Hi all, I am in need of a new notebook for work/advanced school projects/basic programming and advanced excel. I want something that is relatively durable so no plastic. 4 USB ports and both and HDMI and VGA cable are important for me. I see that the HP dv6t with all the specs and stuff I am looking for is about 800-900 dollars but it is considered a consumer computer. The two business computers I am interested are the Dell Latitude and the Levono Thinkpad but they are close 1200 dollars. I will be connecting this laptop two 2 external monitors a keyboard and a mouse but I do not want a desktop as I will take this for presentations also occasionally. Before any of the Apple fan boys come in and derail this thread. I am getting a basic macbook pro for my birthday just to take around to class and to use in the bedroom too, just basic web surf stuff. I wanted to know why these "business computers" are so much more and if they are worth me shelling out the extra dough. Which would you recommend for me? Thanks.
Agreed. Andre Johnson is very much like a business computer in his approach with strict professionalism. It seems like Arian Foster is more like a consumer laptop or even, dare I say, a Macbook, in that he seems to be such a free spirit.
Lol God damn I have been doing this too many times recently haha. Too excited for the damn season that I keep forgetting that the Texans and Hangout were separated last year. Can a mod please move to the hangout?
Commercial NBs can cost more than consumer NBs for a variety of reasons: 1) Distribution channels are different (ex: retail vs. VAR), which affects discounting 2) Stricter testing guidelines (ex: mil spec), which necessitates higher-quality parts and/or design 3) Margin expectations are different than consumer 4) Warranties tend to be different (as well as possibly level of service) That's just off the top of my head. The consumer NB business is craaaaazy... but more fun!
I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad x220 in February and I am very happy. It is really solidly built, small, light, fast enough (especially glad I opted for the SSD which is fast and quiet), and while it isn't as Mac/trendy since it doesn't have an alloy body and island keyboard, it just works well. They just announced a new version so you probably can get an x220 for well in your price range. http://www.cnet.com/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x220/4505-3121_7-34526813.html One other notebook I looked at was the ASUS B23. I had an ASUS before the Lenovo that was slight, fast, and had an extremely good battery, so I was really tempted by ASUS's new business-class laptop. It follows the trend of alloy body and island keyboard so if you like Mac its one to look at. My biggest worry was it was ASUS's first real business notebook and it had a new approach to batteries that I wasn't up on. http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Notebooks/B23_Series/B23E/
Also, they can have additional hardware and software that is geared more towards corporate IT management. In other words, you might end up paying for a lot of stuff the average college Joe will not and sometimes cannot even use.
I used to be work in corporate notebooks, so I know. (1) More solid construction. Proven with objective testing - it can take a beating, be exposed to dust etc. (2) Remote connectivity features - allow IT depts to remotely control your computers etc (3) Better warranties - generally 3 years, as compared to 1 year on consumer devices. (4) Legacy port support - try to find Serial Ports or VGA connections on a new consumer device. In general though, as long as you're not traveling and beating the thing up, it's a better deal to go consumer. I'd give Asus or Samsung Series 9 a look. I'd go for a cheap i7 personally. The Samsung would be my choice, and it would be well under 1k.
As an IT consultant, my company issued me a MB Pro for work. since you already have one, look into Boot Camp and dual booting Windows. I find the sucker to be heavy though. The main spec you need from watt you say you're gonna use it for is a solid state drive and ram. You don't need the latest and greatest specs outside of those two. Everything else is comfort and style.
