Laptops?

[bhvexille]

Right now my firefox alone is using 80MB of ram, goes down to 50 if I enable the paging file.  Maybe it's because I have so many extensions

BitComet is using 60MB of ram.  Explorer? 24.  Trillian is using 15.  Gmail notifier is a little over 4MB.. and a bunch of them are using 1-2 MBs.. and I don't have word, acrobat, bsplayer, trillian, etc open.

You often don't realize how much memory things are using because your computer uses the paging file a lot (uses your hard drive as ram).  You probably have about 700MB of your hard drive set aside for this purpose (default)..  And this really slows down the performance of your computer.

[Tippy Farmbuckle]

yeah extensions on firefox chew up memory pretty quick.  i think 256 mb of ram is not enough either or maybe i should say it is just really worth the money to upgrade.  every single operation on your computer uses ram (ie every icon down by the clock and every open application).  even if you dont want multiple apps open at once, with more ram your programs run soooo much smoother...who wants to sit there and listen the the hard drives crank for 20 seconds before the program is fully loaded.  if you are spending the money, you might as well get more ram than you need, a gig/768mb is a totally safe bet but that is the route i am taking.

also in laptops, the processors are pretty much always a little behind desktops because of heat issues, too fast of a processor will overheat in a notebook, where as ram, you can add all you can cram in there without really having to worry about any/much additional heat.  ram in this case is also a good way to bring your notebook up to speed with your desktop.

[pointdexterish]

Good lord!  FF consuming 80MB of ram?  That is something fierce.  What plug-ins are you running?

I am using AdBlock, FoxyTunes, WebmailCompose and DOM Inspector and am only chewing on 45MB of ram with two tabs running.

Point is, I have a desktop to do desktop things, I have a  laptop to do laptop things.  For people who are looking for a laptop for class/school 256MB of RAM is more than enough.

If you are buying a "desktop replacement" then go balls-wild and GB it up.  Different machines, different uses!

[BLAKEAGGIE98]

To the original question. Buy an IBM T series. I have a T40 at work and have had it for almost 2 years. This thing is awesome. I lug it to meeting after meeting to the house etc and have never had a problem even after beating it to hell. I bought a T42 for school off of EBAY a couple of months ago and I love it! I found it cheaper on ebay than IBM employee purchase price(it was new in box as well). Plus I got a 3 year warranty and no taxes!I payed $1400 for it. One diff between T and R series is what they are made of. The R is plastic and the T is magnesium which is lighter and more durable.I have 512 of ram and that suits me fine. I really can't tell the different between my work T40 1.3g  512 and personal 1.7g 512. I have yet to really slow down my work one either and that is running oracle, access, about 5 excel files a few explorer windows and lotus notes if this won't slow it down I can't imagine anything you would need in law school will slow it down. 512 of ram should be plenty.

[SleepyGuyYawn]

the T is magnesium which is lighter and more durable

This is important... My original Panasonic Toughbook ('97) was had a magnesium case and the thing was indestructable.

[bhvexille]

Good lord!  FF consuming 80MB of ram?  That is something fierce.  What plug-ins are you running?

*** Extensions (enabled: 38, disabled: 0)
Add Bookmark Here 0.5.3
Advanced Highlighter Button 1.51
Advanced Search Button 1.16
ColorZilla 0.6.5
Copy Plain Text 0.2.1
DictionarySearch 0.7
Disable Targets For Downloads 0.8
downTHEMall! 0.9.4
Download Statusbar 0.9.2
eWebMail Color and Graphics 1.6
CuteMenus 0.4
AutoMarks 0.1
ForecastFox 0.5.8
Gmail Notifier 0.4
Image Toolbar 0.5
Jump Link 1.3.1
Linkification 0.9.19
Mozilla Archive Format 0.4.3
Named anchors 0.15
Thumbs 0.4.1
Translation Panel 1.4.13
Web Developer 0.8
xMirror 0.1.1
Nuke Anything 0.2
OpenDownload 0.2.1
Plain Text Links 0.2
ReloadEvery 0.5
SwitchProxy Tool 1.3.1
Smiley Xtra 3.0.1
Single Window 1.4
Allow Right-Click 0.1.1
AutoLogin 0.1
BugMeNot 0.6.1
Always Remember Password 0.1.1
Slim Extension List 0.1
Popup ALT Attribute 1.3.2004102501
Adblock 0.5.2.039
InfoLister 0.8

*** Themes (6)
Littlefox 1.0.1
Firefox (default) 2.0
SphereGnomeBig 1.0
Curacao 1.15
ScribbliesKids 0.9
Archaic 0.3.0 [selected]

*** Plugins (14)
Mozilla Default Plug-in
QuickTime Plug-in 6.5.1
Shockwave for Director
RealPlayer(tm) G2 LiveConnect-Enabled Plug-In (32-bit)
RealPlayer Version Plugin
Authorware Web Player
Shockwave Flash
Microsoft Office 2003
Adobe ESD Manager Plugin
Adobe Acrobat
Java Plug-in
Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0
Microsoft® DRM
Windows Media Player Plug-in Dynamic Link Library

[Tippy Farmbuckle]

thats a hell of a list, i have 6

[bhvexille]

If you search through this webpage, I'm sure you'll find yourself installing more that look interesting:

http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=1351
1.0 compatible extensions - The Extensions Mirror


Click on each one for a description

[The Name's Dali]

To the original question. Buy an IBM T series. I have a T40 at work and have had it for almost 2 years. This thing is awesome. I lug it to meeting after meeting to the house etc and have never had a problem even after beating it to hell. I bought a T42 for school off of EBAY a couple of months ago and I love it! I found it cheaper on ebay than IBM employee purchase price(it was new in box as well). Plus I got a 3 year warranty and no taxes!I payed $1400 for it. One diff between T and R series is what they are made of. The R is plastic and the T is magnesium which is lighter and more durable.I have 512 of ram and that suits me fine. I really can't tell the different between my work T40 1.3g  512 and personal 1.7g 512. I have yet to really slow down my work one either and that is running oracle, access, about 5 excel files a few explorer windows and lotus notes if this won't slow it down I can't imagine anything you would need in law school will slow it down. 512 of ram should be plenty.

How do you ensure that the laptop is brand-new if you buy off of eBay?

[Julie Fern]

not it be easier to just bring desktop to class?