HELP - I'm Confused

My laptop is telling me in a roundabout way that it is due to give up . I'll admit I've had it a long time and it's old and needs replacing. My family have been giving me advise as to what I should replace it with. But, they're talking tablets, I-pads, notebooks. But their descriptions are too scientific for this old brain to digest. Is there somebody out there can explain the differences simply and perhaps suggest what I should replace it with?:confused:. Please!!!

Hi Ken, we recently bought a new computer. What a disaster! No more Outlook Express and Microsoft Word isn't included, either - has to be purchased separately. Powerpoint had 20 'uses' included - then it just seizes to work.

You can still buy laptops and they are a lot cheaper now than a few years ago. I wouldn't buy a HP (Hewlett Packard - too many crappy components). Ask specifically whether it has everything you need. Occasionally you still find one with Windows Vistas - I wouldn't buy one of those. Windows 7 is better.

kaiapoi - buy another laptop and make sure it is Toshiba! Ok what your young people are chasing is by all intents and purposes not a bad option IF you are racing around the country and wanting to check you emails and internet on a 10 inch screen ( most are about 7 inch screen) so work out what you want your contact with the IT world to cover.

I made this choice recently and bought a laptop as I want to enjoy a larger screen and I still have the ability to take my laptop with me and use it. I don't have the eyesight (despite new glasses!) to want to look at things on a 7 inch screen so each to their own. I also have been told that the tablet thing is very geared to games which I am not interested in - but this is third hand information and happy to be corrected.

The ultimate question you have to ask ourself is what do I want from this tablet or laptop and that should give you the answer. I just downloaded some photographs from my desktop to share with my 96 year old mother and the beauty of the laptop is that she is going to see those photos on a 15" screen so thus - what do you want from the replacement machine?

kaiapoi-ken;431684 wrote: My family have been giving me advise as to what I should replace it with. But, they're talking tablets, I-pads, notebooks.
...
Is there somebody out there can explain the differences simply and perhaps suggest what I should replace it with?:confused:. Please!!!

1) Tablets
Are best for consuming information rather than creating it. For example, browsing websites, reading emails or documents, viewing pictures and video, and some people play games on them, but I think there are better devices for that. Typical screen size is 6" to 10".

2) I-pad
Is Apple's version of a tablet.

3) Notebook (or more likely Netbook)
Really much the same as a laptop, but smaller with limited memory and smaller screen (10" or 12") than your average laptop (13" to 17"). An all-purpose device which is great for creating information e.g. Word Processing, Spreadsheeting, Writing emails.

My vote goes to Toshiba as well. I have had several over the years, and never had a problem with any of them. They don't burn your legs like some other laptops (notably Acer or eMachines) do. Asus is a small player, also not recommended. HP or Compaq I would not recommend. Dell I have heard nothing bad about, and many people speak highly of them.

Recommended screen size is as follows:

- 10" - 12" for travelling on holiday (Netbook) however, these devices typically only have 1GB of RAM which is too small for serious usage like playing video at a decent resolution.

- 13" for travelling on business (Ultraportable). Powerful and light but expensive.

- 14" - 16" for home use, with the occasional trip away. Usually have 2GB or 4GB of RAM and a powerful CPU. Typical prices $600 to $1000 depending on specification.

- 17" and above for gaming.

You are good Grant! That is what I would have said in salient points except that I am female and verbal!

GrantK's mostly right, 'cept Tablets can refer to iPad & like devices (Galaxy 10.1 etc) or laptops that can be used as touch screens.

iPad does have productivity software, word processing, spreadsheet, email, web browser, even video & picture editors, etc. But iPads & like tablets primarily use soft keyboards (these can take a bit to get used to & ain't to everyone's liking)

Laptops, Notebooks are exactly the same thing (they can no longer call them laptops in America as they implies you can use it on the lap yet doing so could cause burns) & I'd put the price for a decent one at 1000-1500$ but they do start as low as 600$, netbooks, & ultrabooks are the same thing as laptop just of different grades, netbooks usually being the small underpowered laptops (better off getting a iPad/tablet in my opinion) ultrabooks being the "gaming" laptops (they'll be WELL overpowered & priced for what you'll be after)

iPads/tablets suit alot of people & are very convenient (small size, light weight, long battery etc), laptops offer more power and a physical keyboard.
if open to the idea of a iPad/tablet check it offers you what you want, if so check one in-store against a laptop see which you'll prefer to use/own. Sales people will only be more than happy to help assist you in trying them out (they love potential computer sales, them the $$$ makers, just don't let them pressure you)

