I need a new computer – should I get a desktop, a laptop or a netbook?

When looking at purchasing a new system, the most important thing to consider is what is it’s primary role? There are different tools for different jobs – and in technology, there’s no exceptions to that rule.

Netbooks have been growing in popularity the last couple of years. They’re sub-miniature laptops with smaller displays, smaller keyboards – and considerably reduced weight. This makes them ideal for people who need a computer of some sort, but don’t want to be carrying an oversized bag, or a satchel to place it in.

There are of course some pro’s and cons with netbooks.

Size: Smaller, which means easier to carry/ conceal also makes it harder to type longer emails / documents on.

Power: These units aren’t as powerful as a laptop. They’re ideal for web browsing, emailing, even using to present a slideshow on – but not powerful enough for gaming or intense video editing, or 3D applications (such as CAD drawings, or 3D animation).

Notebooks / Laptops (both refer to the same device) are handy for people who are on the go: whether for work, for school/university study or travelers. They can provide an excellent mobile platform for your computing needs. The amount you spend on your laptop will determine the ‘return on investment’ of it. ie. If you spend $800 on a laptop, it will most likely service your needs for the next 1 ~ 3 years (depending on what those needs are). If you spend $2000 on a laptop, it will most likely service your needs for between 3 ~ 6 years (at the most!). Laptops are highly condensed versions of desktops – and so, they’re more susceptible to heat problems, and components can fail in them more readily than in a desktop. This is due to the all-in-one, miniaturised nature of the system, which also makes them more difficult to repair

Many people are opting to buy laptops for home computers these days, because they ‘appear’ cheaper, and because it means that it can be moved from the study, to the kitchen, to sitting on the lounge whilst browsing the internet. This mobility factor, which is great for people on the go – is also a hazard in the home. We’ve found that often people can drop laptops, are handled ‘rougher’ by younger children / teens, or are more prone to accidents such as sharing tea or coffee with the device.

Unless you can think of a reason why ‘portability’ is critical in a home environment, we would recommend a desktop system at home.

Desktop systems are what we’re used to seeing in the home and office, and they’ve come a long way in the last 10 years, both in technology and price. Most desktops are able to do whatever you want them to these days; the sheer power available is incredible.

They are also able to be upgraded/repaired more easily than laptops, because the parts aren’t all combined into ‘one’ main system board. So, if you decide in a couple years you want to try doing something that is more graphically intensive, requiring a newer/better video card, you can easily get that upgraded in your system. Or if you find that the system isn’t performing ‘as well’ as it used to, it can have more memory put into it. Desktops can last longer than notebooks or netbooks, because they’re not usually subjected to unnatural force, and suit general ‘home requirements’ of browsing the internet, emailing, word processing, and even doing home work quite well.

Whichever option you look at, it’s important to remember what the computer’s key purpose in life is.

If you require assistance with purchasing a system, or information about how to overcome potential limitations, please contact the Tech Doctor Office: 1300 832 437

No, I wasn’t driving and using a computer!

I have recently reset up my “gym” room at home, now that the office has moved out. One of the things I have in my gym is a computer in front of the treadmill so I can watch informative tech news and tutorials as I walk/run.

Of course, not having been used for several months, there were a heap of updates to be done, so my first ride on the treadmill was mostly doing software updates. I also uninstalled AVG8 so that I could replace it with my new preferred free AV: Microsoft Security Essentials. In the process of Uninstalling (using the control deck of the treadmill as a mouse pad) I accidentally hit the treadmill’s 8Km/h button with my wrist and found myself at a bit of a run as I was going. Hi speed Uninstalls. I found I was (just, slowly) able to use the mouse while running at 8Km/h

In total the updates took considerably longer than the 20 minutes I spent on the treadmill, what with the AV change, iTunes Updates & Windows Updates, all on a somewhat underpowered machine to begin with (though fine for watching iTunes Video). I ended up finishing the job by Remote Control.

