Mobile Laptop questions and other questions

[Shawn Camp]

Dear All Chasers & friends

OK I know everyone is getting ready for season and hopefully this will be a Great Year for all of us I know I am looking forward to it but there is some stuff that must be taken care of first. I too am getting ready to Upgrade all of my stuff and I need some Serious advice Ok 1. What do you Think of the Toshiba brand of Laptop ??? and I'll get you the info on which one I'm looking at later on 2. Will Threat Net from Baron run on Win 7 3. How does StormLab 4.0 SuperCharged run on Win 7 and 4. How does the current Kasperski anti virus software 2010 run and does it work good or not and Delorme Street Atlas 2010 does it work great and what do all of you think about all of these items. Some Serious info on these things if you please ?????? and I'll get you all the info on the Toshiba laptop soon that I'm currently looking at getting.


Shawn C.

"MYFOXDFW.COM" FOX 4-Warn
StormTracker

 

[Skip Talbot]

I value the specs of the parts in the laptop more than the brand itself. When considering the brand its more of a question of do YOU like it? Do you like the look and feel of the laptop, the ergonomics? For chasers I'd recommend a machine with at least a Core2 duo, 4GB of RAM, and a Radeon or Geforce video card with dedicated video memory. This configuration will allow you to run a variety of applications at the same time. The graphics card will help with your Win7 aero interface and your radar software.

As for the software you mentioned, I imagine it will run fine without hitch. The only ones I'd be concerned about are Threat Net as that probably has its own drivers for connecting with the receiver. I'm not sure about the virus scanner either, but Microsoft has its own free scanner called Security Essentials. Someone else on the board recommended it, and it runs quietly in the background without hogging resources. There is also a compatibility tool for Vista from Microsoft you can download that checks to see if your hardware and software is compatible with Windows 7.

 

[Wes Carter]

I'm not sure about the virus scanner either, but Microsoft has its own free scanner called Security Essentials. Someone else on the board recommended it, and it runs quietly in the background without hogging resources. There is also a compatibility tool for Vista from Microsoft you can download that checks to see if your hardware and software is compatible with Windows 7.

I'm going to second Skip's appraisal of Microsoft Security Essentials. I have used Norton, McAfee, Avira, Avast, and AVG and the free Microsoft Security Essentials blows them all out of the water when it comes to running quietly and unobtrusively. And it does detect stuff. I just reformatted my hard drive on my Toshiba laptop (which has served me well over the past year) and reinstalled Vista along with MSE. While I was loading everything back onto my laptop from my backup hard drive, MSE found 3 trojans I did not know I had. One of them was called 'Koobface' and is supposed to be a pretty nasty bug. My last antivirus, Avast, did not find it. It was still in my backup files.

 

[Jason Boggs]

As Skip said, get a laptop that you like. I'm sure Toshiba laptops are about as good as any other brand, but I have no experience with one. I've had 2 HP's and I like them pretty well. Like Skip mentioned, get one with good specs. I don't have a laptop with a dedicated memory card, and I've never had any trouble with graphics or slow speed. I'm sure a dedicated card couldn't hurt though. Do get one with as much memory as possible. I'd recommend no less than 4 gigs of RAM.

Have you ever tried grlevel3 products? I have a Sprint data card, and that along with grlevel3 works great. I know threatnet is always connected, but the resolution is terrible. I don't like Stormlab either when compared to Grlevel3. But, get what you can afford and what you like.

Skip mentioned Microsoft Security Essentials. I have that on all of my computers and I like it very much. It runs in the background and takes up very little resources. There are a few more free virus programs like AVG and Avast.

I can't help you with Delorme 2010 because I have Delorme 2006. I'm sure you can't go wrong with Delorme 2010.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Actually, I have a question myself real quick. Would an upgrade of Delorme 2010 from the 2006 version be worth it?

 

[David Goines]

Well if the topic of laptops is being discussed, I would like to get some input of processors.
What's everyone's take on AMD vs. Intel? I understand dual core are the best and to look at the speed to compare, but with AMD being a bit cheaper, is it worth it?
I had a Digital Systems professor that used to work at Intel and he talked so bad about AMD and how they do things. What is everyone on here's input/experience?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mark Blue]

I have a Toshiba laptop and have had very good luck with it. I think the advice Skip gave you is spot on and there isn't much that could be added to it. I too have tried many different "security/anti-virus" suites including Kaspersky. As of late I'm enamored with Norton Internet Security 2010 and I thought I'd never say that. It just does its' job and doesn't bother you for anything, and to boot it's very light on system resources. Conversely, Kaspersky just pesters a user too much and half the time what it is asking is not real clear, so I would pass on it if I were you. It does score high in technology reviews though for stellar protection - there's no doubt about that. It might be worth looking at ESet as they are a strong contender right now as well. Most of the comparisons I've read lately actually give NIS 2010 the highest scores, so you really can't go wrong for the price.

Jason, I've upgraded my Delorme SA every year for something like four years running and my advice would be to pass as I do not know of one thing it has afforded me other than being able to say I'm running the latest version - woo hoo, big deal.

As far as the Intel and AMD debate goes, Intel is currently on top when it comes to performance. Not that long ago (2005 ish) AMD was kicking Intel's rear with the FX series, so they are also a solid company that manufactures reputable products, but it will probably be several months before they will have a product refresh that could top Intel's current lineup. Everyone thought ATI (AMD owned) was dead in the water until they came out with their 59XX series of graphics cards and literally overnight they trumped Nvidia and are now the performance champs. The tide changes quickly in the technology arena, literally overnight in some cases. If I were you I'd focus on getting an Intel branded machine for right now as their current processors are very powerful and can pretty much handle anything you throw at them.