Hi John, After saying good bye to my Apple II e 20 years ago, I have owned only 1 desktop and many laptops. My laptops have lasted me any where from 2 years to 6 years. I love being able to take my laptop with me when I travel. It means that I will have computer access and not have to deal with running JAWS in demo mode on some other computer while I'm away from home.
Weren't you in the guide dog class with me when I put together the PowerPoint slide show? I could not have done that if I had not had my own computer with me. I have either owned Toshiba or Del laptops. At this time I do not think that I would buy another Toshiba, I would most likely stick with a Del. As has already been stated the keyboard is the biggest difference. For the longest time I hated moving back and forth from my laptop keyboard at home, and my desktop 101 keyboard at work. So for a while at home I used a USB 101 keyboard connected to my laptop. This is also when I switched from using the JAWS laptop keyboard setting to the JAWS desktop keyboard setting. I no longer use an external keyboard on my laptop but have continued using the JAWS desktop keyboard setting. I have been keeping my eye on these new NetBook computers. I like the fact that they are so light compared to a laptop. I do not like carrying around a heavy laptop. Keep in mind that no matter if you get a new desktop or move over to a laptop, you will have to deal with VISTA, or finding a computer with XP as the operating system. Sure wireless is great as it lets you take your computer any where in the house. But if you do not want to deal with setting up a wireless router, then look for a laptop that also has a hard wired connection like you are used to using. When at home you can use the traditional wired connection, and when you travel, you can use either. Hope this helps. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of JOHN JUSTICE Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 6:13 PM To: BLIND COMPUTING MAILING LIST Subject: [Blind-Computing] an old computer user with a few questions aboutlaptops Hello group. I have never used a laptop computer before but now, I am considering purchasing one. Our old desktop PC is still functioning quite well but it is getting a little long in the tooth. Rather than replacing it with another tower, I have decided to look into laptops. I know absolutely nothing about them so I'm going to ask a few apparently stupid and certainly ignorant questions. 1. What is Wi Fi and how does it work? 2. Do you need an internet provider to use the Wi Fi connection? 3. How good is Wi Fi in most areas? 3. How does it work, precisely? 4. Can you take me through a session using a laptop and describe the steps you take when going on line? 5. Are there good laptops and bad laptops? 6. How can I tell the difference? 7. Which is better, something like Dell or buying one off of the shelf? 8. All I want is a good quality laptop which can play music, play and record DVDS, handle document related functions and store enough software to make me safe on line. I'd like enough RAM to make running any program relatively easy. Here are some things I have found. Dell makes a laptop with dual processors, 4 gigabytes of RAM and 250 gigabytes of drive storage. It has a DVDRW and a battery which lasts about 4 hours. It's called a Vostro and is on sale for around $479 straight out of the box. That sounds wonderful but am I missing something? I sure could use some help with this. David gave me a link for Tiger Direct and I went there to look but now, I'm even more confused. I realize that there are different strokes for different folks but it seems to me that someone who doesn't know much could really be misled by unscrupulous sales people. I don't really trust the big box stores. I am putting this on our list since I'll bet that there are some people here who use laptops regularly. I have a feeling that some of us would like to know more about laptops. 9. Is it true that laptop keyboards don't last very long? 10. Is it true that the average life of a laptop is about 2 years? John and Linda Justice With guide dogs Jake and Zachary "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." 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