[dxpfmP0l]

If the environment is very harsh you might want to consider a Panasonic tough book.

[ranndomderr]

If the environment is very harsh you might want to consider a Panasonic tough book.

I'll check it out. Thanks

[Signabeademia]

If the environment is very harsh you might want to consider a Panasonic tough book.

I second this recommendation. Plus if you manage to find yourself in the middle of a gun fight you can use one of these as body armor and still surf the web.

[FBtquXT8]

If the environment is very harsh you might want to consider a Panasonic tough book.

So couldn't find the Panasonic to save my life in the time I had. Ended up with a lenovo of some sort.

[ZanazaKar]

So couldn't find the Panasonic to save my life in the time I had. Ended up with a lenovo of some sort.

not everyone will agree with m e, but i think Lenovo notebooks are among the best computer made. the desktops are true, dyed in the wool POS's, but the notebooks are pretty good machines, in my experience. I have had/used 2. i wish i still had one. couldn't afford it when i bought this one (i really couldn't afford this one, to be honest).

i really like the intellipoint mouse in the middle of the keyboard. i would do anything to have that on this computer. i hate this little touch pad thingy. at work i use a USB mouse, but i don't bring it home usually (just leave it on my desk).

[Julik19]

With all of the problems reported recently with Dell, if you were going to buy a laptop and had about $1,000 to spend, what would you buy?

I prefer a brunette, but mostly she has to have healthy hair, clear eyes, and like to sit on laps. She also must like Facetop.

[TepSteade]

My friend is wanting to buy a Compaq because they're on sale this weekend. She'll mostly be using it for bookkeeping (checkbook and taxes for her side business) and for surfing the net. Is Compaq at all decent?

[RgtrsKfR]

HP and Compaq are the same thing. Read this whole thread. My advice hasn't changed. You get what you pay for with Dell and HP/Compaq.

[heinz_1966]

Thanks. That's what I mentioned to her. She may have to gamble on it because she desperately needs something now as her home computer just crashed, and she's constantly broke due to some heavy medical bills these past few years.

Don't these types of laptops come preloaded with a bunch of crap you don't need? Isn't there a place she can go and get a blank laptop and just load her own software (like the software she already had from her home computer?) I'm personally wary of Windows 7 and we've all been very very happy up here with Windows XP.

[t78VPkdO]

Well it is the line of work I am in....*cough*

One of the reasons the laptop is so cheap is the preloaded advertising software. They pay for that right and it's reflected in a lower cost. I can get you a blank laptop but it will be alot more expensive. It will also be better quality then most Compaq junk.

As for Windows 7 It isn't as bad as you think. I've not had any real issues with it. It's stable and fast. And more important supported by Microsoft. Xp has been discontinued. Support for it will halt altogether for it by 2014. New hardware may or may not get drivers for it.

[refdhbgtd]

W Xp has been discontinued. Support for it will halt altogether for it by 2014. New hardware may or may not get drivers for it.

*sigh* I hate microsoft. Did not know this info -- thanks so much.

[salomal-qask]

They can't support it forever. It's been out for 9 years. It's out dated and prone to problems or have you not noticed how easy it is to infect with viruses. Windows 7 is more secure.(A mac is even more secure but that's a different thread.)

[Voitramma]

Saw an add, out here @ Walmart, what ever they are selling cost was 298.

[replrobin]

That cheap will be a small NETbook type of laptop. It will have the starter edition of Windows 7. Very basic features. If ALL you want is web surfing and email then it will do you. But if you need any kind of computer power this will be disappointing.

[timmybrown]

Saw an add, out here @ Walmart, what ever they are selling cost was 298.

couple of years ago they did something similar. laptop for 298, came with a Linux build on a full size computer with a big 17" screen.

i think it was an Acer. I bought one for the employee christmas thing. gave it to a girl who quit the next day.

[Rexaviennatutr]

FWIW *cough*

Is your laptop cooking your testicles?

By Frederik Joelving
NEW YORK | Fri Nov 5, 2010 5:18pm EDT


(Reuters Health) - Whoever invented the 'laptop' probably didn't worry too much about male reproductive health.

Turns out, unsurprisingly, that sitting with a computer on your lap will crank up the temperature of your nether regions, which could affect sperm quality.

And there is little you can do about it, according to the authors of a study out today in the journal Fertility and Sterility, short of putting your laptop on a desk.

The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were balancing a laptop on their knees. They found that even with a lap pad under the computer, the men's scrotums overheated quickly.

"Millions and millions of men are using laptops now, especially those in the reproductive age range," said Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who led the new study.

"Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don't feel it," he added.

So far, no studies have actually tested how laptops impact men's fertility, said Sheynkin, and there is no bulletproof evidence that it would. But earlier research has shown that warming the scrotum more than one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) is enough to damage sperm.

Under normal circumstances, the testicles' position outside of the body makes sure they stay a few degrees cooler than the inside of the body, which is necessary for sperm production.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A457320101105

[Flatlytaize]

Wow!! That could really burn a 'Hard-Drive' up!!!