[MRIC] Laptops

[BrettHam at aol.com]

All:

We worked up a rough list of  equipment for hospitals on Saturday, but we 
will eventually need to provide a  detailed specification with part numbers. I am 
starting work on that now so we  can review it at the next meeting. Also, 
there have been requests from some of  the newer/smaller RACES groups that MRIC 
put together a list of equipment that a  typical EOC should be equipped with, 
in order to be interoperable in Maryland.  We can leverage the Hospital 
equipment list, for the EOC equipment  list.

I was a software engineer for 20 years before getting into radio,  but I am 
not an IT guy. So I need some help from you IT experts that regularly  purchase 
laptops, to recommend a laptop for our list(s).

For our Talbot  County Winlink system, a year or so ago I purchased a Dell 
Latitude D610 for our  PMBO ($1500) and 4 Dell Insprion 1000 ($600) for our 
remote and portable Winlink  kits. We have since had a problem with one of the 
Inspirons locking up on rare  occasions, and I was told that the Latitudes are 
great computers, while the  Inspirons are junk. I don't know if this is true.

Statistically, one or  two purchases are not an accurate reflection of the 
reliability of a product, so  anyone that has purchased lots of computers, or 
read independent reliability  reviews of those that have, I would very much 
appreciate a recommendation on  what laptop we should specify at this time. If you 
don't know, maybe someone in  your organization can help us. Please ask 
around.

I do know that we want  XP (because of the problems with Vista) and 2 GB RAM, 
because Steve Waterman of  the Winlink development team told me a PMBO should 
really have more than 1 GB  (although it will work with 1). I also believe we 
should use laptops rather than  desktops because they have a built in UPS to 
protect against brownouts (i.e.  their batteries) and can be quickly removed 
if you have to evacuate your EOC.  Also, years later, if you ever upgrade, you 
can use the old laptops for field  units.

Brett Hammond
Chairman, MRIC  




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