BillW50 (BillW50@aol.kom) wrote:

> Tom Lake typed on Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:13:20 -0500:
> > There will always be a market for desktop
> > sized systems where expandability is important. My desktop has
> > three hard drives, two DVD burners, a Blu-Ray burner, a floppy drive,
> > a tape drive, slots for SD cards and devices, twelve USB ports (of
> > which nine are filled) a serial port with a device attached, a
> > parallel port with a device attached and a PS/2 mouse and
> > keyboard port with a bar code reader, keyboard and mouse
> > attached. When a laptop can do all that, I'll switch but until then,
> > I need my desktop!
> >
> > Tom Lake

> And why can't you do all this with a laptop Tom? I have 9 laptops right
> here and any of them I can have the following connected in seconds:
(Snip List of 10 Peripherals)

> --
> Bill

*** I see that being a problem for the person that travels a lot. I take
my laptop out too often to have to go through that every time.

Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

BillW50 (BillW50@aol.kom) wrote:
> ...you can take your
> laptop/netbook to your lazyboy or whatever other place to sit and use
> them there as well. Far more interesting and comfortable than a single
> desk for sure.
> --
> Bill

*** What I don't like about that is that when you move, the screen does
too. )-:

Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

css wrote:
> Reuters http://xrl.us/bebvq6
>
> The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more
> portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers
> clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for
> use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.
>
> Not a single desktop model was on Amazon.com's top 10
> selling PC and hardware list http://xrl.us/Top25Comp
>
> It was yet another sign that the former dominance of
> desktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower prices
> make laptops the preferred option for millions of PC users
> around the world.

I haven't, nor do I expect to, jumped on that particular bandwagon (for
the record I've had a series of ThinkPads since 2000, the most recent
one being an R61 I bought 18 months ago, which I use when I travel); but
I'm > 60 and, thus, invisible to advertisers. :)

I'm curious if the laptop/desktop paradigm will swing the other when
today's 20 somethings become 50 somethings?

BillW50 wrote:
> In news:gk6ahk$lm7$1@news.motzarella.org,
> Ben Myers typed on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:50:42 -0500:
>> SOME people are down to 9" notebooks. I can't squint well enough to
>> read what is on a 9" screen. Some people will claim that my age makes
>> me inflexible and unwilling to change. Not true. The eyes have it.
>>
>> I think there would be a bonanza for any name brand company (HPaq,
>> Lenovo or Dell) with 12" (that's TWELVE INCHES, Michael Dell!) laptop
>> powered by the Atom 330 chip. Think of a laptop the size of a Dell
>> C400 or an IBM/Lenovo X-series, and with really low power
>> consumption, but it runs right quick... Ben Myers
>
> I am using five 7 inch screens and I'm in my fifties. Although I am
> nearsighted and I can see tiny things just fine. I always have. Back in
> the luggable days, I used to use a Commodore SX-64 with a 5 inch color
> screen. That was fine for me too. ;)

Ah, yes, I was the same way before I had LASIK surgery in 2002. My
distant vision is great now, i.e., no glasses for driving or TV; but my
eyes new act like > 60 year old eyes (also sensitive to light levels
nowadays).

Tony Harding <thardin@newsguy.com> wrote:

>I'm curious if the laptop/desktop paradigm will swing the other when
>today's 20 somethings become 50 somethings?

Good point

although I have tow laptops at the moment and no
desktop...... the "ergonomics" of using a laptop for
any real length of time are terrible... so much so I'm
thinking of getting a desktop for home use

Richard Bonner wrote:
> BillW50 (BillW50@aol.kom) wrote:
>
>> Tom Lake typed on Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:13:20 -0500:
>>> There will always be a market for desktop
>>> sized systems where expandability is important. My desktop has
>>> three hard drives, two DVD burners, a Blu-Ray burner, a floppy drive,
>>> a tape drive, slots for SD cards and devices, twelve USB ports (of
>>> which nine are filled) a serial port with a device attached, a
>>> parallel port with a device attached and a PS/2 mouse and
>>> keyboard port with a bar code reader, keyboard and mouse
>>> attached. When a laptop can do all that, I'll switch but until then,
>>> I need my desktop!
>>>
>>> Tom Lake
>
>> And why can't you do all this with a laptop Tom? I have 9 laptops right
>> here and any of them I can have the following connected in seconds:
> (Snip List of 10 Peripherals)
>
>> --
>> Bill
>
> *** I see that being a problem for the person that travels a lot. I take
> my laptop out too often to have to go through that every time.
>
> Richard Bonner
> http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/
You are missing His point: with 9 laptops, having one always connected
should not be a problem :-)

--
John Doue

me@privacy.net wrote:
> Tony Harding <thardin@newsguy.com> wrote:
>
> >I'm curious if the laptop/desktop paradigm will swing the other when
> >today's 20 somethings become 50 somethings?
>
> Good point
>
> although I have tow laptops at the moment and no
> desktop...... the "ergonomics" of using a laptop for
> any real length of time are terrible... so much so I'm
> thinking of getting a desktop for home use

Professionaly (hint: comp.sys.HP.hardware :-)), I used a laptop and
docking stations (one at home==work, one at the office) for many years.
IMO the best of both worlds.

