# laptops, speakers, and software

Category: accessible Devices

## Post 1 by gizmobear (move over school!) on Wednesday, 25-Nov-2009 9:35:09

hi zoners, i have a querie. what makes a laptop a good laptop? how many gigs of memory does it need?what type of processor does it need? i need to replace my old dell laptop. i have had it for five years now. like most sighted, and blind folks, i dont know to much about puters. can someone school me? i need a laptop with a life expetancy of at least four or five years.
if someone can also give me some info on speakers too. i am looking to replace my boss with wireless ones.
i am also looking for a sarah replacement. dont know if i should purchase open book or buy a new reader for my mail usage.
thanks in advance for any advice. gizzy

## Post 2 by illumination (Darkness is history.) on Wednesday, 25-Nov-2009 10:44:10

You're laptop needs at least 1 gb of memory for Windows 7 to work, but it's best to get more than just 1 gb.

## Post 3 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Wednesday, 25-Nov-2009 15:22:54

Get a dual core processor, at least 2.2ghz, I prefer Intel and had problems with AMD laptop procesors overheating, but may be it was just me and my Compaq at the time.
You might want to get a 64-bit processor since more andmore software and O.S. are moving to 64 bit, you can still run them on 32 bit processors though so it is not a huge concern but if you want to have a laptop that lasts for 5 years it is definitely something to consider, and that will change the spec of your processor somewhat.
2gb of ram, expandable to 4gb is standard on pretty much any laptop today.
You probably want Windows 7 by now, definitely do not buy Vista.
Hard drive space of 160gb or better, probably 250gb, whichis fairly standard.
I am a huge fan of my Linovo Thinkpad X200, but it is a $950 laptop, it is only 12 inches, weighs around 4 pounds and is fast, does not heat at all and is super quiet, but if you are willing to live with heavier and bigger notebook, such as 15.6 inches, your price range should be $400 to $650.
Personally I went with a good desktop and a netbook for travelling and school, since you do not need any super processor for anything you do at school, you can watch video, download, run word processors, program etc, though a netbook is much better running Windows XP. But when I started work they gave me a choice of a work laptop so I picked up the Linovo and I think with a docking station it could serve as everything I need.
I am not sure about wireless or Bluetooth speakers. I would wait because there is a new Wireless standard coming, USB wireless is coming too and Bluetooth is not very reliable from everything I have heard (but I can't comment personally on that).
I bought Bose because there is a headphone jack on the speaker itself and they've lasted for 18 months with no problems, cost me $70 at Sam's Club.
Cheers
-B

## Post 4 by dave84 (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 30-Nov-2009 1:12:39

hey i think this is a great topic. I am considering getting a netbook now for school. I have noticed that allot of netbooks have 1GB of ram and 160 gigs of harddrive space. I have heard you can get netbooks with windows 7 or xp still. I have heard the processors are not good in netbooks though. So, maybe i can find a netbook with 2GB of ram and maybe a 250 of harddrive space. Oh yah and they dont have CD drives iether. but they are a bit cheaper than a full laptop.

## Post 5 by illumination (Darkness is history.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2009 9:33:34

Hopefully this laptop I'm getting tomorrow will have the requirements for Windows 7. The one I'm getting is from a friend of mine and it's running Vista right now. So quick question, if the computer i running Vista, is it likely that the hard drive is more than 160 gb?

## Post 6 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Monday, 30-Nov-2009 12:08:12

Netbooks do not run particularly well on Windows 7 (there is a good topic on that in the Geeks R Us board by Tomi).
Windows XP is more responsive and offers much better battery life on netbooks, at least so far. Hopefully serivce pack upgrades to Wndows 7 might address some of these issues.
This does not appear to happen so much on desktops or laptops running Windows 7 but be confined mroe to Netbooks specifically.
You can usually upgrade netbook memory to 2gb with little problem. Upgrading the hard drive can be hard or almost impossible I have heard, depends on the type of netbook you are getting. I think adding storage via a 32gb flash card or 250gb external drive is a better option myself, a portable 250gb usb drive is in the 50 dollar range, a 500gb version around 100 to 120.
Also an external cd/dvd burner costs between 50 and 80 dollars and works pretty well with netbooks. I went that route and just have the burner in my computer bag. I use it so seldom I am happy I do not have to carry around the extra bulk all the time.
A Vista notebook probably has 250gb or even 320gb hard drive, probably not 500gb, those are fairly recent feature of notebooks.

## Post 7 by illumination (Darkness is history.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2009 13:24:25

That's good to hear. I'm getting a Vista laptop tomorrow that I will upgrade to 7 home premium, so I wanted to make sure those laptops don't just have 70 or 80 gb hard drives in them.

## Post 8 by dave84 (Zone BBS Addict) on Monday, 30-Nov-2009 19:48:52

thanks wildebrew
for the information on that about netbooks. That answered some of my questions. That being said what are the makers of the netbooks thinking putting windows 7 on them if it does not run good on them. i was at Fryes electronics the other day and alot of netbooks they were selling had 7 on them. There was a couple of them with XP on them. Is there a certain brand you would recommend of netbook. And, i was thinking of geting a external CD drive with the netbook too that i am most likely going to get. So, good to know the average price on that too.

## Post 9 by gizmobear (move over school!) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2009 16:57:15

damn, so many choices. thanks for all the info. i am defenetley jotting these thigs down so i will be ready when it comes to buying one. cheers

## Post 10 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2009 18:10:39

I don't know about brands. I have a Samsung NC-10 and I am very happy with it. Acer and Asus seem to be pretty decent too. I fine the HP Mini way overpriced, usually costs more with worse specs and besides HP has the worst owner satisfaction rating. Toshiba apparently have a very good netbook and Dell have one, though I have not heard anything either way.
The Acer ones are definitely most prominent in the buy.com sales, for instance, selling for $240 or thereabouts.
May be Windows 7 runs ok but Jaws runs particularly badly on a Windows 7 netbook, I don't know, it is possible it is some combination of 7, netbook processor or soundcard and Jaws. I'll keep an eye out for any type of review on that, for instance, how well do they perform with System Access or NVDA.

## Post 11 by CrystalSapphire (Uzuri uongo ndani) on Tuesday, 15-Dec-2009 10:37:39

I too have the NC 10 which i'm typing on to write this message lol. I heard the Asus was good but got one before this one the wireless wouldn't work so sent it jback and got the NC 10 insteads lol. Netbooks are great especially if you'll carry it alot cause most are 2 to 3 pounds a few to several pounds lighter than laptops. :d

## Post 12 by illumination (Darkness is history.) on Tuesday, 15-Dec-2009 11:22:44

Well, as I said, I'll be getting a laptop with Pista on it, which of course I will upgrade to 7. It obviously isn't a netbook, but at least it's a laptop. lol It's taking forever for my friend to give that laptop to me because she needs virus protection for her new computer that's running 7 on it. Yes, I did tell her about the Microsot Security essentials stuff, but she's too damn stubborn to get it, and as a result, she ordered virus protection software that apparently is taking 2 centuries to come in in the mail. lol