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Portables Hardware

The Best Traveling Laptop? 129

Posted by Cliff from the your-jet-setting-digital-friend dept.
Subaiku asks: "Next semester my girlfriend will be traveling to Japan to continue with her studies. As a going away gift I plan on buying her a laptop of some sort. I've been thinking about going with a PowerBook, or maybe a Dell, but I really need advice as to which brand/configuration/platform would be best in terms of ease of use/connectivity in foreign places (namely Japan). Any suggestions?"
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The Best Traveling Laptop? More

The Best Traveling Laptop?

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  • Id go with a ibook 14" (Score:4, Informative)

    by EvanTaylor ( 532101 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:20AM (#5699581)
    or powerbook, but youll want a good quality screen so stay away from the 12"ers. Battery life is awesome on the g3 ibooks, so it is great for travel. Pretty good shock resistence, resilient case, etc. If your going the pc route, ibm thinkpads beat the hell out of dell imo. There are new centrino based thinkpads with great battery life too, so mac is not the only lower power platform. Only problems Ive found with owning a mac are the little apps all cost 10 bucks or so, and you really need em.
    • What exactly is wrong with the 12" ibook screens? I've got one and the screen quality is excellent plus it's smaller and much easier to carry around with you.
    • For young folks with good eyes I'd say to go for the 12" screen. AFAIK, The resolution is the same on the 12" and 14" inch screens.

      The 12" ibook is smaller and lighter, and IMO it looks better (the 14" model seems dwarfed by it's own screen).
    • Pretty good shock resistence

      I'm considering buying an ibook or something similar at some point. I plan to use it for doing recordings for my band. However, I've had problems with a hard drive crashing due to the vibration (mainly from the drums), so I keep the PC in a seperate room when recording. I'm wondering if laptops will be able to handle this kind of vibration any better than PC's?

      I'm also considering using a diskless workstation to do recordings (no harddrive to damage), but of course that is
      • but you might want to reconsider some factors. First off, i wouldn't use an iBook for recording, without using some nice usb audio device, which i'm not familiar enough with those to recommend any. i would use a powerbook in that situation, if i had to use a laptop. why do you have to use a laptop to record? laptop hard drives are a bit more shock-resistant than desktops, but are you talking about doing live recordings or something? cause the audio hardware on laptops is far behind that of most desktops.
    • I am typing this on a 12" iBook, and I'd say that it the best computer I've ever used.

      OK, let me qualify that: It isn't the fastest computer I've used, but then I do computationally demanding numerical research and use a beefy PC for that. But in terms of the iBook being a nice computer to use, it is unbeaten in my experience.

      Here's what I like about it:

      + It's small -- but not too small. OK, the screen is 12", and a 12" screen on a PC looks shit, but Apple make it look great. The reolution is 1024x768 (t

  • Broad question.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by este ( 600616 ) <este@s[ ]end.net ['ubt' in gap]> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:23AM (#5699586) Homepage Journal
    It depends on what she'll use it for.

    AS a deskop replacement, portable workstation, or just another mobile email station :-)?

    I love the Powerbook (and I'm not huge into macs, tho OS X is nice). I personally have an IBM T20 that's slim, light, and rugged. I love it, and I've taken it all over the world, including Japan.

    Mostly, it'll depend on her expertise (if she has to do on-the-fly configuration), and just personal preferences. I dunno. Ask her. :-)

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:25AM (#5699589)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • How bout getting that sexy little lady of his, a 12 inch power book instead?

      Small and compact.

    • While certain features of OSX (such as the movie listings) don't work properly in .jp

      They don't work in UK too, FWIW. But there are loads of third-party Sherlock plugins, or if you don't want a heavyweight interface, Konfabulator [konfabulator.com] has a lot of Japanese widgets for fetching news, displaying traffic and things like that.

      For those who have not heard of it, Konfab is a great program for displaying custom-made widgets on the screen, with Quartz rendering, and the widgets are plain javascript!

    • While certain features of OSX (such as the movie listings) don't work properly in .jp

      If you are talking about the sherlock channels to search for movie times etc. seems to work for me in Japan.

  • depends on what she needs (Score:3, Informative)

    by MerlynEmrys67 ( 583469 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:25AM (#5699592)
    I like a big thick laptop that does everything... a real brick with two batteries... I know others that like their smaller machines, it is a trade off. I will say get her at least one extra battery for the flights

    • Smaller is not always better. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7NO@SPAMcornell.edu> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @10:43AM (#5701628) Homepage
      A lot of the smaller laptops aren't as small and portable as they seem. Most of them achieve small size by making their peripherals external. If you want those peripherals when you travel, if anything they're worse than a larger integrated all-in-one unit. (Size of original peripherals plus external enclosure plus cables.)