I just found this cute little how-to on repairing an Ethernet plug that has lost it’s catch:

Repair a Broken Ethernet Plug – More DIY How To Projects

http://www.instructables.com/id/Repair-a-Broken-Ethernet-Plug/

I’m not sure it’s all that practical for a $2-$5 cable, but if you’ve got a longer one or it runs under the floor or behind some bookcases, it might be worth a bit of time to fix it up.

Often times we can receive a file we think is genuine, but may not be 100% sure, especially when they are sent to published email addresses for business sales or enquiries.

Of course the safe answer is to delete it, but another solution is to check it with Virus Total.

Virus Total “is a service that analyzes suspicious files and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware detected by antivirus engines” It will process your file through 40 or more Malware scanners and give you a list which scanner found what nasty in the file (or that it is clean)

It’s a wonderful resource for peace of mind.

Internet connection speeds vary greatly from connection type to connection type and from location to location, so how do you know how fast you are connecting to the internet and  how fast is fast enough?

Theoretical speeds vary from 65Kb/sec dial up through to high speed ADSL/Cable connections at 20Mb/sec or more.

Some sample speeds are:

Of course, these are all technical maximum speeds, with things like line quality and distance having huge effects on the speed you will actually achieve to your computer.

How do I test my real connection speed?

The easiest way is to visit www.speedtest.net* and once the flash has loaded/installed, click on the orange triangle that represents your nearest server or the button near the top that says “Start test to recommended server – Melbourne” in my case.

The system will do a ping test then test both the Download an Upload speeds:

How fast does it need to be?

that depends on what your usage scenario is. For basic use we recommend the 512Kb plans, though with many ISP’s you will find you can upgrade to the 1,500 Kb (three times the speed) for only about $10 per month more). The 1,500 Kb plan is the base speed for a small business, and many would reap the productivity improvements of a 8,000 Kb or 20,000 Kb connection.

* It’s worth noting that speedtest.net is an ad supported website. Don’t be confused by the ads, and don’t click on the ads, unless you want to.

We frequently get asked a range of questions regarding Office:  Isn’t it the same as Windows? Do I have it? Do I need it? Why am I being told it’s not genuine? How do I get it? How much is it? Why does it cost so much?  What are the different Versions? Is there an alternative?

And the answers are:

Isn’t Office the same as (or part of) Windows? No. Microsoft Windows is the base Operating System your computer needs to start up. Microsoft Office is a suite of applications that give you the ability to process documents (Word), numbers (Excel), presentations (Power Point) and sometimes email (Outlook), desktop publishing (Publisher) and databases (Access)

Do I have Microsoft Office? Usually, Yes. Most people end up with it on their computer, though a significantly smaller group actually purchase a legal license to use it

Do I need Office? More often than not, Most computer users will need a Word Processor and sometimes a spreadsheet (calculation) application on their computer, though Microsoft Office may not be the best one for your needs, it is certainly the most common.

Why am I being told Microsoft Office is not genuine? Recently Microsoft has been including updates in it’s Microsoft/Windows Update packages that check for a variety of well known serial numbers that have been used in pirate copies of Office and flagging them as non-genuine. At the moment, these notices are merely an annoyance, though Microsoft has made noises at various times about making life difficult for users of pirate software. Many people get their copy of office ‘from a friend’ or off the internet, not really realising that this is piracy. See our post on What is Software Piracy?

How do I get it? The Tech Doctor will happily sell you a genuine copy of Office, either for an existing machine, or on any new system you buy.

How much is it? Office varies in price depending on which/how many of the individual applications you want and whether you are buying it for an existing machine, with a new machine or maybe an academic versions or one of the volume licenses. A safe bet is it is likely to set you back between $400 and $700 per machine for business users. Home users can buy a “not for commercial use”  Home & Student Edition for around $150.

