I know this is a digital site but I'm going on a cruise and want to buy a small camcorder does any one have one or any ideas? I also want to buy a lap top too.

I don't know about cam recorder but for laptops I often go to http://www.notebookreview.com
My last laptop is an Acer Aspire 9411AWSMi (Core Duo T2050, 17" wide screen, 120GB hard disk, 2GB ram) and I am very happy with it. It is fast and extremely silent. I am using it as a desktop replacement. For traveling it is somewhat bulky ;)
What do you want to do with your laptop?

Well I want one for everyday use and since we are going on a cruise in Februrary I thought it would be good to have one along. Maybe its of no use to take with me? So many people I talk to don't like their laptops. One person I know bought one and they keep bringing them back to Future Shop here and changing them. I will check out the link.

If it is just for the internet, I think you have a kind of cybercafe on the boat. Now if it is for downloading your photos into your laptop and viewing them, a laptop can be useful :)

I never had bad problems with laptops. I still have all of them, including an old Dell running on Celeron 700 from 2001. LOL

If it is for everyday use at home, I suggest a laptop with a 15.4" or a 17" screen. Be sure you have a Core Duo at least or a Core 2 Duo (better).
I had no problem with Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, IBM and Acer but that's just my experience. Some people think Acer is junk but I have to say the one I have is really good. The IBM has the best keyboard.

Olly thanks so much for the information it really helps. I would probably use it more for home use but thought it would be good to download pictures on our trip and view them. They do have computers on the ship. Thans again.

We've used Dell's recently - my dh bought the Inspiron 1501 a couple of months ago, these have now been superseded by the Vostro range. I use the laptop to download photos when we are away on holiday - its great being able to see them properly before you get home.

Where are you going on your cruise Colleen? You could pick up the the photoboard members on your side of the world, then head this way for Ollie & I, then we can all go get Sophia in Greece :)

Jan I would love to visit Sophia maybe one day. I've been to Scotland and jsut loved it, want to go back. I'm a Russel and DH is a Campbell.

I'm going on a Panama cruise,leaving from Florida, Ocho Rios Jamica, Aruba, Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Quetzal, Huatulco Mexico and we fly home to Canada from Los Angeles California, I don't think there are any memebers around there.

I've never had a lap top before. I would imagine you can download all your pictures and save them on the harddrve? I guess you would have to have enough memory. I usually just go to a camera shop and have them put on a cd.

Yes, you can download all your photos to your laptop's hard drive and, if you wish, you can also save them on a cd or dvd as most laptops have a dvd burner now :)

Your cruise sounds very nice :D

Thanks O, shows you how much I know about laptops. I also thought it would be nice to email people from our room instead of havig to go to the internet cafe on board. Or if we want some info on some of the places we are going to also. A burner on a laptop, great. I see you can use laptops at airports on trains etc they sound great, now I just have to choose one.

I've have only been on day cruises and enjoyed them I sure hope I will like this cruise. Two weeks on a ship??

Gosh your cruise sounds great, something to look forward to :)

Well if your ever over in Scotland you can look us up - oh if your dh is a Campbell there could be trouble, we're Macdonalds, historic clan feuds & Glencoe massacre and all that ;)

I've been to Athens years ago when I was at school, we went to Greece for a week with our Latin class, I really enjoyed it.

I download the photos to the hard drive and transfer them to our house computer when we get home - have fun looking for the laptop - new toy!

Jan, when we were in Scotland we went to Glencoe and had tea with some MacDonalds that ran the tea room and I think we are all forgiven now LOL I'd love to go back, such beautiful country and the most friendlyiest people we have ever met. Yes, I'm looking forward to the cruise and if we go back to Scotland we will visit for sure.

Im in the "Acer is junk" camp ;) . About a month after I got it the hard drive crashed and I lost everything. Second one is better but after about 9 months the battery only lasts about 20 mins. Now it has various other problems that causes it to crash a lot. Time for an upgrade I think!

My sister has an HP which is so far so good.

That cruise sounds awesome. 2 weeks on a boat relaxing.. bliss :D

Just remember to always back up your stuff.. even if you dont think you need to!

