(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

Still have no computer. *cries* (Okay, so they said two to three days and it's only been one, so I live in hope. PLEASE BABY GET BETTER AND COME HOME TO MAMA.)

I looked at netbooks online, I concluded that I had no freaking idea what I was looking at or what I wanted, except that I have large enough hands that I need a nearly full-size keyboard, but all the tech stuff means nothing to me so there's that. Also, price. (I looked at used ones, but I am leery of getting a used machine.)

Then I looked at new regular laptops, because it's not like I really need one for portability, which is the main attraction of a netbook; in all my years as a college student my laptop has only gone to class with me once, and then the battery ran out before the end of class. (Granted, that was this semester, but still.) But I want to wait to find out if my laptop has been resurrected or not first.

Ugh, I don't know. Shoot me recommendations or something? I've only ever had Dell laptops, and while my automatic instinct is to say I like Dell, I do have to remember that my current laptop has had two major problems in the past three and a half years I've owned it, plus a wonky touchpad that means I've used a mouse for the past two or three years. I don't carry it around with me, but it's nearly always running three or four applications at once. (IE, iTunes, my Twitter client, Word, Chrome -- yeah, I use IE and Chrome simultaneously, don't ask -- and sometimes Windows Media Player, for my DVDs.) But I know nothing about computers, sadly.

Now I have to go read the Lord Protector's Manifesto and find something to eat. Later: we're going to do some Star Wars inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff. (I don't have a computer, I read.)

Comments

[darklyndsea]

I think that nowadays most laptops are fine for what you want to do with yours (I'm not sure about netbooks, since I've never had one), so it's just a matter of personal preference and making sure that it's not the one laptop made by that company that everybody hates. Though personally I'm a fan of IBMs because of the funky eraserhead pointer thingy (why yes, that IS the technical term). YMMV.

[bedlamsbard]

I'm pretty attached to Dells just because my last two laptops have been Dells and I dislike change.

...since it's been four years since I last bought a computer, I do suspect that any laptop I get will be faster than my current one.

[autumnia]

I'm currently on my second Dell laptop at this moment (my first Dell is still functional but doesn't have the resources to handle my needs). My current model is the XPS 15 (with a few customizations) and it can definitely handle running 3-4 applications at once. I can have Firefox, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Illustrator (all memory-hogging applications) running simultaneously without much trouble. I don't really use my laptop for DVD watching so I can't comment on that though I do use WMP a lot for videos. The battery life has improved at least; my old laptop barely lasted 1.5 hours on battery but the new one lasts quite a bit longer.

My big gripe about Dell laptops these days is that there are never enough USB ports. My old Inspiron had 4, so I could plug in external hard drives and a graphics tablet/mouse comfortably but the last time I checked, Dell only offers 2 USB ports. Not sure if that's a big deal for you or not.

I had briefly considered buying a Netbook as well (for portability) but in the end, got a MacBook Pro as my secondary machine instead because it allowed me to do more (like running Word Processing or Graphics programs in addition to watching vids) and still be light enough to take on a plane with me.

[bedlamsbard]

*wince* Yeah, I need at least three and preferably four USB ports, since I have a USB-driven fan (because it gets alarmingly hot) and a USB-attached mouse, plus an external hard drive and I have on occasion had all four USB ports in use (though I could go down to three; I was only using four because I couldn't be bothered to disconnect my external). Only two? HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO LIVE.

Mine is a Dell Inspiron something (whatever was the hot new thing in the summer of 2008, when I got it), and aside from its...uh, occasional problems, it's mostly been functional; aside from that four month stretch when it was freezing up a dozen times a day back in 2010. And now. (I...am really not selling my computer as a functional machine, am I? It functioned! Until it didn't. Also there was that one time I lost the power cord in MSY and almost had a heart attack until I dragged my parents around two cities to find a new one.) My previous laptop was a Dell Inspiron too, so I'm kind of attached to the Inspirons, though not for really any logical reason.

Er, that was a lot of rambling.

[autumnia]

If you are really considering a Dell, make sure you read up the specs and see how many USB ports there are before you buy. Like you, there are times where I frequently used 3 ports and very rarely 4. The XPS I have now only has 2 and it's been such a pain when I have a mouse always plugged and I need to transfer files between 2 external drives.

Oh, I LOVED my Inspiron. It was awesome. I only upgraded because I really do need the faster processor, bigger hard drive and more memory due to my work.

[bedlamsbard]

I've been reminded over on LJ that there are USB hub (and right here on DW in the past minute, apparently), which at least makes it less drastically urgent that I at least get three. So there's that!

Right now I'm looking at the Inspiron 14z. *hands* It comes in red! (My current laptop is red. My external hard drive is red. I have two red teapots. What I'm saying is, I like the color red.)

