The Great Laptop Hunt

I just had the green-light to pick a specific laptop model that will be our company’s standard issue for our future purchases. So far, I’m having a hard time balancing what I want with what we need. There’s also the ever present question of price.

Anyhow, I have already identified how our company utilizes a laptop unit:

1. Presentations/meetings – powerpoint/word processing/spreadsheets/…
2. Desktop replacement – AutoCAD/STAAD/Google Earth/SketchUp/…

For simple presentations or meetings, the choice is simple – I’ll go with a netbook like an HP MiniNote or an Asus EEE – something you can easily lug around without necessarily compromising performance.

For the desktop replacement, here are my criteria:

• Should cost around Php 60K (around $1270)
• At least dual core (2.+ GHz)
• At least 2GB RAM
• At least 80GB hard disk space
• Good enough video card (for AutoCAD)
• Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business (downgradeable to XP Pro)
• 10/100 LAN and wireless G connectivity
• Around 14″ display size
• Reliable brand (should have after-sales support)

A simple scan of the Internet yielded me such brands as Thinkpad, HP and Dell are said to be reliable. Right now, I’m leaning toward Thinkpads but the price scares my boss. Oh well.