RE: Laptop Question (off topic? I don't know)

Subject: RE: Laptop Question (off topic? I don't know)
From: John Hedtke <john -at- hedtke -dot- com>
To: "Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>, "'Hemstreet, Deborah'" <DHemstreet -at- kaydon -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 06:30:41 -0700

It's worth noting that most laptop graphics cards are shippd with 0
RAM. This means they have to get it somewhere and they end up
stealing it from the chip. This can slow down overall response time
by as much as 1/3 to 1/2. I know that HPs used to have cards that
had 128M of RAM on them, so you were safe in that regard, but that
was a couple years ago and I haven't checked since then. Whichever
computer you buy, make sure the video card is populated with at least
128M of RAM. It's worth the extra money.

Yours truly,

John Hedtke
Author/Consultant/Contract Writer
www.hedtke.com <-- website
Region 7 Director, STC
541-685-5000 (office landline)
541-554-2189 (cell)
john -at- hedtke -dot- com (primary email)
johnhedtke -at- aol -dot- com (secondary email)

At 06:21 AM 5/13/2008, Al Geist wrote:
>Deborah Hemstreet asked:
>
>
>"Does anyone know the difference between a Vostro and Latitude?"
>
>I used Gateway and have for nearly 10 years without a problem, so I can't
>answer this question. Gateway experienced service problems several years
>before Dell, but has since put them behind them. Dell is still working out
>their service issues.
>
>"Would you think that the default graphics card provided with Dell
>laptops is good enough for my needs, or do I need an upgrade?"
>
>How complicated are the graphics you intend to do? That will determine if
>the built in graphics will suit your needs. Often, with a laptop, what you
>get when you get it, is what you end up with. Upgrading graphics and such in
>a laptop is not as easy as a desktop, so my recommendation is to get
>graphics capability that is greater than you need, but within moderation.
>
>"Does a 720 rpm hard drive make that much of a difference."
>
>Okay, I know this is a typo, because a 720 rpm hard drive is
>reeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy slllllooooooowwwwww. I have a 7200 rpm drive in my
>laptop and it's great. I also have a 7200 rpm external drive that I can hook
>up either via USB 2.0 or Firewire. Together, the combination even does video
>without lags.
>
>"Maybe this is offtopic, but maybe not, since we all of us who work from
>home need to buy our own supplies."
>
>I've worked for companies that allow telecommute and provide laptops to the
>telecommuters. It's rare, but they do exist.
>
>"I have until June 16 to be able to buy a Dell with Windows XP (Home
>Edition) (a system admin said not much diff between XP home vs XP
>Office)..."
>
>XP Home is not the same as XP Office. One is an operating system and the
>other is an office suite (Word, Excel, etc.). All of our Gateway systems use
>XP Professional. Some of my staff have newer laptops (HP, IBM and DELL) and
>they have Vista. My XP systems blow their system away in speed, and they
>have had problems using older programs on their systems that I don't
>experience. XP Home is not XP Professional. Home lacks some of the security
>features that the professional edition offers. We had an older laptop that
>had XP Home on it and found that it connected to networks easier, but that
>was primarily because it didn't have as robust security as the Professional
>edition.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Al Geist
>Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
>Office/Msg: 802-872-9091
>Cell: 802-578-3964
>Website: www.geistassociates.com
>See Also:
>Fine Art Photography
>Website: www.geistimages.com
>
>"...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim
>without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold each
>day." (Anon.)
>
>
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Laptop Question (off topic? I don't know): From: Hemstreet, Deborah
RE: Laptop Question (off topic? I don't know): From: Al Geist

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