It's reassuring to know that while the cops are turning on their lights to blow through reds, they'll also be using a touchscreen laptop. I feel safer already.

There aren't any medium to large businesses planning on migrating to vista-- ever. Most are patiently waiting for MS to release the next OS due sometime in 2010.

Additionally, a 5 year old computer isn't worth the raw materials its made from unless it has the Apple logo on it-- thats why most businesses are on the lease and replace plan now.

What I can't figure out is why the police need all that horsepower to run the 1980's database software they use. The OLPC laptop could run all of their antique software plus some and only costs $150. http://laptop.org/en/laptop/

And at over $4,000 each, why not? Its just taxpayer money.

Four. Thousand. Dollars.

I saved for months and months to come up with TWO for mine on the "slightly used" market, and I can edit video on the thing. It's a fast MacBook, too, and those are really pricey.

Granted, I'm not in the business of apprehending criminals, only extracting money and/or goods from them from time to time, but...

...does the PPB really need $4000 laptops in each cruiser ? Bet some money changed hands in the back room on that little contract.

Try mounting your $699 laptop on a ridged mount in a patrol car where it can absorb the crunch of Portland potholes at pursuit speeds over 5 years. I'd bet you'd have a pile of circuit boards piled on the floorboard after a month.

MetroFi has a lot of free time right now. Give the job to them.

Try mounting your $699 laptop on a ridged mount in a patrol car where it can absorb the crunch of Portland potholes at pursuit speeds over 5 years.

Not to mention all those doughnut crumbs and spilled coffee.

Imagine the crime wave if they did use Vista.

Diligence warning: those "downgrades" are said to be reported by Microsoft as Vista sales.

Portland State is staunchly refusing to install Vista on its computers on the grounds that it sucks.

If it has to be Micro$loth, Win 2K Pro!~

@ Anthony

That is mostly true, but I work for a large company here in OR which employs 15,000+ people and we are migrating to Vista this year. I'm not happy about it, but it is happening.

"Try mounting your $699 laptop on a ridged mount in a patrol car where it can absorb the crunch of Portland potholes at pursuit speeds over 5 years. I'd bet you'd have a pile of circuit boards piled on the floorboard after a month."

This.

Your average $699 laptop will smash to pieces should it encounter another reasonably firm object at speed. These units are called "toughbook" for a reason - they are ruggedized equipment designed for field work.

Going cheap up front in this scenario would result in much more expenditure over the life of the program in replacement and labor. For once the City is doing something right.

Disclaimer: I'm a systems engineer for a local division of a Fortune 50 business, and Vista won't be touching our network any time soon. It costs more, it's more annoying, it doesn't perform as well on the same hardware, and doesn't bring any new features to the table for a business environment. It's Windows ME 2.0

Try mounting your $699 laptop on a ridged mount in a patrol car where it can absorb the crunch of Portland potholes at pursuit speeds over 5 years. I'd bet you'd have a pile of circuit boards piled on the floorboard after a month.

If you google car-mounted laptops, you'll get 4,400 hits. Here's one link:

http://www.jottodesk.net/?gclid=CIe0wPyBopQCFSkViQodMB6t0Q

Here's the specs for a mounting kit for a Ford Crown Victoria:

http://www.jottodesk.net/ford-jotto-desk/ford-car-jotto-desk/ford-car-jotto-desk-f1500-crown-vic.htm

I went to Dell and customized a "rugged" laptop (Latitude ATG D630) to the specs listed above that Dell offered and the price was $2,535. This didn't include a touch-screen display, GPS, display film cover, dual pass thru and some of the extended warranties. Of course, it doesn't include the kit to mount it in a car (roughly an additional $400).

Googling "touch-screen laptops" and drilling down shows that the touch-screen really jacks up the price. So, if a touch screen is a real requirement - and I would think it is - then $4000 is not an exorbitant amount to pay.

If you go to this site - http://buytough.com/tb_19.asp - you'll see that a very basic configuration for this laptop is $3,486.

These units are called "toughbook" for a reason - they are ruggedized equipment designed for field work.

"ruggedized" is a relative term. different manufacturers have different definitions. but, in general, it refers to a reinforced case and screen, little more.

military portables are typically "ruggedized", and extensive field studies show they survive about as much abuse as non-"ruggedized" equipment.

and why are people still using Windows, for goodness sake? oh yeah, i forgot--peer pressure and lazy developers.