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.
It’s Fujitsu-Siemens. A Japanese-German collaboration. Their products are quite well-known in the medical field. I don’t think you could go wrong with this, but it is on the expensive side of prices.
Whatever you get, don’t skimp on the RAM.
Why not? Those Dell laptops catching fire, exploding, burning down buildings, etc., was so last year. They're OK this year, so far.
The screen on the laptop I mentioned is touch-sensitive.
Toshiba is good too, as a standard laptop. HP offers great deals, but I’m not very impressed by their quality of manufacture(especially laptops), or their poor design when it comes to the laptop aesthetics itself(flashy, shiny, ugly, glaring blue LEDs, etc.)
If I was in your situation, I would be seriously wondering why at this stage of life, my wife would be wanting to engage in an effort which will require spending a great deal of time away from me, without the financial necessity or benefit?
Individual ego satisfaction (IMHO) at this stage of life can mean many things, none of which I am suggesting, mind you, but I would be keeping my eyes open to what might be motivating this effort, and what, if any impact it might have on your marriage.
Again, I know NOTHING, having not been married, but from an outsiders point of view, alarms went off in my head at your "talk her out of it" comment. I asked you if YOU supported it, and you replied that "She wants to pursue it.", without saying whether this is something YOU want.
Its none of my business, but your situation frightens me.
That said, get her a MacBook Pro, she can run Windows or Mac apps, and you don't have to be a computer geek.
Make sure the hard drive is at least 6810 terabytes.
I kinda like the retro look.
My colleague used a Fujitsu tablet for taking notes in class. No problems for about 2 years, but a sample size of 1. I would strongly recommend a tablet in her line of work though.
i have had great experiences with two Toshiba laptops.
I just bought a Toshiba Satellite and am very happy with it. It’s a large laptop, marketed as a “desktop replacement”—large screen, etc. It’s a power hog, too, but I’m not using it for mobile use. A little on the pricey side, but not unreasonable for the features.
Why would you talk her out of it?
Go to www.pricewatch.com look for the most pricey one then look for the same one for a cheaper price.
I got rid of my old Dell in favor of the Macbook. The thing is a pleasure to use, even though I’ve had to learn the “new” OS. I also love its compact size, for traveling.
When you take the Apple home you open it up turn it on install the wireless connection and it is good to go. It is also an instant on and off.
I remember when I got my IBM having to update the thing for a half a day and then you have to deal with those pesky viruses and mine takes forever to warm up.
My next laptop will be a Mac....I would recommend visiting an Apple store and play with the machines. They also have a 30 day return policy. Good luck
My usual recommendation is a Mac, but my aunt is an RN, and she had to go Windows because her hospital used a Windows-only in-house app for patient records. So question one is going to be whether there are specialty apps she’ll need to run above and beyond e-mail, Web browsing, office apps and such.
If there’s no impediment to it, take a look at the MacBook. It can even run Wondows if that’s something she’ll need to do occasionally; it doesn’t make a lot of sense if she’ll need to run Windows all or most of the time.
I concur. I would also add a 30 dollar microsoft wireless mouse.
an hp 6000 with 2 gig of dram, 4 USB, 160 gig hard drive and a 15 in. screen should do very nicely.
go with an intel core dual if you want long battery life.
total cost of all the above is about 1000 from costco.
Naval Hospital Portsmouth Virginia 1979-83, Naval Hospital Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico 1983-86, Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia 1986-87, then out.
Thanks for your concerns. The reason she wants the advanced degree is to move into a different type of job, such as nursing education or some other options. She is working 60 to 70 hours weekly now and has done this for years. When I retire, she wants to drop down to 0.6 FTE or so in order to be able to spend more time at home and the masters will give her a little more leverage in job negotiations.
Having been in the Navy, I've seen marriages come and go as I am sure you have. But, while one should never say "never", I don't think there is much to worry about here. Thanks for your concerns though.
I concur, but a new notebook can not be had with xp anymore.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.