Ah Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: Chip Orange [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:03 PM To: 'Marvin Commerford' Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: Off topic New laptop
Thanks Marvin for all the warnings and great info; I'm going to copy your reply back to the list, as I think it will be helpful to others as well (I had no idea that the function keys were being "hi jacked" these days; just one more thing to try and find out about before we buy, that would be really annoying to me). Thanks. Chip > -----Original Message----- > From: Marvin Commerford [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 2:55 PM > To: Chip Orange > Subject: Re: Off topic New laptop > > Hi, Chip. HP does have models that have the numpad built in that are > 15.6" > screens. I actually have an older HP DV6 that has a great keyboard. > Unfortunately not all good things stay the same. The newer HPs that > have numpads have really small keys for the up and down arrows. It's > not a show stopper but it seems that they changed things more for > looks than anything else. They took away the spaces between f4 and 5 > and f7 and f8. It's also trickier to turn off the touchpad with the > new versions as well. They used to have a real button to turn off the > touchpad. Now there's a touch button on the touchpad itself to do the > job. I'd recommend staying away from the 14" > version of the HP DV6. That keyboard is just plain weird. > Even sighted users have complained about it, the insert key is hard to > find. I've also seen some Toshibas with 15.6" > screens with numpads as well and those keyboards seemed really nice. > Acer also makes models with numpads but I'm not sure if those all have > larger screens. I did actually see one Dell with a numpad. One > annoying thing that HP and Dell have done is to default the Function > keys to non function key purposes. So you have to use the fn key to > force normal activity. So, for example, the alt-f4 becomes alt-fn-f4. > On some HPs this setting is controled in the bios. GRRRRR! > It seems like there are some nice laptops out there but it is a little > more tricky for us blind users to choose one. Good luck! > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chip Orange" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 1:24 PM > Subject: RE: Off topic New laptop > > > > Hi Ivan, > > > > I'm replying onlist because I have questions as to how some > laptops might > > be > > better suited to use with WE. > > > > First, I've had a Dell Inspiron laptop for years, and > thought its quality > > was just superb. I also owned a Thinkpad (now made by > Lenovo) before > > that, > > and also thought it was very good. > > > > However, recently I've seen someone here mention they owned > an HP 15 inch > > laptop which had a numeric keypad built-in (a separate > keypad). I'd love > > to > > hear more about that from the owner if they see this > message, as it's > > about > > time for me to buy something new. In addition, I've seen a > blog column > > written by a laptop reviewer who said, he's never seen a > laptop as good as > > the HP Envy series, and he'd buy that for himself the next > time he buys a > > laptop. > > > > The Inspiron has been good about simulating the numeric > keypad by using > > it's > > fn key with alphabetic keys, but there's one key it cannot > simulate, or WE > > is blocking (I'm not sure which), and so I am interested in > good laptops > > with separate keypads, if they aren't a huge 17 inch screen. > > > > One thing I can recommend; you often have the option of > buying a bigger > > than > > normal battery for a slight upcharge; I did that with this > Dell (bought a > > 9-cell battery) and was so glad I did; you can never have too much > > battery, and it only extends less than an inch beyond the back, not > noticeable at > > all. > > > > > > hth, > > > > Chip > > > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Ivan Cribb [mailto:[email protected]] > >> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 12:57 AM > >> To: [email protected] > >> Subject: Off topic New laptop > >> > >> Apologies for an off list question. I want to buy a new good > >> quality, I emphasize good quality, laptop. My wife used to have a > >> little Toshiba laptop which performeed very well. > >> Puzzled as to what to get, I wonder if there are people who have > >> had experience with the better quality Toshibas and what they think > >> of them. If you reply, please do so off list. > >> Ivan > >> 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. > >> > >> GW-Info messages are archived at > >> http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list > >> subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. > >> > > 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. > > > > GW-Info messages are archived at > http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can > > manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. > > > 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. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. 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. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
