need laptop to do serious writing, so robust keyboard

pigeonpie

OH has to self type a 40 000 word thesis and countless drafts before the final one. OH is not a graduate of Mavis Beacon's and yet this old (2003) Dell Inspiron 5150 keyboard is still pretty much ok despite the horrible pounding it's had.

The build quality on this 5150 though appears to be way superior to what they produce now. The Dell salesman suggested the Inspiron 14" screen model as being quite lightweight (occasional travel) and says it has a robust keyboard, better he said than the Latitudes or other Inspirons. Does anyone have one and can confirm, or make other suggestions? Budget is moderate.

OH was going to buy a macbook but hates the key separation keyboard that those have. No time to 'get used to' something when you are a totally terrible typist and have to start writing straight away.
Also prefers the non glossy screens as they cause less eye strain (specs already pretty thick) but I said that I think those are not available any longer?

Last q: can we still buy it with XP Pro as am wary of Vista for the moment - assume you can upgrade at a later date? They are really pushing Vista for obvious reasons.

Many thanks guys.

Little_John

How about buying an external keyboard? Laptop keyboards are ok for light use I have found and I know a few people that use then all day everyday and their wrists are screwed. I always tell people intending on buying a laptop for daily work use as their main PC to get a docking station and connect a proper keyboard and mouse to it even a monitor in some cases.

You will fand that most laptop keyboard no longer stand up to punishment, tiles broken off is a common thing Dell are pretty good and will replace the keyboard even out of warrenty.

I cant really recomend any based on the keyboard I have seen them all fall apart well except my old IBM and Gericom which I was suprised with being a generic thing, even Toshiba's have failed I have also seen a panasonic toughbook witha tile missing.

ManAtHome

Modern laptops are flimsier than old ones, but they are around a quarter of the price...

I use a laptop with a "kidnapped" Compaq (desktop) keyboard at work, just the lappy at home - if you put the laptop on a couple of telephone directories you can get the screen at a reasonable height (will save you a tenner for a basic stand).

Little_John

Some of the newer laptops are claiming to have spill proof keyboards on them but I dont really want to prove them wrong.

ManAtHome

Ah-ah, in "byegone dayes of yore", spills were drinking straws filled with wax - I suspect most keyboards could survive a handful, check clause 14.1.4.5.6.2...

pigeonpie

Only problem is that a lot of typing is done on the road. An external keyboard could work at home though, although OH may have to up the screen from a small one in order to see it!
Excuse ignorance, but do you just plug in any external keyboard in a usb point or the hub or do you have to install software; and are there some keyboards that won't work with laptops?
cheers

Little_John

Any USB keyboard will work without aditional drivers or software. Any software that comes with keyboards usually are for aditional buttons and not needed for normall use.

pigeonpie

Rang Dell. The salesman claims that the Inspirons have the best keyboards, especially the 640M (14" laptop), better than their Latitude range.
My existing PC is an Inspiron 5150 laptop which has terrific build quality (meaning it's too heavy to carry though) and a way better keyboard than anything I've seen in the shops - way better screen too, which leads me to think they don't make 'em like they used to :-(
I tried out Toshiba, HP and Sony and hated them and I type better than OH so they will be no good.
Many of you have Dells - what are the keyboards like? OH can't carry around an external but we'll get one for home, which possibly means a 14" screen would be hard to see so maybe a Dell with a 15.4 screen?

Off topic: any diff really between AMD 64x2 and Intel dual core in speed or noise (Dell has both).

cheers guys