[nabs-l] Questions About Getting New Laptop

[Kerri Kosten]

Hi Everyone!

Well, after five years, it looks like I am going to have to get a new laptop.

I haven't had to look for a laptop in like five years so I had some questions.

First, from an accessibility/screenreader standpoint what is better
windows or Mac? Was the switch to mac from windows hard? Was voiceover
easy to get used to? Do you like your mac better than windows? I've
been told macs don't get viruses or have spyware and they seem a lot
more durable. I have a friend who says he has had one for three years
(he isn't blind) and he says other than spending some money on a
bigger hard drive and paying $25 for one of the new OS updates (I
believe it was snow lepoard) he said it works just as fast and
everything as it did the day he got it. It seems with windows the life
is only around four or five years old. Sighted people are telling me
to go with mac but I know the world is still largely dominated by
windows.

For windows users who have purchased laptops recently what things did
you look for in the laptop? What brands are people using with the
windows screenreaders? I found a Tasheba satellite on Amazon.com for
$479...it is usually $780 but has been on sale for $479. It has an I3
processor, 4 gigs of ram, 640 gig hard drive, and a 15 inch screen not
that that matters to me. Supposedly the battery lasts for five hours.
I was going to just go with this one but i noticed it is rated 3
starrs on the customer reviews and I wonder why it has dropped so much
in price on Amazon. is anyone else using a tasheba and are they good?
What things did you look for in you're laptop before purchasing it?

The laptop I will likely get has Windows 7 and is 64 BIT. Is there any
big bugs I should know about with 64 BIT, Windows 7, and Jaws? Do you
like windows 7 overall? Is it better than windows vista? My old hp
laptop had windows vista on it and my netbook (which I am typing this
on) has windows XP.

Even if Rehab or some other source purchased your laptop, I am
noticing most of the new ones have similar specks:Windows 7, a 500 gig
or bigger hard drive, I 3 and up processor, 4 gigs of ram. How fast
are these? My laptop is so old I'm kind of excited and curious to hear
about how fast the latest laptops with these new and improved specks
are.

Thanks!
Kerri