Help me design my new computer set up!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have an aging HP pavilion zd7000 17" laptop that is slowly dieing. The last time I took the computer to my repair guy he suggested I start looking for a new one.

So I’m reaching out to the collective wisdom of The Dope to help me design it!

I originally bought the 17" HP I’m using now as a portable “main” computer. Unfortunately it doesn’t do either of those things well. While I have taken it on trips with me, it’s pretty heavy and bulky to carry around. And at home, the screen seems to be “shrinking”, especially late at night when my eyes are tired.

So what I’m thinking of doing is something like this: buy a “normal” sized but full featured laptop, and, using a laptop docking station, connect it to a big flat screen monitor (and keyboard / mouse) at home.

  1. Is this a reasonable path? Or is there a better configuration?

What I use it for: Lots of web surfing. No online video games. Some software development (VC++). Regular youtube videos, occasional TV episodes (e.g., Hulu). Occasional image processing (Photoshop). Financial software.

I went to my local best buy and came back with these ideas for components:

Computer: Sony 15", (VPCEB23FM/BI) Intel I3 processor, 4GB RAM, 320 GB disk, Windows 7.
2. Questions:
Is 4 GB RAM enough?
Should I upgrade to Windows 7 Professional to get the Windows XP emulator? I’ve got quite a few XP programs (MS Office, MS Visual Studio, Photoshop, Quicken, TurboTax, other financial programs) Is the XP emulator good enough to run these programs?
Should I buy MS Office for Windows 7, or just use my MS Office in XP emulator mode?
They also showed me a Samsung laptop that was a little more capable. But I don’t think Samsung has been making laptops for very long and I’m concerned about reliability and parts availability. Anyone have good/bad experience with Samsungs?

Docking Station: Targus Universal Docking Station ACP51US. The whole docking station works through 1 USB port.
3. Questions:
Can a mouse, keyboard, and monitor all run successfully through 1 USB port???
One online review said the Targus didn’t work with Windows 7. Anyone use it successfully?
Another online review noted video choppiness on the monitor, compared to no choppiness on the laptop screen. Anyone have this experience?
Is there a better docking station?

Flat Screen Monitor: Samsung 23" PX2370. Widescreen LCD monitor with LED backlight, 2 ms response.
4. Questions:
Any positive or negative experience with this monitor?

This is my initial idea. How would you change this configuration?

Thanks,
J.

2

I personally find docking stations to be a huge PITA, and also another potential source of problems. I just plug in a monitor, keyboard and mouse - it takes about 5 seconds.

The only other point I’d make is if you’re thinking of reducing your screen size from 17" to 15", take a test drive somewhere and make sure you are really OK with a 25% reduction in screen real estate.

3

Some quick thoughts:

You don’t need a docking station. Get a laptop with HDMI or DisplayPort output and a monitor with HDMI or DVI input. Keyboard and mouse will plug directly into laptop USB ports.

Your don’t need XP mode for most software. Usually only if you have some ancient DOS program. Office 2000 will run in Windows 7.

4 GB is enough for now, unless you’re doing big Photoshop images.

I’d personally buy a Samsung before a Sony. Although I’d also buy a etch-a-sketch before I’d buy a Sony.

4

Yeah, that’s an idea. I’m currently using 5 of my 4 USB ports on my present machine. :slight_smile: A USB hub will solve that issue, however.

Good advice. I was using my wife’s 15" while mine was in the shop and it was ok. I’d only use the laptop screen, however, when I was traveling – maybe twice a year. The rest of the time I’d use the big monitor at home.

Thanks,
J.

5

A 15" wide-aspect laptop seems totally reasonable to me if you’ve tried a 17" laptop and found it to be a boat anchor. I have a 15" 1920x1080 laptop, and its still not a small laptop by any means.

I’d get Win7-64 ( have Home Premium on my laptop, and it seems fine) which you’d need to access > 4GB anyway. I’d consider getting 8GB if you can swing it, or at least have the option to add more RAM later. I have run out of RAM on my 4GB laptop, but I tend to need a ridiculous amount of horsepower, so maybe that’s just me. I’m skeptical that you need XP emulation, all the older software I use seems fine.

