I do EFI tuning on the side, and I'm looking to get a dedicated laptop for this instead of using my laptop from work for this.
Here is what I'm after:
-- CPU usage is not critical AT ALL, basic excel macros are the most taxing thing I'll be using this for. I have an old Pentium II laptop that is enough hardware, but it's battery doesn't last long enough to be usable in this application.
-- A tuning session is usually 2-4 hours. I need something that can comfortably last 4 hours if I'm out in the sun and needing high brightness.
-- I need a serial port and a USB port or 2 USB ports plus a converter (nothing has serial anymore, I'm assuming to use a converter)
-- I'm going to be in the passenger seat with this thing on my lap. Heat output has to be low enough to comfortably use it in my lap.
-- reasonably small. Heavy for it's size is fine... good even, as heavy machines tend to stay put in my lap better. My 17" work laptop is a bit bulky, but the ~6 pounds weight is fine. Anything 15" or less is probably fine.
-- sight line is usually well above the ideal for TN screens. My work laptop is a nice expensive Lattitude with a big 1920x1200 screen that is god awful terrible in this application because it's TN and I can never get my sight line consistent.
What it boils down to is that my ideal product seems to be a low end Celeron / AMD / i3 with a screen that doesn't exist. Screens that are ideal seem tied to 1080 and over-spec (and over budget, both power and money) hardware, where I'd be happy with a 1600x900 or even a 720p screen if it satisfied my viewing angle requirements.
Anyone know of any notebooks with low spec hardware and a decent screen? I mean I'd like the hardware of a $500 laptop and the screen of a $1k laptop with a price that meets somewhere in the middle.
Here is what I'm after:
-- CPU usage is not critical AT ALL, basic excel macros are the most taxing thing I'll be using this for. I have an old Pentium II laptop that is enough hardware, but it's battery doesn't last long enough to be usable in this application.
-- A tuning session is usually 2-4 hours. I need something that can comfortably last 4 hours if I'm out in the sun and needing high brightness.
-- I need a serial port and a USB port or 2 USB ports plus a converter (nothing has serial anymore, I'm assuming to use a converter)
-- I'm going to be in the passenger seat with this thing on my lap. Heat output has to be low enough to comfortably use it in my lap.
-- reasonably small. Heavy for it's size is fine... good even, as heavy machines tend to stay put in my lap better. My 17" work laptop is a bit bulky, but the ~6 pounds weight is fine. Anything 15" or less is probably fine.
-- sight line is usually well above the ideal for TN screens. My work laptop is a nice expensive Lattitude with a big 1920x1200 screen that is god awful terrible in this application because it's TN and I can never get my sight line consistent.
What it boils down to is that my ideal product seems to be a low end Celeron / AMD / i3 with a screen that doesn't exist. Screens that are ideal seem tied to 1080 and over-spec (and over budget, both power and money) hardware, where I'd be happy with a 1600x900 or even a 720p screen if it satisfied my viewing angle requirements.
Anyone know of any notebooks with low spec hardware and a decent screen? I mean I'd like the hardware of a $500 laptop and the screen of a $1k laptop with a price that meets somewhere in the middle.
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