I.T Laptop

Hello fellow Techies.. I was wondering what laptops you guys have had experience with as far as for work and personal. I am in the process of ordering one for me and will use a docking station so I can bring it back & forth from home and work. I have always baught dell latitude's for my employers and never had any real complaints. I was looking at the lenovo's and really never had one. I was wondering what you guys had as far as opinions ... I found a dell 14" latitude... core i5 (2nd gen) ... 8 GB of ram... and 256GB ultra fast SSD... for 1049 +tax....
I will be doing mostly networking and server stuff and sometimes will probably have to go to our colocation sites etc.... I can call myself a heavy user since most times i have a bunch of things open.

Your input is appreciated.

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Comments

demonfurbie

you look like a cisco guy id make sure it has a serial port

i use a msi wind u100 and a eee pc 1005hab, they do every thing i need only upgrades i made are ram soon ill be getting an ssd for the eee pc

Darian929

issue is I need it also as a desktop replacement and small netbook like pc's with atom processor is going to be hard for me. I was looking at the x220 tablet from lenovo... I like the tablet feature i think it's great for notes etc... anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks,

SdotLow

I recently grabbed up a Dell XPS 15. Very nice replacement for a desktop and not much more than what you were looking at for the other dell.

1080P screen (1900x1280). Dual video cards. 2nd gen i7. 8GB ram.

With the 2nd gen i7 (not sure if it's all 2nd gen i7 and i5) you'll get Intel WiDi which is very nice. Wireless transmission to your TV in HD. Very nice and very handy when I want to sit and watch CBT videos in bed.

It can do pretty much everything, has reasonable battery life and has a great display. You'll have to get a pretty slow machine to get an serial port on your laptop (personally not one I could stomach using as a desktop replacement). I picked up an IOGear USB to serial adapter that came highly recommended from Cisco people I know, and I believe some around here. I haven't had a single issue with it yet.

it_consultant

I have an HP EliteBook 8440p, best laptop I have ever owned.

Darian929

Yes i have a usb - serial adapter for my Mac at home. I dont think the XPS 15 has docking capability though.. maybe im wrong.

estamand

Have a look at the Toshiba Tecra R series (R830, R840, R850). They have docks available for that line. I've been using a R840 for the past 6 months and I love it.

Everyone

it_consultant wrote: »

I have an HP EliteBook 8440p, best laptop I have ever owned.

My new job gave me the same model, it has been great so far.

SteveLord

The new HP Elitebook 8760w (17'') is really nice. Just hooked up someone here last week with one. Independent and backlit keys were the biggest part of the facelift. The Elitebooks are a little pricier, but they look very modern and are physically more durable than the Probooks.

It's my big screen laptop + the 2740p 12'' convertible for lightweight stuff.

Lenovo is worth checking out too.

Darian929

Thing is I dont want anything past 15" because it's too heavy and I want it ideally for work/home so i can bring it back and forth every day

Everyone

Darian929 wrote: »

Thing is I dont want anything past 15" because it's too heavy and I want it ideally for work/home so i can bring it back and forth every day

That is why I chose the 8440p (14") over the 17" model I was offered. Same i5 CPU, same graphics. It comes with 2GB less RAM, but I had them install 8 GB for me, which is 4 more than what the 17" came with. I had them get me a docking station and pair of 24" monitors, keyboard, and mouse for it too. Very nice setup for working at home, easy to carry with me when I travel.

SteveLord

Darian929 wrote: »

Thing is I dont want anything past 15" because it's too heavy and I want it ideally for work/home so i can bring it back and forth every day

Then make sure you get the 14'' or 15'' 84/8560 series, as they are the newest.

Bl8ckr0uter

Everyone wrote: »

My new job gave me the same model, it has been great so far.

Same. They are pretty sexy

Darian929

to be honest i see them too expensive and design wise/spec wise they are worst than other laptops i think... again i've never had one.. i tend to like more the lenovo x220 or the latitude series

Zaits

Lenovo T410s with 8GB of RAM, i7 and XenClient installed = EPIC

gosh1976

I love using my HP that has 17" screen. It comes in very handy when watching a video and following along with a lab in Putty or in a VM. However it is a pain to carry around from work to home to school. The worst thing is having to carry into a wiring closet or some small server room.

Not having a serial port has never been an issue I just use a usb to serial adapter.

Hypntick

Work gave me a Latitude E6420, pretty nice laptop and does what I need it to do.

mattlee09

What kind of budget are you looking at?

I'm going to buy a MBP + Cinema Display one of these days - won't need a docking station, only the Thunderbolt cable for the display. You've got your Bluetooth mouse/keyboard that works automagically. Can dual boot OSX + Win 7.

Winning.

Darian929

na im in the 1000-1200 with docking station included... best bet will be a dell outlet store certified refurb 6320...

Monkerz

Our new company standard is the HP 8540w. Great laptop so far.

As for personal, I bought my buddy's Alienware M11x off him. Was lightly used but I love it, probably the best laptop I have ever personally owned.

colemic

Zaits wrote: »

Lenovo T410s with 8GB of RAM, i7 and XenClient installed = EPIC

My work laptop is similar except i5 and no xenclient. It is a beast!

Just got a thinkpad e420 15, 8gb and it is just as fast. And it was about $500 on clearance at Office Depot. I had to buy 8gb RAM because it only had 2-2gb chips, but I love it!