Name says a lot.
Talk with colleagues, your kids and grandkids, and friends. If they have a computer, they have invaluable insight. Each computer manufacturer has different levels of support, and some are better known for different kinds of support. DELL – has excellent on site service, but the phone support is off‐shored and often difficult to understand (from experience). HP – has okay phone support and very good resources online. A perk to HP – most Academic Computing Techs are very familiar in HP products.
Places to start looking.
Ideally, start looking for laptops somewhere you can play around with them. Best Buy and Circuit City offer wide selections of laptops, including Macs. While their staff is helpful, if you let them know you are merely checking things out, they’ll also help guide you. If you are interested in a personal consultation, please email me direct at Nathan@WildDesign.biz or Beau@WildDesign.biz. We will be happy to help you shop around and suggest good places to look.
WildDesign Studios LLC
415 Canal St. Princeton, WI54968 www.WildDesign.biz
Pick A Laptop
UWO Classified Staff Appreciation Day [June 5, 2009]
Laptops are unique.
Laptops have become one of the most uniquely developed commodities in society today. With name brands such as HP and Dell to lesser‐known names as Lenovo and Acer, there is a laptop out there for everyone. Right? Wrong! Not everyone wants a laptop, but most desktops today are easily interchanged with laptops and notebook computers that serve the same purpose, with less wasted space.
What do I look for?
Know what you want to use your laptop for.
Every reason you want a laptop should be looked at. If you are looking for something light, easily packed, durable, and don’t mind a smaller than usual keyboard – a NETBOOK is ideal for you. Net books, such as HP XXXXX and Acer’s Net book are available for as low as $250.00 (Walmart.com). Downfalls: They do not include an optical drive (CD‐ ROM, DVD‐ROM/ DVD+/‐). For someone interested in word processing, sending email and something to surf the Internet while relaxing in the Easy Chair at home, a more traditional laptop may be ideal. HP and Dell have economized their laptops, and are available from BestBuy.com and Wal‐mart starting around $475.00. • As a guideline, these are some things you should keep in mind while shopping around. • • RAM: Net book: 1GB; standard: 2GB Hard drive: don’t look for anything less than 120GB. Anything more than 500GB is probably more than you’ll need UNLESS… o You want to store thousands of pictures, movies or songs.
MAC vs. PC: The decision is totally a personal preference. For a typical user, you’ll find a PC a more economical selection. If you want a higher‐end computer for graphic design, etc. a MAC may be ideal…or if you are just a “Mac Fanatic”.