I am reassured by the reminder that no matter what I buy, it's going to be faster than my current laptop, which is four years old this July.

[autumnia]

It's true that you can use those Hub things; I did for a while on a different laptop but I dislike chaining things just to connect devices to the laptop.

I think that Inspiron will probably be good enough for your needs. :-) One of the reasons I ended up with the XPS system is because I wanted a lot more of the extras, like a HD display and an upgraded video card.

[bedlamsbard]

*hands* At this point in my life I don't need anything fancy!

[harpers_child]

if you need to replace your computer and the laptop you want doesn't have enough USB ports you can get an USB hub. hubs have anywhere from 4 to 8 additional ports on them for the purpose of connecting you externals, tablets and whathaveyou.

[bedlamsbard]

Thank you for reminding me! I very seldom need more than three USB ports, but when you need 'em, you need 'em.

[celes-ia.livejournal.com]

I'd stay away from netbooks. They are very low powered (usually running on 1 GB of ram) and windows 7 really needs about that much to run the operating system. I've gotten away with mine by running ubuntu, but I'm also willing to jump through hoops when my inbox speakers don't work or the wireless fails after upgrade. Even with ubuntu, though, I have a bunch of problems trying to stream video because the processor (intel atom) doesn't like to do that much work (I have never gotten anything above 240p to play smoothly). Basically, netbooks are good for portability, surfing the web, and reading. But if you want to watch video? Go with a laptop. Besides, BSG looks much better on a 15 in screen then a 10.1 in screen :)

[bedlamsbard]

Yeah, now that I've been looking into it, I'm not terribly keen on a netbook, since the only benefit seems to be portability and I don't really need that in a laptop. (I mean, no more so than the average laptop already is.) If I took class notes on a laptop, maybe, but since I don't... *hands*

[delfinnium]

Okay I have been spamming on your previous post so you should know lolz.

But here it goes:

Ubuntu/linux systems have good systems geared to the netbook market - currently I'm running linux mint 9 because I love the look of it and I now cry when I have to stare at Windows7. all my bits worked right out of the box, except that drawing program doesn't like to work REALLY well with my wacom tablet, but that's okay because I have a windows OS (dual boot!) that runs Photoshop so that's no problem.

As for your Dell - I loved inspirons too! But I liked portability and I like taking my computer self everywhere so Inspirons are too huge. On the other hand Inspirons have pretty, pretty colours. Almost all netbooks come with 3 USB ports, and I hate using hubs because TOO MANY THINGS, so... yeah. one good one is when you look at reviews of Dells, is to look at pictures of its outside, and see where they put their usb ports. Some computers put two on either side, some all on one side, some BEHIND and it is IRRITATING and also if they're all on one side if your flash-drive is a fat flash-drive it would obscure one of the other USB ports.

Anyway. When you look for computers, only bother looking for 2-3 GB RAM, and upwards of 500 GB harddrive. Everything else isn't important, because I can assure you it WILL play video (if it's a normal laptop), it WILL play your music, and it WILL do writing and stuff. everything else is really fancy, and you can be sure that it would work more or less.

So don't worry about specs - mmost of the time all the technical details really only are meant for people who a) game and b) use it for graphic art.

Oh right and make sure you like the keyboard layout. THat's all.

[bedlamsbard]

Thanks!

I am super-frustrated looking at where all the ports are, because I'm used to where they are on my computer (two USB ports on each side, headphone plug-in in front), and the headphone thing, at least, does not look like it's typical. WHYYYYYYY.

[delfinnium]

you mean the inspiron changed its port layout? aaaaha sucky. :|

Well you could look at HP, Toshiba and Samsung? Not Sony because sony is highend wkhsdfsdf.

[bedlamsbard]

From what I can tell, it looks like (at least on the laptop I'm looking at, the 14z), there are two USB ports on one side and one on the other, and the headphone port is also on the side. (This one also has covers over the ports, but whatever. *hands*)

Toshiba is probably my second choice; I've never had a Toshiba, but I trust Japanese companies and they've been recommended. I think they might be a little pricier, though. HP I've also heard good things about, though for some reason they're in my head as being a bulkier computer. (Not sure if that's true or not, though.)

[delfinnium]

lol in terms of bulky, my personal experience is:

- IBM
- Dell
- Toshiba
- HP

Though Toshiba & HP sort of swap around. Whenever I go into a computering shop, they have so many computers out - Toshiba and HP and Samsung and Sonys are always so very sleek, while IBM hides its face somewhere else.

man they are being cheapsckates aren't they? The Dell I remember used to have four ports - and I was all EH when my netbook only had three. :|

[bedlamsbard]

I think I might go up to Office Depot this weekend just to look at computers -- after the stunts my Dell has been pulling even after I got it back from the shop, I am just very uneasy.