Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-07-2014, 06:25 PM   #61
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
martyp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Thailand countryside, Sisaket province
Posts: 1,331
A couple of years ago I replaced my PC desktop with a 13" MacBook Air. The MacBook is more like a tablet than a PC in my mind. At home I hook it up to a larger Dell monitor. If I leave the house with a computer I still need the power of a laptop for my volunteer work. Otherwise my "outside" computer is my iPhone which fits in my pocket.

I'm not comfortable with using the Cloud for all my data storage which is mostly photos and video. However, I open to giving tablets another chance in a few years.
__________________
Happy, Wild, and Free
martyp is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 02-07-2014, 07:13 PM   #62
Moderator Emeritus
aja8888's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,645
Quote:
Originally Posted by easysurfer View Post
How well does Classic Shell make the desktop look like XP?
I'd have to say it's close and probably looks more like Win 7, but XP and 7 are like brothers. Not that I am resistant to change, I just don't see change being made just to promote a new product, when underneath, it's not readily distinguishable.

A few years ago, I was at a packaging plant in Canada that custom packaged cosmetics, soaps, deodorants, lotions, etc. I asked the Production Manager how he handles product upgrades (i.e. "new and improved", etc). He said the customer's formulations don't necessarily change, but what they change is some minor packaging feature such as bottle color, dispensing spout, grip, etc. He said the marketing is a gimmick and rarely is their any formulation changes. (kind of what MS has been doing with Windows)
aja8888 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 07:26 PM   #63
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
easysurfer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,130
Quote:
Originally Posted by aja8888 View Post
I'd have to say it's close and probably looks more like Win 7, but XP and 7 are like brothers. Not that I am resistant to change, I just don't see change being made just to promote a new product, when underneath, it's not readily distinguishable.

A few years ago, I was at a packaging plant in Canada that custom packaged cosmetics, soaps, deodorants, lotions, etc. I asked the Production Manager how he handles product upgrades (i.e. "new and improved", etc). He said the customer's formulations don't necessarily change, but what they change is some minor packaging feature such as bottle color, dispensing spout, grip, etc. He said the marketing is a gimmick and rarely is their any formulation changes. (kind of what MS has been doing with Windows)
Thanks for the info.

I remember back in my old high school consumer ed class where "new and improved" for laundry detergent can really mean a redesign of the box appearance and not the detergent itself
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
easysurfer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 07:41 PM   #64
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
jollystomper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 6,135
Much of the fun part of my job and my hobby requires server PCs, so I'll keep them and laptops around for a bit. I may consolidate the current physical systems (too many for any sane person ) using virtualization, but I enjoy playing with various operating system platforms so they will continue to be part of my "home cloud datacenter" plan.
__________________
FIREd date: June 26, 2018 - "This Happy Feeling, Going Round and Round!" (GQ)
jollystomper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 07:51 PM   #65
Administrator
Alan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,056
We got rid of our desktops the year after we retired and switched to Windows laptops. At home they are usually connected to large monitors and full size keyboards and mice. We are both heavy spreadsheet users.

A year ago I bought an iPad and DW an iPod Touch and used them for the 5 months we were out of the country. This year for our 5 months out of the country DW is going to take her laptop while I take my iPad. (I can use her laptop for my spreadsheet work)

I can't see us going back to a desktop PC or 100% onto tablets anytime soon.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
Alan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 08:38 PM   #66
Recycles dryer sheets
comicbookgujy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 178
I use my PC with 27 inch monitor most of the time at home. When I go to the toilet, that's when I use my tablet.

When I'm away from home, that's where I use my smartphone.

Don't ever see that changing. Why would I give up a PC with 27 inch monitor for a 7 inch tablet?
comicbookgujy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 08:49 PM   #67
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
steelyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NC Triangle
Posts: 5,807
Quote:
Originally Posted by comicbookgujy View Post
IWhen I go to the toilet, that's when I use my tablet.

I never called it my tablet, but I will take another look.
__________________

steelyman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 08:55 PM   #68
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,008
We got rid of our desktops 10 years ago.

But I will continue with my laptop because I like to edit photos as well as video. We also do a bunch of accounting.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 09:04 PM   #69
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,008
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
Not surprised as it follows the sales trends, but I find all the laptops instead of desktops for those who have tablets puzzling. I thought I'd buy a laptop to replace the old desktop. But you get a lot more for your $ with a desktop vs a laptop AND you can use the tablet when you need mobility. I don't see any advantage to a laptop unless you use it outside the home a lot.

