Hi David,
all very excellent points.
here are two tips which may help with laptops:
* I have the 12 function keys all in a row, so I've taken dymo tape and
placed a digit (I had to cut it down to fit of course) on the 4 8 and 12
keys. I believe the mail order shops for the blind would carry
adhesive-backed dots if you don't have a dymo gun, and they may even work
better.
* as for the touchpad: you can either inactivate it, or I think better,
mine
has a setting to automatically inactivate it if another mouse is present,
and the window eyes mouse control driver qualifies as another mouse, so
whenever window eyes is loaded, my touchpad goes inactive. it's a dell,
and
the utility which does this is one of the Dell ones (quickset maybe).
hth,
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: David [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 8:05 PM
To: Chip Orange; [email protected]
Subject: Re: Laptop recommendations
Another thing to be added on here, is the layout of the keyboard. Yes,
size,
and the difference between a 88-key, and a 102-key keyboard, is one thing
to
be considered. But even two 88-key laptops, will differ in the actual
layout. The main keys (the qwerty keyboard) itself, will be the same. But
keys like the arrow keys, Insert, App key, and so forth tend to 'move
around' from one computer to another. The keyboard I am on, at the moment,
does only have one Win key, causing quite a bit of fingerwork with certain
combinations. It also has all the Function keys (F1-F12) in one contigious
long row. This is complicated, when you want to quickly hit F5, or F10, as
you have to count your way through the row. And this is even on a desktop
keyboard. My HP 6515B laptop has its function keys grouped in 3 x 4 keys,
and is far more easy to operate.
Further you might have to consider things like how many USB ports do you
want. Do you need a PCMCIA slot? and is it important for you to have
things
like FingerPrint protection on the computer.
Also, beware that many laptops have their touchpad placed, so that you
will
have to reach cross it, to operate the keyboard. The actual size, and the
distance between the touchpad and the keyboard, might affect how often you
happen to rest your hands right on the touchpad, and thereby causing the
mouse to go heywire on your system. A few touchpads, I find have their
keys
that openly situated, and only a light touch of the key will make it do
its
job. This again, will make your mouse click all the time, and can be
rather
wearisome for you in the long run.
Then, is the speakers. Some laptops do have a rather good sound, from the
built-in speakers. Others, I have been told, have sound that might be OK
for
one or two hours, but would make your ears fall off, if you were to
operate
the computer all day.
Don't let yourself be fooled by sellers who tell you all the software that
is loaded on the PC, from the manufacturer. Usually, the only thing, that
really is there, and will still be there in a few months, is the Windows
itself. The rest of the stuff - Office, antivirus and all sorts of other
stuff - often prove to be trial versions, that you end up having to pay a
load of money for, in three or four months. I have seen a load of new PCs
advertising they are preloaded with Norton AntiVirus, or Mcafee, which
only
will have to be uninstalled immediately, due to the accessibility issue.
If
you can get a computer, where you don't have to do a ton of uninstalling
and
fooling, before you can actually start using it, it might just be worth a
few dollars more.
I do agree, with one of the others in this thread, if we are to give
specific advice, we need more facts as to what you are looking for, and
what
use you are going to make of your PC. Just knowing the brand of a
computer,
might tell you very little. One IBM model might be nice an functional the
one year, and next year it changes its outlook, and noone likes it
anymore.
If we really want to talk brands, we could mention quite a few of the big
names, but that only is half the story. One HP model is nice, the other is
not. One Acer will do the job, another won't.
