ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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While talking to my daughter today (who happens to be an All Sci-Fi member), she educated her old Dad concerning the changing face of internet users.

Once upon a time desktops were the norm.





Then laptops were all the rage. (This is the model I use. )





Smart phones came along, and people started walking around while surfing the web.





But the convenience of the smart phones meant giving up the much larger displays of the desktops and the laptops. And so . . . the tablets were born! (And that's what my daughter uses on All Sci-Fi.)





So, what's your device of preference? Cast your vote by choosing the one you use primarily. Then add a reply, if you wish, to tell us what else you might use as well, or just why you prefer the device you chose.

Thanks!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

If we have to start reducing our posted images to accommodate smartphone users...

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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

[Custer]

A desktop PC with a nice comfortable office-type chair works for me. I could use my tablet to browse, but actually typing in even a short post on that would be a bit of a struggle!

[Bud Brewster]

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Please take a moment and respond to the poll above, guys. I'm sure I'm not the only member who uses a laptop!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rocky Jones]

It's interesting that the visitors here are using desktops by such a large margin. That's certainly not the case with every site. I suppose it's because of the mature and male demographic. I operate a WordPress site for a friend that I've deduced from analytics is being viewed on portable devices by a rate of three to one. It's readership is mostly females under 40.

I'm looking at you on a 20 1/2 inch wide Asus monitor connected to a good ole 3 Ghz Dell GX-80. It's a pretty old box I picked up for nearly nothing in a local auction once. The dirty secret of computers these days is that there's no need to buy a pricey new one unless you're a gamer or something. In fact, you can even buy a new computer box loaded with Windows 10 for under a $100 days.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883722001&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+PC-_-N82E16883722001&gclid=CMLI8IWj4coCFQiqaQodeEsPvA&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Bud Brewster]

[Custer]

Or sometimes I use a really strong telescope...

I've never owned a laptop, but they are certainly getting pretty cheap now, if you don't want to play modern games. A chromebook, perhaps, if your internet connection is fast and reliable. I just don't think typing is easy enough on a phone or tablet, unless you have a separate keyboard... which rather cuts down on the portability angle.

[Bud Brewster]

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Actually, I've never used the keyboard on any laptop I've owned. I can't stand 'em!

I've used wireless keyboards for years, which sit comfortably in my lap while the laptop (actually "tray top" would be more accurate) sits a respectful distance away (right above my feet on the sofa footrest).




A wireless mouse on my right saves me from the frustration of using those god-awful touch pads, which are positioned right were the heel of my hands would go if I used the laptop's keyboard.

Here's the keyboard I prefer.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Custer]

It's the idea of the touchpad that really puts me off laptops, I guess. I suppose laptops do have their advantages on the portability side, but if you are using a wireless computer-type keyboard and mouse, why not have a PC humming away alongside the TV? You get more storage for your money. Maybe one of those all-in-one PCs, where the PC innards are discretely tucked into a few inches behind the screen. Or are there "smart" TVs available which just need the keyboard and mouse to work for web browsing, now?

[Bud Brewster]

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I agree with you that the touch pad on laptops is a pain in the ass. I've never used the keyboard or touch pad on any laptop I've owned. I always us a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Having the laptop and the TV separate and positioned as shown in the picture above is perfect. I can surf the web and watch TV quite easily ??? sitting on the sofa with my feet propped up.

As for getting more storage from a desktop, even with thousands of pictures, dozens of movies, both of my novels and many other documents, the hard drive is only about two-thirds full.

And since I've got three very nice 18.4" laptops, I can easily take one to the Geek Squad for routine maintenance and just switch to one of the others. They aren't as hard to carry as a big honkin' desktop.

I found out recently that one of our newest members uses his smart phone exclusively to access All Sci-Fi (even in the chat room last Friday!), and I've sent him a PM asking him to vote in the pole above. I know of at least two other members who prefer to use smart phones as well, so a laptop is a nice middle ground between the folks with 26" displays and the folks who use smartphones.

Gosh, ain't technology grand!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Custer]

It sounds as if you've got a set-up that works well for you - and if your movie file does start to get too large, you can easily add an external hard drive... those seem to be getting larger-capacity and cheaper.

[Bud Brewster]

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The movies on the computer are just those I've downloaded to watch with friends while chatting. I keep them only if they're good enough to warrant watching again in the near future or I might want to make screen grabs for a post or I want to check some detail about the film.

If I really like a movie I just buy the DVD, with it's bonus features and its purty lil' box to go in my storage racks to make me feel prosperous and self-indulgent.

Plus I've got five flash drives ranging in size from 32GB to 128GB, and when I want to watch a downloaded movie I just put it on a flash drive and plug it into the BD player.

Whenever I add a new movie to the flash drive, I take a quick look at what's on it and delete the movies I've seen already. Even then, however, lots of movies and shows stay on the flash drives for months. I've yet never used up more 80% of the capacity of the bigger ones.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Custer]

I've been using a 64 MB USB drive a lot lately, loading it up from the computer and plugging it into a port on the side of the tv, but yesterday evening, when I tried to delete a couple of shows I'd watched, it told me it was "write-protected" and so couldn't delete items. A little research suggests that that means the darn thing is broken... ah well, they are a lot cheaper than they used to be! The suggested possible work-around via regedit didn't work, so once everything on the stick has been watched, that will be the end of it.

But yes, it's surprising how much one can store that way... though my collection of dvd and blue-ray items is starting to take up rather a lot of space!

[Bud Brewster]

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You're probably right, it's corrupted.

But if you can reformat it, the flash drive it should become usable again, and if you save the data currently on it to your computer, you could move it back after it's fixed.

Good luck!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)