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laptops (was: Win XP to Win 10?)
In message , Bill in Co
writes: [] If I ever went out and bought one of these nice new svelte laptops, like I've seen on display at some stores here, I'd probably just scrap the latter two. I wonder if anybody gets so used to a laptop that it ends up replacing their desktop for almost everything they need to do (for home or limited work use, I mean). I bought my first laptop (W9x era), intending to use it only when travelling or in other situations where my tower machine couldn't be taken. (I also didn't think I'd get on with a trackpad.) It became my main machine - I was going to say rapidly, but it might have been gradually. I have since used laptops for all my computing needs - my desktop machines going initially weeks then months between being turned on, and I think it might be over a year now. (And I have got very used to a trackpad: I have a mouse, but rarely plug it in - of late, mainly for when the trackpad [driver] misbehaves rather than needing the differences.) I'd say my main initial concerns re laptops fell into three areas: limited keyboard, all-in-one-ness, and (in practice) no slots. Limited keyboard - I was fortunate in that my first laptop still had the sixpack; I _did_ find the second laptop irritating in having home and end combined with something else and needing the Fn key. (Fortunately this one has brought them back.) Also the lack of a numeric keypad (you get one on _most_ 15" or more laptops anyway these days) meant I couldn't use the Alt-numpad codes I'd memorised for things like the +/- symbol, but in practice I've found a little utility called AllChars actually easier (the sequences are easier to remember!). All-in-one-ness - i. e. if one part fails, you have to junk the lot. This hasn't been as much of a problem as I thought: things that have failed - disc drive was easy to replace; a screen wasn't _too_ hard; and a wireless card, I just used an external one. (That was on someone else's machine that had lots of USB and she didn't use them anyway; had it been me, I might have replaced the card - fiddly, but not difficult.) The one case that _is_ irritating is where - I think - the internal power supply (that takes the 19V or battery and gives the internal supplies) has failed and thus rendered the laptop dead, whereas I think most of it is actually alive. No slots (I say in practice because, although in theory laptops can have them, [a] many don't [b] the standards for laptop expansion slots change with bewildering rapidity) - I think I was fortunate in that my transition to laptops coincided with a large move of peripherals that had previously used cards, to USB. This has continued, accompanied by changes in desktop slot standards, from PCI (IDE was already dead) to PCI-E and later, as well as graphic card slots. These changes in both laptop and desktop slot standards have mostly _not_ been backward-compatible, unlike USB. My transition has probably also, if I'm honest, accompanied my changing outlook with ageing: I have less _desire_ to use things that need plug-in cards (and aren't available via USB). Another advantage of laptops is that they have a poor man's UPS: brief power outages don't crash them, even if the battery's in a poor state, and can move from room to room without shutting down. I can see that a proper desktop, with a big keyboard and monitor, still holds its attraction for those with a settled lifestyle, _or_ who are willing to switch between devices when they travel or visit. Also, for those needing special machines - number-crunching, gaming, and so on. For me, the ability to now take this my main computer wherever I go (not relying on syncing services) means I can't see me ever going back to a desktop as my main machine: in fact other than lethargy and nostalgia I'm not sure why I keep my desktop. But - this is just me; YMMV, and I'm certainly not saying anyone _should_ change. I just thought I'd answer Bill-in-Co's question from my own experience. JPG --- How about a three-way referendum, allowing second choices? -- Are petitions unfair? See 255soft.uk (YOUR VOTE COUNTS)! [Pass it on.] -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf A man is not contemptible because he thinks science explains everything, and a man is not contemptible because he doesn't. - Howard Jacobson, in Radio Times 2010/1/23-29. |
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