Category: Geeks r Us
Hey, i'm buying a new lap top for college. So which computer would work best for screen readers? Cause the first computer I had was horrible. I used System Access to go with HP, and the computer frequently stopped working. Any suggestions for good brands to buy?
Depends on budget and if you will get free screen readers, beyond SaToGo.
Right now you can get a MacBook for $630, nice machine, built in screen reader, down from $900 or so normally, I'd definitely give it a serious consideration.
If you are not going to do anything except schoolwork you could get a NetBook for $200 to $300 e.g. Acer or Samsung, and get $150 for System Access on it, rather than the ToGo version.
If you want to go fancy, Linovo Thinkpads are awesome, but expensive, Dell are pretty decent, Tosheba too apparently, at lest they are getting better I have heard.
I definitely would want access to a better screen reader than System Access. They are good and I applaud them, don't get me wrong, but their Excel support, for instance, is not good enough for any type of extensive use.
Good suggestions. Personally, I'm a Dell man if only that you can go online and configure the system the way you want, just take the recommendations forthe hardware if you don't know what to get, but then you can get the software you want. By this I mean Office if you need it, a trial antivirus if you need it, though there are several free offerings availa# as well as many cable -- and possibly universities may as well -- provide a license to Macaffee - sorry it's late - but anyway Dell if you go online will let you configure. Open Office is supposed to work OK on the Mac from a screenreader perspective, I don't know this, but it is open source software and supports popular formats including Microsoft Office.
I'm debating between Acer, Dell, or Toshiba. My price range is $ 700. I don't know if I'm willing to get a net book cause I want the CD drive included with the whole package. I'm sure, they have year end sales somewhere. I'm really avoiding Best Buy so if you know stores or online stores with better service or better price range, let me know. Thanks for your suggestions.
I have always had fantastic experience with www.buy.com .. good prices, quick service, the one time they had a problem they sent me a replacement item immediately. Www.newegg.com is another good one and if you have a card to Sam's Club, Costco or BJs or such club stores, they often have a small, but very reasonably priced, selection.
I've had very mixed experience with Acer, some excellent ones, at least two that were not so great.
$700 will get you a good computer though. My Linovo cost $790 but I paid $60 for an external cd/dvd drive. I use CDs so little I did not want to take up space and weight with it since my laptop is only 12 inch (but with excellent performance stats).
Again, check Linovo too, they're getting great reviews everywhere.
Start with buy.com, look for the deals and take it from there.
Cheers
-B
My old laptop was Tosheba, and i loved it as long as it stayed stable. although recently it's been really acting up. Now that i have my MacBook, ji've fallen in love with it. the speed of access is amazing and boot up times is very fast, faster than any windows machine i've ever seen.
Voiceover is also very simple and has worked with all but 1 program i've tried so far.
What program does voiceover not work with?
Acer is ok. I don't like the way their computers are designed. If you get a new computer, be sure to ask for a restore disk so you can reformat it as soon as you get it because you will have a bunch of crap to get off like all those games, ands tuff which delay boot time severely. You can use the partition that comes with it, but it will have all those games that you have when you first got the computer. Though I have never had Toshiba, I have heard that their computers are great, I have have had Dell, and their computers are great.
I used an Acer before. It was working fine, but after one year, it stopped working the way I want it to work. Toshiba, I used those before, but I'm not sure if it will work well for me or not. Same with Dell. I might get a Dell. I'll look around for sale and good models out there. Yeah, I always re format my current computer. HP really sucks big time.
I'm using hp, with jaws, and i don't have any problems with it..
granted it's vista, and, i like it,
Perhaps it was a matter of percentages
Perhaps a matter of bad luck
4 hps I've known of and have had personal experience with, 2 desktops, 2 notes have had major problems after a period of a year or 2.
5 acers, all notebooks have all developed defective parts after a year and a half.
Now perhaps some people on here have had great experience and luck with hps and acers, but I find them to be lacking in quality.
You will do as you please, but these are my experience with those brands...
the issue is not even with the operating system, some had defective wireless cards after a year's use, some ethernet chip just didn't work after some time.
I'm not insisting that there are some perfect brands out there who's components is guaranteed to work even after 5 years, but some company has much better tech support than others.
Acers have really bad tech support
Dell has gotten much better than before. their overseas people can really speak english now.
Hp does a lot of, (you doing the shipping kind of crap) for their support.
I've used 4 dells, models like e1405, d630, m1330 and they have proven over the years to be extremely reliable.
Why did you start a new post anyway, there are tons other "same" posts you could have added to?
shrug
Hope my experience helps you make an informed decision.
out of the 3 brands, Acer, Dell, and Toshiba, i'll personally either go with Dell or Toshiba. have bad history with Acer computers, lots of different problems occur with their destops and laptops. hear no good reviews on their netbooks too.
as i'm currently using Dell, i found that, their after sales service is rather great. they usually able to solve the problem within 1 or 2 working days.
I'm a big proponent of Dell's online configuration and get Dells for all my friends and family. I'll just walk them through it or whatever but that way you know what components (and what lack of bloatware) you put on. And BTW, the restore disk has an image that ... restores the bloatware.
The best computer that I had good experience with is the Nobilis.
I am now using a HP.Pavilian. I haven't had it that long to know what it is really like.
As far as hp's tech. support, forget it!
its probably a good idea to format and reinstall your os and all the apps you need every year or so to keep your windows machine running well. Oh and if you want to get a windows machine with out all the crap wear that manufactureres load their machines up with these days check out the microsoft store on the microsoft website. They resell a few dell toshiba HP and other brands but with a much cleaner install of windows than you'd get if you got it else where .
came across this in my twitter feed incase any of you guys are interested in checking out deals at the microsoft store. Great Laptop Deals at Microsoft Store http://bit.ly/78JtTe