I AM TAKING A COURSE ONLINE FOR A REAL ESTATE AGENT AND I AM WANTING TO PURCHASE A LAPTOP DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO WHAT TYPE OF LAPTOP TO USE? I AM TRYING TO BUILD MY OWN COMPUTER FROM DELL AND NEED TO KNOW WHAT EXTRAS I CAN ADD THAT WOULD BE GOOD FOR THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS.
ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Depends on what you'll use it for. If it will be taken on the road often ideally you'll want small and light with along battery life. That's going to mean a laptop with a "mobile" CPU as opposed to a normal CPU that gets really hot and sucks the battery dry. But if the laptop will be your only computer you might want something with a decent size screen and keyboard.

I've had lots of laptops, and I prefer the "pencil eraser" pointer to the thumbpad but you might be the opposite.

A CD or DVD burner is really handy, but an internal drive makes the laptop bigger and heavier. Built-in wireless is really handy but a wireless card will work fine.

I've yet to see any real estate specific software that requires much power.

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Jason in Dallas
Telecom Sales and Service Manager
RE license coming soon

I know Dell is offering some really great deals. I have bought two laptops with them along with 5 desktops.

I tried getting a better deal from some of the local computer shops and none of them were able to offer a better deal then what dell offered.

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Real Estate Web Design

NAR also have a discount arrangement with Dell for Realtors.

Go to www.Realtor.org and get the special Dell URL for Realtors.

I saved about 300 bucks on my last laptop by using it.

Compare both though, sometimes their specials are better deals.

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Jim Lee, CRS, ABR, GRI, e-PRO
Realty Executives Associates
Knoxville, Tennessee
http://www.KnoxvilleMLS.com
Jim@KnoxvilleMLS.com
1999 REALTOR of the year, Knoxville Association of REALTORS

I am not an attorney, I am not your attorney, and I am not giving you any legal advice. This response is only given for informational purposes and should not be construed or substituted for legal advice.

Jim,

I did not know that, thanks for letting us know

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Real Estate Web Design

maybe upgrade a keyboard with a caps lock botton

if its strictly for real estate just go cheap p4 or better. stay away from "centrino moble" or whatever, just a way for intel to sell their expensive wireless chip set you can buy dirt cheap.

Also pick what you want and find someone in the IT business and ask them if the system might be "bottle necked" anywhere.

good luck!

ps. check ebay, i got my brand new in box inspiron 5100 with all upgrades (15", 40gig, 512ddr, etc) was $1600 from dell.com, ebayed it@$1100

[This message has been edited by XstudioX (edited 11-15-2004).]

For new, I just get the cheapest I can find. The cheapest these days is better than the average good laptop 2 years ago, and even those still work.

Today, I bought a no-name brand (GQ or something) for $649 from Fries Electronics. 15", 40 gig, 256Meg RAM, 2.4 GHz.

I still have my Toshiba from 1.5 years ago (for my assistant) with same specs except a little slower. And that Toshiba cost me over $1.5k.

I agree with Lula on this one. I needed a laptop fast (couldn't wait 2 weeks) for a previous business venture. I bought an AVERATEC (I guess no name) at staples for about 800 and used it "on the road" for months. I considered a dell but to get the same size (very small and lightweight) would have cost around 3x the price. I am a big fan of Dells (Own one now and have owned two others) but for the price I couldn't justify the higher cost. I don't use mine for presentations, so if that is what you are looking to do, a bigger screen may help that but powerwise and featurewise I don't see much need to go overboard. For "presentations" I did have an old Dell 133mhz (yep, very old) that would do anything I wanted to do with powerpoint.

J

If your still looking, the "no namebrand" laptops are a gamble. Sometimes you win big, other times you win headache after headache. I would disagree with the above recommendation to stay away from the "centrino" mobile notebooks. While the centrino notebook itself might be a lark just to get the full wireless setup. The processor and chipset are simply the best performance/battery life that you will get for a laptop. They will last twice as long as your say "cheap p4" and will in your case, (no offense)do EVERYTHING you need. As mentioned above, there really isnt' any intensive real estate specific programming, so unless your planning on playing some Doom 3, a no name brand whitebook is probably the route to go. Asus makes the best whitebooks on the market, they are reliable and fully upgradable. Building computers myself, that would be the route I would suggest. You can save yourself a lot of money, and get everything you still need.

http://usa.asus.com/wheretobuy/WTB_Notebook.htm

That is a link to Asus site showing it's online reseller partners. In the name of frugality, that is what I recommend. Just my two cents.

