I am ready to buy a laptop but not sure which one I will need in the beginning. Could you please recommend the one you like? Thank you!

Get a dell and you might even get lucky and get windows 98 still. Very happy with my $400 dell that has worked like a trooper and never let me down. Through rain, sleet and hail it has been pulled out of my back pack at all listing calls and when it's time to write an offer.

I would recommend a small portable printer, it's a don't leave home without object. I use cannon ip90. It can make a colour brochure on the fly or print up a offer.

I agree on Dell; you can get all kinds of Drive Modules; Docks for peripherals;Power Supplies; Batteries; and additional Memory, et cetera on eBay too.

There are just a few Models which are duds. Wish I could tell you which to avoid. We have a Lattitude 630 w/WiFi which is a work horse, and with the Dock, behaves just like a DeskTop when it isn't on the road.

Just buy a mid to low line model laptop that does the functions you need. DO NOT buy top of the line or upper mid-models.

Laptops overheat especially the newer models where they haven't gotten the heating issues with the higher processor speeds resolved yet.

Remember the more crap you have on there the slower it will run.

I like to keep mine clean and take programs out of msconfig and put on the desktop that are non-essential. That way it only starts and uses resources if I want it to.

I have had a Dell Vostro for a couple of years and it has preformed better than the WAY more enpensive laptops I previoulsy owned.
I got the kids Dell Inspiron 1525's for Christmas and picked them up for under $500.00 each and they appear to be great machines and would be more than enough for most applications.

I love my Dell Vostro, but the battery life sucks. After less than a year of daily use, the battery won't keep a charge for longer than twenty minutes to a half hour. Which isn't too much of a problem since I never use it when I don't have a power source nearby...but it's kind of annoying.

Other than that, I LOVE THIS COMPUTER. Less than $500 brand new from Dell and it's a dream machine.

my battery will only last until i can run to the next plug in the wall. if i have to go to the bathroom in between changing outlets then my pc will shutdown!

i need a new bat, but have yet to go get one.<<<can you say lazy!

I bought an HP on clearance at Staples last Summer. I paid 1/2 price because it had a small nick on the side of it. Can't even see it, tho, and there was no damage whatsoever to the interior.

Mine has the numbers pad, which I prefer, so it weighs a little more but I love it. I have a broadband card and wireless mouse I carry in the laptop case so I'm completely portable.

When clients have rush bids, I take the laptop with me and send the estimate with photos to them before I even leave the property. It's been a wonderful time-saver for me.

Linda

I have always had Dells and for the most part have been very happy with them. Albeit, I would not recomend the Latitude D610, it's slow and the the battery life is terrible. I recently upgraded to the E6400 and it Rocks!

I fought adamantly against getting my Acer, but tried it and a Toshiba out simultaneoulsy and ultimately sent the Toshiba back. And I just bought a second Acer. The little 8.9" one.

TB in TX May I ask, has the little acer been a good fit in between larger notebook and what are your likes and dislikes? Do you take it with you most of the time? I have been thinking of getting a little one instead of upgrading to a new smartphone to carry. Some days are go go go and breaking down the bigger notebook fortravel as not convenient with it on the offcie network, to go on the road for some inspections.

I have a lenovo thinkpad r61i and I bought it because the keyboard feels best. It runs XP, has lots of memory in RAM and HD and was cheap. I have the extra batteries, att wireless and a bi-directional amp booster in the car to keep pick up the signal better in the field.

I love my Dell 1501 and I could get XP on it... the battery that came with the computer sucked, but I bought a better one on Ebay that works great (although I just replaced it after 1.5 years of use.

I bought the extended warranty and have been really pleased with the service.

I miss my XP. The hardest part about replacing a CPU and buying my laptop was being forced to "learn to like" Vista, which is NOT very user friendly for me. I can maneuver through all of its quirks now but I still long for XP.

I supposed I could reformat my hard drives...............

Linda

Roy, I have been too busy to get my little Acer set up to really be functional for me yet, but I like it. I would say that a man may have a hard time with the keyboard (sexist, I know - there are probably some big-handed women out there, too - lol). It isn't that much smaller than a full sized one, but it's still a bit different. I think you just have to get used to it.

It runs cooler than my big one (the Atom processor is to thank for that) and I have a 6 cell battery so I can leave my cord at home if I will only be gone half a day.

It's really light and fits in my purse - overall, I think it will be a great unit for the car if I ever get it going!

A little Acer is a great choice. Its compact enough that I carry mine all over, but of course it does a whole lot more than a Blackberry or the like. It is also well worth investing in a wireless card or service like Verizon's 3G. Can't tell you how much that helps. I often line up x number of properties to show a client, and they just don't like them. So being able to go back to the car and pull up some more is a great time saver, no trekking back to the office.