I’ll add 3rd vote for ditching the dock. It really is not a big deal to plug in 3 cables, although I can see the appeal of reducing cable clutter. I definitely would not run video through a USB port, I see lots of potential for bad/choppy video and/or incompatible software. The mouse and keyboard can certainly share one USB port, it’s called a USB hub and they’re not at all uncommon. Some wired keyboards let you just plug your mouse into a jack on the keyboard. Or you can get a wireless keyboard+mouse, and you just plug the single cable for the wireless transceiver into the laptop and off you go – the keyboard and mouse use no cables at all.

You didn’t mention audio monitoring, which I’d consider high on my list for a desktop. I assume you’re planning to plug-in computer speakers, right?

6

ETA: I googled up a page that says Samsung has been making laptops since around 2008, which I agree is not very long. For what that’s worth.

7

Question, why aren’t you considering a desktop PC and a Netbook? I think that based on your description you are simply repeating the same mistake you made last time around. By setting up a docking station you are investing in a monitor, keyboard, mouse and the desktop real estate already. By simply adding a desktop PC to the equation you aren’t adding anything in the way of inconveniences.

You say that the previous laptop was cumbersome and bulky to transport. Modern laptops and a 2 inch reduction in screen size with go a ways to solving that issue, but a 13" or smaller Netbook would go even further and allow a huge uptick in battery life.

Price is obviously a issue but there are 2 points in this configurations favor. First, buying a desktop that is comparable to the laptop’s specs will save you a couple hundred dollars. Adding a netbook will cost more than the difference, but not by much. Offsetting the extra couple hundred dollars in price will be the ease of upgrading down the road. With the desktop if you shop smart you can keep it up and running at close to current requirements for 5 years or more with minimal upgrades. You can swap out the netbook for many hundreds of dollars cheaper than swapping out a laptop, and assuming you just want the portable to be a occasional solution your needs will be much less meaning it can hang on longer than a “main computer”.

I’m generally not a fan of using a laptop as a “main computer” in any case. The compromises are just far too much for me. Laptops wear out far too quickly for my liking. They are fragile and the risk of losing everything to damage or theft is a major one.

I like keeping my desktop up to speed for the core of my computer usage. It’s the media hub for everything. It’s copious USB ports and always-on nature make it a better home for my iPhone/Zune/Shuffle/Harmony etc. than any laptop. I never have to worry about storing/locating cables and I never have to worry about booting up and plugging in my PC so I have the power to charge things. My desktop is also connected to my media extender allowing me to stream the same media files to my TV or laptop from anywhere. It’s my primary backup solution and it’s a safer place to keep all my work, finance and private data.

My laptop is a specialized device only. It’s portable, low energy and intended for email, web browsing and media only. If I lose it all I lose or break the device, no data or software needs to be replaced or recovered. It’s handy for bed or the couch in short doses and travel, but when I really need to be at the computer I use the desktop.

Having 2 computers is better than one if you ever need to share, obviously, and you can use one to service the other in case of an issue.

Anyways, maybe you’ve considered all this and decided, but I figured I’d point it out. You can spend $700 on a laptop that’s a compromise for everything and that will need to be replaced in 3 years or you can spend $900-1000 on a desktop and netbook/CULV laptop that could double that lifespan and be optimized for all tasks.

8

Also, I have a Sony Vaio CW series laptop and while it’s a pretty good computer I have had some issues. First and foremost the keyboard FUCKING SUCKS. Keyboards are a very personal thing and what works for one person may not work for another, but this damn thing makes the laptop nearly unusable for any composing for me. Something about the key travel and/or springiness causes me to double tap letters almost constantly. You may not have the same problem but I strongly recommend you spend a good long time at the store practicing typing on it before buying it, or make sure you have a solid exchange policy.

Secondly and a bit less seriously is the Sony crapware that comes installed. There’s a ton of it, but the version on my PC somehow got corrupted when I tried to uninstall it. They have this “Sony Care” app that supposedly helps keep your PC up to date and because it runs at a low level there’s no way to repair it or uninstall it without completely wiping the HD and reinstalling the OS. Every couple weeks I get a bunch of error messages on my screen that Sony Care failed to update and short of starting from scratch I can’t fix it. It’s not a deal breaker, but you might want to consider paying the extra $50 to Sony to get the “clean install” option of Windows or make sure you own your own copy of Win7 and wipe the thing before you start using it. Don’t trust the uninstall functions.

