Well, having a desktop computer being my single piece of high tech equipment since my first Commodore computer in 1983, I have LEAPED into the 21st century!
I now have a cheap refurbished 13" screen Mac Laptop. Its cosmetic condition is way better than promised by the seller (on Amazon.com). It's sole intended purpose is to visit my (and the Mews) blogging friends. I figure we can visit our friends on a more regular and timely basis if we have a laptop out in the main part of the house.
I talked to my ISP and confirmed that my existing router should accept a signal from the laptop, and I have the information they SAY is sufficient to connect. It is charging now, and I will see what happens tomorrow.
According to the seller, I have 30 days to decide if I like it, but I should know on the first day. It was cheap enough to give it a try without much concern. Security is no concern, as it won't actually have any information on it. I mean, it has a good basic set of software, but I won't be keeping any files on it. If I understand correctly, just reading blogs and not even email won't leave anything to be read except my blog-visiting history, and I can't see what good that would do anyone (though I will add firewalls and such anyway if they aren't already on there).
I do think I want to download a manual for it (wasn't included) to see what I can do with it (or should not do with it for security reasons). It's portable of course, but I don't plan to use it that way. I just wanted a remote station to read blogs and possibly browse during TV commercials. It won't have connectivity to my desktop computer (I will check on that because I don't currently WANT it to). Mostly, I need to start with one feature and see how that works.
It seems a reasonable good deal for $200. The keyboard isn't full size, but it is close. And I bought a cheap wireless mouse to go with it. I typed on it a bit before I started to charge it up and I'll have to be a bit careful. But its not like I would have to use it for extensive typing.
And who knows, maybe this will get me into more of a wireless world. Which is a bit ironic, because from 1988 to 2006, I was the Telecommunications Manager at a Federal Agency overseeing policy and operations for all the landline and wireless voice services, yet never used any of the wireless stuff myself.
Looking forward to the powered-up laptop access tomorrow!
4 comments:
Perhaps you might also find yourself playing games on it, Mark? If you've got it in the loungeroom and the adverts are on television, you could score a few points or roll the dice a couple of times instead of watching them.
Megan
Sydney, Australia
Oh I hope not! I waste too much time on games back on the desktop as it is and what I hope for the laptop is more visiting time with blogs.
Now, now - don't think of it as a 'waste' of time. Reframe it to 'investing time with distracting mental stimulation that enables you to switch off from day to day worries'. There. Doesn't that sound a whole lot better - constructive and useful even?
Megan
Sydney, Australia
I had to laugh when I read what your job title was & learning that you were just not getting Wi-Fi set up in your home. It's like the saying about a cobbler's children having no shoes. Many of us worked in various professions, but even when we retire, we are the last to be interested in doing for ourselves what we did for others all day at work. I guess that's the long way of saying "When you do something all day long for so many years, it is not at all appealing to bring your work into your home".
I have had wireless since I got my 1st laptop about 7 yrs. ago & having no technical knowledge (and I mean none) I had my printer & computer up & running in under 10 minutes with no assistance. I had to replace my 1st laptop a couple of years ago & the newer one only require a few pushes of the button following the prompts to get everything integrated & ready to use. I would think that all you need to do to keep your computers from communicating is just make sure the Mac is given a different network name. Downloading the manual is a good idea. You also want to remember to make copies of your OS & back up regularly since I doubt you would want to risk losing your posts should something happen to the computer. I've had 2 mother boards go belly up & there is nothing worse that a dead computer with all yours stuff traped inside permanently. At least now you have another computer should anything crash on one, at least you will be able to troubleshoot from your 2nd computer. I hate having a screen freeze and you can't even look some solution up without a working computer. If you keep all you phone contacts on computer like I do, it's not a bad idea to put a copy on your 2nd computer in case one ever shuts down.
I've never worked on a Mac. People I know who use the swear they wouldn't trade them for anything else. Since I'm not a gamer or into artsey-fartsey stuff I figured a Mac's best features would be wasted on me & not worth the added cost. I have heard that there is a bit of a learning curve when switching to a Mac. You'll have to tell me if that's true once you have used yours for while. I've always use Norton 360 for security & I always been pleased with how little spam gets through (almost none) and I've never had a problem with viruses and the few times I was warned of a significant threat, Norton had already taken care of it before I even saw the message. I always it through an auction on ebay for a fraction of the price Symantics charges on it's website or the inflated retail prices.
I guess having 2 computers is one way to compartmentalize your blog life from the rest of your computer use. If nothing else, you shouldn't run out of space for a very long time since your text won't take up much space. Have fun tomorrow when it is all charged up. Hopefully, the place you bought you Mac from wiped it clean before sending it to you. It would probably be best to run your security/antivirus program to make sure no viruses or other unwanted surprises are lurking inside that Mac. I hope it is a breeze for you to get it set up & running. Hopefully, this Mac will be a good solution to focusing more on your own blog posts as well as following your favorite blogs.
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