      Whether you get her a Dell or an Apple depends on what she's used to. If she's a PC person, get her a Dell. I have an Inspiron 8200 and love it. It's big and a bit heavy, but it has EVERYTHING, including a screen that blows away all of the Apple screens except maybe the 17" one. (Bad screens are one of the biggest problems the Apples have... The 17 inch PB only has a resolution of 1440x900, the Dell 8x00 series has *two* different 15" 1600x1200 screens - If you go with Dell, *get the UltraSharp version of the UXGA screen* - The difference between the USharp screens and the original one in contrast and viewing angle is like night and day. (My dad has the original one on his 8000, although he prefers the lowered viewing angle for business confidentiality reasons, less chance of someone seeing his work on an airplane.)

      I love my 8200. A number of friends had 8000s in college and loved them, my dad likes his 8000, and my research lab in school had an 8000 that all of the researchers coveted.
      • The only thing not great about the Dell Inspiron I have, aside from the service, is the weight. I'd praise it to the sky as a desktop replacement, but advise strongly against using it for travel. Epsecially for his girlfriend since women, on average, have less upper body muscle mass then men.

        It makes a great desktop replacement with the large screen, good resolution and nice keyboard. It runs various linux distrobutions problem free, I've found that in that regard it's few problems and faster than co

    • Extra Batteries are *way* over rated. They are heavy, and if you can't find a plug, well, enjoy the scenery, not your laptop.

      For the flight, get one of these:

      Targus [targus.com]

      These days, most planes (esp. on long duration flights) have 12 volt adapters under the seat.

      She will be *much* happier.

      I did have a problem with one of my flights to Japan on United. They don't use the 12 volt car adapter, but a smaller connector. My power brick had the appropriate connector, but kept kicking in a circuit breaker when

  • Powerbook / iBook (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pfhor ( 40220 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:27AM (#5699599) Homepage
    Just for the sake of its Japanese Language support, if she does anything related to translation or typing, it will allow her to localize settings for Japan or the US/English. Also there is a very strong following of Mac fans in Japan, so finding support / connectivity should not be a problem.

  • Now that's a tough one... (Score:4, Informative)

    by noeffred ( 594971 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @03:34AM (#5699609)
    1. ease of use.
      I can't really say if either an Apple or a x86 based laptop will be better in therms of ease of use. Many people swear by Apple, on the other hand, you might get a better bang for the buck when buying an x86. I'd say it's probably just being used to something. I've been working for years with Windows, now i'm hooked on Linux and Gnome. I've never had my hands on an Apple PC so can't say.
    2. connectivity
      I'd say the only thing you need is to find some sort of either an travel adapter or some replacement power brick for Japan, which shoulnd't be that hard to get. Ethernet and stuff is the same all over the globe, so connectivity is nothing I'd be worried about. Problems could arise when using an analog modem, since these can be quite a pain in the butt sometimes. But you can get some adaptors for the differnet plugs, so again, no problem.

    3. So as you can see, it's just a matter of getting the best bang for the buck, everything else is pretty much a no-brainer, just a matter of getting some adapters and/or power brick. Just ask your hardware dealer to help you out.

    • Re:Now that's a tough one... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BJH ( 11355 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @05:10AM (#5699879)
      You won't need a new power brick - 99% of laptops these days have universal power supplies. In any case, Japan is 100 volts, so most US gear works OK here anyway (although there are exceptions - I have a US-made external modem that refuses to connect without a 100V to 110V transformer attached).

      Japanese power points are two vertical bars - IIRC, this matches the US standard, right?

      • That should be correct (can't say for sure as I've never been to Japan). Note that for safety reasons many US outlets have a round third point below the two veritcal bars, for grounding. Plugs without the third point will work fine in these outlets.
      • When a friend of mine came to the US from Japan, she had this fat (and ugly, I might add) box she had to attach to her cell phone charger. It was an inverter or whatever. I wish I had looked closely at the devices.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @04:19AM (#5699729)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Don't. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Peter Clary ( 34038 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @04:20AM (#5699737)
    She will probably be able to buy something better at the same price, or roughly equivalent at a cheaper price, once she is there.

    • Re:Don't. (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nutrimentia ( 467408 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:44AM (#5701007) Homepage
      Wrong. Japan is the place for cutting edge consumer electronics, but computers don't fall into that category. Japanese computers and components are always more expensive for what you get than what is available in the US. I've lived here for almost 4 years now and have seen the prices come way down, but its still expensive.

