[nabs-l] Questions About Getting New Laptop

Mon Jun 20 09:05:13 UTC 2011

Kerri,

I generally aim for midrange.  The budget models tend to cut corners 
you would rather not see cut.  I tend to avoid netbooks for that very 
reason:  Too many compromises to get the size and weight down.

That said, when I’m choosing a Mac, I tend to begin by selecting the 
base model that includes the feature I want (with my iMac purchased 
about 4 years ago, it was a 24" screen) and then start tweaking 
things to my liking from there until I get the machine that has what 
I want for what I am willing to pay.

A budget machine is only going to have a couple of years of useful 
life in it.  And it’s going to feel sluggish for those couple of 
years.  My four year old iMac is starting to feel long in the tooth, 
but it’s 4 years old!  And it was only a few hundred dollars more 
than the one I would have outgrown two years ago.

The issue with technology is that there’s a sweet spot.  If you buy 
less than that, you’re paying more than the technology is worth for 
cut-rate hardware that isn’t going to give you what you need for as 
long as you need it.  If you buy more than that, you’re paying a 
needless premium for a small increase in specs that won’t matter much 
in the long run.  If you buy at the sweet spot, you minimize your 
cash outlay for what you’re getting.

It’s not the MOST friendly website in the world for a screen reader, 
but have a look at hard drives on newegg.com.  Basic internal Serial 
ATA hard drives.  You’ll discover that you can pay $100-130 for a 
drive in the range of about 2.5 TB.  You can pay $50-80 for a 1 TB 
drive.  You can also buy bigger capacity drives, but the price starts 
to shoot up fast for only a little more storage space.  It’s not 
worth it.  The same applies to laptops, desktops, or much anything 
else in the field, for that matter.

Hope it helps some,

Joseph

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 02:00:04AM -0400, Kerri Kosten wrote:
>Hi All!
>
>Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it!
>
>I want to hopefully bring this new laptop to my upcoming trip to
>Florida to visit some family so I think I am going to just go for
>windows and maybe get a mac later when I know I'll have more time to
>spend learning voiceover.
>
>I did a quick search on Amazon for the I7 laptops and the cheapest
>prices I can find are in the $800 range.
>
>What kind of budget/price should I go for? I guess the more you pay
>the better...are the more expensive I7 processor high end laptops
>worth it over the much cheaper I3 ones?
>
>I don't want to be so cheap I get a crappy laptop but at the same time
>I don't want to get something that is overpriced and I end up getting
>screwed.
>
>For those who have purchased laptops recently did you go for the
>cheaper lower end or the more expensive higher end models?
>
>I don't mind spending the money for something good but I also don't
>want to spend a ton on something and get screwed.
>
>Thanks!
>Kerri
>
>On 6/19/11, T. Joseph Carter <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com> wrote:
>> For a JAWS user or Window Eyes user, the Mac is going to take a
>> little getting used to, but other than learning the new screen
>> reader, it functions basically as you’d expect it to.  The option to
>> use a virtual machine to run Windows exists on a Mac as well, and you
>> will find the MacBook Air in particular a joy to carry after lugging
>> around a larger, heavier laptop.
>>
>> Most ultralight PCs are cheap netbooks and pretty sluggish.  They’ve
>> got going for them the size and usually also the weight, but they
>> sacrifice much in terms of function to do it.  The difference between
>> the MacBook Air and a more conventional laptop is that it’s missing
>> optical drive and ethernet port.  And that it weighs half as much!  I
>> personally can’t imagine carrying anything else anymore.
>>
>> If you don’t mind the heavier laptop, all the advice about what to
>> look for in a good laptop (i7 being more battery efficient than i3,
>> etc.) applies to Macs as well.
>>
>> The one thing that will take getting used to if you use Windows your
>> Mac (either via BootCamp or virtual machine) is the keyboard.  You
>> will find that the Alt and Windows keys are reversed.  The keyboard
>> is basically done the way Mac keyboards have been for ages—it’s just
>> that Apple and Microsoft happen to put the "alternative function" and
>> "vendor logo function" keys in opposite locations.  I’ve gotten used
>> to using Windows that way.  To me it’s no different from using the
>> Control key versus the Command key for cut/copy/paste.  I just do
>> what’s appropriate in the environment I’m using pretty automatically.
>>
>> Joseph
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jun 19, 2011 at 07:55:28PM -0400, Kerri Kosten wrote:
>>>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
>>>
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