Laptops seem to be becoming an invaluable piece of equipment in a writer's toolkit, particularly for internet marketing,fast submission,editing and computer careers.

Have you given in and got one yet?

Which ones have you got lined up to research and why?

Have you already acquired your laptop baby? Are you happy with it or are there glitches?

I will come back here and tell you all about my acer aspire !

I have a mac laptop, and love it.

Hi Rosie - what size laptop did you go for?

I deliberated for ages before choosing. I was gradually moving away from using the big old family pc, so wanted a similae-sized keyboard to start.

That meant my laptop was fairly big - and heavier! I would still heartily recommend it though. I have heard loads of people complaining about theirs. (Mine's an acer.)

I got an HP dv9000. It's beautiful. It's got a large screen, full size keyboard, great touchpad and good battery life. It came with some nice stuff installed and I am now used to vista with it. I take it with me when I travel and it works well with the built in wireless.

Hi Jase - laptops are soooo cool aren't they? Mine is my permanent help-mate and writing buddy that comes everywhere too.

I hated Vista at first, but forced myself to use it in preference to my old machine. I'm now glad I did!

Didn't you have a computer disaster recently? Did your laptop help? No wonder yo're pleased with it!

yes... my desktop blew up. Fire, smoke, lost EVERYTHING! thankfully I had done a recent backup on my external HD. I now have my laptop and a new desktop that is custom built by cyberpower. It's really nice, really fast, and not loaded with the crap that comes on the "standard" commercial computers. I uninstalled the unnecessary software on the HP laptop.

I had a 14" Dell for four years and now I have an 17" HP... it's so big! And so fast. Technology has come a long way in 4 years. It's amazing what a difference 3 inches makes. I could not survive without a laptop.

I have gone through a ton of laptops over the years, I use them pretty much non-stop. My previous one had a large screen but was killer heavy to travel with so my current one is a Dell Vostro 1500 with a 15.4" diagonal screen. What really matters most to me is

1) great screen resolution because I run with a small font size to get a lot of content on the screen, and

2) super keys because I type very quickly and it drives me insane to have keyboard problems.

This one is doing rather nicely for me. I don't miss the larger screen of the previous one - the clarity here is great - and I really appreciate the lighter weight.

Note that this is a widescreen, not a square screen. But I think most modern laptops are widescreen.

Wow! That's the best excuse for treating yourself to a new laptop I ever heard LOL!

My acer aspire did not come with much software but I did get it at an amazing price! Downside is, I now have to decide if I want to pay for Word! Of course, there is no choice really - the trial period is coming to an end and now I have got used to it!

Better bash out some more articles for my clients to pay for it! (And for Bella of course!)

Hello Moe! That's interesting - about Dell. They were my number 2 choice. I had heard they were good but cheaper, as they have no actual store presence, you buy them direct.

In the end though, that was the thing that put me off - we have an acer repair centre nearby, and that plus the customer reviews I read on a site I write for, convinced me of acer's suitability.

Not to mention the 'one-third-off' deal I saw co-incidentally at the same time. Decision made!

I would still consider DELL though.

Hi Lisa - so you have DELL too? I must admit I would think twice about lugging my acer around with me while travelling. Like you say, I paid dear for the extra-size keyboard - in weight.

Next time, now that I am more used to laptops, I will go for a smaller one.

I probably would take my acer with me on a trip to use while I was there, but not en-route LOL.

I have been asking around about this today, and 5 writer friends gave mixed recommendations. Two good reports on DELL, a girl who loves her Mac but it is broken (she does give it heavy use but it's only 2 yrs old - needs new adaptor). Also a terrible report from a Toshiba-owning writer who admits he didn't spend out!

Most agreed that as writers they value portability over the weight involved with a big screen.

see.. I had no problem with the portability issues associated with a 17 in widescreen. I have a bag for the laptop and have taken it on a few different trips with me (car and train) and no problems. I used it with my presentations at universities and it's only 8 pounds... not bad LOL Of course I have a heavier long life battery (i upgraded). I don't mind the extra pound or so. I use a small font as well and have a great resolution screen so I can fit a lot on the screen and still read it.

In the end it is up to the person.

With DELL though, thats all I owned for the last 7 years. However if you notice I said I got an HP and a CyberPower. I found Dell has gotten worse over the years. The outsourcing of customer service and repair, the problems with getting things fixed if you are in more rural areas, and the fact with the newest one (which was only 4 years old) I had to get it replaced 3 times with new computers because of problems. Of course, they upgraded components each time to appease me so I would shut up buit still.. makes you question having to replace the WHOLE computer 3 times let alone the in between repairs with the in home service guy. I no longer recommend DELL at all.

Just bought some speakers for my laptop! Did anyone else find a need for extra speaker volume? I think it's more to with my ears than my laptop LOL !
Now I can listen to short stories while I clean, or write!

Interesting subject because I almost bought a new HP laptop yesterday. My desktop monitor blew up over the weekend, and my other laptop is also done.

But I opted for just a new monitor for the desktop.
Curious, is Vista working ok?

Absolutely! I can recommend it, especially for writers. Apparently, the initial problems with it were to do with Vista that was not pre-installed on the laptop. Mine is great anyway - it came with the package.

Jase - my previous heavy laptop was a Sony VAIO PCG-K23 -



http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PCG-K23-Laptop-Pentium-Drive/dp/B00029ZV0S

Measuring 14 x 1.6-2.2 x 10.9 inches and weighing 8.04 pounds

Is yours 8 pounds, or less than that? I think mine was actually more than 8 pounds with the extra stuff we had in it.

Here's my full length review of it -

http://lisashea.com/workfromhome/computers/sonyvaio.html

I ended up giving it to a friend of my son's, so he could use it as a "small desktop" at college.

Shame about the screen problem Lisa - you were very patient, but at least everything else is great with it!

Giving in and agreeing about the weight/size issues with the bigger laptops. Might even have to concede and go get a smaller one - aren't the tiniest ones called net Books now?

Will look at Vaio after your tip as I've seen great promotion for them around them lately.

I usually go for the same product again though if I'm really pleased with the brand -

Acer Aspire One AOA150-1672 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Pink So Pretty In Pink - Advice Please?

Update for bargain-hunters!

Just heard yesterday that Curry's store (UK) have had a profits warning and will probably be slashing up to one third off laptop prices. (Heard it on the News.)

So,writers, check them out before you spend out! Students too I suppose! Won't be long before the next lot will be getting kitted out and heading off to Uni!

I know I couldn't now work without my laptop, even while travelling!

Here's what I wrote and published on my last trip!

http://www.squidoo.com/londonfun4less

I use an MSNTV2 on DSL which has very little RAM. You don't use software with it, so it can't crash or get viruses. You can get booted offline a lot because sites keep upgrading their software programs.

I tried buying a new MSI Wind Top Touch computer but it stopped working before even a week had passed. It was really a beautiful piece of artwork. I was told that a computer is only as good as the service available to a person, and MSI does not offer that kind of service.

I would love to have a laptop, but I don't know which one would give me the best service or financial deal. I don't have a lot of money to spend on one either.

I love writing poems and stories and have a lot of pages online, so a new laptop would really help a lot.

Writers need the best laptop they can get - what a shame for you....maybe you can save up and buy the most reliable brand you can afford...what made you choose the msntv?

For writing poems and short stories I would probably go for something with a traditional word processing program .... or google docs is good also.\if you're considering self-publishing as I did, you'll need it to upload your manuscripts too.I wrote about it on my site...

Best Self-publishing Companies