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Help me choose a laptop to take to Iraq

T

Tailback

Member
My unit might get deployed soon so I want to get a laptop to network game with and also watch DVD's, play music, and possibly watch TV. I've never had a laptop so basically I'm pretty clueless about them. I'm guessing that I want to wait for the 9600's to show up in systems around middle of next month? I looked at a Fujitsu at Fry's that had a beautiful MVA SXGA screen, are those available in other brands and are they worth the $? Does the 9600 have a TV tuner and if not, which one should I get? Battery life isn't that big of a factor because I'll always be able to plug it in over there, and at home it will be used as a desktop replacement. Because of some software I must use I need a 3.5 floppy on it. One very important thing, I've got to be able to get it on credit from wherever I buy it from.
 
Originally posted by: Tailback
My unit might get deployed soon so I want to get a laptop to network game with and also watch DVD's, play music, and possibly watch TV. I've never had a laptop so basically I'm pretty clueless about them. I'm guessing that I want to wait for the 9600's to show up in systems around middle of next month? I looked at a Fujitsu at Fry's that had a beautiful MVA SXGA screen, are those available in other brands and are they worth the $? Does the 9600 have a TV tuner and if not, which one should I get? Battery life isn't that big of a factor because I'll always be able to plug it in over there, and at home it will be used as a desktop replacement. Because of some software I must use I need a 3.5 floppy on it. One very important thing, I've got to be able to get it on credit from wherever I buy it from.
Click to expand...

Err... I am assuming that the 9600 you are referring to is the Mobility Radeon 9600 (aka M10). Graphic processors alone don't have TV tuner support, which is the case for NVIDIA or ATI. The laptop you want will have to come with a TV tuner in addition to the MR9600 or you will need to buy an external TV tuner. I would remind you that TV signal formats worldwide are different, which means to get a NTSC tuner (the kind in the US) it will likely not work in many other places of the world.

For what you are describing, I would look at something like Hypersonic. Of course, there are other brands too. The problem you will run into is ruggedness of the notebook itself.
 
I should have included that I'm in the Air Force so the durability needed isn't anything special, I won't be carrying this around during duty hours or riding around in a Humvee getting shot at. The TV tuner I need is a standard NTSC to pick up Armed Forces TV and standard cable here in the states. The Sager does look like a sweet unit, it will probably end up being my choice. Thanks for the tips.
 
Originally posted by: Tailback
I should have included that I'm in the Air Force so the durability needed isn't anything special, I won't be carrying this around during duty hours or riding around in a Humvee getting shot at. The TV tuner I need is a standard NTSC to pick up Armed Forces TV and standard cable here in the states. The Sager does look like a sweet unit, it will probably end up being my choice. Thanks for the tips.
Click to expand...

Well, Sager has had "so so" support from what I hear. Either way, companies like Sager, Hypersonic, and Eurocom get their notebooks from Clevo. Of the three, I have heard better things about Hypersonic's support for their products.
 
ah, this is perfect...I am also heading over to that region soon. And I am also looking for a laptop since I won't be able to ship my computer. But I am in the Army 😉

Just got myself a nice iPod 20gig...just gotta get the laptop and I should be all set =)
 
How about a Panasonic Toughbook? They can take a beating!

They have driven a hummer over them to show how durable that they are, as well as hitting them with a sledgehammer, and pouring coffee all over them, and they still run without any problems.

cheers 🙂
 
Some of this should help.

Hypersonic

PC Torque

Power Notebooks

Power Notebooks has the higest rating, PC Torque hosts the forum linked above. PC Torque and Power Notebooks have similar prices Hypersonic is another VooDoo i.e. you get something for all that extra money but is it worth it to you.


Thanks for picking up the slack from those of us that did our time.

 
Avoid anything with a desktop CPU. I was talking with a soldier in Iraq a few weeks ago and his desktop CPU based laptop (and most the others in his troop from what I have heard) is having a lot a problems. It is on its way to me, so I have to wait before I can tell what the problem is. I don't know what enviroment it is being used in, but my first guess is heat problems.
 
This is coming from someone who has been in both Kuwait as well as Afghanistan (I am in the army). Tailback, dont make too many assumptions. Dont think that I am in the army that I am a grunt that sleeps in a tank. I am ordnance (Explosive Ordnance Disposal type) and my recommendation to you is not to buy the laptops that alot of these people have suggested. Why? I would put money on it that it will get damaged. Air conditioning does go out, even for the air force. It happens, power outages. Sand storms over there can get bad, I have seen sand get inside a refirgerator inside an actually building. I have seen too many people over there ruin high $ laptops.