And just one small note at the end: If you get a chance to be close to the
computer in a rather quite environment, make sure of the fan noice. My HP
is
wonderful, as it only has a whispering fan. A year ago, I had an Acer
laptop, and it was aweful, as the fan was rather loud, and almost did run
all the time. If you are a bit sensitive to noice, this might be of
interest
to check out.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chip Orange" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 12:46 AM
Subject: RE: Laptop recommendations
Hi Andy and Johnny,
I agree with all you said Andy, but I wanted to add a couple of points:
one is that sometimes portability doesn't mean easily carrying it around
with you all day; it often means being able to move it to the bedroom, or
the living room easy-chair, or where-ever suits you at the moment.
that's
actually how almost everyone I know uses their laptop, and why they
bought
a
laptop. oh we sometimes put it in the car to go somewhere else, but
you're
right; if you're going to want to use this on the bus every day, you
should
look at netbooks, and the ultra small laptops that weigh under 3 pounds,
but
which are definitely laptops and not netbooks.
myself, I've seen too many complaints about the speed of netbook
processors,
especially trying to deal with synthetic speech, screen readers, and some
large program like MS Word, to ever think of a netbook as anything but a
secondary computer, bought after I bought my main computer.
Johnny I know you want brand names, and I have a Dell, and before that a
Thinkpad, and my next one is likely to be a Thinkpad again, but it's
because
they have the features I want, and perhaps at the price I think is good,
but
it's not really because of their brand name.
so, I'd spend time thinking of features, after you make the broader
decision
of netbook, laptop, or desktop.
my own prejudices: I'd say you should buy a laptop not a netbook or a
desktop, and you should get wifi and bluetooth and a dvd burner. you'll
pay
more for less weight, but do so if you have to carry it a lot, and put
one
of the extended life batteries in it and at least 4 gb of ram, even if
you
end up with a 32 bit system you'll be able to use mostly all of the ram.
that's a big decision point: do you want to avoid the 64 bit systems
(maybe
buy 32 bit windows 7 even if you get a 64 bit processor)?
some people think that's better because it will certainly run more
software
right now, and the extra speed of 64 bits (for the same dollar value) is
hardly noticable.
I don't know how I feel about this; some of the answer depends on if you
have very specific hardware or software you just have to be able to use;
if
so, you'll need to check out if they will work under 64 bit.
hth,
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Baracco [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 5:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Laptop recommendations
Well, this is a difficult one, without more info about what your needs
are,
and what is important to you. How do you plan to use the laptop? why a
laptop and not a desktop. The main advantage of a laptop is portability.
But if you want a large screen and a full keyboard, you will have a
machine
that is so heavy and bulky that you won't find it to be very portable.
True
portability and light weight will mean a smaller screen and a keyboard
that
has fewer keys, and smaller keys. So it's really a tradeoff. 3 years
ago,
I bought a Dell laptop with a 14 inch screen. it weighs about 5.5
pounds.
i purchased a USB numpad so I would have basically a full keyboard. It
didn't turn out to be as portable as I liked, so I bought an Asus
netbook.
it has a 10 inch display and weighs about 3 pounds. The keys are
smaller,
and i have never felt really comfortable with the keyboard. But it is
portable, and will fit nicely into my briefcase. So my best advice would
be
to go to a computer store and put your fingers on some machines and see
what
feels good to you. Remember that it will be wasted money if you don't
like
the feel, and thus don't use the machine.
Andy
At 12:41 PM 12/31/2009, you wrote:
Hello list,
What works best with WE?
Please be so kind as to let me know what you have decided on in a
laptop. Please! I am not wishing to start any kind of debate, I'm
mearly wanting to know what folks are personally settleing on in a
laptop, not a netbook. Give me brand name and model number if you can.
Specific additional specs like which processor, or how big of a hard
drive you got is not important at this time. If you wish to tell me
more, please save the list and write to me personally.
Thanks so much,
Happy New Year 2010 to one and all!
Blessings,
Johnny Chilelli
Piano Tuner/Technician since 1977
Making Pianos Smile Everywhere!
If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original
sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your
message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your
message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it.
All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and
can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom
of the page.
If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
[email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body of the
message.
If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender
only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is
related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to
[email protected] so the entire list will receive it.
All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and
can
be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the
page.
If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
[email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body of the
message.
If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original
sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and
your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending
your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it.
All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and
can be searched through and sorted using the search
form at the bottom of the page.
If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
[email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body
of the message.
If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original
sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and
your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending
your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it.
All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and
can be searched through and sorted using the search
form at the bottom of the page.
If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
[email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body
of the message.
