As most of you know, I'm soon to be the owner of a laptop computer gifted to me by so very many of my friends here on this forum and some of the others. To you and all of the un-named people I will be forever thankful. The time is fast approaching when I will actually be able to make the purchase and we have been researching steadily.

We are almost ready to settle on this one from Circuit City:

Toshiba Satellite 17" Widescreen Notebook PC (P205-S6237)
* Intel Pentium Dual Core T2080
* 120GB hard drive
* Burns DVDs and CDs
* 1GB of DDR2 memory
* Built-in 802.11gb wireless
* Windows Vista Home Premium

It comes with a free: Printer, Router & Software after rebates and we can get In-home PC setup and data transfer for an extra $99.99 (we can sit it up on a table in the bedroom that will swing over my bed with the printer on the night stand)

Consumer magazine rates this one highly and the store is only about 50 miles away, so we can get service or problems taken care of easier.

I've learned everything I know on a Windows set up so I'm afraid to try to learn anything different. One of the serious symptoms of Sjogren's is brainfog and I was already brainfogged before I even knew I had that disease.

This will be the Cadillac of laptops and I've intentionally asked my husband to research for the larger screen as my vision is a serious issue. I really didn't expect one this nice, but am in awe that we can swing one like this.

Many, many thanks to all of you!!

Do any of you have any comments on this choice? Good or bad or anything. I'm asking before we try to purchase.

Billye

I see it here on the website...
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshi...oductDetail.do

My son says: If you buy online there are often price incentives.

Looks really nice! You go girl!

I am so happy for you and glad that I was able to be a small part of your choice. I say go for it, expecially with all those incentives! What a deal this sounds like - everything you need and then some.

How are you feeling?

Happy computing.

Oh, this sounds like a really cool item!!!!



Have a good time on it and keep posting.
Hope you're feeling up to snuff!!!

Love, mel

That's the one! I can't tell you all how excited I am. It's not a dun deal yet because Kmeb is still gathering the wherewithall and she has medical tests as well as funds to clear. But it's close enough that I'm getting very excited. Since all of this happened with my sacrum injury, I've dreaded the time I usually devote to the computer. Because it means sitting. You all know how much I've dreaded sitting over the years because of the area the neuropathy has chosen to inflict it's torture on. But this makes that look like a walk in the park.

This is really a good computer deal and I can't tell you all how much this means to me. There is just no way to thank you all. I know some of you and the thank you button on the forum is one way of thanking you, but it's not the real thank you I like to be able to do and there is always the chance I'd fail to thank someone if I missed a post. But from the bottom of my heart the thanks is there and you'll all probably get sick of the thank you's. But here's another one:

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billye

Hi Billye;

My husband bought me a laptop for my birthday almost two years ago because I, too, have problems sitting. It is absolutely wonderful. The best gift I've received, ever! You will love it.

All my best,
Nancy-H

I got a new router and router table last month. I made two beautiful picture frames and trim for four bookcases on it. I don't know what a router has to do with computing, but it's your money to spend as you wish.

My dad had a Cadillac. I hope your new computer will be more dependable than his Caddy was. I know what people here are talking about. His electric Windows stopped working and we had a hard time seeing the passing Vista for all the smog in LA. Your new Cadillac will probably work better in Texas. At least I hope so.

Oh, and congratulations. May you have many happy years of use out of it.

P.S. My other router is a Linksys. It's been totally dependable for the past three years, is fast and completely transparent, was inexpensive, and was very easy to set up. We run two computers and a laptop off of it. Be aware that immediate neighbors can run their computers on your network if they have a WAN card. That doesn't bother me since I don't pass tax info or credit card numbers etc. on the network, but it's something for you to be aware of. You can run password protection and encryption, but that slows the network down.

If you have Vista, the only version of Dragon NS that works is 9.5. You buy 9.0 and go to the Dragon website and DL the update. That is the only way DNS will work. I'd go for the 'Preferred' version. There's a neat device that is for desktops. Take a look at this: http://raremonoshop.com/catalog/prod...products_id=91

Yes Finney, we did order the Toshiba and the one we got does have the 2gb ram. We decided on this one for a number of reasons, Dragon being one of them and also the size of the screen.

Liza Jane, this one will have a 19 inch screen. It makes it a lot harder to just carry around. But the larger screen is absolutely necessary for me. The eye dryness is the kind where tears evaporate. It cause me to feel as if I'm looking thru a piece of cotton that has been stretched thin, a little like cobwebs. Only by moving my head around can I read. So a lot of my reading is simply a matter of recognizing words in a sentence not of actually "seeing" the word. If any of you have serious "floaters" you have some idea of what I'm speaking of. Just think of that multiplied by about 50-100 or so. Kinda spotty vision particularly when I'm trying to focus on something.

Finney, I'm wondering why your voice is difficult, ..if I may ask? Mine is a mixture of Mississippi drawl, Texas twang and the dryness and hoarseness I experience sometimes. I'm wondering what I may experience if/when I'm ready.

And this is more than a toy! It's my lifeline to sanity. And many thanks to all of you.

Billye

Billye,

Are you sure that the Toshiba comes with a 19" screen? I have not seen one from them that does . . just did a quick check of their web site and didn't see one either. Maybe it is so new that it is not on the site, tho.

Did you check the screen resolution? With a 19" screen, you want to be sure that you are not getting some high-resolution job, although they usually cost a lot more bucks.

As for my voice . . there are a couple of things. I have a bit of a drawl, not Southern, lot of folks think I am from the East coast, even tho I am a native California guy. And combined with this slight accent, I also have a slight lisp -- it is not pronounced but taken together the two lower accuracy.

When I first tried it a number of years ago, I thought it the recognition engine was just horrible. But other people were doing real well with it. So when I needed to get it because of my PN, I did some more checking. At first, I was sort of shocked because the engine had not changed that much. The accuracy had gone up some number of percentage points but not a huge amount. And finally I decided that getting an expert installation would probably help . . and it sure did.

I can't tell you anything about how your voice will work. If you do it yourself, I would try and keep adjusting until you get good results, even if it means doing the training a few times. And again, make sure you do not skimp on the headset (it is the microphone that is most important).

rafi