Any software developers using a LAPTOP.

[MikeB]

I have been doing my Access development om a 'normal' desktop but I need to
go portable. Anyone using a laptop and can recommend one?

RAID 1 if possible?

Lenovo makes a laptop that is a monster. It is the W700. It has some
features aimed at graphics artists, but I think those might be
configurable. It has space for multiple HDs and RAID configuration is
optional as well. THere is a smaller model, the W500 and I'm not sure
how many of the features are in that one.

Personally, I can't stretch to the $2,400 price tag.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I'm
intrigued by them, and would sure love something small, especially
for note taking at the library, but can't afford to shell out money
for yet another laptop as long as the big honking one I use as my
primary PC is still working.

I've been using a Palm ever since they came out with a shirt pocket
version. I purchased a fold out keyboard for it which also fits in a
pocket. I use that for meetings when I otherwise don't see a reason
to drag a cumbersome laptop with and I don't think I'll be taking many
notes. But just in case I do I take it along and pull it out as
required. Also the visual foot print is much smaller so it's not
look you're "shielding" yourself from the other folks at the table or
coffee shop.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

While you're thinking of moving to a laptop for development, you need to
remember this:

Most new PCs, whether laptops or desktops, have the default screen resolution
set to the maximum the machine will support. In many cases this will be
higher than the resolutions on your target machines, which could present
problems.

That hasn't been a problem in my recent system. There aren't any
jaggies or oddities at a slightly lower resolution. But each model of
laptop could be different.

There are a number of hacks around to re-size forms, but they all
work better when sizing from a lower resolution to a higher resolution.
Development probably should be done in the lowest resolution you're apt to
find on your target machines.

I do *all* development with an external monitor, ergonomic keyboard
and custom wrest rest. The wrist rests are made out of a 2x6 cut with
a band saw to match the curve on the bottom of the ergonomic keyboard
and extend past the edge of the keyboard to the mouse. I then had
them upholstered with a layer of foam and a fake suede like material.

You can get an idea at http://www.tonytoews.com/hardware.htm although
that's five or six years old now.

I have four of those keyboards in their original boxes and plastic
wrap which have not been opened. In the last seven or eight years
that I"ve been using this keyboard I've gone through two of them. So
I'm hoping my stockpile will last another 15 or 20 years. In which
case I'll be getting close to senility anyhow.

I also take a spare LCD monitor, keyboard and wrist wrest with me
traveling. If I stay anywhere longer than a few days I set this up in
the motel room.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

This is precisely the reason why a 32 bit Windows can't use more than 3GBs
of RAM (well, not exactly the full reason but - by far and large - the main
reason). This also effect the people in the sense that the exact amount of
RAM memory available will be related to the amount of video memory: the more
memory you have on the video card, the less that will be available as RAM.
This number can easily descend to 2.8GB and even below.

 

[David W. Fenton]

I've been using a Palm ever since they came out with a shirt
pocket version. I purchased a fold out keyboard for it which
also fits in a pocket. I use that for meetings when I otherwise
don't see a reason to drag a cumbersome laptop with and I don't
think I'll be taking many notes. But just in case I do I take it
along and pull it out as required. Also the visual foot print is
much smaller so it's not look you're "shielding" yourself from the
other folks at the table or coffee shop.

Well, much of my "note-taking" would likely be in Word files that
already exist, as well as in my Access databases, so a Palm device
(which I already own, a Handspring Visor) with a keyboard really
wouldn't do the job.

 

[David W. Fenton]

I have four of those keyboards in their original boxes and plastic
wrap which have not been opened. In the last seven or eight years
that I"ve been using this keyboard I've gone through two of them.
So I'm hoping my stockpile will last another 15 or 20 years. In
which case I'll be getting close to senility anyhow.

I wish I'd stockpiled some good keyboards. It's harder and harder to
find a reasonable keyboard without 20 bazillion extra keys that get
in the way of everything.

 

[David W. Fenton]

If that 1GB wasn't being used for RAM, it
wouldn't be used for anything at ll.

I meant to type:

 

[David W. Fenton]

m:

Personally, I can't stretch to the $2,400 price tag.

