Desktop or laptop or netbook?

[czechsonofagun]

I remember the days of typewriters, IBM mag cards, etc. Even the netbooks are light years ahead of those days.

In old days I worked as an operator on IBM 370. It was a great hall full of computer, hard disks size of oil drum, floppy readers big as cloth washers, chain printers - and it all had less computing power than today's notebook.

 

[2manyrocks]

I forgot, but I also remember punching cards and waiting my turn to use the Burroughs computer. One wrong punch meant throwing the card away and doing the whole card again.

But as I was looking at these netbooks, it finally dawned on me that I'd need an external CD/DVD drive to load our software.

There is such a glut of used PC's, that it's amazing that any new PC's get sold.

 

[dgl24087]

Best Buy had a Toshiba laptop for $379 or 399 in this weeks ad.

 

[Tig]

and it all had less computing power than today's notebook.

A 370 even has less of everything than an average cell phone or IPOD.
Rocks, I still have a some Hollerith cards and card punch pieces kicking around from when I used to fix them.
Power is relative. For anyone who only wants to surf the web you can't beat Linux. IMO It will even run great on a P1 with 200 MB of memory.

 

[2manyrocks]

The main thing holding me back from Linux is I like to scan documents in Paperport which runs on XP and I haven't figured out how to get my brother mfc-7220 to run on Linux.

Otherwise, Linux is easy to install, stable, and cheap. I haven't totally got the hang of it, but it's got some things going for it.

 

[riptides]

I do Linux, I do Windows. I base buying on needs. If I can get a laptop for 200 bucks, but the O/S has issues with my printer setup, well do I spend another 100 dollars swapping my O/S or do I go buy a 30-50 dollar printer that is complimentary to the set up? By the time I figure out issues with compatibility, I have wasted time and money.

 

[2manyrocks]

Absolutely. I have wasted huge amounts of time on both XP and Linux. I wish the OS came on a memory card that plugged into the PC and could never be messed up and everything always worked instantly with no messing around and no having to reinstall to clean things up. PCLinuxOS on a usb flash drive comes closest to it, but we're still stuck in the XP world mainly because of application software.


The Mrs. mentioned wanting a laptop again this a.m. I sort of think the netbook is enough for her wants (a pencil and notepad would work), and anything that needs the faster operating system can be done on desktop at home.

 

[Tig]

Ubuntu Live is pretty good for turnkey OS on CD. Wireless cards can be hit and miss but it only takes 5 mins to boot and test before you buy.

 

[BigE_]

Some memory sticks have a write protect on them. Put Ubuntu Live on that and you're all set to go. As long as you can boot from the USB port, any PC (and some Macs) becomes your friend...

Another very viable option is to just use virtual PCs. VirtualBox is one free program, and M$FT has their VirtualPC program. Gotta run a program you're not sure you want to keep? Boot up the virtual PC, install the program, try it out. If you don't like it, just hit the undo button on the virtual disk drive, and you're back to ground zero.