so you might say I've no room to talk, but the extra couple of pounds don't bother me as my carrying distance is short distance and I prefer larger screens.
If it's media capability you're after, get a D430, X61, or equivalent and add an Archos 605 for video & music. If it's not media you're after, let us know what is driving your requirements and we might be able to find something that'll work for you.
Would the Toshiba M8 work for you?
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Fatwah on Western Digital
Toshiba notebooks hasn't made a good notebook since, oh, probably the mid 90s.
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Fatwah on Western Digital
In my experience, Tecras don't have appreciably better build quality than Satellites, and Satellites are horrid.
mubs
0
How are you, Eric?
NTLDR is Messing
That is a pretty bad error message. Can you provide more info?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Boot off a Windows disk.
Go in to the recovery console.
Run the following commands
chkdsk /r
fixboot
fixmbr
bootcfg /scan
No help?
Try booting off an XP boot floppy or CD. Format a floppy under XP. Copy the boot files off of that PC onto your floppy disk (NTLDR, boot.ini, and NTDETECT.COM)
You should be able to boot from that on your broken PC, assuming that your PC is like every other XP machine and Windows is installed on the C: drive in the \Windows folder.
Once you're booted up you can copy the boot files back on to your broken PC from the floppy (or CD, whichever).
Beyond that you'll probably need to run a repair install of Windows or start looking at hardware issues.
Fushigi
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Out of curiosity, what is Microsoft's or your advice for moderm PCs, i.e. ones that don't come equipped with FDDs? XP's 2001-era understanding of hardware is showing its age.
In general it's a good technique; boot a known-good OS from another device & perform your repairs under that. Can you do the equivalent with a bootable CD or USB drive?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Yes. You can do the same thing with a CD-RW or a bootable USB drive if you have a machine that properly supports booting off those (both are kind of iffy; CD-RWs take longer to spin up for some reason and USB is, well, USB). Or you can just make the floppy and turn it into an ISO file.