Isn't it weird how a mere 7 or 8 years ago, that was the sweet spot
for a decent laptop, and anything less than that was underpowered
for regular work?

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Well, much of my "note-taking" would likely be in Word files that
already exist, as well as in my Access databases, so a Palm device
(which I already own, a Handspring Visor) with a keyboard really
wouldn't do the job.

There is software available, and which comes with newer versions of
the Palm, which allows you to synchronize Word and Excel files between
the Palm and the PC. You can make changes on either and synch the
changes to the other.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I wish I'd stockpiled some good keyboards. It's harder and harder to
find a reasonable keyboard without 20 bazillion extra keys that get
in the way of everything.

I got really ticked at Microsoft when they introduced the keyboard
with the vertical Insert, Home, Page Up, Delete, End and Page Down. I
was going to ask Bill Gates at an MVP Q&A session back in 2001 or so
why MS introduced this. However the Q&A session was stopped just
before I could get to the microphone.

At that point I had already purchased one or two of these Fellowes
ergonomic keyboards. (They came with a large round keyboard adapter,
not even the small PS/2 adapter.) So I my friend who owned a
stationery store kept bringing them in to sell to other people. And I
kept on buying them as spares and he kept on bringing them in. And
that's why I have so many spares. Actually I have one in active use,
one at a client I used to spend a lot of time at, another in my travel
kit, four spares and two with problems as parts.

The part number for my current keyboard would appear to be 99893.
Model number KB 9703.

And I see Fellowes has stopped making them. The closest on their
website is this POC (Peace of crap)
http://www.fellowes.com/ca/en/site/products/ProductDetails.aspx?Id=59501
which has the screwed up keys.

Also the keyboards I bought had a removable wrist rest on the bottom
which I never used. And that is one reason why my wrist rest works so
well for me. The MS keyboards had the wrist rest part permanently
attached. I was thinking of having someone with a band saw remove it
but then I started purchasing more of the Fellowes keyboards. I ended
up selling that MS Natural keyboard.

(I dropped coffee on one of the Fellowes keyboards and it failed.
And the space bar key kept sticking on another. However I kept those
as parts keyboards just in case I might ever need them for some
reason.

As a result of the coffee spilling I've never put anything to drink
again in that same location. The cups are now kept off to the side
where they'll just land on books, the floor or whatever. My
keyboards are worth more to me than my laptop.)

So I'm very glad I bought the ones I did. And I hope
1) that the plastic and electronics in the boxes don't age and get
brittle over a decade or two
2) that they will last me until
a) I die, have a stroke or otherwise am intoxicated or
b) when thought controlled key boarding systems are developed.
(and if that ever happens, oh my oh my, what kind of extraneous stuff
is going to come on the screen. "Yum, yum what a cute ..." <chuckle>)

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Isn't it weird how a mere 7 or 8 years ago, that was the sweet spot
for a decent laptop, and anything less than that was underpowered
for regular work?

Yeah, I paid $3000 for my first laptop in 1999.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[David W. Fenton]

There is software available, and which comes with newer versions
of the Palm, which allows you to synchronize Word and Excel files
between the Palm and the PC. You can make changes on either and
synch the changes to the other.

But not Access, which is where much of my data is kept and entered.

Besides, my Visor is not by any stretch of the imagination a "newer
version" of Palm -- it's over 5 years old.

I just carry the big 'ol honking laptop and put up with having
lopsided shoulders.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I just carry the big 'ol honking laptop and put up with having
lopsided shoulders.

A friend was complaining of backpain due to a similar cause. I told him about laptop
cases that had backpack straps. No more back pain.

I've had an MVP branded back pack for a number of years now. I love it. I'm told
thought that in countries with a poorer population you have to be careful that
thieves will match your stride and remove stuff from the pockets of the backpack.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[MikeB]

Isn't it weird how a mere 7 or 8 years ago, that was the sweet spot
for a decent laptop, and anything less than that was underpowered
for regular work?