9

I didn’t know I could run my old 32-bit applications on a 64-bit architecture. So things like Office 2002, Quicken 2004, Photoshop 5.5 will run on windows 7-64?

Ah, this is another whole issue. The short answer is: I always use headphones when I want sound.

Thanks,
J.

10

There are several reasons why I’ve proposed my current, er, proposal. First, I’ve tried to simplify my computers. At one time I had 2 big desktops (with 21" CRT monitors!) and a laptop. It just took up too much time and desk space. For the last 5 or 6 years (at least), I’ve run perfectly fine with just the 17" laptop. And I’d probably keep going with my current set up if it wasn’t dieing on me.

A netbook wouldn’t work for me. My eyes aren’t good enough for such a small screen. And I don’t want the big foot print of a desktop anymore. And the disadvantage of having 2 computers to install software on – including antivirus, browsers, etc. And on which computer do I install new software (if I can only install it on 1)?

No, I’m trying to simplify my computing needs and keep everything on 1 computer. (Ok, that’s not strictly true, as I have 2 external hard drives that I use for storage and backup.)

Thanks for the thoughts, though. You’ve obviously put some thought into your message.

J.

11

Generally, yes. Get the 64-bit version of Windows 7. There’s essentially no downside. You’ll be fine with Home Premium. The XP emulator is largely for legacy apps that never ran properly on Vista. Generally speaking, unless you are a corporate user running custom software you’re better off saving the money and buying a new version of an ancient productivity software instead of buying Windows Ultimate on the off chance something isn’t compatible. Home users simply have no excuse to be using 8+ year old software.

If you get desperate you can upgrade later anyways.

Audio monitoring? The audio out jacks on a laptop or desktop will be essentially identical. The only relevant audio consideration is a laptop with HDMI out for 5.1 surround. Since you aren’t talking about connecting to a home theater that’s moot. Desktops allow you to add 5.1 sound cards, unless you are getting a laptop with a BluRay player and HDMI out it’s not relevant.

You mentioned that your 17" lappy wasn’t doing a good job of being a portable main computer. I’m not sure downsizing to a 15" lappy really changes that equation at all, though adding a full size monitor will at least save your eyes. In your proposed set-up I suspect that you’ll end up spending 95% of the time plugged into the monitor, if that supposition turns out to be true I think you may regret the compromises made going with a laptop. Laptops, especially low power ones like you selected, are not good at doing video, especially HD streaming. Something to keep in mind.

Having a docking station set up means you are already committing the foot print.

There are many ways to simplify. I find that compartmentalizing my computing is simpler than managing everything in one place, especially when that one place is not an ideal solution for most needs. If having everything in one place works best for you, kudos.

Couple things to look for in your laptop selection. You want to make sure that it has integrated bluetooth. Most do nowadays but if you get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse it’ll save you from having to plug anything in. Also, you might want to investigate a set-up that has WiDi built in as well. Depending on your display situation a WiDi could serve to eliminate the need for a monitor cable too. It’s primarily intended for streaming video to your flatscreen but desktop monitors would work too so long as you have the receiver. Lastly and probably most importantly is that you want a laptop that has video switching ability, namely Nvidia Optimus.

These are the killer apps that can make your little workstation sing. Skip the docking station and go wireless. I know there are Asus laptops that combine these technologies. Also upgrading to the Core i5 processor will buy you more time before obsolescence.

12

First, the VMware Playeris free and better than Oracle’s (Sun Micro) Virtual Box. I haven’t played with XP mode on W7 but the VMware player is so nice I don’t really care to. And it is more versatile. The product XP mode replaces is Virtual PC which would allow you to install any OS in the VM. The new product is limited to XP AFAIK. In theory you could install Virtual PC 2007 on the XP VM but who wants to do that?

You can also use [url=http://www.paragon-software.com/home/go-virtual/]Paragon’s Go Virtual software (also free) to create a clone of any PC and use it on another computer inside a virtual machine. If you need to convert an installation on a virtual drive to a different format for a different type of virtual machine software, you can use Go virtual to convert it. This will let you create a virtual clone of your existing machine and use it on the new one. I haven’t used this product but here is an article that should give you a good over view.

