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Looking at getting one for work, what should I be looking for in a laptop? I'm looking at the lower scale of the market (under 2K), are their any brands I should stay away from, a brand I should buy, which processor is highly recommended etc. I guess dual layer DVD burner is pretty standard these days, as is 40/60/80 Gig HD etc. Or alternately, if I was looking on e-bay s/hand, what should I be wary of? As I drive around for work, I'm in my car 60% of the day, will heat be a factor (I do have air-con) & battery life/power source, can they be powered of cigarette lighters? I realise a d/side of laptops is they can't be up-graded. Then again, someone suggested that a palm pilot may do what I want anyway. If a palm pilot runs MS Excel, is an electronic diary, they could be on the money. Thoughts?

Can be a big difference in screens, Toshiba tend to have good screens, I forget the terminology but some you can see from angles where with others you have be in front of it.

Having said that I have a Compaq, would recommend it, my parents have a Toshiba that I bought for them but the Compaq has a much sturder feel about it, one of my mates has the same model as mine and he hauled it half way up Everest and back and it worked a treat.
Key with buying a Laptop is getting an extended warranty, normally costs about $250 for an extra 2 years but worth it, I got mine for $50 but I knew the bloke who ran the computer area at Harvey Norman.
Some great deals in the paper too going on sale tomorrow, very nice Compaq laptop at Harvey Norman which is $796 after cash back, bit better than mine and mine was $2500 but that was 2.5 years ago.

Acer and Dells used to have a bad name but have markedly improved and most people that have bought them recently don't have a bad thing to say about them.

My mates moved onto electrical in Harveys but I could probably still organise something close to cost price if you want to make a trip with me to Noarlunga.

Also they can be powered by the lighter in the car but most "official" chargers cost about $200. You can pick up some generic charges for just over $100 from memory though.

If you do get a lappy get something with a Centrino chip in it, the difference in battery life can be amazing, I'm talking the difference between 2 hours life and up to 8 hours life.

Wessie suggested it should also have "ethernet" & a dual layer dvd burner at minimum... How would a Palm Pilot compare to a Laptop? The functions I mainly want are electronic diary/adress book/phone book & be able to run Excel, do PP support these?

Punk Rooster wrote:Wessie suggested it should also have "ethernet" & a dual layer dvd burner at minimum...

Depends how full on you go but I wouldn't be too quick to get dual layer, DL discs are still to expensive using and new technology like Blue ray is on its way which will out date DL.
Ethernet is to set up networks with other pcs or appliances which you probably wont need.

Punk Rooster wrote: How would a Palm Pilot compare to a Laptop? The functions I mainly want are electronic diary/adress book/phone book & be able to run Excel, do PP support these?

Yeah PP support that, but value wise it wouldn't be worth it, it would probably cost you about $400 for a cheapy, more if you want to insert memory cards to play mp3s, or store heaps of files, etc.
Take away the Excel and most new mobile phones would suit your needs. Actually some mobiles also can cater for Excel but they'd cost most than the laptop I mentioned above.

Personally I wouldn't go a Palm Pilot but HP make some good Pocket PC PDA's. They vary in size and ability, and some are almost like a compact version of a laptop. A lot of sales reps use them rather than lugging a laptop around.

Don't know about Palm Pilot's but Pocket PC's come with basic Microsoft software like Pocket Word and Pocket Excel.

Couldn't live without mine... it synchronises with Outlook so all your calendar and contact information is at your fingertips.

Toshiba still have perhaps the strongest name in the market, although Compaq seem to be doing very well these days and all that I know who have them are pretty rapt with the units ... We use IBM and BenQ through work here and whilst IBM make reasonable equipment, their sticking point has always been the cost factor which whilst markedly better than previous generations, is still at the higher end of the scale last time I checked!

The BenQ units have been exceptionally well priced and touch wood, I haven't had one of them returned (or report an associated problem) within the 12-18 months we've supplied them.

Dell I don't know enough about but dislike them personally because they cut the middle man out (lol extremely biased point of view), Acer I'm not ultra-familiar with, other than industry consensus a while back (12+ months) was that they had that "plastic type feel" about them however at the same time it was deemed that their service was second to none.

To be honest, in this day and age, if the manufacturer (or outsourced service outlet) is prepared to stand by their product pretty much anything should be fine, you'll just need to write yourself a list of functions/specifications (Ram & HD sizes, drive types, communication options, processor and CPU speed etc) you require, set yourself a budget, and then find a unit that meets those requirements!

Happy shopping mate!

PS: Wedgie ... In regards to the screens I'd say the terms you were looking for are Passive and Active!