So I am thinking of buying a new laptop so I don;t have to carry any CDs or DVDs and so I can use the internet when I am in holland

I want to store more than a few movies on the laptop with TONS of music, ipod style...
also thought of getting a nano to bring about with me

internet is a priceless thing in Amsterdam and I have NEVER had a computer there before and I am not 100% genius in that field so I would like to know a couple things

A) WHAT DO YOU USE
what laptop do you have, what do you use it for and how has been you experiences bringing it to Amsterdam

B)ADVICE AS TO WHERE AND WHAT TO BUY
ideas of what the best buy for my buck would be? any idea what one would be better for my purposes etc etc and how much do you think it will cost me

thanks a milion
J

I have a Toshiba laptop,pentium 4 80gb hard drive,just came back from Amsterdam with it.It,s wireless capable so i can use it wherever i can get a connection,one known free hotspot is at a coffeeshop on Prins Hendrickkade,cannot remember the namr but it,s not too fa r from the train station,alsom i,ve gotten online from the car many times.I had to pay at my hotel though!That did happen to be the best connection,coffeeeshop one good too,the other freebies were so-so(losing connection,slow,etc.Just look on the label for your power supply to make sure it says 100-240v(it should)if so then get a 110 to 240 apapter from Radio Shack(you may have to order it)and you,re good to go.

As far as ipod-i have a 60gb half full with all the techno,hardcore,hardstyle from NL on it-i did have some problems at times with my Monster adapter that plays through the radio in Europe-i think the signals are stronger than in the US so i had bleedover sometimes.

I hope this helps.

I love my Powerbook - I used to do all PCs but once to unix, you won't want to go back. It also depends on what you want to do professionally with it - word processing to programming. The new MacBook Pros are wicked-fast compiling and running native code (building sites and testing them under the built-in Apache server, for instance). They're connection whores - they can find anything -wifi, cable, modem - and just use it, no rebooting needed. And they're extremely well built, so bouncing around won't generally hurt them.

I have a toshiba widescreen 17" monster. It's a POS and I am not planning to ever get another Toshiba.

I used to have a Sony It was not the sturdiest but man it had the coolest features. I was looking for another Sony when I got the Toshiba. I'd get another Sony.

I had an IBM. Thing was a TANK. The problem - this was a win 95 machine so things may have changed - was that the hardware was so proprietary that you completely depend on IBM for all drivers and they weren't that good with it.

I am planning on looking at the Panasonic Toughbooks when I get my next laptop. If they're comperable and only a little more I'd try one. Otherwise I'm going with Sony.

I have heard HP's are total crap.

We used to have Toshiba laptops here - the screens or screen cables fail regularly. A couple of people I know have had Sonys and, yeah - nice toys if they worked. The Sonys are a bit flimsy. Apple iBooks are pretty indestructable (my plug for OS X) as are the IBMs, but you'll pay a chunk for a decent Thinkpad. Then again, you always get what you pay for - my last 3 laptops averaged 3 years each, no failures on any. I just upgraded 'cause I wanted latest/greatest.

Oh, come on, Woofman:

Sony laptops are great. Pepto, Victor, and Wim have seen the motivational materials on the wide screen. My Sony FS VGN-FS570 has 100 GB, wireless centrino technology, plus DVD+R dual layer burning.

Regards,
Fred

i would agree with the comment about HP. mine is an omnibook XE4 and its never been much good. certainly would not buy HP again. every evening when i cycle past the apple store im tempted to resolve the situation...

withnail

yeah a bunch of my friends are raving about the new mac laptops that were just released a few weeks/months or so ago

I'm looking to spend as little as possible, but I do want to get something that is worth while
if spending a little more means getting something I can totally depend on, then I would do that

thanks for all your help, any other ideas?

PS: I never had a Mac before, I have barely even used one
would I be a fool to try and switch over from PC without more knowledge?

Switching is reasonably easy as long as the app, or an equivalent app, is available. It's all about the data, not the os or hardware. iBooks aren't too expensive and are still decent machines for their money (Mac traditionally resell very well).

Everyone's experience on a computer is different - that's why they're called "personal computers". Your best bet is to just go to a Apple store and play with one as long as you'd like...no-one will bother you. Then you can watch the tutorials in their theaters and ask questions. If it's not your cuppa, no loss.

Fred, I've known 4 Sony Vaio laptops (luckily, not personally - these are recent models from friends) and all of them -- every one -- has had to go back into repair a multiple number of times. One logic board a few times (lockups) and a few had screen problems (half a screen in one case, occasional dropouts because of a cable a few times.

Sorry, but I'm speaking from second-hand experience: they're not worth it. If you need a PC, buy an IBM. Otherwise, consider *all* options. ;)

any specific models I should look for at the apple store
or
what PC models would be good for what I'm looking for

AND lastly, but certainly not leastly
any good ideas as to WHERE I can get the best price on one of these machines

Maybe it's my age showing, but I don't see the big deal about going a short time without internet access. I mean, if you're going to Amsterdam on holiday, why do you need a computer? I would think that might defeat the purpose of theholiday. If you need to keep up on events, if world war 3 breaks out, I'm sure it will be on television. My preference would be to travel light. If it's part of a business trip...well that's another matter.

Rainer does make a good point - if you don't need to carry a laptop, it's better to not. Let's deconstruct that a second - if you want to do interneting, there's quite a few internet shops here and there in Amsterdam where you can while away a few hours. Easy Everything is on the Damrak near Centraal Station, and there's quite a few head joints with net connections. Unless you want to be online alot, you won't really need to take a laptop for communication.

Videos and audio - that's different. Why not just buy an iPod with video? I have one and they're excellent. You can easily watch a TV show or a movie on that screen without any difficulty and keep lots of music and video on even the 30GB version (which is amazingly light). I love my iPod and have all the second season LOST and Battlestar shows on it, and 400 albums, dozens of podcasts and I'm only 2/3rd full. I get 2 hours watching video and about 12-14 hours of music per charge. Buy the worldwide ac adapter and possibly a airplane adapter and voilá - no laptop needed. You can get a 80% charge in an hour - you can also use the USB cable to charge it, so when you go to Easy Everything, you can jack it in and charge while your surfing.

Now, if you still want a laptop, besides internet, email and movie playing - what do you plan on doing with it? Which apps? If you want to do everything, just buy the best model you can afford (and always go for at least 2GB ram - unix loves ram). Otherwise, describe your needs and buy accordingly.