      Plus she'll be stuck with a Japanese layout keyboard. letters are standard QWERTY, but useful punctuation is all funky, like Shift+2 for quotes " and shift+7 for apostrophes '. The @ is to the right of the P key and doesn't require a modifier-key to use though :-) I ordered my laptop from the states and made a trip home to get it so I wouldn't be stuck with that stuff.

      Apple's computers are almost exactly the same price as they are in the US. The slight elevated expense offsets shipping and pads daily currency fluctuations, so if she did buy over here, Apple would be a good deal. If she buys at the apple.co.jp Apple Store, she can order an American keyboard layout too.

      I'd recommend an iBook and maybe wait a little bit. Word on the street is that a speed bump is coming across the line. But the OS is excellent and the Japanese support is great. Be sure to have her check out the Character Palette.

      Also, check out the JEDict application. Its an incredible Japn/Engl dictionary that also has contextual menu (ctrl+click!) translation support that is indispensable! The Omnigroup applications OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner are important too.

      I hope she enjoys the computer and the time over here. I love it,

      • Plus she'll be stuck with a Japanese layout keyboard. letters are standard QWERTY, but useful punctuation is all funky, like Shift+2 for quotes " and shift+7 for apostrophes '. The @ is to the right of the P key and doesn't require a modifier-key to use though :-) I ordered my laptop from the states and made a trip home to get it so I wouldn't be stuck with that stuff.

        Wow, reminds me of my old C= 64 days... I might need to get a Japanese keyboard just for nostalgia now...

    • Of course, if you buy there, the laptop will loaded up with Japanese locale software. It's not necessarily bad, but just gotta make sure that you're okay with that.
    • She will probably be able to buy something better at the same price, or roughly equivalent at a cheaper price, once she is there.

      I think you're thinking of Korea, not Japan. Korea, from what I hear, is the place for cheaper electronics.

  • Powerbook (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DiSKiLLeR ( 17651 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @04:37AM (#5699795) Homepage Journal
    Get a nice iBook, or 15" powerbook if you can afford it. Stay away from the 12" powerbook (its basically an ibook) and gets VERY hot.

    MacOS X has excellent multilingual features, and can be completely in Japanese, or English with Japanese language support and Japanese text input.

    Just my opinion, anyway.

    Actually, the only problem with getting her the powerbook is you won't want to let her take it... you will so badly want to play with it yourself :)

    D.
    • The 12" powerbook is way faster for mp3 encode/decode, has a better combo drive, better game performance. The G4 is a must for any pro or pro-ish creative work - music, video, photo. If it's too hot send it back - don't let all those vocal unhappy customers make you think they are all frying pans. If you type a lot, the PB's keyboard is worth the price difference.
    • Well yeah... Aside from the G4 chip, GeForce 420, SuperDrive option, 802.11g, doubled disk capacity, and built-in Bluetooth, it's basically an iBook.

      I'm using one right now, and while it sometimes gets a bit warm, it's never been so bad that I was forced to stop using it. This is with it running full tilt burning CDs and the like, and most power management features turned off.

      If for some reason, you *need* all the features which set the 12" Powerbook apart from the iBook, by all means, go for it. I per

  • Jealous (Score:5, Funny)

    by jsse ( 254124 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @04:41AM (#5699803) Homepage Journal
    Next semester my girlfriend will

    Sorry, I stop reading from there. I'm afraid majority of /. need more help than you.
    • He's giving her a laptop while she's away! Not something sentimental to remind her of him, but something useful!

      If she really appreciates that sort of thing, it is a girlfriend for all geeks to be envious of.

  • Horror!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by droyad ( 412569 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @05:14AM (#5699896)
    Don't buy dell. Everyone knows Dell's are crap.. everyone. You get what you pay for (esp with laptops). You don't want that Dell crapping out while you are overseas.

    Invest in a good quality laptop (Toshi, Apple, Acer or IBM). All three companies support international travelers and Acer has a 2 _hour_ turnaround on their repairs.

    And for godsake buy the extended warrenty, worth it's weight in gold (literally unfortunatly)

    I was at a trade show yesterday and was looking at the IBM laptops. I notice that the sales guy was throwing them around quite abit and I questioned him on it. Well he closed it and _stood_ on it for a while, then he opened it up and passed it to me by the _monitor_ and lo and behold still worked fine. I was impressed.

    As for battery life, those new Centrino systems are sweet, as are the Transmeta ones. Up to 8 hours battery life on a standard battery.

    One last one was the new laptop from Toshiba it was about as thick as a finger and wieghed 1.2kg. PIII, 30GB HDD, 512 ram, wow. Expensive though.

