Laptop in Field Poll

please respond to the poll.

Lawn care business tips

Friday, June 13, 2003 reading. No's minus the no now but maybe later + the yes have it now, or definite yes for later + would like to. I'd say the yeas have it so far.

I bet alot of people are sitting on the fence with this cause of laptop prices. As they continue to lower, I think more will use them in the field.

I don't think it would take much or a machine to do this job. I am considering just buying a used laptop for now**until the PDA is fully supported and proves to work. If it works for now, then I will be able to determine the return and *better judge if it is worth investing more. There is a big potential advantages: Cost Savings, postage, envelopes, time, etc. Cash Flow, get paid a lot faster. Increased Revenues: sometimes I get bogged down with paperwork and it prevents me from doing more jobs over the week. What is the mininum specs needed to run Gopher and Quickbooks?
What do you think, anybody else?

you could buy a used p3 500 laptop and run them easily and still have some 'oomf' left over. Dunno what it'll run you, but check out ebay for some deals. Get a power inverter for the truck and you're in business. unless you can get a 12v power supply for the laptop.

I have seen 12v plug ins at the comp store that would work.

http://www.laptopsforless.com/laptopaccessories.htm $49.00 !

here is another type for $49.00 I bet they might be cheaper some where else.



http://www.laptopsforless.com/laptopaccessories.htm

I just found a several refurbished IBM Thinkpad T-Series PIII 700-800 Mhz in the range of $500-$700 with a web search "laptop refurbished". I am going to look into this further and take the plunge if I can figure out how to manage the power, printing and mounting (for keyboard use) issues. Can I sync using briefcase or do I need to use Gopher backup and restore? I am only going to use the software on one or the other at time. Any other cautions or suggestions? Would anyone recommend against this model or recommend another instead?

I have never done any tests with the briefcase feature and that is an idea that might work however I know that the backup and restore will work.
If you set up a mobile office in your truck, please take a picture and post. I am sure that will inspire others as to the possibilities of mobile computing!

I would rather use a palm pilot out in the field. Where I am at now I wouldn't want to take a laptop out into the field because I think I could get everything I need done with a palm pilot, but I don't know for sure I guess unless I tried both ways.