The best budget laptop?

[JFRUGOLI at BIO.TAMU.EDU]

>I don't know how expensive the new PowerBooks are, but you should be 
>able 
>to get a decent one for less than $2500.
>If not, you can always buy a used one (sorry, I'm not selling mine 
>until
>after the year 2000).
>



I second the used motion-by the time you're done with grad school, your 
laptop will be out of date, so why waste money on top-of-the-line and 
new?  I'm writing this from my Powerbook Duo 230, hooked up to the lab 
Appletalk net during the day, which cost me a paultry $565 used.  I 
bought it so I could finish my thesis.  If you're in the Boston area 
Kelly, I strongly reccommend taking a computerphile with you (I took my 
son) and going to the MIT computer flea market (third Sunday of every 
month May-Oct, in one of the parking garages-sorry, I don't recall which 
one).  

I agree that Microsoft Office stinks-our lab bought it for our new Power 
PCs, and I HATE Word 6 (I've reverted to WordPerfect).  I reccommend 
Cricket Graph or Delta Graph for scientific graphs, but I still use 
Excel for some things that have complicated mathamatical manipulations.  
I use Canvas for graphics (though you may find learning to create 
graphic with the tiny trackball on a laptop is a challenge in itself).  
Your best bet software wise is whatever is compatible with what's in 
your lab-you'll find yourself transfering stuff back and forth often.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of feedback on this-like asking what the best 
car is, everyone has an opinion.
Julia Frugoli
Dartmouth College

visiting grad student at
Texas A&M University
Department of Biological Sciences
College Station, TX 77843
409-845-0663
FAX 409-847-8805