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Dezdmona wrote:

AlbatrossFlyer wrote:watching movies on batteries can be iffy.... most laptops barely have enough battery for one movie. check the battery life spec, and keep in mind most spec's are pretty optimistic. you might want to get a spare.

Yep. I bought a spare, double sized, battery for mine.

As for movies, I also have a portable DVD player (got it on sale cheap - it was the previous year's model + I used a coupon) that we use on trips.
(I swear it was the same as the new model as far as image/sound quality...the only changes were external)

The last couple of times I've flown American, and they showed pretty decent in-flight movies & we didn't use the player on the plane, but with our 8 y/o son, we DO use it while out of town.
Oh...remember earphones/buds!

If your planning on keeping vacation pix on your laptop, get a larger Hard Drive.
If your going to move them to another drive for permanent storage later, it's not that big of a deal.
Pix & Music files can eat up space depending on how much you save.

external DVD-burner. plug in at home. or just use a couple 2 gb memory cards with the camera.

RinglingRingling wrote:or just use a couple 2 gb memory cards with the camera.

Yea, yea..I have big memory cards, but I like to download my vacation pix on my laptop while on vacation, some I even keep on my laptop for later.

(When we go to Mexico, my son will post on a web page so his classmates can see what he's doing...that way he get's class credit for doing a project and can miss school.)

Then I transfer/copy them to a Master drive later.

Dezdmona wrote:

RinglingRingling wrote:or just use a couple 2 gb memory cards with the camera.

Yea, yea..I have big memory cards, but I like to download my vacation pix on my laptop while on vacation, some I even keep on my laptop for later.

(When we go to Mexico, my son will post on a web page so his classmates can see what he's doing...that way he get's class credit for doing a project and can miss school.)

Then I transfer/copy them to a Master drive later.

I had to work to almost fill a 1gb card, including video on the NYC trip. And I was a picture-shooting shooting fool. but, even so... the average person probably isn't going to have 60 gb of music and photos on a laptop. (that is what an iPod is for.. )

RinglingRingling wrote: the average person probably isn't going to have 60 gb of music and photos on a laptop. (that is what an iPod is for.. )

You have met my husband haven't you?
(Besides, he would never permanently put music on an iPod)

I'm not going to try to go back and uote the different things I'm repying to, so I'll just addd in a few thoughts of my own here.

My laptop is a Gateway (I swear by them) and I've had it about 18 months. It has a 17 inch widescreen and runs XP Pro. I did order it with expanded RAM and an upgraded video card so I can step it up to Vista if I choose to.

I am running an Intel Centrino Duo chip, and it is a powerhog when running on the battery. When fully charged the OS thinks it has about 4 hours of power in the battery, but in reality it has about 90 minutes to 2 hours - the battery meter drops fairly rapidly.

If at all possible, get one with an internal wireless antenna. It is wonderful for travel, as most hotels offer WiFi access and the internal antenna is much easier to deal with than the PC Card addon; you wouldn't believe how many PC Cards I've seen get broken when someone stows a laptop without pulling the card first. Also make sure it has a network interface because I have been in a few hotels that offer broadband access, but only through a Cat 5 plug, no WiFi.

For travel pictures, I use the laptop as a backup system for my pictures. I download the pictures off the camera every night, or every couple of nights at least, and save a copy to the laptop hard drive. I then back that up to a CD and/or jump drive. I also keep a copy of Photoshop on the laptop so I can tinker with the pictures if I want to while on the road. Once I get hoem I move a copy of the original camera files to a CD or DVD to use as an archive, then move a copy of the pics (Photoshopped or not) to my Desktop machine to start really working on them in Photoshop to crop/resize/color balance.

Multiple USB ports are a lifesaver, as most devices these days connect this way. A card reader also comes in handy, you can download pics from another person's camera without needing a USB cable to connect the two. The more RAM the better, that way you can run as small a paging file as possible on the HD and not take away from performance.

I also have a Gateway. I purchased it at the Best Buy outlet store in Gulfport, MS just after Christmas 2006. It was listed for $959 and with the clearance price I received it for $699... with the security package and the extended waranty I paid just over $1000.

I've only had one problem ... the CD ROM drive had to be replaced... it decided not to work anymore... Otherwise, Its been Great!

I have all my music/pictures/videos on an external hard drive.

Had a Toshiba satellite for five years and liked it a lot.

Bought a Dell 3 years ago, and really like it as well.

Took out service contracts on both--used it to replace modem on Toshiba years ago. On the Dell, I have replaced the fan, the keyboard and the touchpad, and the service was incredibly good and fast-it took a couple of days for the tech guy to get the parts and then he was at my house within hours to install the new parts. I apparently am rough on keyboards as I am about to call to replace it again (the x is incredibly difficult to type).