It appears I'm going to have a desktop and tablet for the foreseeable future.

Again, not a criticism, I'm just different...
A desktop requires a desk?

Yes, we use the mobility of laptops, especially inside the house.

I like not being tied to a desk, and we don't have room for desks either. Especially with two of us using computers all the time.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:02 PM   #70
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,821
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
Not surprised as it follows the sales trends, but I find all the laptops instead of desktops for those who have tablets puzzling. ...
Maybe they already had the laptop when they bought the tablet? And then, if they went back to a desktop, that might mean an added monitor purchase - at that point, people might just stick with a laptop?

There is another reason for laptops over desktops - they are so small and compact and self-contained, they are more adaptable to re-purpose. I use my old netbook as a music player, and for a few other misc tasks. A lot easier to pick it up and move it from the main stereo in the living room, to the porch or elsewhere than to move a desktop and monitor. And the netbook sits on a shelf in the living room w/o being conspicuous when not in use - just close the lid.

-ERD50
ERD50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:07 PM   #71
Full time employment: Posting here.
JakeBrake's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Southeast USA
Posts: 548
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
Just ordered a Dell XPS 8700** for $650 and Office 2013 Home & Business (DW edict) for $180. An iMac would have been a nice toy, but I'd have to learn a new OS-X & software and spend about $1800-2000 all up. Since I already use the desktop only 20% of the time and DW uses it never, might was well save $ and stick with the (Windows) devil we know. Now I need to research how best to migrate files (without bringing viruses, etc. across) and delete bloatware from the new PC.

I want to plug it into our family room TV with HDMI, but DW glared at me when I surfaced the idea.

Will be quite an upgrade from Vista and Office 2003 (believe it or not). We'll use the old 19" LCD monitor, printer, router, etc.

Funny, buying a new PC was always an event for me. Now it's truly just another appliance for us, unlike mobile devices. My next iPad will cost more than our new PC (if they put out the rumored 12.9").

** Win 8.1, 4th Gen i5, 8G RAM, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA GPU and all the desirable ports & doo-dads.
Did you consider an All-In-One Dell desktop? I'm using a 2004 Dell desktop running XP, so I will have to buy a replacement soon.

I may buy whatever looks good on QVC.
JakeBrake is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:08 PM   #72
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Too early for me to even think about "post PC". I still have 6 PCs in the home, 3 running Windows 7, 2 running XP, 1 running Windows Server. Plus 1 laptop, and 3 netbooks, all running Win 7.

Note: Other than 2 newly added iPhones, no iPad or tablets here.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:26 PM   #73
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
samclem's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
My laptop (Windows 7) is my main machine, when it dies I'll get another one or >maybe< a Windows tablet if I see any applications that I'd really use that need the touchscreen. If my peepers get worse I can plug in a bigger monitor for use at home, and when I want to travel I just take the laptop. Windows is what I know, the software I use runs on it, Apple hardware is more expensive, and learning a new OS is not my idea of a good time.

I've got an iPad, it is a single-use device (navigation in an airplane). I never use it at home--too hard to do anything that I can already do on a laptop. I do not find the device or its OS to be intuitive, but at least it is stable (important in this use).
samclem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:41 PM   #74
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Kerrville,Tx
Posts: 3,361
Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Tom View Post
It's compressed, but to the lossless FLAC format. I also scan the entire CD booklet, jewel case tray insert, and even the CD. All these images are scanned at 300dpi and stored as lossless PNG files.

It represents my CD collection, which used to number ~10,000 but is now down to about half of that. I may hang onto some of the CD's but plan to have them all archived digitally in a few years hopefully. Doing this will help me to put less stuff in storage if I ever go the full-time RV route. It's not just the CD's, but also the racks they are in. It's a pain in the behind hauling all this stuff around when I move!

As for organizing it, I have CD racks lining the wall of my apartment. Everything is alphabetized and divided into separate sections - Rock/Pop/Hip Hop, Jazz, World, Blues, Folk, Reggae, Electronic, Classical, Holiday music. Each section has a separate section at the end for compilations.

