John W. Colby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Tue Oct 4 11:28:12 CDT 2005
I purchased my last laptop when in Ireland working with Mark Breen. That was November, 1997. The laptop was a PII 233 mhz with a MAXIMUM of 180mb ram, a 5 gbyte hard drive and 800x600 screen. I actually replaced the keyboard on that one because I spilled water on it. In the end, the backlight just got too dim to see it any more and it wasn't worth even thinking about fixing. I purchased my new machine about 2 years ago, so the old one lasted 5 years - but in the end it was really too slow to use for much. The new machine is an AMD64 2.8 ghz with a maximum of 2 gbytes of ram, populated with 1.25 gbytes (a 1 gig stick and one of two original 256m sticks), and I upgraded to the faster 7200 rpm drive. I can still upgrade the RAM by replacing the 256 mbyte stick with another 1 gbyte stick. In theory the processor is upgradeable as well (it is in a socket). At this point in its life it still FEELS as if it will be fast enough in three more years, OTOH I haven't had an opportunity to feel any of the 4 ghz class machines, and of course at this point they are moving away from faster clock speeds to more processors. I think in 3 more years the laptop itself will be "worn out" and I will hand it down to my son, who will be around 7 by then and should be able to lug a 7 lb. machine around the house. I paid right at $1500 for this machine so if I get 5 years out of it, that will be $300 / year - not too bad for a laptop TODAY. And in another few years the machine I will get for $1500 will be even better. Will it be as much faster than this one as this one was over the PII 233 mhz? Doubtful! John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause: http://folding.stanford.edu/ -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 12:11 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop Five or six years is more than I expect out of them, John. If I get 4, I consider it good performance. It isn't that the machine breaks down, but the software keeps demanding bigger and better and faster processors, larger and larger hard drives and higher and higher screen resolution. Plus with laptops, you can't mix and match the components and after an indeterminate period, you can't necessarily find the memory to upgrade them or other components, like DVD-R drives. Hah! Try to find a floppy or zip drive for a laptop bay these days! ;-} Of course, I do tend to wear the letters off the keys too, so I'm ready for a new laptop when the keyboard wears out! LOL Charlotte Foust -----Original Message----- From: John W. Colby [mailto:jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 8:27 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop Processors have finally (more or less) leveled out in terms of performance increases, at least for the common man. I bought a laptop with a 2.8g AMD64 with 1.5g RAM and a 1280 x 800 screen. I replace the HD with a 7200 rpm 60g unit which REALLY helped the load speed. I bought it almost two years ago and it is still an amazing machine. Yea, the more I load on it the slower the load, but the actual use is very fast. I may be able to replace the processor some day with a 4+g unit, not real sure if that will ever happen really since it is the 754 pin processor, which would have to move to the next lower die size in order to reduce the heat for the speed increase. In the end, I think this machine will still be fast enough even in another 3 or 4 years. 5 or 6 years is truly all you can expect out of a laptop anyway. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause: http://folding.stanford.edu/ -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 11:17 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop LOL I just got this one last year. I think it will hold me for a while, but thanks for the invitation. ;-} Charlotte -----Original Message----- From: Joe Hecht [mailto:jmhecht at earthlink.net] Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 11:07 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop Charlotte, Next time you are in LA come by my store. I have a few like that. Besides, I need to pay for my new HP that I should have by the end of the week. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 8:58 AM To: access at joe2.endjunk.com; Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop My laptop has a full P4 processer, not a Pm, and 1Gb ram. I'm very happy with it, but I always find odd laptops because I insist on a built-in number pad on the right of the keyboard and those are hard to find. Charlotte Foust -----Original Message----- From: Joe Hecht [mailto:jmhecht at earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 10:38 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: [AccessD] OT: Need new laptop My Dell is dying. It is time to replace it. Does any one have thoughts on the following: Pentium vs. Celeron vs. AMD Mostly runs office. Some flight sim. Some Ipod support. Will defiantly have 512 megs of Ram looking to try for a gig depending on $ -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com