OT - Laptop Computers

[Mcgyver]

I call BS on that.

.

+1. Doing lots of travel these days. I currently find i carry both, in some ways a bit silly, but the ipad is great for reading on the plane or restaurant, browsing where there's wifi, but you need a laptop for emails, word documents, contact management excel, power point etc. Try typing any volume on an ipad, its a mess...I'm fast with a tactile keyboard but find the ipad just sufficient for doing a google search and nothing more. Its completely inadequate for 4 hours of working on a report on a plane ride, with linked spreadsheets etc. They also have very limited resources, get a pdf with lots of large pics and they'll mess up the display and wreck a presentation.

ipad is a good product for what it is, but it does not serve the same function as laptop. My laptop is my mobile office, as well as my main computer when i am in the office, anyone seriously think an ipad, as it currently is, is an alternative?

[terry_g]

My wife has an I-Pad and loves it. I find the display too small for my ageing eyes. I have a laptop I take on the road with me.
It's a mid range Dell. It does everything I need internet and email mainly.

We have owned three laptops to date and the only advice I would give is buy an extended warranty.
My first laptop a Toshiba was in for repair on extended warranty three times on extended warranty.
One of the repairs was over $500.00.

Terry

[madwilliamflint]

Tablets are great, I've got one and love it. But they're not computer replacements.

For laptops, I really love Asus hardware. My last few have been made by them.

I'd go to a Best Buy or something to try out keyboards and touchpads and pointer thingies. It's amazing how different they can be and how off-putting they are when they're "just not quite right somehow." That will help you narrow down the brand at least.

Aside from that I really think we're past the point where, unless you're doing something specific and computationally intensive, it matters much.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

My wife has an I-Pad and loves it. I find the display too small for my ageing eyes. I have a laptop I take on the road with me.
It's a mid range Dell. It does everything I need internet and email mainly.

We have owned three laptops to date and the only advice I would give is buy an extended warranty.
My first laptop a Toshiba was in for repair on extended warranty three times on extended warranty.
One of the repairs was over $500.00.

Terry

If you think the iPad is small, be glad you don't have an iPhone.

I have a brand new Dell high end desktop. I've spent 20 or more hours talking to support trying to get the internet to connect consistently.

I re-installed the OS on my 8 year old Toshiba laptop and it still runs great.

We probably have 30 computers of all makes where I work. There are crappy ones made by all the big names.

[lynnl]

As I said, I'm a dinosaur. I know next to nothing about kindles, ipads, androids (whatever that is), and frankly have no interest in learning.

If the rest of the world wants to be forever migrating to teenier, tinyier gadgets that's fine, but it's not for me. I want a real keyboard and a display big enough to see. And for books, I want to turn pages and hear the rustle and crinkle of paper.

The last 3 or 4 years of work I used a company provided IBM Thinkpad, loaded with company networking software, and other unique applications, to permit troubleshooting and emergency oncall work from home. I got pretty comfortable with that, but still preferred a desktop. I did have a docking station at the workplace.

With just the wife and I in a big house, I've got plenty of room to set up another desktop, but the mobility feature will be nice.

I also don't know much about the wifi. As I understand it, I just position that box between my DSL modem and my desktop, and then the laptop will "magically" interface with the internet. Am I oversimplifying that?
Any gotcha's I need to be aware of?

(added)
Speaking of WiFi, I get the 'Wi' as wireless, but what is the 'Fi' in that term?

[macona]

Yeah, slight oversimplification. Depending on your router from your internet supplier you may already have wifi. Does it have an antenna?

Other than that, you plug the router in to the dsl modem and then you plug all your other computers or accessories in to that. Then you use a computer to configure the router where you set things like the name for your wireless network, what kind of encryption, and password/key. Then on your portable device you will do whatever their procedure to connect to a wireless network and it will pop up a list available networks and you select yours and enter the password.

[justanengineer]

First you need to setup a pretty simple to install program that should come with the WiFi router, but then it will magically connect, as long as you can get a good signal. The setup is pretty basic, and you can then run other fancy new things like wireless printers and even some speakers, if they are wifi capable.

I applaud you for knowing what you want and sticking with it. Im dealing with her Nook right now. Having had touchscreen toys (no more ipad for me! yay!!) in the past, two things I know - 1. Touchscreens dont last nearly as long as a real computer does and 2. Trying to do "real" work that involves data input with a touchscreen makes my finger joints feel like theyre 88, not 28. Yes, they make keyboards and cases, but carrying around other crap and being super careful of everything simply isnt always an option. Her nook was broken bc her 8 lb kitty stepped on it with a single paw, while it was in the soft case. $70 went bust rather quickly, as I knew it would.

[RTPBurnsville]

For general household use, get a tablet (Kindle, Nook, Ipad, etc.). Unless you have a particular 3rd party application you need to run, laptops are obsolete.

I just got an ipad2 and it is a total joke, not even close to a real PC or laptop. It does have a nice screen but beyond that it does not even come close to a PC or laptop in user function. It has been used 3 times max and has found a nice place on the shelf. Someone is going to be getting one for Cmas, just not yet decided whom I really don't like all that much.

Robert

[Evan]

How does anyone type on a tablet? On screen keyboards are worthless as input devices. No tactile sense at all, I can't stand zero travel push buttons on anything including microwave ovens or any other device. It eliminates a very important feedback mechanism that tells you what you a doing.

[lynnl]

What's the story nowadays with processors? Seems a lot more complicated than the olden days with the xx86 or pentium2,3,4,etc.

In the ads I see "dual core", quadruple core, etc.; and Intel vs AMD does that make much difference now, or are both brands about equally up to snuff?
...and the bios, is that a factor to consider? As stated, I'm woefully behind the times.

What I have now is a Compaq Presario, that I bought as a package at Best Buy. It has a Celeron processor 2.5Ghz, which was certainly not top echelon even when I bought it. But it's been adequate for my purposes. I was having some performance issues a couple of years ago, and Cuemaker (hsm member) helped me out, and at that time I upgraded the ram to a max of 1GB. With Cuemakers guidance and the added ram, performance was better, but still nothing to write home about.

I realize anything I get now should far surpass that, but I don't want to get something near the bottom, nor do I need "top of the line" either for that matter.