Colleen a laptop will be very useful for backing up your photos. I found it very useful on my cruise through the Panama Canal. I would also back up the photos to a CD. I would check and see if you will be able to access the internet in your room. On NCL there were only certain areas on the ship where you were able to access the internet and your room wasn't one of them. I don't think you could on Princess either, but things might have changed.

laura my son has an acer and he doesn't like it either. 15 days on a ship well a floating hotel I guess, I sure hope I like it.

Jan, thanks so much for the info, will check it out with our agent,

Im in the "Acer is junk" camp ;) . About a month after I got it the hard drive crashed and I lost everything. Second one is better but after about 9 months the battery only lasts about 20 mins.
Well, you cannot blame Acer for the hard drive because they do not make their own hard disk. Mine has a Western Digital. You can buy an expensive IBM/Sony/Fujitsu etc that uses exactly the same hard disk ;)

For the battery, its life depends on how you use it. If the laptop is always connected to power with the battery included it will not last long. My Dell did exactly the same thing like yours. You have to remove the battery when you connect to power. Any battery has an average of 300/400 cycles before it goes down.
By the way, Acer do not make their own batteries, they use Sony batteries per example like IBM, Toshiba, Apple etc. They were involved in the Sony battery recall: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2122224,00.asp

The only thing I do not like with Acer is their own softwares but I uninstalled them and it is running fast. I even have Vista installed and it is working better than with XP Media. Per example, with Vista I did not have to install a crappy HP driver for my printer that used to crash XP: the printer is recognized automatically.

Here are some reviews about the Acer I use now:
http://www.biosmagazine.co.uk/rev.php?id=502
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=374
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/88742/acer-aspire-9410.html
Its screen beats well the IBM Thinkpad, Fujitsu Amilo Pro, JVC and Dell laptops I have. It is also a lot more silent than them. I am not comparing the power because being the newest it is natural it is more powerful.
I have a friend who has another 17" screen Acer laptop and he is very happy too.

My son did a lot of research on laptops when he bought his and he returned all of them and he thought Acer was the best now he says he not so sure but he is out of town in the USA and said he will tell me about it when he arrives home on Sunday. I was sort of leaning towards Acer. Olly you are a wealth of information and will let my son read these links. Will get back for sure and I really apreciate all feed back.

The problem with Acer is they offer a wide range of laptops. Their cheapest laptop can cost about 6 times less than their most expensive ones so you cannot expect the same quality for all of them. It is the same with Toshiba or Fujitsu.
I am just supporting the version I have. I bought it based on reviews made by laptop magazines. It was not the best but it was ranked first for the best value for money :)
For any new not well established brand you have many people against it but Acer is now the #3 world computer maker so they cannot be that bad ;)
http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199901486

Double post.

Sounds like Acer should be making some of this stuff. Maybe then they would be more reliable! I started out using the battery properly, knew about having to drain it first, but it went downhill fast anyway which was disappointing.

Ive had many others see me using it and have commented on how bad theirs was also. Good that you got a good version though :) I also bought mine because it was best value for the features.

Acer, like almost all laptop/computer makers, does not make hard drives. I would worry if they were making their own drive. LOL What they make is the chassis and the screen, the rest (motherboard, graphic card, hard disk, battery...) is made by specialised companies and put together. It is the same when you buy a Dell, an Apple, an Asus or a Compaq/HP.
Toshiba and Fujitsu make their own hard drives but funnily some Fujitsus do not use Fujitsu hard drives...
The mixed reputation of Acer is actually pretty old ;) I have a laptop magazine where readers replied to a huge poll and they were ahead of Fujitsu-Siemens, Toshiba, NEC, Packard-Bell, MSI and HP-Compaq. Sony, Asus, IBM (Lenovo), Dell, Apple and Samsung were ahead of them but not far which is a surprise considering the prices of Sony or Apple targetting a much higher market.
I almost got a Samsung instead of the Acer by the way but it was one with a tiny 12" screen and I finally thought I do not travel that much. It was the Q35: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3512&review=Samsung+Q35
Two years ago I would not have considered buying a Samsung, an Asus or an Acer (before I got the Acer I had an IBM) but they are becoming good. It is like Japanese cars. Japanese cars were total crap in the seventies, now they are generally pretty good.

Ahh right :) Thats interesting that each company makes so little of the laptop. I suppose if you can get it already made then why spend the money making it yourself.

Maybe its like some lenses, sometimes you get a really good version and sometimes a not so good one :)