My memory plays tricks on me, but I have the feeling that ever since I
bought my first IBM PS/1 (386SX 16Mhz, 80Mb HD) in the early '90s
until 2003 when I bought my most recent ThinkPad A31 laptop I've paid
around $1,500. Since then I've manually upgraded one of my desktops
with a new Core 2 Processor, motherboard, memory and HD for <$600 and
I'm now looking at replacing the A31 laptop. I doubt I'll be spending
much more than $1,500 again, but I may forgo the 17in screen I'm
yearning for.

 

[David W. Fenton]

:

My memory plays tricks on me, but I have the feeling that ever
since I bought my first IBM PS/1 (386SX 16Mhz, 80Mb HD) in the
early '90s until 2003 when I bought my most recent ThinkPad A31
laptop I've paid around $1,500.

If you have, then in the first part of that period you were buying
well below the sweet spot of the technology curve.

Since then I've manually upgraded one of my desktops
with a new Core 2 Processor, motherboard, memory and HD for <$600
and I'm now looking at replacing the A31 laptop. I doubt I'll be
spending much more than $1,500 again, but I may forgo the 17in
screen I'm yearning for.

That amount gets you a top-of-the-line machine today. Five years
ago, it got you mid-range, ten years ago, the bottom.

And that's my point.

We're now in a situation where a $400 laptop could be as usable as
the $2,000 system of a mere 5 or 6 years ago.

 

[Larry Linson]

I have an external hard drive. I sometimes use it, and I sometimes just copy
to my primary hard drive, and periodically archive the backups to the
external drive. I have never lost an Access file due to disk failure and
I've used it (pretty much every day) since January 1993. All the issues
that have required _me_ to go back to a backup copy have been either my own
Oops! errors or software problems of various kinds (which I suppose would
include the Oops! errors -- that's not an acronym for Object Oriented
Programming System errors, if you were wondering).

I've had only a couple of hard drive failures since PCs came out... one was
Before Access; the other was on a semi-retired laptop that I was hoping only
needed a restore of the factory recovery CD (but both the hard drive and
battery were past their useful life). I had been able to successfully back
up all the data, but trying to write the disk in the restore process showed
up the hard drive failure.

Perhaps the O.P. has had issues that lead him to believe that a RAID
configuration is necessary for Access development -- and I don't want to
argue that point, though I've never had a RAID configuration on any of my
development machines, laptop or fixed installation.

Larry

 

[Larry Linson]

I picked up a very well-equipped small-form-factor notebook on closeout for
little more than that... 2GB memory, which I am upping to 3GB, Vista Home
Premium 32-bit, 250GB hard drive, 12.something inch screen. I haven't had
need for the Vista nor Office 2007 for any client or user group work, so
have not done enough with it to comment. It is an HP model 1410, IIRC (it's
in another room and I'm too lazy to go check). A friend got the successor
model, which was preloaded with Vista 64-bit, and it didn't cost him a great
deal more. It's a "big, honkin" machine, from my perspective, in a
small-form-factor package.

"Netbook" sounds 'way to close to "thin client" for me. I have a good idea
of the motivation for those "thin client" machines and it was not "for the
benefit of the user".

Larry

 

[David W. Fenton]

"Netbook" sounds 'way to close to "thin client" for me. I have a
good idea of the motivation for those "thin client" machines and
it was not "for the benefit of the user".

No, that's not the origin of the term at all. The point is that it's
a relatively underpowered machine (compared to the top of the line
models) that functions perfectly well for Internet-related work and
most normal user productivity software. It's also a WinXP-only
product category, and MS has been promoting WinXP in that product
space since Vista is too big to run well on the lesser hardware.

Many people have reported these machines as being perfectly usable.

Good grief, I still use my 1999 Pentium 500 with 768MBs of RAM on a
regular basis (it also has about half a terrabyte of hard drives in
it), so I'd not likely think it was a problem. And I suspect an
awful lot of people would find such machines completely usable, from
what I've heard.

Even Access programmers.

 

[a a r o n . k e m p f]

David;

Anyone that spend $2k on a laptop 5-6 years ago.. is just plain
stupid.

Maybe if you guys could construct a decent analysis of ROI, you would
have been buying $1000 laptops 5-6 years ago.
Of course-- if you knew how to spell ROI, you'd stay the **** away
from Jet as a Relational Database.

-Aaron