    Just a thought, try buying the laptop on the way if possible, they are often cheaper (and higher speced) in Asia.

    Robert

    • I have a Dell (Score:3, Informative)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 )
      And it works perfectly. (Inspiron 8200)

      My dad, 3-4 friends at my alma mater, and my research lab there all had Inspiron 8000s, all of them were rock solid and we loved them.

      4 years ago or so (Inspiron 7500s for example), Dells did suck, they were in a major quality slump during my sophomore year in college, but starting around the time of the Inspiron 8000 series they shaped up a lot.

      Toshibas were good deals, but all were a bit on the flimsy side. This may have changed, I stopped looking at Toshibas lo
      • Geez - My 7500 that I purchased 3 1/2 years ago is doing *great*.

        I did have some screen issues (2 inch vert band of blank pixels, obviously a connection issue), but I purchased the extended warrantee w/ next day (traveling consultant, imperative to get this), and *always* had a tech with a replacement part there to fix it.

        I eventually had some issues with the hard drive (25GB IBM Travelstar, would sometimes just not be recognized by BIOS), but Dell replaced that with a Fujitsu 40GB, which was *much* quiet
        • I had an apartmentmate with a 7500. There was a cover on the bottom of the machine that kept falling off and exposing (I think) either the RAM or the battery. I looked at the way it was fastened and it was a horrible design.

          My 8200's covers are much more securely fastened. :)
          • Probably the RAM cover. The just slide & click into place. I never had any trouble with it.

            The batteries and CDRom/MediaDrive have a release switch that can be locked.

            The Hard Drive is attached with screws, so can't be removed.

            If your appartment-mate still has their 7500, here's a link to upgrading the CPU.

            DELL [dell.com]
    • I have a Dell Inspiron 4000 (its a 1 ghz p3 to put that in perspective). It wasn't the top of the line when I got it but pretty close. Its a great laptop, medium size and weight, 14" very sharp and bright screen, and nothing broke yet.

      I'm not sure you can get those anymore, but I just wanted to vouch for Dell's laptops, they are quite good. Never used an apple laptop but from what I hear they are good too. It comes down to personal preference from your gf I think...ask her!

  • I would recommend either the 12" iBook or Powerbook. I think the iBooks are much tougher than the powerbooks, and certainly less precious. I use a 12" PB, and yes it does get warm but it's not really a problem. It's not like it melts or anything. I think the 12" iBooks make the perfect travel laptop - tough enough to throw in a bag, great battery, cheap, built in modem, lan etc, no flaps to snap off. The 15" PB is big, scratches easily, costs a fortune, and you don't want to drop it.
    • Yes, the "heat problem" is overstated. The left side of mine occasionally feels warmer than the right side.

      I bought the set of international travel adapters for mine. If you haven't seen the AC adapter/power cord setup for the iBooks/Powerbooks, that might be your decision right there. The little, compact, sensibly-shaped, light AC adapter has the thin cable to connect to the *Book, which curls easily around built-in cable-management for storage. Then one corner of the adapter, where the prongs come out
  • I highly recommend a PowerBook G4. Mac OS X is pretty smooth and has the best looking japanese fonts out there. If you need to go the PC route, a Thinkpad is the only way to go. We've had way too many problems with Dells and Sony, as have others.

  • wait (Score:5, Interesting)

    by corian ( 34925 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @06:29AM (#5700057)
    This isn't really the answer you're asking for, but she's going to find much more advanced laptops for sale in Japan than you have a home. You're better off just giving her a raincheck, or the cash in advance. Seriously.
    • Common misconception. Get her an iBook in the states.
      Stuff here is more expensive and will generally be Japanese-only Windows, unless you get an import, or a Mac.

      An iBook or other Mac will have no such issues and be cheaper in the states. Get one there and save the trouble.

      (I live 'over there')

      Jim

  • two points (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    1) What does she use now? If she is comfortable with a Mac, go that way. If she uses a PC, then get her a PC laptop. I'm a very long-term Mac user and still have trouble figuring out the idiosyncrasies of OS X.

    2) Find out what the other students in her program use. She might need to share files often with these people, or use their computer/let others use hers. Make life simple for her.

    3) (OK I lied - 3 points) Figure out if she will need to use Japanese (Kanji?) or English, or both on her laptop. Input o
  • I was advised to buy one there, since 'internat' warranties don't seem to work very well, according to many stories.

    Toshiba sells Eng models delivered.
    beep [toshiba.co.jp]

    If you find any other brands, let us know where their sites are.

