Thread: New laptop
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Old December 30th 17, 09:33 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Default New laptop

Char Jackson wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

swalker wrote:

Time for a new laptop. Preferred is about a 17 inch screen.

Not many available locally in retail stores. Found one -HP- at Sams
that will work but it is really setuip to be used as a touch sceen
which will not work for the jobs I use it for.

I need a mouse. Period.

Can I actually use a mouse with one of these Win10 trouch screen
laptops?


Record the model. Go to the HP site to read its manual.

My guess: Plug in a USB mouse and you'll have 2 pointing devices,
maybe 3 if the laptop has a touchpad, too. If you don't like the
touchpad registering touches because your palms are near, there will
be a switch in its bezel or a key combo to disable it. Shouldn't be
a problem with using a USB mouse and the touchscreen unless you have
some weird config that puts your hands near the screen when you are
using the USB mouse.

Same goes for a USB keyboard. You don't have to use the one in the
laptop. You can plug in a USB keyboard that's bigger. You could
even tote the keyboard (and mouse) around but the convenience of the
laptop is lost unless you're merely transporting between different
places where it sits stationary.


Extending things another step, I have one laptop here where I use a USB
keyboard, wireless USB mouse, and dual 24" monitors, so the laptop lid
remains closed and the laptop is actually out of sight. I don't consider
it a portable solution, but I have other laptops for that.


I used a borrowed laptop (running Windows Vista ... ugh) as a temporary
substitute when my prior computer died (CPU went bad due to voltage
regulators going bad so mobo was bad, too). I configured it so it would
stay up when its lid was closed. I had a USB mouse and USB keyboard
connected to it along with the monitor. A lot slower but a lot better
than nothing. Since the laptop was stationary at home on my desk, I
didn't need a docking station; however, I did need a USB hub (just a
passive one for the mouse and keyboard) since the laptop was short on
USB ports (the other remaining USB port was for external drives). After
saving up enough money, got a new desktop PC and returned the borrowed
laptop but tweaked faster and cleaned up. Was glad to get off Vista.

My company gave me an IBM Thinkpad to tote between work and home because
I needed to monitor long-running software QA jobs back on the testbeds.
Rather than keep plugging stuff in at home, and although that laptop
just stayed at home for many months, they gave me a docking station.
The keyboard, mouse, and monitor (all theirs) stayed connected to the
dock so all I had to do was insert the laptop into the dock. The laptop
was made to be docked easily: just push the laptop down onto the dock
(the dock had a connector that fit a port on the laptop). Similar to
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16834988360.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9SIA6PF5VV8940
On sale at $80 for another 2 days (very pricey at $260 regularly). A
dock is only a convenience in not having to disconnect everything from
the laptop other than 1 or 2 connections. If the laptop is stationary,
a docking station is superfluous. If the laptop regularly moves, a
docking station is very handy.
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