[nabs-l] Questions About Getting New Laptop

Josh Gregory joshkart12 at gmail.com
Mon Jun 20 23:00:20 UTC 2011 

Out of curiosity, what's the cloud?
Best,
Josh

sent from my Apex
Email: joshkart12 at gmail.com

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Ignasi Cambra <ignasicambra at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:57:05 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Questions About Getting New Laptop

It works well for me.  Docuscan is a good product and it stores 
your documents in the cloud so that you can get them from any 
computer.
On Jun 20, 2011, at 5:29 PM, Kirt Manwaring wrote:

 I know Serotek has an OCR for the mac...I think it's called 
Docuscan
 or something.  Not sure how well it compares to Kerzweil or 
open-book,
 though.
  Best,
 kirt

 On 6/20/11, Jorge Paez <computertechjorgepaez at gmail.com> wrote:
 Yes.
 Open Book is only for Windows.
 And no, there is no software for Mac.
 And don't even try to run Windows on your Mac via bootcamp, I 
know from
 experience that slows your computer to at least a forth of its 
usual speed.


 On Jun 20, 2011, at 3:19 PM, Katie Wang wrote:

 Hi, all,
 I have been following this thread as I'm also planning to 
purchase a
 new laptop within the next year or so (my current one still runs
 Windows XP).  One question for those of you who use and like 
Macs: Is
 there some sort of OCR sofftware that works with Macs? I 
regularly use
 Open Book to scan documents or convert pdf files into a more
 accessible format, but from what I understand it only works on 
Windows
 machines.  Is that correct? Thanks!
  Katie


 On 6/20/11, Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com> wrote:
 Florida? Are you going to convention while you're there?

 Chris

 "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities 
motto)
 To learn more about Camp Abilities and find a local camp near
 you, just click on this link to their national Web site:
 www.campabilities.org.

 The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps visually impaired youth in
 Maryland have the ability to confidently say "I can!" How? Click
 on this link to learn more and to contribute:
 www.icanfoundation.info.

 Sent from my BrailleNote

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>,"T.  Joseph Carter" 
<carter.tjoseph at gmail.com
 Date sent: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:00:04 -0400
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Questions About Getting New Laptop

 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 youë­— 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.
 Theyë­­e
 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 itë­©
 missing
 optical drive and ethernet port.  And that it weighs half as
 much!  I
 personally canë­ª imagine carrying anything else anymore.

 If you donë­ª 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 
ages뾦t뭩
 just
 that Apple and Microsoft happen to put the "alternative
 function" and
 "vendor logo function" keys in opposite locations.  Ië­­e 
gotten
 used
 to using Windows that way.  To me itë­© no different from using
 the
 Control key versus the Command key for cut/copy/paste.  I just
 do
 whatë­© appropriate in the environment Ië­¢ 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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