What Did You Do? Laptop? Notebook? Kindle?

14 years ago

Howdy. I'm old; all thumbs; use a second pair of glasses to see print; and don't have much patience. I thought you might understand. Of course I thought of these faults when I bought my Kindle Fire a couple of months back but felt I should give it a try.

With help from this forum I configured a router at my desktop location. I keep the Kindle next to my TV recliner. So far I've only checked email. Now, I'm trying to figure out which grandkid to give it to.

I watch a few hours of TV in the evenings. If something on TV grabs my interest and I wish to dig further, I don't want to leave my recliner and go to another room to use my desktop. Seems I heard Google might be doing something about combining a TV and computer. Sounds expensive.

I think a notebook has around a 10" screen. I think a laptop has around 15" screen. Has anyone been down the road I've mentioned? What did you do? Seems using a 15" laptop might be sort cumbersome for a recliner. On the other hand, the function keys and keyboard keys on the 10" notebook appear small and worrysome. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks, Gene

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Comments (11)

azinoh
14 years ago
Option #1: Keep the Kindle & learn how to use it...with patience.

Option #2: Get out of the recliner and use the desktop...and be thankful that you still can.

Option #3: Accept the fact that being old means that all these new toys aren't as important as you think they are.

The preceding is just MHO...YMMV.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I have all of the above except my tablets are not kindels , but I have 4 tablets currently, one acer netbook , one acer laptop, and the desktops.
I am old too and love my lazyboy. I use the tablet in my chair all the time, like right now.
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Some tablets you can download books to your computer then just put them onto a memory card and insert card into tablet and read them from the memory card so in that case you would not need wifi. For a tablet to download right to the tablet you will need wifi to get the actual download then you can just have it on the tablet in memory and read it anytime. Some of the early Kindles you did not need wifi it had it's own built in that would connect only to the Amazon book store. I am not sure which ones still do that. My brother in law had one of the first Kindles and his was that way so he did not need wifi to get books. To do the memory card thing you must have a tablet that is able to use a memory card so has the slot for one. All of mine which are Android tablets do have memory card slots. I actually prefer to save the downloads to my pc and put them on memory cards so I have a back up copy. Now for the kindle books I get I download those from Amazon directly to my tablet and read using my Kindle app. So to answer your question it all depends on what you are getting and what features it has.
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WalnutCreek Zone 7b/8a
14 years ago
With the superb help of people on this forum, I got my old 10" netbook working (Acer Aspire One). The whole reason for getting it to work was so that I could use it to read ebooks. Our local library had ebooks which can be checked out and downloaded to my netbook - it is like going to the library and checking out a paper book. I love it. I had considered a tablet, but I am not willing to pay money anymore (retired income) for books, so the library lending ebooks is wonderful for me.
genes
14 years ago
I too have a kindle, netbook, several laptops and a 10" tablet..I too have a recliner and am not a spring chicken anymore either...The house is rigged for wireless, but I still dont mind getting up and using the laptop at the desk (probably because I hate using the touchpad rather than a mouse). On rare occasions, I may take the netbook or tablet to the recliner with me...You could consider getting a laptop table for use on the recliner..its like an angled tv tray with small side legs
murphy_zone7
14 years ago
I, too, am old if you think 63 is old! lol I have a desktop, small laptop with 15" screen, and a 2nd generation Kindle. I set up a wireless network and use the laptop in my lap in my recliner. I bought a small usb mouse because I too can't stand the touchpad. The mouse has a retractable cord and works on the arm of my chair. The only problem I have using the laptop in my lap is my little dog thinks that is his spot and he doesn't really like being a "desk". If he wasn't in my lap, I would get one of those "lap-desks" with the hard top and cushioned bottom. They make using a laptop in your lap a bit easier.
I am thinking about a tablet, just because I want one and it is smaller than a laptop. Still trying to determine the best one for what I want to do AND what I want to do with one. Gonna play with my DD's Kindle Fire and see how I like it before I pluck down big retiree bucks for a tablet. :)
Hope you come up with a workable solution without giving up your Kindle Fire. Seems each gadget has a different purpose and can be used in a different place.
genes
14 years ago
Murph...be careful with the laptop on your lap...as much as the name suggests, laptops are not well suited for a lap or other soft surface as the fan vents become blocked and the unit will overheat and either shutdown or start causing some other heat related issues or damage
mike_kaiser_gw
14 years ago
You might want to think about a laptop with a 13" (or so) screen. The keyboard will be a more usable size without the bulk of a larger screen.
candler
Original Author
14 years ago
Howdy, again. Sure do appreciate the information. I'm glad to hear about the mid size screen. I had not even considered a laptop side table. Seems I need to plan better in configuring a computer at my recliner.

By the way, I just posted a note that I'm now getting AVG blocked Threat Alerts on the GardenWeb/THS site. Is anyone else getting them? Regards. Gene
murphy_zone7
14 years ago
Thanks genes, as I said my little dog won't let me use it for long, maybe he is getting too hot? Will watch it in the future.
genes
14 years ago
Gene Get your dog trained to lay between your legs with the footrest raised..If I have one up, thats where she/he lays..gives you room for the little lap table

Gene S
acraftylady
14 years ago
I am 49 and love all this new technology as I have been a gadget person all my life since atari he he. I have a full size tablet and a kindle fire and I have used a friends little dell netbook to see if I would like it.

The small keys on the netbook were not as bad as I thought but the netbook itself was too slow for my taste but we were at the bookstore and I am used to high speed Internet at home.

I have used my laptop in the recliner and find it ok but much prefer using it in bed on my lap while watching Tv.

My kindle fire I love in the recliner and bed. So much so I joined netflix for $8 a month and put the netflix app on the fire and even though I can watch all the netflix stuff on the computer I find I prefer watching it on the kindle. I find myself using the fire more and more at home instead of the laptop to surf and check email.

My vision is such that I need my glasses only for distance. My close up vision is so good I find even with the progressive bifocals at times I can still see the kindle or computer screen better without the glasses.

Myself I would keep the kindle and learn how to use it from the recliner to read email and surf and then if I needed to do more would use the desktop but that is me so you have to do what suits your style. Mary

What Did You Do? Laptop? Notebook? Kindle?

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What Did You Do? Laptop? Notebook? Kindle?

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