What are kids usin' these days for class laptops?

[JustinG]

I still don't think the Android OS is polished compared to iOS. It works well, mostly, but as an overall package (of hardware + software) I haven't found an Android combo that's made me say "wow" yet.

I think the biggest reason that people dont think Android is "Polished" is because there is one Ipad/Iphone and one OS, where there are hundreds of Android platforms and 3-4 diff OS spread across those platforms. I blame the unpolished look on the manufacturers coming out with a new device every other month and for no damn reason. My X is perfectly fine, with Gingerbread and is a very polished device IMO, now motorola also has the droid 2 ok cause you may get some people who want a physical keyboard. But all the other shit phones they have running android are retarded, focus on the two phones and then make sure you get the OS updates out in a timely manner. Same goes for all the other manufacturers, too focused on getting out a new model instead of the latest and greatest OS on their perfectly fine and up to date existing models.

[Apoc]

I like the 10" screen on the iPad. It's great for reading PDFs of shop manuals for the cars, way easier than a traditional laptop to zoom in for detail and the like.

Having never really used any tablet, I would think a physical keyboard or mouse would be better to zoom/navigate with gloves or dirty hands. What am I missing?

[HAULN-SS]

I think I'm just going to wait on the new Wii to come out, and get a tablet and game station all in one, that i can use in my living room, which is the only place i'd use a tablet anyway.

[Evan]

too little effort into making an amazing user experience, too much into cramming numbers.

Since the beginning android devices have been nerdphones selling for the purpose of dorks to brag to their friends about 18" screens, eleventy brazilliion gigahertz and 39 cores and hdmi, dvi, bbq video output. All to power a shitty bloated unusable OS.

[Apoc]

Hey, it's better than underpowered hardware to power a shitty bloated unusable OS (BB).

[Jake]

But all the other shit phones they have running android are retarded, focus on the two phones and then make sure you get the OS updates out in a timely manner. Same goes for all the other manufacturers, too focused on getting out a new model instead of the latest and greatest OS on their perfectly fine and up to date existing models.

Yep. Too many devices with lousy user experiences. I haven't found any Android phone that has as good of a touchscreen keyboard as the iPhone. Stop putting money into re-making the same garbage phones and invest in a good touchscreen and a developer to refine the UX. The best 'droid on-screen keyboard I've used is the Droid X's. It comes close to the iPhone in responsiveness, thankfully.

And this OTA new-OS-update-push-when-we-feel-like-it is shit. The OS update should be ready for all devices at the same time. I agree, it's tough to do since each manufacturer can customize it to their taste and their phones. But then you get the same effect as Microsoft's had with Windows... it runs on so much shit hardware that the UX is muddled up for those who have good hardware.

When you aren't the one making "the whole widget" it's really tough to have a solid experience all the way around. That's why I'm an Apple fanboi. Stuff (generally) works well the first round.

Having never really used any tablet, I would think a physical keyboard or mouse would be better to zoom/navigate with gloves or dirty hands. What am I missing?

The iPad's screen is a sheet of glass. I can use it through my OG Racing mechanics' gloves, and if it gets greasy/oily you can clean it with some Invisible Glass or whatever. I have it in a case so the back doesn't get scratched (and it stays put a bit better on car-ish surfaces).

[CaptainHenreh]

I think I'm just going to wait on the new Wii to come out, and get a tablet and game station all in one, that i can use in my living room, which is the only place i'd use a tablet anyway.

[Evan]

Hate on the XBox dev team for not addressing their shitty hardware issues all you want, but if you'd had a playstation your personal information would be in the hands of Rajumhargilar Tandjeek right now. So everybody's got their problems.

unlike a certain fruity company at least sony actually fixes their security problems....

[Evan]

Having never really used any tablet, I would think a physical keyboard or mouse would be better to zoom/navigate with gloves or dirty hands. What am I missing?

The iPad's screen is a sheet of glass. I can use it through my OG Racing mechanics' gloves, and if it gets greasy/oily you can clean it with some Invisible Glass or whatever. I have it in a case so the back doesn't get scratched (and it stays put a bit better on car-ish surfaces).

iphone/pad and just about every modern touchscreen uses a capacitive touchscreen, which means it has a conductive layer on top of the glass and locates your finger on the display via the electrical charge of your finger
gloves dont work very well at all, so unless your goves are wearing a hole in the finger, or you have one of those gloves that has a bit of metal sewn into the fingertip its not going to work well

[Evan]

rex how is the nook color for reading computer books and manuals?

[CaptainHenreh]

rex how is the nook color for reading computer books and manuals?

Give me an example and I'll tell you. I will tell you that the CM7 (gingerbread) Nook reader is better than the nook reader that COMES with the nook color.