No, I haven't listened to all of it yet. The funny thing is that when listening, I keep coming back to the same old albums, despite having a fairly sizable collection.
Note if you use media player (at least on Windows 8) it will go out to the web and download the track labels and art. In most cases its correct, one may find the every so often the track titles in another language. Rarely the database will get 2 cds confused, since it uses track lengths to identify cds.
Now after downloading one may have to fix the meta data. For example since I almost exclusivly have what the database terms as classical, I broke it up into Baroque, true classical (Hayden thru Beethoven). Romantic, and Post Romantic. So I had to edit the genres. Since the composers names may be formatted differently I had to fix it so I could use media player to locate by composer.

I also bought a USB turntable and digitized the 200 or so albums I had. There you do have to enter the info yourself, but often can get a copy of the cover art from folks who have the records for sale on Amazon. In this case I made the tracks side 1 and side 2, just they way you would have done with the old record changer.
meierlde is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 10:53 PM   #75
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Ed_The_Gypsy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: the City of Subdued Excitement
Posts: 5,588
We have a family WIN 7 desktop, a couple of WIN 7 laptops, an iPad, an Android tablet and I have an Android phone. We live outside the country at the moment with our portable stuff. When we are home, we use the desktop (transfer photos, music, documents, etc., while we are home). I also have a couple of old desktops with Linux. We upgrade the hard disks when needed and replace the printers when they die.

When we come home to stay, I am going to use Linux or BSD and open software exclusively and keep the laptop for emergencies. I feel no need to feed Microsoft. DW will probably keep using her Windows laptop and the family machine. We will continue to replace hard disks and printers when they die.
__________________
I have outlived most of the people I don't like and I am working on the rest.
Ed_The_Gypsy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 03:59 AM   #76
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
bUU's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,240
My laptop is dying. (The battery is completely dead - big red X through the tray icon. And the screen got all scratched up when the laptop slipped out of my hand as I was struggling to read the 3 point type of the service tag number, when I was trying to buy a replacement battery.) I do too much heavy lifting for church with my laptop to not have one - audio, photo and video editing; putting together sermons, orders of service, and worship discussion group handouts; administering the website; etc.

I'm also pretty demanding of, and pretty demanding on my laptop. I've sought out the laptop that will give me the best performance for the money, one that can take what I give it and still be robust. I've decided to buy a gaming laptop. They're not as rugged as those military laptops, but they're also not as expensive! I should have it in a week. It is a complete desktop replacement. It's heavy, but that'll be okay because it moves about 20 feet a day, from one part of the house to the other.

We have a desktop, but just to store files. It doesn't actually do much else. I tried booting up Quicken Lifetime Planner in it and it crashed. It sits in the corner of the room, on the network, without keyboard, mouse or monitor.

And then we each have a tablet. That's our portable media/news reader/email reader/forum reader solution. We mostly use them for taking notes at meetings. They're not good for much more than that. They cannot run Quicken, or edit video, etc.
bUU is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 06:35 AM   #77
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Midpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,204
Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeBrake View Post
Did you consider an All-In-One Dell desktop? I'm using a 2004 Dell desktop running XP, so I will have to buy a replacement soon.

I may buy whatever looks good on QVC.
Yes, the iMac is an AIO and I did look at Dell, Lenovo, HP and Acer AIO's. But since I have a decent LCD and large, vertical touchscreen is just a novelty IMO, a tower was just more bang for the hardware buck. Maybe next time, though I expect convergence to change things considerably in 5-6 years. I expect Apple to have something radically different by then, even without Steve Jobs.
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57

Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
Midpack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 07:11 AM   #78
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Brett_Cameron's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: South Eastern USA
Posts: 1,068
I have a 2009 Gateway FX gaming model running Win 7 64 bit OS.
DS10 has a 2012 $300 Win 7 laptop and iPad2
DS17 has a 2012 Mac Pro and iPad3
DW has 2013 iPad Mini.
I have an HP Touchpad running Android and a Samsung S4 smartphone.

I will replace the functionality of the Gateway when it dies, not sure what it will be but probably will be another desktop.

