> I'm considering buying a notebook. Never having owned or developed on
i bought a cheap LG XP notebook from Game two years ago for R7k. i checked at incredible connection and similarly spec'ed HP laptop is R5.5k today. i found that 512Mb wasn't enough (for Java development eg. using Netbeans), but after chucking in an extra 1Gig DIMM, i've been 100% happy. I think that 1.5Gig is probably overkill (using XP anyway, looking at RAM usage which is typically around 900M) and that 1Gig would be enough. But as i always say, "no such thing as too much ram, too much ice, or too much tupperware" ;) incidently, I found the service from LG quite good, to my suprise. They have a call center and workshop in bedfordview joburg - very responsive on the phone and email. I took my laptop there for reinstall cos i lost my XP CD and got a virus. But they said they courier laptops around the country overnight for a hundred bucks, altho i haven't tried that. on a possibly related issue, i researched 3G cards last year and went for MTN option cos you can change your bundle on a monthly basis from 0gig to 1gig, which you couldn't on vodacom (maybe that's changed). Virgin had the best package at the time, where you pay the minimum (in-bundle) rate per meg for exactly what you use each month, no more, no less - whereas MTN and vodacom you either pay for more than you actually use (when using less than the bundle limit), or get punished with 4x rate for out of bundle - maybe they've changed in the past year, i don't know. A year ago, Virgin had just launched and had no modems available yet, so i went for MTN. I pay R350/month for 1gig, which serves me well, since i don't download linux distros ;) Incidently, Virgin was "only" EDGE via CellC's network, altho that wouldn't have bothered me. Cos MTN and Vodacom are not always 1.8Mbit depending on the cell you're in, and anyway, the bottleneck is their network's internet interconnection, 'cos often when i'm connected at 1.8mbit, it still feels slower than 384k ADSL line. on a personal note, i can't imagine to going back to desktop! I used to use desktop at home with 21" screen but found when i was at work with a 17" screen, i'd get thrown off, and that it's best to use same resolution at home, and/or on your laptop, as you're likely to encounter at work (for development). e ----------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Obsidian SWiTCH web-mail. Obsidian SWiTCH - an Obsidian Systems company. (0860) 055-911 - http://www.switch-it.co.za/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CTJUG Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CTJUG-Forum For the ctjug home page see http://www.ctjug.org.za -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
