Needed: Computer Advice

[supercheesegirl]

Dear friends, my computer is dying. I bought this computer back in 2004 or 2005, so it's had a good long life as computer lives go. I ran a backup just a few weeks ago so I'm not stressing too much about file recovery, thankfully. I was hoping to get another year or two out of this machine, but that seems impossible based on current conditions. The computer started by spontaneously rebooting itself, first on occasion and then more and more frequently; now it refuses to boot Windows at all, restarting itself midway through its boot sequence. Sometimes it bluescreens and beeps rhythmically; sometimes it bluescreens and screams until I turn it off manually. Under the circumstances, it would likely be more effort than it's worth to have someone repair it when I could just put that money toward a new machine.

The issue now is that I need a new computer, and with this whole "about to give birth any time now" thing, I don't really have the time or inclination to do the necessary research. So I'm asking for advice. Here are the uses to which my computer is typically put:

- using Word, Excel, etc (and I'm looking forward to having a current version of MS Office)
- playing music and loading music onto my almost-as-ancient iPod classic
- storing large files (my ancient iPod is a 60 GB, and it's over half full, so that's a lot of music, plus photos)
- using the internets
- casual photo processing and touch-ups (I have Photoshop but never use it; more lightweight programs are fine)

At this technological moment in time, I'm guessing it would be silly to buy another desktop machine. Things are getting tinier and more portable. I would be open to having a laptop, but said laptop would need to be particularly tiny and portable (unlike the large and ungainly laptops loaned by my work IT department, which almost caused me a work-related injury when I had to lug one all over Boston last year). If I'm getting a laptop, I want to be able to stick this thing in my purse. However, I would also want to be able to use it like a desktop machine and dock it somehow to my current monitor, mouse, and keyboard for my home computing needs.

F and I had been thinking of getting a Kindle or iPad, so that I'd have something handy to use for reading one-handed while holding the baby, or for looking up recipes efficiently while in the kitchen without having to run upstairs and print them out. But I don't think I could deal with something like that as my primary machine, especially not when I have so many other life changes going on to adjust to. Baby steps here. For the same reason, I don't want to consider a Mac at this point.

Also, and hopefully this goes without saying, cost is a major factor. We got diapers to buy.

So: suggestions? Ideas? Things I should consider?

(cross-posting this to the FBs too, feel free to respond in whichever realm you're happiest.)

Comments

[myras-girls.livejournal.com]

I'm still using the Dell desktop I purchased in 2005 for around $500 and it's going strong. I love this thing.

I will say I ran into some problems about a year ago and I ended up backing everything up to an external hard drive and restoring to the factory settings. Since then it's worked like a charm.

A while back I looked into laptops, and ended up buying a Toshiba laptop with a bonus I received at work. I wanted something really small and I so I was looking at netbooks, but none of the netbooks have a cd/dvd drive and I wanted that convenience so I went with a small laptop- probably too big for a purse, I think it's 13". My laptop was about $800.

Honestly I'm not using my laptop as much as I thought I would. I bought it when my desktop started having problems and I thought it was a goner but then, as I mentioned before, my desktop worked fine when I restored to factory settings.

I also looked into buy a tablet, but to be honest with you I sometimes want a good old fashioned keyboard and monitor. There are keyboards and such you can buy for tablets, though, but yeah I'm kinda stuck in my old ways. :)

In regard to tablets, the iPad is crazy expensive (imo), and the Kindle Fire is wifi only (you can't use it where you don't have a wifi connection). I ended up getting a smartphone and I'm so glad I have a smartphone instead of a tablet. It does pretty much anything a tablet would do but is also a phone and more portable. I like to be able to answer blog comments and tweets on the go and a lot of apps are really huge time-savers.

Hope that helped!

lots of thoughts/info

[minkrose]

My current set up is a 13" Macbook (normal, not Pro), and an iPad 2. At home, my laptop is plugged into a keyboard and a 22" monitor. I use the trackpad on my mac instead of a mouse because I prefer the mac gestures.

You absolutely cannot use an iPad as your main machine. There's insufficient word processing power (even in Pages, which is the best app you can buy), and definitely no Excel. Even if you wanted to try and get by using Google Docs, it does not work well on the iPad (and they're apparently taking away Google Maps functionality in future, as well). Additionally, many websites won't give you the "desktop" version and there's reduced functionality (none of this is entirely apple's fault, by the way).

That said, I LOVE my iPad 2 and I take it with me everywhere. I opted to NOT get the built in wifi and instead I carry one of these with me: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/mifi-2200.html
It's $20/month for 500 GB of data, which is more than enough. It's too slow to stream media, but it's certainly enough to do email or google maps on the go. For a travel computer, the iPad 2 meets all of my needs, and is usually the only item I take on trips. It's all I'll be bringing with me to the 4 day conference I have in California. I also use the wireless bluetooth keyboard with this case/stand: http://goincase.com/products/detail/origami-workstation-cl57934
EVEN WITH the iPad, the iPad magnet cover, the keyboard, and the keyboard case... it STILL weighs less than my laptop. That was key for me. This new keyboard isn't out yet: http://thebrydge.com/ but they just had a very successful Kickstarter and that looks to be the best option, now.

MS Office: much as I love my Mac, I am really happy that I opted to spend the extra cash to make it a dual-boot Windows machine. I prefer Office in a Windows environment -- the Mac version of Office just isn't the same. Especially since I move back and forth between home and work (where I have a Windows machine), the transition is easier if I'm using Windows-Office in both places.


If I were you, I'd get a Windows machine (maybe even a laptop) for at home and an iPad for on the go. Any machine that is small enough to travel is likely not going to be powerful enough at home, unless you get a Macbook Air, but then you have the MS Office issue (in my opinion).

That was probably too much info to be helpful but... let me know if you have questions. :-)

Re: lots of thoughts/info

[minkrose]

I should mention: I DON'T have a smartphone (on purpose) as the iPad serves that function for me. So, I do need some kind of computer when I'm out and about and the tablet seemed a better option than the phone.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

I agree with minkrose - you can't use your iPad as a primary machine, and you can't even get started on the iPad without an up-to-date Mac to plug it into.

TODS has an iPad, which he loves to itty bitty pieces. I have an Asus EEE netbook, which can stand on its own a bit better, and which I also love dearly. I'm not sure whether the netbook would work as a primary machine either, though; it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, so I can't rip music to it, and the screen is a little small - great for on the go, but not for long periods of time. It runs MS Office just fine, though.

I got a new desktop (Windows) last December and had it custom-built by a local mom-and-pop store instead of buying it at a big box store. It cost about $800-900 (as opposed to $200-300 at, say, Best Buy), but I'm extremely happy with it - at this point, the cheap machines would have already been giving me trouble, and this one is enchantingly stable and dependable.

Oh, crap, you said cost was a significant factor. And I understand the whole baby thing . . . maybe a cheapie desktop for now, and move up to a better one in a few years.

One last note--if you do get an iPad, get an Otterbox for it. They're notoriously fragile and we learned the hard way that if the glass breaks, you're basically screwed. And babies have a way of making things "faw down go boom" from an amazingly young age.