Stop Making Me Laugh Or I'll Pee My Pants! Go Back! I Lost My Shoe! Trip Report!

[mickeystoontown]

Oh, I forgot to add that she wants one of the mini notebooks.....10 or 11 inch screen.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Hey, Lisa! I'm all caught up now. I couldn't see one blessed picture, though. I hate I missed the dirty room! Your room sounds much worse than the one I stayed at in Sevierville. Bless your hearts!

It sounds like you got a great start on your Christmas while in Hot Springs. I can't wait to see how your Thanksgiving trip went!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

The minis are ok but the problem is you don't have a full screen of anything and all your function keys are not there. They only go to 9. Word programs have to be bought separate. That student microsoft edition was the cheapest. The small ones are good for surfing the internet but that's about all. Sheri has a mini now and can't stand it. When she pulls up some of her programs instead of filling out the whole 10 inches it is like a 6 inch sq in the middle. That is my knowledge of the little ones.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Gwendolyn has a mini she uses for school (she got it last Christmas) she loves it!
I will have to ask her all your questions (and Joe --he knows more about computers); I do know that it is an HP. I told Danny I want one to play on the dis with so he said he wanted one too! Might be our anniversary gift or bday gift to one one another get back with you tomorrow on what she has...
I know she does all her school papers on it so I know it has to have word and excel.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I know Sheri's is a Dell. So don't buy a Dell. We were going to get one for Alex last year but found the regular sized one cheaper. I wanted a mini also for travel.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Gwendolyn has a mini she uses for school (she got it last Christmas) she loves it!
I will have to ask her all your questions (and Joe --he knows more about computers); I do know that it is an HP. I told Danny I want one to play on the dis with so he said he wanted one too! Might be our anniversary gift or bday gift to one one another get back with you tomorrow on what she has...
I know she does all her school papers on it so I know it has to have word and excel.

Connie,

Do you mind asking her what kind/model HP she has? HP is having a Cyber Monday sale today through midnight.

Thanks!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I know Sheri's is a Dell. So don't buy a Dell. We were going to get one for Alex last year but found the regular sized one cheaper. I wanted a mini also for travel.

I'm so glad you said not to buy a Dell 'cause I was looking at those too.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Lacey just called. She is driving back to Georgia. She's been sitting on the road for 45 minutes now and has gone 3/4 mile. There's a wreck somewhere near Atlanta.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

UGH! Sitting in traffic is the WORST!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

that why my parents hate to go visit my sister (and always try to talk her into coming here) the Atlanta traffic...I hope it clears soon and she is able to get on her way...

BTW I just PM'd you info from Joe on the mini

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Poor Lacey. What a bummer. We were so thankful we saw no accidents on this trip to Nashville.

 

[racefanof88]

I'm glad you made it home safe and sound . I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a pretty eventFULL Thanksgiving . I am looking forward to seeing your pictures from the trip. I hope Lacey is back at school safe.

 

[Cafeen]

Oooh, computer stuff.

I don't have any experience with Netbooks as they are too confining for me, but I'm not your typical user either. For Lacey, so long as she's ok with either not having a CD/DVD drive or picking up an external drive to attach to it, she should be fine. It's not going to have any sort of higher end power that's typically used for video/photo/sound editing and gaming, but basic web-browsing, productivity tasks (Word, Excel, etc) will be just fine.

So, a few short things:
#1 - No Vista. Most likely, it will come pre-loaded with Windows7 now, this is far better than Vista. It uses less processing power to do more things and is far more user (and network, driver, application, etc.) friendly. If it's not pre-loaded, Lacey can get a full version of Windows7 for very cheap via the student discount program that Microsoft offers (roughly 30$). (All she needs is a .edu email address) ( -Win7 Student Discount- ) (Note: Upon looking at the links I provided below, it looks like they are offering some with XP Home and some with Win7 Starter, either of these will be perfectly fine. XP is still a very solid operating system)

#2 - Make sure that both RAM and input ports are enough. 2-4GB of RAM should be pretty standard, as well as USB/Firewire ports. The input ports are important as Netbooks do not come with any sort of Disc Drive, so if she wants to use CD/DVDs, she's going to need to pick up an external drive which appear to run at least 50$ for the lower end (but perfectly fine) ones. ( -External CD/DVD Drives- (Newegg))

#3 - Word Processing/Productivity. MSWord is the typical higher end bundle, many will come with MSWorks which does include word processing and other similar applications. Like the Windows7 discount, there's a huge student discount on the MSOffice Ultimate package (91% off, but it's still about 60$ ( -MSOffice Ultimate w/Student Discount- ). Alternatively, there is a free "open source" suite of software similar to office available as well it's called OpenOffice ( -OpenOffice.org-).