Thanks Folks, that's what I wanted to know. I have a Toshiba Laptop at the moment and agree that despite it's age it has served me well. I just need something to email, browse websites and spreadsheeting and keeping documents/photos on. I don't take it with me anywhere and I am not into gaming so it sounds as though I should look for another Toshiba or a Dell laptop to replace it. Screen size is a factor and I would prefer something around 15".

kaiapoi-ken;431731 wrote: Thanks Folks, that's what I wanted to know. I have a Toshiba Laptop at the moment and agree that despite it's age it has served me well. I just need something to email, browse websites and spreadsheeting and keeping documents/photos on. I don't take it with me anywhere and I am not into gaming so it sounds as though I should look for another Toshiba or a Dell laptop to replace it. Screen size is a factor and I would prefer something around 15".

to be honest I'd skip the Dell. HP business, Toshiba, ASUS, all good in my opinion but keep clear of Dell, Compaq, Acer

Just have to add I have both iPad and laptop and for general daily use I find the laptop far more user friendly than the iPad, the iPads certainly have their uses but in my humble opinion more for when you're out and about a lot and wanting something small and light. I seldom use it at home for 'general' computing. But that could be just me, although the rest of the family agree with me.

Scuba_Steve;431732 wrote: to be honest I'd skip the Dell. HP business, Toshiba, ASUS, all good in my opinion but keep clear of Dell, Compaq, Acer

All good advice so far but don't be so quick to write off Dell. My previous employer purchases up to 10 laptops a year and the IT guru there consider them the 'best bang for your buck', so my own computer is a Dell XPS Though this is a gaming orientated laptop it wasn't purchased for that but for the HD graphics and high end processing ability. One minor HD glitch was very promptly fixed by a local Dell support technician at our home and other than that it performs flawlessly. Also if you can purchase for business purposes Dell can be negotiated into discounting their website prices.

The Dell website is also a good place to 'window shop' by mixing and matching different models and components to see what spec's and budget suits

Something to check for is a CD-rom drive (or do they call it a DVD drive now?). I have a small Toshiba notebook, on the cheap side ($600 on sale) and while it's great in many ways, it doesn't have a CD-rom drive so I can burn something onto a disc (I wanted to copy my son's first day at school movie to send to my mum to watch on her DVD player). It's also a bit slow.

It didn't come with Word or any of the MS office suite. You can buy them, but my husband set me up with Open Office instead and that works very well (I use it for word processing, spreadsheets, basic picutre editing, and Windows Live for email). I do pay for Norton Antivirus - he reckons it's worth it.

My friend got an Android tablet for Christmas and she's of average technological competence, and she's forever swearing at it in frustration. She much prefers a laptop or computer.

For what it's worth the company I work for uses Dell machines, both laptops and desktops. Some of our machines are set up with two screens which is good if you need to have multiple things going at the same time or if you have a big spreadsheet you can stretch it across both screens. Our IT man tells me it is theoretically possible to run three screens but he has never done it. We thrash our machines pretty hard with some of the software we run and they mostly handle it but we only have them on three year lease. By the time the lease runs out the machines are getting pretty tired but that is to be expected I think.

Seaside;431755 wrote: Something to check for is a CD-rom drive (or do they call it a DVD drive now?). I have a small Toshiba notebook, on the cheap side ($600 on sale) and while it's great in many ways, it doesn't have a CD-rom drive so I can burn something onto a disc (I wanted to copy my son's first day at school movie to send to my mum to watch on her DVD player). It's also a bit slow.....

This doesn't only apply to movie files. Many new digital cameras are 10MP+ and produce photos that are 5-6MB or larger which is beyond the file size that some ISPs will allow for emails so passing on photos is more easily done by way of burning a CD.

Seaside;431755 wrote: Something to check for is a CD-rom drive (or do they call it a DVD drive now?). I have a small Toshiba notebook, on the cheap side ($600 on sale) and while it's great in many ways, it doesn't have a CD-rom drive so I can burn something onto a disc
.

I'm in no way a tech whizz, but, Seaside, but if your notebook has a usb drive, you can always plug in a memo stick and copy on that one. those sticks are so cheap now, you don't need to worry about not getting it back.

Blueberry;431759 wrote: I'm in no way a tech whizz, but, Seaside, but if your notebook has a usb drive, you can always plug in a memo stick and copy on that one. those sticks are so cheap now, you don't need to worry about not getting it back.

+1

USB Sticks are the way to go in my opinion. They can be mailed back and forth, and with 16 or 32GB now available, they hold far more than any DVD disc. You would have to use a Blu-Ray disc to top that, and very few people have the recorders so far. To be honest, with such large capacity USB sticks now available, I doubt that Blu-Ray recorders will catch on.

Last weekend I recorded the 6-hour Olympic opening ceremony in HD. The file size is 24GB, so the ideal way to shift that around is on a USB stick.