[nfbcs] new laptop

[Jim Barbour]

I agree with Nicole.  Every laptop I've ever owned has been a Dell or
Lenovo.  Lenovo's are nice laptops.  Dell laptops tend to be larger
and not as well made, but they're fine.

As to how a particular laptop will handle your programming and
modeling needs (RNAfold), this is mostly not about the brand of
laptop, but more about the hardware configuration of your laptop.  You
should find out if RNAfold and your java code can take advantages of
multiple cores.  If so, then you should consider a laptop with
Quadcore CPUs. Most brands of laptop will have this configuration.
You'll pay for it, but it'll be worth it if you programs can take
advantage of multiple cores.  Also, memory is always a constraint.
That is, the more the better is almost always true.

Another point is that your current laptop may be slowing down because
of software that you've inadvertantly installed on it.  If you want to
try and save your current laptop, you can try restoring the original
OS, reinstalling JAWS, adding all Microsoft updates, and then adding
Microsoft Security Essentials, and then instaling your other
applications.  Doing these things will likely speed up your laptop
considerably.

As for the mac, voiceover does not support any kind of scripting.  So,
if your needs for a spreadsheet stray outside of what is provided out
of the box, then you're better off sticking with Windows.  Since all
macs have voiceover installed by default, you might be able to either
test on a friend's laptop, or go to an Apple store and try a mac
there.  It'll probably take a few 1 hour sessions to get used to
voiceover, learn a bit about the tools you'll want to use, and make a decision.

If you don't want to do this research, then I'd stick with Windows and
your screen reader of choice.

Hope this is useful,

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 09:32:48AM -0800, Nicole Torcolini wrote:
> Why not Lenovo? The company for which I work uses Lenovo laptops, and they
> work fine. I joke about mine being the energizer  laptop as its battery
> lasts for like 5 hours. I also don't know what's wrong with a Dell. My
> personal laptop is a Dell.
> In general, please try to give reasons for suggestions, especially if they
> might just be personal preference.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Denise Robinson
> Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 3:54 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] new laptop
> 
> Kevin
> Yes more RAM and a faster processor will fix this issue. Don't get Lenovo.
> Go with HP, Asus, Samsung, viao...other good ones, but steer away from dell
> or Lenovo 
> 
> 
> 
> Denise M Robinson
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On Feb 23, 2013, at 4:28 PM, "Currin, Kevin" <kwcurrin at live.unc.edu> wrote:
> 
> > Hello Everyone,
> > 
> > I have had a Lenovo thinkpad t410 for the past two and a half years.
> However, its become quite slow and freezes frequently. I know that jaws
> causes is responsible for a lot of the lag. Would getting a new laptop with
> more memory at all help with this issue, or does jaws slow computers down
> the same amount regardless of memory? 
> > 
> > I am also looking for a computer that can handle java programming in
> eclipse and running other things like RNAfold under cygwin. 
> > 
> > I've heard that voice over on mac's isn't nearly as powerful as jaws when
> it comes to doing programming and math/science things with excel and such.
> Is this true? Should I stick with a PC if I want to do science and
> programming stuff?
> > 
> > Sorry for the scatteredness of this email.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Kevin
> > 
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