  • 2 things to consider (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ObviousGuy ( 578567 ) <ObviousGuy@hotmail.com> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @07:03AM (#5700130) Homepage Journal
    The first has already been brought up. Basically, whatever crappy laptop you buy her in the U.S. is going to be completely too large and too heavy compared to the laptops she can find in Japan. Take the Panasonic Let's Note Light [panasonic.jp] or the Sharp Mebius Muramasa [sharp.co.jp] as examples of laptops that are at the pinnacle of portable, not to mention that they already support Japanese out of the box.

    The second thing to consider is that this is *your girlfriend*. It's not your wife, it's not your sister or your mom. It's someone with whom you do not have a determined future with. Are you prepared to give away $1,500 bucks and have it disappear forever if she decides that she likes Fuji Nakamichi more than you? Some advice (that's why you're posting here, right?) - give her a big kiss and some flowers.
    • The second thing to consider is that this is *your girlfriend*. It's not your wife, it's not your sister or your mom. It's someone with whom you do not have a determined future with. Are you prepared to give away $1,500 bucks and have it disappear forever if she decides that she likes Fuji Nakamichi more than you? Some advice (that's why you're posting here, right?) - give her a big kiss and some flowers.

      The one day I wish I had moderation points . . .

    • Re:2 things to consider (Score:5, Insightful)

      by malice95 ( 40013 ) < ... <at> <gmail.com>> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:52AM (#5701079)
      The second thing to consider is that this is *your girlfriend*. It's not your wife, it's not your sister or your mom. It's someone with whom you do not have a determined future with. Are you prepared to give away $1,500 bucks and have it disappear forever if she decides that she likes Fuji Nakamichi more than you? Some advice (that's why you're posting here, right?) - give her a big kiss and some flowers.

      Amen brother.. Girlfriends come and go.. and long distance ones genrally dont last. Spend the money on a new notebook for yourself and buy her some flowers like the orig poster said.
    • Are you prepared to give away $1,500 bucks and have it disappear forever if she decides that she likes Fuji Nakamichi more than you?

      Or get her one of those Sonys with the built in camera so you can spy on her. Yeah, that's a good way to establish trust in a relationship.

    • give her a big kiss and some flowers.

      In other words, rather than take a gamble and hope that the relationship doesn't fall apart, give her a crappy gift and leave no doubt?

      Rather than second guess the intentions of a couple I've never met, I'm willing to take this at face value for now. If this guy wants to buy his girlfriend a laptop for a gift, who are we to recommend otherwise? For all we know, he's paying for the trip as well, so making a big deal about the laptop may be a misplaced concern.

      My a

    • Don't you know anything?

      The only way a woman will love you is if you spend all of your money on her, and bow to her every whim!

      Sheesh!

    • Last year she plopped down $1,800 so I could build myself a new computer. And since I still owe her and she really wants a laptop to take with her... It just seemed to work out.
    • Your second point is a bit stupid. I've been going out with my girlfriend for >8 years, and living with her for >5, and she's spent a term in Europe (in the first year) and a summer in Canada (in the third), both without me, and it didn't cause so much as a wobble in our relationship. Not every unmarried relationship is trivial.
  • .. you are really just hoping she'll bring you back a really cool new one fresh from Japan when she returns :)

    Baz

  • Get a Thinkpad (Score:3, Interesting)

    by terrencefw ( 605681 ) <`ten.nedlohsemaj' `ta' `todhsals'> on Thursday April 10, 2003 @07:48AM (#5700234) Homepage
    Unless you want to go down the apple route, the only peecee type laptop you want is an IBM thinkpad. They're small, light, incredibly well built and will take a real punishing!

    I wrecked my car last week and the thinkpad flew off the passenger seat (wasn't using it at the time!!!) and hit the dashboard at 40mph, not a scratch!

    James

  • Just to add to the recommendations for Apple Powerbooks, I have a 15" TiBook 800Mhz and cannot recommend it strongly enough or to enough people. This machine is the best. OS X makes it just work. It is light, strong and fast (especially for the weight). Don't worry that it's too heavy...I carry mine around all day and it truly is light. DVD etc is great. If you want Japanese friendliness, Apple is the only vendor you should be looking at.

    I'd recommend the 15" over the newer AlBooks if only because the sc
  • I would suggest a ThinkPad T40, which starts at US$1369. If you want a machine that will last several years, get one based on the Pentium M (Centrino technology) which is $2179 (ThinkPad Pricing [ibm.com]). ThinkPads in general are nice machines, and, short of getting a Panasonic Toughbook, pretty hard to break, as far as laptops go. I would give IBM's Sales line a call and ask specifically how you would go about getting warranty help or technical support overseas.