For 'consumer' type laptops, (good) docking stations are often not
available, or rather expensive. But a laptop-stand and seperate
full-size keyboard and 'mouse' is a good, inexpensive alternative,
provided the size and quality of the laptop screen are sufficient.

Privately, I only use laptops these days, and yes, one of them is a 9"
mini-notebook/netbook/UMPC/<whatever>, which I use for travel/holidays.

Had both eyes done twice - once in 2000 and again in 2001 when I was 52.
Both eyes were -11.50 when I started (yes, I wore coke bottles). Had 20/20
for awhile after each LASIK but both eyes reverted to -1.00 in one eye
and -2.00 in the other. A major improvement but still have to wear glasses
albeit low power compared to where I started. Now I have a cataract in one
eye and maybe a replacement lens will fix it my vision once and for all.

<me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:n3qhm49b2uabhishrjrakclt7eklsobafp@4ax.com...
> Tony Harding <thardin@newsguy.com> wrote:
>
>>Ah, yes, I was the same way before I had LASIK surgery in 2002
>
> I'm 50 now and have been thinking abt Lasik
>
> is that too old?

Tony Harding <thardin@newsguy.com> wrote:

>Ah, yes, I was the same way before I had LASIK surgery in 2002

I'm 50 now and have been thinking abt Lasik

is that too old?

"WSZsr" <nospam********.com> wrote:

>Now I have a cataract in one eye and maybe a replacement
> lens will fix it my vision once and for all.

I have lens replacements in both eyes because of cataracts. Best thing
I ever did. Not only do I have 20-20 but my color vision greatly
improved. I see better now than when I was in my 20's. (I'm now on the
far side of 60's.) Go for the operation, it's painless and easy...

As to the small laptop screens discussed earlier, I do have a 7" EeePC
netbook. I use it mainly for traveling and the rest room. Don't laugh,
it's a great replacement for newspapers and magazines. But for me as a
full time computer it sucks. It's just too small. YMMV...

"Tom Lake" <tlake@twcny.rr.com> wrote in message
news:gk7i4b$tqr$1@news.albasani.net...
>
>
> "css" <nobody@pseudo.borked.net> wrote in message
> news:9b9b7df0d83e9bc3ef7fefbb36e7c2c2@pseudo.borke d.net...
>> Reuters http://xrl.us/bebvq6
>>
>> The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more
>> portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers
>> clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for
>> use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.
>>
>> Not a single desktop model was on Amazon.com's top 10
>> selling PC and hardware list http://xrl.us/Top25Comp
>>
>> It was yet another sign that the former dominance of
>> desktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower prices
>> make laptops the preferred option for millions of PC users
>> around the world.
>
> There's a difference between not being dominant and not
> being at all. If you had titled this, "The End of Desktop Dominance"
> then I'd agree with you. There will always be a market for desktop
> sized systems where expandability is important. My desktop has
> three hard drives, two DVD burners, a Blu-Ray burner, a floppy drive,
> a tape drive, slots for SD cards and devices, twelve USB ports (of
> which nine are filled) a serial port with a device attached, a
> parallel port with a device attached and a PS/2 mouse and
> keyboard port with a bar code reader, keyboard and mouse
> attached. When a laptop can do all that, I'll switch but until then,
> I need my desktop!
>
> Tom Lake
Also, those interested in Running BOINC projects in the background
tend to want desktops and CPUs with at least 4 cores that they will
keep running nearly all the time during the day, and possibly all night
as well. I prefer the ones intended to help medical research, such as:

World Community Grid
https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/index.jsp
Give you a choice of what types of medical and other non-profit
research to help, such as AIDS, cancer. clean energy, rice farming,
and protein folding in general.

Rosetta@home
http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/
Makes frequent updates to their software, but that results in frequent
software bugs as well as frequent progress; no choice whether you
want to help research for HIV, malaria, cancer, Alzheimer's, or a
few more.

POEM@HOME
http://boinc.fzk.de/poem/
protein folding in general

These can keep my dual core 1.90 GHz machine busy nearly 24
hours a day, and I've ordered a quad core machine (probably
faster) to help even more. Trying to do this on laptops tends to
overheat them.

Robert Miles

"(PeteCresswell)" <x@y.Invalid> wrote:

>>We're already down to 9" netbooks. g
>
>I just bought one of those couple weeks ago.
>
>Does up to 19 x 12 on an attached monitor.

I just bought a 9" Dell netbook too Pete

But what do you mean it does 19 x 12 on external
monitor?

Cydrome Leader <presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:

>According to the fads 10+ years ago, we'd all be using "thin clients" now.
>That never happened either.

True

Ben Myers (ben_myers@charter.net) wrote:
> Too expensive. The local Dollar Store has the same
> product quality, made in China like the drug store ones... Ben

*** Dollar Store? Too expensive; *I* shop the 99-cent store. (-:

Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

ak621@chebucto.ns.ca (Richard Bonner) wrote:

>> ...what do you mean it does 19 x 12 on external monitor?
>
>*** Presumably 1920 X 1280 pixels.

Really?!

I didn't think any net books had enough video graphic
hardware to do that resolution! No?