I dislike laptops.
__________________
All that glitters is not gold. -G. Chaucer, W. Shakespeare
All that is gold does not glitter. -J.R.R. Tolkien
Brett_Cameron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 09:04 AM   #79
Full time employment: Posting here.
sailor's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Atlanta suburbs
Posts: 898
Quote:
Originally Posted by bUU View Post
We have a desktop, but just to store files. It doesn't actually do much else. I tried booting up Quicken Lifetime Planner in it and it crashed. It sits in the corner of the room, on the network, without keyboard, mouse or monitor.
In the spirit of LBYM I'd like to point out, that might cost you north of $100 a year for the electricity. My desktop runs @ 110W idle, with my electricity prices 10c/kWh that comes to about $100 a year.
Dedicated NAS devices tend to be much less thirsty.
Even lower power consumption are external usb hard drives (the USB powered are only 2.5W, but need to be attached to a pc [although some routers/access points can have attached storage nowadays] )
Lowest power consumption are solid state devices, but these are pricey per unit of storage.
sailor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 09:15 AM   #80
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,821
Quote:
Originally Posted by Midpack View Post
Yes, the iMac is an AIO and I did look at Dell, Lenovo, HP and Acer AIO's. But since I have a decent LCD and large, vertical touchscreen is just a novelty IMO, a tower was just more bang for the hardware buck. Maybe next time, though I expect convergence to change things considerably in 5-6 years. I expect Apple to have something radically different by then, even without Steve Jobs.
I think you are right about vertical touch screens. Back in the distant past, we set up vertical touchscreens for some data entry on our production lines (Mac SEs running Hyper-Card, IIRC with a 3rd party touch overlay). We were pretty proud of these things, really high tech at the time - just point to the problem component on the picture on the screen, up pops a list of defects to choose from. What could be easier?

The operators hated it. Lifting your arm up like that and doing precise selections is surprisingly fatiguing. In no time, they were back to using the mouse. I guess we just didn't have room to lay the screens down to orient it that way.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy View Post
...
When we come home to stay, I am going to use Linux or BSD and open software exclusively and keep the laptop for emergencies. I feel no need to feed Microsoft. DW will probably keep using her Windows laptop and the family machine. We will continue to replace hard disks and printers when they die.
Maybe after the 14.04 Long Term Release is out for Ubuntu, I'll set up DWs MacBookPro to dual boot. It'd be interesting to see if she'd have any problems using Ubuntu, and maybe buy a generic laptop when she needs to replace hers (she's not a power user, so that will probably be a long time out, and she uses her iPad 80% of the time). OTOH, it's kinda nice to have an OSX machine around, just in case something isn't supported in Linux (but these are really far and few between for me). And the 'Apple premium' really isn't so bad for their entry level laptops.

Quote:
Originally Posted by meierlde View Post
Note if you use media player (at least on Windows 8) it will go out to the web and download the track labels and art. In most cases its correct, one may find the every so often the track titles in another language. Rarely the database will get 2 cds confused, since it uses track lengths to identify cds.

...

I also bought a USB turntable and digitized the 200 or so albums I had. There you do have to enter the info yourself, but often can get a copy of the cover art from folks who have the records for sale on Amazon. In this case I made the tracks side 1 and side 2, just they way you would have done with the old record changer.
Pretty sure all the modern CD rippers will get the track data and cover art from the internet (my Linux tools do that). But you don't easily find all the info, liner notes, booklets, label art, etc - it is just the cover.

I was disappointed in this when I first started ripping my CDs. I really thought those databases would have everything in them - composer, musicians and instruments on every track, producer, recording date, etc. I'd love to be able to search my music, and say "Make a playlist for all songs with David Holland on bass". When I listen to vinyl, I always find it interesting to see which musicians are backing up others. You see some pretty big names pop up on other artists music, or less-famous session artists on lots of different tunes.

I've also been tweaking the 'genre' metadata with my own codes, so I can easily make playlists of sub-genres.

-ERD50
ERD50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
"If you like your plan, you can keep it" dgoldenz FIRE Related Public Policy 9 07-17-2010 07:15 PM
Does your employer sponsored 401k plan utilize a third party plan advisor? Disappointed FIRE and Money 13 03-25-2008 03:12 AM
Stock Market Decline-Tests your beliefs - Have a plan and work the plan dex FIRE and Money 21 08-18-2007 01:24 PM
What's your Plan "B"? RockMiner Life after FIRE 28 05-23-2005 08:48 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:16 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.