Packard Bell was an object lesson in Why You Don't Buy PCs Off-The-Rack From Big Retail Chains (in this case, the late-and-not-lamented Computer City). It was my first PC (I had Apple IIs before that) and it showed. It had a hydra modem-sound card, it had a highly incompatible CD-ROM drive, and it performed like a constipated wombat, even with subsequent processor, memory, HD, video card, modem and sound-card upgrades.
I've never actually owned a laptop; I'm considering one now because my wife and I are on two-to-three-hour car trips relatively often, and it'd be neat to have a portable machine that whoever's in the passenger seat can watch DVDs or play Ultima on. That's not doesn't require major specs, so I'm torn between a used laptop in the 600-1000MHz range or a new one that'll essentially replace my 1300. If I go the latter route, I'll want one with at least SOME video card on board in lieu of "integrated video," so that if I want to even pretend to 3D-game with it (say, Morrowind on the road) it won't catch on fire.
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syntheid
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Date: 2004-01-07 06:49 am (UTC)I've never actually owned a laptop; I'm considering one now because my wife and I are on two-to-three-hour car trips relatively often, and it'd be neat to have a portable machine that whoever's in the passenger seat can watch DVDs or play Ultima on. That's not doesn't require major specs, so I'm torn between a used laptop in the 600-1000MHz range or a new one that'll essentially replace my 1300. If I go the latter route, I'll want one with at least SOME video card on board in lieu of "integrated video," so that if I want to even pretend to 3D-game with it (say, Morrowind on the road) it won't catch on fire.