Go to Apple.com, get a MacBook 2.4 ghz 13.1" with a 120gig hard drive and 2gig RAM, from the refurbished Mac section. It comes ready to use and with a full warranty. Be sure to take the $100 printer rebate option and get yourself that awesome Canon all-in-one for $20. Shipping is free. You'll never look back.

There, easy enough?

for my lower back issues, sitting fully upright at a desk works best.

feet propped up on a footrest alleviates my foot and leg spasms, and the desk and chair arms support my weak arms and hands.

I've really tried to use laptops, and cannot manage the small keyboards (loss of fine motor skills) and those teensy rolling ball mouses, fuggeddaboutit !!

there, did that help your imagination, AMN ?

I hope that you're not offended, Wren; I mean this in a positive way. The innocence in your message is just so sweet.

The reason I don't flat out suggest a type of computer for people (even people I know offline): It truly is an item - a big ticket one at that - that is personal; the ultimate decision has to be based on someone's needs, ideas for use, and so on.

Take the O/S or Operating System, for instance. Most PCs are now sold with XP or VISTA as the O/S. I really couldn't say which is better for someone who is new to making a computer purchase since there are pros and cons either way.


Pamster, whatever you decide on (Desktop or Laptop), I hope you'll let us know (down the road a bit what you think of your new 'puter).

Not really, Kay, because as I mentioned above, I have the same issues more or less but still have all the advantages of a desktop with the added advantage of being able to move it or take it easily for a change of scenery— to my laz-y-boy as an example.

A laptop just makes more sense to me because there are many days now when I literally can't move and being able to take it onto my bed is a big bonus. MacBooks have a full-sized keyboard, just not with a dedicated 10-key to the side.

Do they even still make those little trackballs? It seems like they all have the trackpad now.

First of all, I have never heard of an ADAM computer. I must go and look that up.

When I was in my early 30's I worked for a Non-Profit organization. They got the very first computer system. Since I was an executive secretary, they installed something called Multimate Advantage (this was way before Word Perfect).

I was sent to IBM school to learn about computers. The only reason they chose me was I typed 145 words per minute. On a Selectric no less (god knows how fast I was on the computer keyboard, people would stand behind my desk one day and applaud me because I drove my boss nuts with my typing. I'll never forget that day.

So they sent me to computer school. After my first lesson, I typed five lines on the computer, printed it out (dot matrix), bought it back to my company, showed the head person and she went 'oh, that's glorious"

Never forgot that either.

So they install my computer. It was an IBM and guess how big the hard drive was??

THE WHOLE HARDDRIVE WAS 20 MGS.

I will never forget that because when I quit and bought my own, I bought the exact same system and it cost over $3500 from IBM.

Good Lord, this was 25 or so years ago.

No color monitor. I remember everything on the screen was green.

The printer had this noise cancelling hood on it because all the printing would drive everybody crazy.

So guess what happened after I got the only computer in the company?

None of the other secretaries gave me the time of day. They refused to acknowledge me in the lunch room, etc. I asked someone about this once and they said "this happens all the time, they were jealous". YA THINK?????

So one year later, they installed an IBM computer at every secretary's workplace.

So guess who they called up for advice? I would get calls ALL DAY LONG.

I would be asked 'melody what does the F10 key do, how do I save this document, how do I paginate, how do I get the printer to print all the pages, how do I do this?? that??

My immediate supervisor got so mad she said "do not go to the other floors". I said "but they don't know how to use the computer".

It's amazing how popular I got after one year of no one talking to me.

FOR ONE YEAR, NO ONE SAID A WORD TO ME.

I will never forget that as long as I live.

I was never that kind of person to be jealous of another secretary. Besides IBM school, they also sent me to some kind of business course and it was at the same time.

That's where I asked the question of the person giving the course. I told them what was happening on my job and she said "right now, because you were chosen to go to IBM school, well they are all jealous". "Some day, this will all blow over".

She was right.

Good old Multimate Advantage software. I'll never forget this. Spell Checking and everything.

lol

well, hopefully nobody will think I am hijacking this post. LOL

I think desktops and laptops both have their pros and cons.

Laptops are actually built different from a desktop. It costs more for that reason.

If one wants a long life, desktop usually lasts longer than laptops.

If one needs mobility, laptops, of course.

I think the factors to think about is:

will I mostly use this puter in one place, or will I be dragging it all over the place.

If one uses it in one place all the time, a desktop might be a better choice.

If one have to move around all the time or travels a lot, a laptop might be a better choice.

With that said. There are things to soup up a laptop

an external keyboard and an external monitor can help alleviate some of the problems associated with a small keyboard on the laptop and the smaller monitors.
of course, that's extra price. Most external keyboards are USB 2.0 capable so it is great for those that don't like the laptop keyboards.

Using a nice ERGO cooling pad for the laptop, the ones that elevates and keep the heat from killing the laptops will also be a good modification. The ergo ones are on sale all the time at Amazon.com

hooking up an external monitor is a pain in the butt but if one travels some, then it might be worth it to get the laptop and getting the extras.

Of course, it all goes back to budget, budget, budget.

we have three puters at home and two of them laptops. The second laptop is set up with the external monitor(to our TV) and an external keyboard and it sits on an ergo cooling pad. We use that in our family room upstairs

Our desktop sits on the first floor in our main office

my laptop for work travels with moi everywhere...and when I want to work at home, I either work on it or I use my usb stick to move the files from one to the other.

I definitely wanted replies like yours who moi, so thank you for taking time to type it all out. I am wondering which would be best, and as I am thinking of going back to college I am thinking about a laptop. I am thinking of going back to school for either medical coding and billing or computer specialist. So part of me thinks buying a cheap one off ebay might be best and then saving up to get a better one later after I get a new car.

Thanks everyone for the great replies!

I never in my life thought you could hook up an external keyboard to a laptop.

Does this mean that the keyboard I am using right now, (it's a big Microsoft keyboard with the keys separated in the middle (I love this keyboard!!!). I could hook up this keyboard to a laptop that I might buy? This keyboard is connected to the back of my computer via (I think it's called a PS2 thing). It's round, with pins in it.

Do laptops come with ports like PS 2's or are they all USBs???

Thanks much.

Melody

Mel, you can get a little connection converter that will make it able to plug into usb port.

So when this computer dies, or I ever decide to buy a laptop, I buy a little converter thing, and it will convert my PS2 into a USB thing and VOILA, I can use my Microsoft keyboard?

Isn't life sweet!!!!!! lol lol lol