    If software compatability isn't an issue, get an iBo

  • pBook or ThinkPad (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GreenKiwi ( 221281 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @08:48AM (#5700524)
    I'd get either the 15" pBook from Apple or an IBM T30 (particularly with the 1400x1050 display) from IBM. You might even be able to get it cheap from ThinkPad Depot [thinkpaddepot.com]. They frequently have good deals.

    The one piece of advice that I would have for anyone getting a laptop is to MAKE SURE YOU GET 3 YEARS OF COVERAGE!!!

    Laptops take a beating, and parts go bad. You can't easily (and cheaply) pop old parts out and new parts in, so get the extra warranty!

  • Buy in Japan (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cymen ( 8178 )
    Buy a nice tiny unreleased in the US model in Japan. That is what I would do if I were going there myself. For the girlfriend maybe this wouldn't work as her geek factor might not be up there. But if it is, why not consider this? Some people here buy the latest laptops from Japan to use in the US. Remember to check into the warranty situation.
  • My girlfriend has one - and she loves it. It does what she needs (web, email, word) and it looks way more cool than any dumb dell or compaq. She is studying to become a teacher and has also used it to edit and burn some cd's with kids singing (when she was a trainee in a public school). That gave her geekcredibility with her fellow students WITHOUT making her look nerdish... Go with the apple - you know you want to
  • Unfortunately, your list of requirements is lacking. All you stated was ease of use, connectivity, and foreign language support.

    Apple is the absolute best choice here.

    - Ease of use/configuration/connectivity is the absolute best. Power Management works extremely well (been sleeping my PowerBook and not rebooting it for months!), OS X supports many languages and the architecture can support it within most applications if they are written properly for multi-language support. Connectivity is the best! I
    • Good comments, but with a correction - both Win 2000 and XP have full Japanese support out of the box, with no addons or extra purchases required.
      I'm a Japanese - English translator, using just English XP, and all my Japanese programs work as they were intended to. 98 and ME are terrible in multilanguage support, but that's another story...

      Multilingual support used to be the main selling point Macs, for people wanting to use different languages, but I have to say that with 200 and XP, Windows has finally
  • Buy a Japanese laptop so she can easily get service here or there, buy a lightweight one for convenience, buy a powerful one so she won't look like a chump to the Japanese... seems to me that all adds up to a Vaio.

    You didn't set a price range, so I'm assuming price is no object. Get her the one with the full size keyboard if she doesn't like those silly little chiclet keys.

    They can run linux, too. I saw Patrick running Slackware on one a while back.
    • SONY in Japan is like Dell in the US. They are top dog in computer sales, and ubiquitious.

      Like Dell here, they are not highly regarded as high quality, just mass produced.

      Conectivity in Japan has always been easy and high speed for me, as long as you have wireless and 10BT.

      But specing anything more than this would require some knowledge of what the laptop would be used for. I travel a lot with mine, and like super lightweight, a nice keyboard, and a small monitor is OK as long as it at least does 800x600
    • DO NOT waste your money on a VAIO. It will fall apart in less than a year and you'll be pissed and so will she. My Z505LE died not less than 24 hours after my PowerBook 12" showed up at the door.
      I'd had it barely two years and it really only lasted 1 major software project and 1 technical paper(by which I mean about 9 or so months worth of 12-15 hours a day of working on it) before it started to fall apart. First the keyboard went, then the trackpad, then the finish started to dissolve off it before it's CP

  • Don't (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Alomex ( 148003 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @09:57AM (#5701115) Homepage
    Sonny, listen to me. We geeks have a tendency to either be incredibly cheap or get so overly excited about finally having a girlfriend that we go overboard on gifts.

    Giving her an expensive gift will not improve your image in her eyes. To the contrary, it will send the message "I'm so desperate I'm willing to shell $3K to impresss you". Knowing she has you wrapped around her finger will encourage her to search for another potential boyfriend, as she knows there is a fail-safe option at home.

    Don't get me wrong. Be nice to your GF but don't over do it, and occasionally you might want to hold back a little on purpose so she yearns for you.

    Save the $3k and promise to visit her in a few months. If she really loves you, the thought of having you in Japan (for a _visit_, you dirty minded folks) would be gift enough for her.


  • The screen is 1280x768 in 16x9 aspect ratio. Perfect for DVD viewing. The Crusoe processor gives 3+ hours of battery life EVEN WATCHING DVDs. The one nit was I installed a 5400 RPM hard drive to improve the performance which I highly recommend. It dual boots WinXP and Linux beautifully. And the kicker is, its only 3 lbs! Can't think of a better travel mate

  • I'm sorry man, no GF is worth 3k :)

    She's probably going to end up meeting another guy in Japan anyways. Do you REALLY think she'll give you the laptop back?

