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4:23 am
My Dell sesktop's 500GB HD just crashed! Since it is 3.5 yrs old I don't want to put any money into it. Seems like I should just replace it. I have two major questions. Yes, I have a backup. At the Redmond rally I bought a Clickfree 1T HD backup system from TechnoRV and love it.
I currently have a desktop basically for home use and a laptop I take with me in our RV. I'm thinking that this might be a good time to drop the desktop and switch to a laptop that I could use at home with a laptop docking station and take it on the road. I would use the docking station at home to attach my two monitors and a larger keyboard at home as well as a couple of external hard drives. I have thousands of photos and use Photoshop Elements and ProShow Producer (for slide shows), Office, Quicken, etc.
When I buy a new computer, either desktop or laptop, should I get it with the 64bit version of Windows 7??? Looks like most of my programs are compatable with the 64 bit. My printer is compatable, but my scanner is not.
Any comments on this plan will be appreciated.
thanks, Barbara
9:20 am
July 2, 2010
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Barbara,
Sounds like a good plan to me. For travelers, a laptop is the clear choice. I don't even use a docking station – just a USB hub – and I have a full-size keyboard, mouse, and external monitor. I love laptops – hate the keyboard.
Jim wrote an article I recommend you read … 7 Tips for Buying a New Computer.
Glad to hear about your backup drive from TechnoRV – let us know how it works for restoring to a new computer.
All that said however, if you have enjoyed having 2 computers – desktop at home, laptop on the road, it may be worth fixing the old one. Desktops have longer lives than laptops and are cheaper to add new hard drives etc.
9:29 am
November 3, 2009
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I think if I had the room, I would have a desktop computer in addition to a laptop for travel.
You get more bang for the buck with a desktop, and you can customize it to suit your needs.
Helping Travelers to Plan, Preserve, and Share their Travels
9:39 am
Teachers
August 5, 2010
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The term crash always concerns me. I hope you will review any updates since the last back up before CASHING OUT on a new system.
We had a system failure caused by an anti virus update the new security just blocked the system from our on line sources.
A safe start allowed us to review and correct the problem by removing the update.
We put the cash back in the bank till next time.
2:06 pm
I may have used the word crash when describing my problem. Actually, my hard drive failed on a 4 year old desktop. After considering all my options I decided to buy a new Dell Studio XPS 8100 desktop with Win 7 – 64-bit. Most of my major programs will run with Win7. Only my scanner is not compatible. But we can hook that up to my husbands desktop. I run Photoshop Elements and ProShow Producer together to make slide shows so I look forward to the faster processing.
We will keep our laptop for travel.
3:14 pm
November 3, 2009
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Good for you, Barbara.
You do not say how much memory came installed. I would probably want at least 6GB of RAM for that system.
Best of luck.
Helping Travelers to Plan, Preserve, and Share their Travels
9:55 am
Yes, I do have 6GB of RAM in the new Dell system. It has been a bit of a pain getting all programs installed and configured. But I'm almost finished. I do run Adobe Photoshop Elements for my thousands of digital photos and I use Pro Show Producer to make slide shows. I'm working on a show of our three month summer trip (New England and Canada) and the new computer is a joy!
Now, I just have to figure out the best ways to sync some of my files with the laptop we take on trips and my contacts and calendar with my Droid X. Fun never stops!!
Barbara
10:27 am
July 2, 2010
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RE: Sync'ing with Droid, Laptop, Desktop
How I do it is by using Google products – since Android is Google, and Google Mail (gmail), Google Docs, and Google Photos (Picasa Web Albums) are in the clouds, I have the exact same inbox on all devices, same contacts, and same online photo albums.
If I change the phone number for a contact while using my computer, that contact is changed on my Droid. Upload a photo from Droid to Picasa Web Album, I view that photo from any device by viewing the web album.
I also use Carbonite.com for online backup of my laptop's files. So, if I ever find myself without my laptop and need a file – it's online.
Let us know how you make out.
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