Laptop recommendations

Bridog

Bridog

Well-Known Member
Oct 4, 2006
4,961
Gulf Shores AL / Brick NJ
Boat Info
2016 19SPX OB
Engines
Mercury 150 4S OB
I'm asking for your help in choosing a laptop for the boat. A friend brought one on the boat over the weekend and you could barely see the screen outside. I'm not a computer type person but thought having one on the boat could be useful. I'm more comfortable with windows operating system. Any good recommendations for a decent laptop with a good viewing screen that's not too expensive? (around 1K) Thanks, Brian
 
This past year I purchased a Latitude D630 with a 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Panel. I manage a wireless internet company, so a lot of my days are spent outside working with our equipment and antennas, and it usually involves a laptop. The display is easily read in broad daylight, and doesn't have the recently popular glossy screen, so glare is minimal.

Total cost in Nov 2007 was $1300.

Hope this helps.
 
oh no. . . not a computer question!

I am surprised the MAC crowd isn't all over this. . .

The Dell 630 is a decent machine. The 14.1 widescreen is a bit small from what I have seen.
 
comsnark said:
The Dell 630 is a decent machine. The 14.1 widescreen is a bit small from what I have seen.
Click to expand...

I have a Dell 620 sitting here and it's a piece of crap. However, it's what motivated my wife to go buy me a Mac last Christmas... The Dell was used 2 weeks and has never been turned back on.

I can't help with this one. Laptop screens are not good in outside daylight from my experience but if someone has one and can recommend it for daylight viewing, that's great. My Mac is marginal and my Dell don't cut it.

Sunlight, as well as true Daylight, viewable LCD panels with any resolution to them are pretty expensive...
 
Bridog: You see the beauty of the internet?

I am typing this on a Dell 620 - - > I use the machine every day*, and I think it works just fine. I have seen a number of co-workers with newer 630's. They work fine too.

Oh wait. . .I guess this is where you look up and see that Gary has balls and that I do not. I think that means his word is better than mine, so you can simply dismiss my comments. :lol:

- - - - - -

I missed the part in the original post about working with the laptop outdoors. I concur with Gary's opinions regarding LCD screens outdoors.

- - - - - -

* In another thread, I stated that I have a PC based machine that is 4-6 years old. That is my home machine. The Dell 620 is my work machine, and a bit over a year old.
 
I use my Mac out on the helm of Just Ducky and it's marginal. However marginal is far, far better than my IBM or Dell. They're not even good enough to be boat anchors.

Best regards,
Frank
 
Last edited:
Can't use mine outside unless I like spending my time huddled in the shade.
 
If browsing the net is what you are interested in, I would recommend a laptop with the new Atom processor like Asus 1000, because they are very portable, run longer time per charge than any comparable Pentium laptop, and they are affordable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47__AIKRNYY

To increase readability outdoors, wear a brimmed hat and polarized sunglasses, and work under the bimini top.
 
I would have to agree that Dell's are pretty crappy and seem to break/wearout pretty quick.

I have a really nice HP Pavillion dv9000 and it's great I use it for everything. I run my businesses and do all my software development from it without problems. It goes wherever I go.
 
I actually work for IBM but wont try to sell you on that path since their laptops and PC's were sold to Lenovo 3 years ago. I've worked with these laptops and many of our competitors systems for about 12 years and haven't found one yet that is sunlight viewable enough for me. Look carefully at the display specs as the lower end models do not have good quality screens - add to it the 'glossy' finish a lot of manufacturers are putting it makes it even worse (HP for one). My sister and brother in law have Macs (not sure of model) and they aren't any better in the sun.

I've seen articles talking about the Durabook but have no personal experience with them. Most of the laptops now are commodity based and use industry standard components such as hard drives, CD/DVD drives, displays, graphics cards, batteries, networking, etc - you'll see differences in the cases, keyboards and BIOS. Another option could be a sunlight viewable display you mount at the helm and run a display cable down into the cabin. I looked at doing this with a touchscreen but the price quickly made me change my mind!

I found a link to be able to customize the Durabooks - looks like the sunlight display is a $450 option.

http://www.onthegopc.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=46
 
Bridog said:
I'm asking for your help in choosing a laptop for the boat. A friend brought one on the boat over the weekend and you could barely see the screen outside. I'm not a computer type person but thought having one on the boat could be useful. I'm more comfortable with windows operating system. Any good recommendations for a decent laptop with a good viewing screen that's not too expensive? (around 1K) Thanks, Brian
Click to expand...

Brian,
from what I understand, the primary consern is being able to use the laptop on board (outside). For this I suggest "Laptop Sun / Privacy Shade". This is what it looks like:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...efwidgettype=cross_promot_widget&isfrommerc=1

I use it on my IBM and Sony laptops on board. It makes a huge difference. I don't think you'll find any laptop that will give you good view in the sunlight.

As for everything else laptops offer, 1K might be a little low for a good one, but ebay will help. I'm and IT guy and use the laptops all the time. My office one is IBM t43 (very nice working horse). We've used DELL, but changed the vendor. IBM bits it, even though it's now LENOVO. For home, we have several models made by Sony. All Windows XP with their bells and wistles. Very good machines, in general.

Come up with your criteria and then see what fits.

Alex.
 
Thanks everyone! From your responses it looks like most laptops aren't well suited for viewing outdoors. I think Alex's solution might work best. Thanks again. Brian
 
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