    That aside, Apple laptops are retartedly overpriced. The only reason they sell is because there are still plenty of deep pocketed yuppy egomaniacs out there, that feel a computer needs to fulfill their "Image".

    Spend 2k less on a more powerfull, less stylish laptop. And tell yer GF she can have it when she comes back:)
    • That aside, Apple laptops are retartedly overpriced.....

      Spend 2k less on a more powerfull, less stylish laptop.

      So you mean I can buy a laptop that's more powerful than this computer [apple.com] and not only will I not have to pay, but they'll actually give me $1000 when I buy it? Right on, tell me where!
  • I bought one of these about 4 months ago; it's not as sturdy "feeling" as an ibook, and its windows (at least stock), but the Fujitsu is very well made.

    It's also super-duper light, has very flexible batter options, has the best lcd screen I've seen anywhere, etc. etc. etc.

    Normally, non-apple laptops are cheesy feeling; this one has a metal shell, and is made in Japan rather than malaysia or some other place, so it's really quite well built.
  • The Mac is better, IMO. Just had my moptherboard replaced for the second time in my Dell C600. The thing is good in terms of screen brightness and keyboard usability, but any time I try to bring it somewhere in a laptop bag, it falls apart. Knowing this, I'm gentle on it, and it still falls apart.

    I have a powerbook which I've opened up to replace the HD, and it's much more sturdily manufactured on the inside. The HD sits in a frame which is mounted on bushings to ease shock, and the whole thing is more
  • I would like to point out the smallest laptop formfactor available is the Sony Picturebook [supervideo.com]. Not only is it a tiny 1.14" X 9.8" X 6.0" and a svelite 2.2 pounds, but it also has a cheezy built-in camera (which you will come to love) and all the ports you would realistically need.

    In those cramped Japanese apartments, she will want everything to be as small as possible.

    Sony recently ended the line, but you can still find them around... Chicago computer sells one for 1500 [yahoo.com].

    Very, very cool machine.
  • Unless the school she is going to attend doesn't have computers I woudln't be bothered with having a lap top. Sure it's a convienient thing to have but I would much rather spend my time travelling Asia than sitting at home surfing the web or posting on /. That's a lot of money that could be spent on flights or travel arrangements. The furthest I would go would be to pick up an old p-100 lap top for cheap just to check e-mail and and type up the odd document. Is their a need for anything with more power?
  • Dude, don't waste your money. She ain't comin' back! Once the Fuzoku industry gets their hands on fresh meat they're going to make her wealthy slave and she can buy her own laptop then!

    But seriously, get a TiBook. Great computer, great sturdy casing. You just can't go wrong.
  • Make sure to get something with a GPS locator in it.
  • I again, will restate that if you are going to spend that much money on her (a cheap engagement ring is about the same price, after all), then you should have her buy the laptop in Japan.

    It looks like the power supplies are about the same, so you shouldn't have a huge problem there. My one word of advice: make sure you buy from a company who will let you transfer the warrenty between the US and Japan. Dell does not do that very easily. I've seen several posters on The dell msg board [dell.com] who moved to the US
  • I have a Toshiba 5105-S501 myself. P4, 1.7Ghz, 512Mb of RAM, 30Gb HD, NVidia Gf4Go, DVD-ROM/CDwriter, Ethernet, modem, nice 1400x1050 display. Added WiFi as an option.

    There's almost nothing I can't do with it. It's about 10 months old, and already phased out in favor of a beefier model with more HDD. I'm going to pump it up to a Gb of RAM and 60Gb HD, and then it's basically a mobile version of my desktop.

    It's very well made, runs XP very nicely. I am going to install Mandrake 9.1 dual-boot on it after th

  • Platform agnosticism here... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Raptor CK ( 10482 ) on Thursday April 10, 2003 @06:43PM (#5706106) Journal
    These days, with enough additional OS packages, Windows and OS X are about equal. I've got a coworker in my office running the US version of Win2K with everything set to Japanese. It's rather annoying when I've got to use that workstation, but it's certainly Japanese. OS X, of course, is known for having excellent language support, and Apple is committed to supporting the Japanese market, so she should be fine either way.

    The real issue, then, isn't the CPU. It's the overall design.

    In Japan, anyone using a full sized laptop will stick out like a sore thumb. I strongly recommend something small and light, especially since she might need to carry it around a lot. No one wants to lug an 8 pound laptop around.

