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laptops

Future proofing your new PC

We have talked at length about the upcoming Windows Vista on our show and eluded to it here on the site. Microsoft says that it will come out in the first quarter of 2007 which leaves us about six months give or take. Adam and I had our first look at Vista during this year's Consumer Electronic Show (CES). We weren't impressed. Since then, I have read many Vista articles, reviews, blogs and even downloaded the beta version of Vista. I'm still not impressed.

All that being said, at some point you may want to upgrade to Vista (or its upgrade). I don't recommend waiting for Vista before buying a new PC because I truly believe that Vista will be a flop for the first six or so months (putting us into 2008). BUT, when you are buying a new computer or laptop, you might as well plan a little for the future. Here's what I'm telling callers and clients this month about what to look for in a new computer.

A good mechanic always has parts left over

It is time that I come clean and confess that I steal screws. I don’t intend to steal them, but while I am working on a computer, I tend to put the screws in my pockets so that I don’t lose them.

When I get home at the end of the day, I always find a computer screw or two. To my defense, I always put the computer completely back together.

I place the blame on the computer manufacturer. Today’s computers have way too many screws. Some computers have two thumb screws to hold the side on and two screws in each side of the CD-ROM drive to hold it in place. These screws are in addition to other types of securing mechanisms like clips and grooves.

Laptops are perfectly adequate computers

One of my customers today just purchased a laptop to compliment her desktop computer. She wasn’t thrilled about the idea of having two computers, but didn’t realize that her new laptop was every bit as capable as her older desktop computer.

She isn’t alone. Many computer users think size equals power. When they look at a svelte laptop and compare it to a large black or beige box, they think it must be missing something. In specific instances (designing the next Golden Gate Bridge or editing the next Oscar winning movie or playing the latest FPS game) laptops will not perform as well as a souped up desktop computer. However for most general computing purposes (Internet, word processing, email, digital photography, etc), laptop computers are perfectly capable.

Computer guys are kind of like Zorro

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I am not complaining in this post at all. I am just explaining the events of the day.

I began my day with a blank schedule. My mother in law was scheduled to arrive to spend a couple of weeks with us so I had blocked today so that I could help my family get ready.

My phone rang at 7am this morning. It was a dentist’s office. They had accidentally done something that had deleted their patient schedule and they were completely lost without it. I told them that I would be right in after I took a shower and got dressed.

As it turns out, they backed everything up on tape drives. It took 3 tries and almost six hours before we finally had a success in getting everything back up. Then one of their laptops died in an unrelated occurance.

Travel tip from a customer…

A major light bulb went off today when a customer of mine talked about a tech travel tip he had recently received.

For better or worse, when many of us travel today, we bring along cell phones, cameras with rechargeable batteries, laptops, MP3 players, portable DVD players and more. These gadgets crave power and usually at the same time! When I travel, I’m usually unplugging lamps, clocks and other devices in the hotel room trying to make room to charge and power my tech. Often times it means sacrificing light in order to get my phone charged.

Everyone is an expert….

I put gas in my truck every week, but I’m not a car expert. We raised some goats from ‘kids’ to their adulthood, but I’m not a farm or goat expert. It always strikes me as funny when some folks who merely ‘use’ computers think they are computer experts.

Today, a client of mine illustrated this point perfectly. He has a widescreen Compaq laptop (not the typical almost square monitor). The icons and text on his monitor looked a little squashed and blocky. He wanted me to look at it because a friend of his told him that that was indication that the hard drive was going to crash soon and he should be careful. 

Tools of the trade

Every profession has its tools. I have found a number of great tools that help get me through the day.

If you or someone you know tinkers with computer, here are some of the essential tools.

1. Swiss Army USB flash drive knife – This is a genuine Swiss Army knife with a built in USB flash drive, flashlight, ball point pen, screwdriver (perfect size for computer screws), scissors and knife.

2. External hard drive enclosure – this is a cool device that lets you place any hard drive into it to convert it into an external USB drive. These are perfect for transfering data from one computer to another.

Blood relation does not equal computer expertise

A few years ago, I added two items to my list of common advice that I give.

1. Don’t let your kids fix your computer, no matter how old they are or who they work for.

2. Blood relation does not equal computer expertise.

I know that this makes me sound arrogant at times, but my first appointment this morning was a case in point.

It was a simple enough job, I was to setup a laptop and get it online. My client didn’t need any information transferred or any special tutoring, she just needed someone to tackle the initial setup with confidence.

Since this was my client’s first laptop she had consulted me a number of times about what to get and what to spend. Since Christmas, I had told her about a few good deals that were in the paper.