With the above statements, what do i recommend? Well unless you are a gamer, and i didnt see anything about playing games. what i recommend is go to dell's outlet site, get one of their refurbed laptops with a DVD, you can apply for credit through them too, apply first for credit over the phone, then check very often at their outlet for laptops. I have seen inspiron 1100's witha DVD drive go for as low as $647. You can pick up a pcmcia tv-card fairly cheap. The 1100 has intel integrated graphics. Not the best for gaming, but DVD's play smooth on it (my wife has one).

I think that if you assume you will have it easy because you are in the air force, you will be in for a dissappointment. Me being in the army, i had it alot better than most of the air foce personnel did when I was in kuwait.

in my opinion, what you need to ask yourself is, what do you want the laptop to do, do you want to get something to suit their needs, or get something that will be more than you will use over there? Remember the cost to use ratio too. The realization of it breaking is also very important too. You have to assume that it will break, so that is something to look into too with support of who ever you buy from. Will they support it from an APO/AE? I know Dell definately does, from personnal experiance. Alot of military uses Dell, they do ship to APO/AE for warranty stuff. Just something else to remember when buying a laptop from someplace, thats all.

ArchStudent, in afghanistan, we had 3 CF-48s go down in a 3 month span, they arent as tough as people think. Now the CF-27's (P2 300 speed) they can take a beating defiantely, more well built, but panasonic went away from that laptop, the CF-48's are P4s but aretn as durable. A company called Miltope makes a very very durable laptop, called the AN/PSM-95. Its bulky, but extremely durable. One thing with alot of laptops in the desert is the screen goes out. The heat is hell on the LCD screens. I get issued a hardened laptop (the one from miltope i mentioned above), i like it alot, but the cost of it is about the $3k mark though.

Either way, no matter what laptop you get, i recommend an external keyboard and optical mouse, sand gets everywhere and will wear out the touch pad very fast and mess up the keys, no matter how often you use a can of air to clean it off.
 
JWade,

Very good advice. Last time I was over there the sand got into everything. No matter how much the hype about being a "sealed" unit, when we got back we took some things apart, and they had sand in them. HDD and batterys were affected also.

Also think about surge protection for the lappy. I always chuckle when I hear a generator surge. POOOF, there goes the A/C adapter.
 
Not really an answer to your question, but...

GoBook MAX and other Itronix notebooks


Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIL-SPEC is Just a Starting Point. The Itronix GoBook MAX was developed for and tested by military personnel, under full-on field conditions.

As a former worker at Itronix and them being from my home town. I cannot recommend this computer for him. Not for quality or any type of flaw they are great computers. But for price it is out of most personal users range. give or take a few 1000, $$$
 
Jwade I appreciate the help, but because of my AFSC (MOS to you) there's only certain places and situations I will be placed in. Also, I'm prior Army 19-D (Cav rules) so I'm familiar with the environmental difficulties in the world's armpit (aka Middle East) In fact my last drill was spent cleaning out Iraqi sand from some generators that were loaned out to Baghdad IAP. The benefits of having a platform capable of playing network games along with DVD's far outweigh the possibility of damage to the unit. The Sager 8890 looks like the perfect unit for me since my wife wants a powerful desktop replacement unit so she can get rid of the computer desk in the living room and if I get deployed she can use my desktop in the den.
 
I was in Kuwait last summer and I took along my old Compaq Presario 1200. It has a AMD K6-2 500 in her and she ran 24 hours a day in my tent. Even with the constant sandstorms, I never had a problem. Temps only got into the mid 130s and the tents were hovinring in the mid 90s. CE rocked that rotation. Only lost power twice. The worst sound to hear while in the desert = silence. That means the A/Cs are not running.

I hooked up Dameware and played Age of Empires from work during breaks from UT.

Oh, I am AF Comm....we can do that sort of thing.

The old POS is sitting here compiling KDE right now...been going for 2 days now!

You can talk about us, but you can't talk without us
 


Couple of things:

I have several friends in the air force who have been to qatar, a lot nicer than iraq but in the same region.

According to them:

Tents suck. AC breaks all the time. Dusts gets in everything.

That said they all took their work dell optiplex 810 laptops (older P3 based laptop) and all the laptops came back working fine.

Regarding buying laptops:

Don't forget that when buying from dell or any major vendor they normaly have a federal employee purchase program or something.

Normaly no great deals but always worth comparing against normal pricing.

Also don't forget good old AAFES online. They sell laptops from dell, compaq, gateway, apple etc. Sometimes they cost the same or even a little more than direct from dell but often they have very good bargains you can only get through AAFES


 
I would recommend a good warranty and built in wireless. Also make sure you get a USB drive. The biggest factor you will face is the dust. Toshiba has a no fault warranty that is real nice. I?m in the army and been deployed three times in the past two years. I bought a Toshiba Satellite (5205-S703) about 8 months ago and been real pleased with it.
 
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