    I used to own a Toshiba Libretto 110CT, one of the smallest laptops available in the US. It was a great system, but with a 233 MHz processor, I decided it was time to move on. As a whole, though, subnotes are completely usable systems, and I can't remember a single time that I ever left it behind due to packing constraints. Sure, I left it at home when I went canoeing, but that's just common sense. Get her something like a Libretto (almost any Japanese ultralight, really, although I've heard that Sony's stuff is somewhat flaky,) and she's almost guaranteed to have her laptop handy whenever she needs it. A good modern example might be the Fujitsu P-series laptops.

    The other option, bringing you back to full-size keyboards and the like, are the Powerbooks (and iBooks, although those haven't been updated in a while.) The 17" is simply massive, and has no place in a traveling student's hands. The 15" is pretty nice, but hasn't been updated with the new Aluminum Powerbooks. The 12" Powerbook may actually be a bit more power than she needs, of course, and you may want to lean towards a 12" iBook. Out of the Powerbooks, the 12" is still the cheapest, although I'm sure if you looked at refurbished and used models, you could find a great deal on a 15", which is a bit older, and a bit more "tried and true."

    In general, though, you should look at portability over power. A nice small laptop will end up in her bag a lot more often than some 6-8 pound behemoth. And, as long as she's got an Ethernet connection, I don't think there are any major issues to worry about re: adapters and the like. Power should be close enough to the US norm to work fine, and the only thing I'd really worry about are modems, and drivers if she gets some crazy Japanese cellphone and wants to hook it up to the laptop.

  • Thinkpads rock - they are solidly built and can take a lot of punishment.

    The built-in wireless aerial and bluetooth support don't appear on all T30's, it depends on the precise model so you have to ask for it specifically.

    The advantage of course is that it leaves your PCMCIA slot free should you need it - and perhaps more importantly, when you are on the move the last thing you need to be doing is rummaging around for peripherals, dropping them on the floor etc. So built-in is definitely the way to go. (A
    • Early adopters, most definitely.

      Also, more or less everybody travels by train so there are more opportunities to get some work done while commuting to and from work etc

      People travel by train In 2-3 of the major cities, but in those areas, trains are often far too crowded to work, let alone sit down. In large parts of Japan, people drive to work, ride bicycles, or take buses.

      probably in wireless up to their eyeballs out there

      Uh, no. Nowhere near as much as the US or Europe.

      Japan is a fantastic
  • I myself have been thinking about getting a laptop. I am looking for something very portable, but something that isn't a piece of trash (like Dell or Compaq). I have been considering the IBM ThinkPad xSeries and Apple 12" Powerbook. Both appear to be quality machines. I have experience with IBM laptops and know they are built rock solid. However, the IBM is a little pricey. Apple is notorious for quality and seem to give you more features for less money than IBM, but I'm an x86 person so it would be quite a
  • Assuming you're not native to Asia, Japan is going to have a different DVD encoding than for other parts of the world. That means that you have to prepare for the possibility that (if you go with something that has Win XP), you won't be able to change the region encoding more than a few times. Seems obvious enough, but I was really disappointed with the fact that my laptop, which I'd bought for portability, wouldn't be entirely portable between my home country and South Korea, where I'm working now.

    There's
  • I had a DELL Latitude CpT which decayed rapidly despite tender loving handling. For example, The power cable insulation was brittle and cracked and its leads broke. The screen hinge mechanism was inadequate for the weight of the 15" screen and the case creaked and finally cracked when the top was opened. This also caused the mother board to flex. This may have cause the computer to suddenly die one day ... never to awaken.

    Worse, Dell did not acknowledge a single letter that I sent them informing them
  • You should just give her the cash and she can buy a laptop in Japan. A buddy of mine just got back from Japan, and he said that laptops there are much cheaper than they are here, and also more advanced.
  • I'll never buy a ThinkPad again. The one I'm about to retire (with great relief) had an MWave DSP that ran out of gas trying to serve as both the sound card and a modem.... It has never quite worked properly and can lock up the machine at random. I added a modem in the PCMCIA slot, and quickly discovered that if you populate the slots fully, or run CardBus cards, the machine runs out of IRQs. Service is also a nightmare; they take far longer than claimed and always try to find something to charge you for an
  • Several folk suggest a decision based on her prior experience with computers. Consider some other factors which may be more important:
    • will you be expected provide remote technical support?
    • will she blame you for problems?
    • will she be dependent on the system for business, for school, for communication with you, her family?

    You will have fewer problems which require remote administration (including the "phone walk-through" type) if you get Mac OS X. If you are going to get the blame anyway, you probably

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