The one advantage to XP mode I think is the fact that you can dl a virtual drive file that already has the OS installed whereas with VMWare player, you still have to install the OS - unless you use Go Virtual to clone an existing machine.

Personally I wouldn’t go from a 17" to a 15" - even if I were to use an external monitor most of the time.

I also would reiterate the issues regarding Sony’s love of crapware. However there is an option to get a machine without all of the additional software if you buy directly from Sony - unfortunately i can’t remember what that option is called. Sony free - or something like that maybe?

13

How often do you take the laptop out and about? If the answer is ‘rarely’, then why not get a desktop system and keep your current laptop for the rare occasion when you go out?

Desktop PCs don’t have to have large footprints. There’s the Zotac ZBox, for instance, or the Mac Mini.

14

I just ran across something might be exactly what you’re looking for. Acer’s new TimelineX models which include an 11.6" ultraportable with and Intel i7 processor.

15

XP mode also doesn’t require a license for the XP VM, and it will run apps in the VM from the Win 7 desktop, i.e. they appear to be just another Win 7 app.

16

I use an older Office on Win7-64, and it’s fine, and in fact the latest Office is installed as 32-bit by default. I can’t speak for Quicken, but I’d be very surprised if it had issues. Older Photoshop versions are probably fine, although 5.5 is pretty old; Photoshop CS5 runs native x64, so its worth considering an upgrade if you do demanding stuff with it. I’ve yet to find a app that hated Win7-64’s 32-bit support; I’m sure they’re out there, but the apps I use have been fine. The only downside of 64-bit apps is that if you have 3rd-party plug-ins for that app, they won’t run inside a 64-bit version of that app; this can be a significant problem for some users.

Ah, this is another whole issue. The short answer is: I always use headphones when I want sound.
[/quote]
So you’ve got that covered. I only asked because it would be one more ‘docking’ wire if you were monitoring sans headphones.

17

Ok, so here’s what I’m hearing so far

  • I don’t need a docking station. They are more trouble than they’re worth. I can just plug in the monitor etc. to the laptop. (And can add a USB hub for extra USB ports.

  • I don’t need to upgrade Windows to get the XP emulator. Most 32-bit applications will run fine in W7-64.

  • I’m also hearing that the Sony laptop might not be the best choice. So what IS a good choice?

Here are the features I’m looking for in the laptop:

  • A capable processor, probably multi-core
  • The correct video output for the big monitor (HDMI?)
  • DVD / CD-ROM
  • Plenty of memory
  • built-in camera
  • Wireless networking
  • Minimum 3 or 4 USB ports
  • Someone earlier mentioned Bluetooth. Might be nice to have.
  • RELIABLE. Must last 5 years at least. (My current one is over 6 years old.)
  • Quiet. Another nice to have. My current one’s fan can be very noisy.
  • From a good manufacturer, with good parts availability.

Given these fairly general features, what laptop would you recommend?

Thanks,
J.

18

To clarify, HDMI is DVI with digital audio added (and DRM, but I don’t think we need to get into that). Converting to/from DVI/HDMI is done using cheap adapters. The downside of converting to DVI from an HDMI output is that you’re tossing out the audio channels, but that sounds like it’s no concern for you (plus, I think HDMI out from a laptop would only light up the HDMI audio if you were watching something like a Blu-ray movie on the laptop). Bottom line: you can use a laptop with either DVI or HDMI out, with a monitor that has either DVI **or]/b] HDMI in.

19

Three possible issues:

1 - Some versions of some copy-protection schemes (I’m looking at you, Starforce) don’t work on x64. Also x64 doesn’t support 16 bit apps.

2 - A docking station is likely not necessary, but will likely make things rather easier. Further, some docking stations give you the ability to add a 3rd party graphics card.

3 - One thing I didn’t clock initially was that with the Targus docking station you’re operating the graphics through USB. This is problematic. I reviewed a couple a while back. Basically, they’re good for light use only and get iffy when stretched. If you get a docking station, get the dedicated one.

20

Is that an x64 issue? I thought 16-bit support was dropped entirely when Vista (32 or 64) came out. ?