I just bought a IBM R40 Thinkpad on ebay last week. I haven't received it yet (let's hope I Do) but I was sold on IBM a long time ago. Now China is getting their hands on IBM Laptops so their future is up in the air. Ive heard Compaq's are bad and personally Im skeptical of Emachines- but people say they are fine. Ofcourse stay away from fujitsu/acer etc....

Why is Dell so hyped-up these days? I guess it could be because we live in the USA, and I do support U.S. goods- but I think there is a slight superficial "Fad" going on with Dell's. I'm sure they have some good qualites- but Im tired of hearing about those machines.......

With all this hype does dell actually out-perform most Laptops??

Montanaland - Dell is no Alienware (A high speed, graphics intensive computer), but for general home/small business computing, it is the best just shy of actually building your own, if you actually know what you're doing that is.

Here are some specs you will want to look for:

-512MB RAM
-at least 2 Ghz processor
-as lightweight as possible (trust me, if you're lugging it around all day it makes a difference)
-a comforatable for you screen size
-a cd burner is helpful sometimes, especially if it is a multi-purpose computer
-USB ports are a must!
-check into getting a docking station with your laptop, so then it can be used as a desktop as well as a laptop.

You may want to check out Vaio...we just bought a laptop from them and it is really smooth looking (we use it for presentations).

Edit: Wi-fi really helps a ton too, especially if your office is already wireless, or if you are in airports (or other locations that offer wi-fi access) alot. Cords do become a hassle. Also look into getting a USB Flash drive - these can transfer data fast and more efficiently than a CD)

I know your talking Dell, but I believe that Apple is the way to go. They used to be for designers and developers in the past, but they have made huge strides with their computers.

http://www.apple.com

There are more expensive, but work much better. I made the switch about 6 months ago after a lot of pressure from our designers and programmers and have not looked back since.

Apple just works.

I suggest going to an Apple Store and asking them what they think....

Just my thoughts.

Steve

I once had a Panasonic Toughbook (rugged field laptop) and I miss it very much. Imagine James Bond 007 opening a sleek laptop in the jungle and you get the picture.

Having been a network admin for my office before getting my license, this is the criteria I use for laptops for us:

-Intel Mobile Pentium 4 processor for
front line agents needing graphics capability and
using their laptop as their main machine.
Good cooling system as this cpu overheats in a
laptop case
-Intel Centrino for those not requiring the added horsepower or who will be using their laptop alot while disconnected from power.
-1 gig RAM, PC2700 on a 400-533 mhz bus
-For Mobile Pentium 4 users - min 3 ghz cpu
-For Centrino users - min 1.8 ghz cpu
-Min 128meg video RAM
Preferable ATI Radon chipset
-CD-R/RW with DVD-R/RW since we are almost paperless office
-15.4" ++ WXGA monitor
-Min 3 USB ports accessible from front or side
-Windows XP Pro (no Home as the networking is too limited)
-Norton Anti-virus corp edition
-Office XP Pro
-Wireless networking? Must have onboard 802.11g
-Docking station or port replicator for all who
have an office desk
-Weight? We only consider it an issue if the
person will be flying. Otherwise, we found that
the laptop sits in its case on the floor of the
car so we don't waste the extra money.

I have a T40 IBM Pentium M (Mobile) it comes with most all the items bglines mentions. Stick a 512mb ram upgrade in it. (1024 total)

It gets 4-hour battery life.

My personal laptop is a Sager NP5680. (Similar to Alien ware) 2.8ghz P4 128mb video.

Battery life is 2 hours tops if you go with the highest power management options. (Makes it seem like my t40 cause of limited power)

Dell is good. I would not buy a used one though.

If you get something other than a Mobile laptop you will be fine. Buy a power inverter to plug it in and charge it in your car. Get an extra battery in case you do a presentation where there is no plug.

Other than that look at bglines post it is dead on.

I too build and upgrade.

Look for a laptop with a smart bay. That way if it is a bargain you could upgrade easily.


And most importantly check out www.pricewatch.com this is a wholesale website. You will get a laptop for far less than retail. But, be careful and look at the user reviews on the wholesaler.