There, that oughta do it! :O)
Sorry, it's like 5am. I've got nothing... :O)
Posted on 04/08/2007 6:28:05 AM PDT by johniegrad
My wife wants a new laptop computer for her birthday which is April 13th. She intends to use it primarily for work purposes and for continuing her education online. She works as a nursing director for surgery and anesthesia in a 400 bed medical center and has responsibilties for seven to eight figure budgets, scheduling for about 150 RNs, facilities planning, management-union negotiations, and performance evaluations among other things.
From an education standpoing, she is working on a business degree to augment her RN and may be considering a master's type program unless I can talk her out of it.
I am asking for Freeper assistance in selecting the manufacturer, hardware, OS, and whatever add-ons people might think useful. I would also like to take into account reliability, customer support, and ease of use. While I have owned and used computers since 1983, I don't consider myself technically savvy and do not want her to have to acquire additional training to use the thing.
I haven't shopped computers in about seven or eight years and time constraints due to my own schedule make this task seem formidable. Therefore, I am planting my lazy ass in this chair and asking for your assistance.
The old bat will be 45 this year but she has been sturdy and reliable. She probably deserves something nice. I had considered buying her a new ironing board but she wanted a 'puter so here I am. I hope she doesn't use it for online dating.
Yep - you a techi! I was inspired!
While I was at it I found out how to keep my screen bright when on battery - before it was so dark it was barely readable.
I called Dell for a laptop and the only way to get XP was on a very expensive laptop. Over 2 grand. But they did try to sell me the XP Pro software for like 300 bucks. So I shopped around and found one at PC Mall down the street.
Kaypros did rock! 300 baud modem built in. I had a lot of fun with mine.
I have a 20. It needs a memory upgrade but has been very loyal. I do like it.
Does the 20 handle the modern media players well? Streaming video?
Yes, it streams video really well. I also have a DVD player and have no problems watching a movie. Picture quality is exceptional.
Wow. I’ve had Toshiba, Dell, Acer laptops, and even a Panasonic Toughbook from ‘97 that still runs. Yet the IBM Thinkpads outclass them all.
You’ve been here long enough to know when something is in italics it is being quoted to be commented upon. Yet you connect the part I italicized to the part I wrote with an ellipsis, as If I wrote both.
You are flying the Georgia flag, but you sure aren’t acting like a southerner.
No problems other than the wierd stuff you run into with Windows.
It's a 1GB machine with a 60 GB HD and I use it extensively for photo editing.
Very nice display and I've carried it in my backpack across several continents. Got to have a good external mouse though. All laptop touch pads stink.
From my experience as an allied health professional, child and family therapist, MSNs rule the world.
*sheesh*
I was merely pointing out if you’re going to reference exploding laptops, then you should point out that other companies have had similar recalls.
Johnnie, you've got a good start. You didn't mention a hard drive. The faster a hard drive spins, the faster your machine will be. State of the art now is 7200rpm, but those are still kind of pricey (but falling fast). You may be able to upgrade your machine to a 7200rpm drive for not so much money. If you are not going to be storing a lot of music and video files, I would opt for a drive with fewer GB and faster speed. So keep an eye on that. A cheaper machine may have an older, slower drive. Don't settle for anything slower that 5400rpm.
You probably don't need to worry about docking stations.
They are useful if you have a lot of peripheral hardware devices that are used a lot and that are cumbersome to hook up to the computer every time you want to use them, or if you have some hardware incompatibilities such as a printer that has an old serial cable that newer laptops don't have a port for, but a docking station does. But most printers have USB cables now, which can be plugged into the laptop as fast as you can put the laptop into a docking station. Or better yet, get a printer with built-in WiFi and simply print from wherever in the house you are using the laptop without ever having to hook it up. The only other hardware that you would likely be attaching is a USB mouse, which again can be hooked up in a second. And people that have wireless mouses love them.
I've never been a big fan of extended warranties. I figure that if they are so anxious to sell you one of those, they must be making good money on them. I've had good luck taking the risk and saving the money. But then, I can do a lot of simple repairs on my own.
Re 8-cell batteries: most laptops come with a cheaper battery. I've saved money by buying a higher capacity battery on the internet and keeping the battery that came with the computer as a backup (you do need a backup). If you buy the higher capacity battery from the retailer you buy the computer from, in most cases you will be charged a lot more for it. This principle does not apply to RAM for reasons that I won't go into. It is better the buy the extra RAM and have it installed as part of the original computer purchase.
If I have MB problems with my Dell inside of 4 yrs, they replace it free.
After that I’ll buy a board on Ebay and do it my self.
bump
1GB minimum. Maybe 2GB for Vista.
I know three people that have Acer’s for over two years without a hitch.
They just recently started selling them in Circuit City and Best Buy along with other name brands so they must have reached a level of legitimacy.
Other than that, I can’t help you much. We all pretty much look at laptops as a two year run and then replace because the faster and newer technology is worth more than just hanging onto the current one and waiting for it to break down.
Thank you.
There, that oughta do it! :O)
Sorry, it's like 5am. I've got nothing... :O)
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