Why does it cost so much? Good Question. Is software so expensive because people pirate it, or do people pirate it because it is so expensive? The fact is Microsoft has put a lot of work into the development of Office over many years and spent millions in R&D creating the software. They are a business and they want to make money selling their software and, on top of that they know a portion of users will steal the software rather than pay for it.

What are the different Versions? The different generations of Office have been largely numbered by years and progressed from (in recent history) Windows Versions are: 4.3, 95, 97, 2000, 2002 (XP) 2003, 2007 and soon to be released 2010. Mac versions are: 4.2, 98, 2001 v.X, 2004, 2008 and soon to be released 2010. The various collections of individual applications are: Basic (Word, Excel, Outlook), Home & Student (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, One-Note), Standard (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook), Small Business (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Outlook), Professional (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Outlook, Access), Ultimate (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, Access, Outlook, One Note and more..)

Is there an alternative? Yes, there is. OpenOffice.org offers a suite of free, compatible applications that will read and write Microsoft Office files and are about 90% feature complete* and 95% compatible with Microsoft Office features.

*Most people only use less than 5% of the features of Microsoft Office. I remember hearing at one stage that in a study done by Microsoft, where they surveyed a substantial group of their customers asking about new features that the users would like to have in Office, over 85% of the features requested were already part of the application.

Most of the time, when you “buy” software, you are in fact buying a license to use that software, according to the end user license agreement that pops up when you install it (and that no-one reads). That agreement usually states that you cannot install the software on more than one computer.

Software piracy is the illegal installation or use of software on computer. There are various forms of piracy, from “lending” someone a copy of your installation CD & Key, Retail piracy, where a computer is sold with pirated software installed, through to large scale operations that reproduce and sell counterfeit copies of software in the same way they do movies & CDs.

In some cases, the end user is a victim of the piracy as much as the original software company is, in that the purchaser may have thought they were getting a genuine license, but they did not, and are left without CDs, License Keys, Support or Updates. It pays to check that you are getting genuine software.

From the Adobe Website: “Whether software piracy is deliberate or not, it is still illegal and punishable by law.”

Recently the Tech Doctor completed the upgrade of a company from running outdated and illegal copies of Microsoft Office software to fully legal and free Open Office for general office applications, Thunderbird for email, and Google Calender for Shared Calendars

The upgrade cost approx $900 in labour costs (over 7 machines) but saved the company directors the sleepless nights worrying over thousands of dollars worth of fines and $2-3000 off the purchase of genuine Microsoft Office.

Can you tell which of the following pictures are real photos and which ones are created by a computer graphics artist?

http://www.autodesk.com/eng/etc/fakeorfoto/quiz.html

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12601003

Mark’s score: 8/10

We have all of this wonderful technology all around us, and sometimes we just need to think a little outside of the box to use it. A few weeks before Christmas I needed a spare part for our Washing Machine. I knew there was a company in Ringwood that would sell the part, but I didn’t want to drive out there unless I knew they were open and had the part in stock.

I knew exactly where they were located, but I had no idea of the name of the company, or even the street name and could not find the invoice from the last thing I’d purchased there. What to do? I guess I could have tried the yellow pages to see if I could work out what heading they were under and search each item for Ringwood, but instead I turned to technology. In this case: Google Maps with Streetview.

I went to maps.google.com and found the street by looking up a street I knew was in the area and moving around until I found the street I wanted. I had to slide up the street a bit to find the shop I wanted, and then a bit further to get past a tree on the nature strip, but I was presented with a fairly clear view of the shop I wanted. Unfortunately for them, the company name was not exactly legible from the photo, but fortunately the phone number was visible, so I was able to call them up and check if the part was in stock. 3-4 minutes work was all it took and I had the answer I wanted, including opening hours so that I could plan it into my next trip to Ringwood.

Technology saves the day. And by the way, if you need Washing Machine/Dishwasher spares, I highly recommend Save on Spares ph 131 350, though their website needs a bit of work.

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