Without getting into too much detail, there are a couple of decent websites that sell computers (and parts) at (usually) very good prices: Newegg and Tiger Direct. (Both of these stores also run the gamut on the full range of laptops, from micro all the way up to 17-20inch ones, if you decide to look at other options)

I have personally used Newegg quite a bit, all my internal computer hardware comes from there (except my newish video card, which I bought at Best Buy). I built this system myself with the parts I bought from there. I haven't personally used Tiger Direct myself, but I know of several people via online gaming and through work as well that swear by them.

Brand-wise, there are a few out there that are typically higher rated than the others, you really should read through some of the reviews though on them, but I would recommend ASUS and MSI first, followed by Samsung, followed by the others. I know that ASUS and MSI are both high quality, and I'm a huge fan of Samsung monitors and TVs (both my current monitors are Samsungs, 1 22inch and 1 25.5inch.. yes, I use two computer monitors.. and they're both bigger than my TV!)

The other brands should be ok if need be, but I refuse to use them. Not really out of quality, but I refuse to use a brand who forces you to buy overpriced "proprietary" parts for desktops (Dell, Gateway, HP, and Apple all do this). Of course, this won't affect you at all, since you won't be needing (or able) to upgrade the internal hardware, but it's just the computer geek in me showing through. (Though, I do use an HP laptop for work... but those are significantly tougher to build on your own than a desktop).

Well, that turned into a book. I'll sit in the corner for weeks without saying much, but get me on geektalk, and I just don't shut up!

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Oooh, computer stuff.

Well, that turned into a book. I'll sit in the corner for weeks without saying much, but get me on geektalk, and I just don't shut up!

heh, heh! At least it's not "women-talk", right Allan????

(sorry, I HAD to say it!)

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just wanted to drop in on my own trip report. Thanks for the tips on the computers. I am still a bit unsure which kind I want to get her. I may just send links to Allan and get his opinions on the ones I am looking at since he seems to know more about computers than the rest of us. Goodness knows, I have no idea what I am looking for.

Lacey finally made it back to Cleveland, Georgia yesterday. She sat in traffic for over an hour and moved about a mile. Her Jeep started running hot and she was finally able to get to an exit. She pulled over in a shopping mall in Atlanta and tried calling Mr. Rick who is the unofficial Mission mechanic. He always checks out the kids' cars before they get on the road and fixes any problems he finds. We love Mr. Rick! She couldn't get him on the phone and tried to call two other men in the church but couldn't reach them either. She finally called Jessie who said he'd come and follow her to Cleveland just in case it started running hot again.

In the meantime, she ate some Mexican food (which she said was really nasty) and let her Jeep cool off. There was a gas station a little down the road and she drove over and bought some coolant which she found out she didn't need. Mr. Rick called her when she was at the gas station. He said a lot of people's vehicles run hot in Atlanta traffic and if it had cooled off, it would be safe to drive it. She called Jessie who had just gotten on the road to come get her. She told him to go back and she'd call him if she needed him.

John got all upset when she first called and said she had pulled over. He thought she was on the side of the interstate or something. He was about to call her back and tell her to call AAA when she called me on my cellphone. She said she wasn't on the side of the road, she was at a mall and she was frustrated but fine. I called John back and told him. He was still upset so he called her which got her all upset. By the time she called me and told me her Jeep was fine and she was on her way to Cleveland, she was crying. I felt so bad for her.

Anyway, Lacey finally made it back to the Mission. Two hours later than expected but she was safe and sound.

While Lacey was home, she and I traded Disney pictures. I now have more MGM pictures. Oops, I mean Hollywood Studios pictures. I'm uploading them now to one of my photobucket accounts.

I want to get another Disney trip installment posted before I start on my Branson trip.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Poor Lacey. What a crummy way to end a beautiful weekend. I am so glad she is home safe and sound tho. I know how thankful you are that she has people she can call. It does help.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Lisa,
so happy to hear Lacey made it home safe and sound...that was sweet of Jessie to offer to come and follow her home.
can't wait to see what pix's you add from Lacey...pearl and ring by any chance?!?

 

[KatMark]

Glad Lacey made it back safe and sound.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Glad to hear Lacey made it back safe! Looking forward to the pics.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Poor Lacey. That stinks that she had so much trouble getting home. I am sooo happy she did, though! John's just being a daddy. She's so lucky to have one that cares so much for her. I still know how daddy's can make you cry, however!!!

Poor baby...