[Jake]

gloves dont work very well at all, so unless your goves are wearing a hole in the finger, or you have one of those gloves that has a bit of metal sewn into the fingertip its not going to work well

In theory, this is 100% true. For whatever reason, my OG Racing gloves (that do not have holes in the fingers) allow just enough of whatever from my fingertip to pass through so it works. Any other glove, of course, is useless.

[Evan]

shit
tegra2 tablet $250
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Viewsonic-gTablet-10.1in-Android-Tablet-%26-eReader/350468986717?afepn=5335869999&campid=5335869999&PID=1225267&clk_rvr_id=238998737126">http://cgi.ebay.com/Viewsonic-gTablet-10.1in-Android-Tablet-%26-eReader/350468986717?afepn=5335869999&campid=5335869999&PID=1225267&clk_rvr_id=238998737126</a><!-- m -->

my brain tells me i dont need one and wont use it much but my geek lust wants one

[Apoc]

Update:

The hard drive developed an intermittent clicking a few weeks ago so my wife called support. They told her to ship it back and they'd look at it. Of course it wasn't clicking for the few days prior to shipping it back, so I expected them to say there was nothing wrong with it. We heard back from Gateway and they replaced the hard drive, wifi card and updated the BIOS free of charge. The turnaround time from when they received to when it showed back up (scheduled) was 8 calendar days. Color me impressed.

Update:

Ever since they sent it back, the computer won't wake up from Sleep or Hibernate. They had me do a factory restore on it and that did not fix the problem. I suspect this is related to them updating the BIOS during the last service. We have to send it back AGAIN and wanted us to pay for shipping. I bitched and they gave is a FedEx account number to use. At this point, I'm 50/50 on the whole experience. It's a cool little machine, but there are obviously some fairly questionable things to consider.
__________________

In other news, I got the ASUS Transformer tablet Lee has been talking about yesterday. I was not sold on tablets until we started traveling every weekend for the last two months. The tipping point was flying to Montreal for 5 days a few weeks ago and seeing how convenient they were. I was drawn in by the idea of a dockable keyboard and the reviews... but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't somewhat of an impulse buy.

Some thoughts:
-I am so lost if it isn't Windows or has a touchscreen.
-I don't see why people bitch about Android's user experience. I have to retrain myself, but that's true with any new platform. Maybe I just don't know any better because I've been stuck in the dark ages.
-After using it on the couch without a keyboard, I still don't really see the appeal of home use tablets. I might change my mind after using it in the kitchen, on the shitter or on the exercise bike for awhile but maybe not.
-It passed the redtube/tumblr test with no issues.
-I'm flying to Toronto tomorrow and intend to take it as my sole internets (zomg!). The portability is hard to beat, but I suspect I'll want the keyboard when I get back.

[JustinG]

Alright peoples, buy my wife a laptop, I would like some options. Last time I bought a computer was 05.

This is going to be for her for grad school but will also become our primary computer, my desktop just sits upstairs and is never used.

She likes the 14-15in screen sized computers, prefer something somewhat portable but doesnt have to be ultra lightweight, needs a webcam for her online lectures & Windows vista/7 (do they even still come with XP?).

Other than that, I would like to be able to edit HD track videos off my Go Pro, nothing crazy just the simple stuff you can do with Windows Movie Maker, she gets MS Office for like $10 bucks through Wells Fargo so thats not a requirement, would like a descent sized hard drive for music/videos, DVDRW drive for movies would be nice, Blu Ray drive even better or worthless?, something that will last for 3-4-5 years and keep us happy.

Price point, im not sure if im way off, but cheaper the better, im thinking $4-500????? If its in the $5-600 range it works too.

[Apoc]

The only recommendation I'm going to make is 4+ GB of RAM.

Just watch sites like slickdeals and dealnews to find something that fits your specs and buy that.

[JustinG]

yea i was thinking nothing less then 4GB of Ram, any other recommendations, like on processors or whatnot, is Intel like still the top of the game or the AMD stuff is comparable?

[Kaan]

The only recommendation I'm going to make is 4+ GB of RAM.

Just watch sites like slickdeals and dealnews to find something that fits your specs and buy that.

and dont buy the same brand he did!

[Ken]

Yeah get W7 64bit and at least 4gb of ram.

[ViPER1313]

Make sure it comes with Windows 7 - any flavor will do (99% chance it will be home edition, thats fine.)
You are going to be hard pressed to find a powerful laptop in the $600 range. Look for laptops with 7200rpm hard drives (it will make it a lot quicker in daily use) 4+ gb of ram and something better than Intel HD graphics.