What's the best computer for me.
Posted by: Mick P on 19 July 2009
Chaps
I have just retired and expect to be spending more time in my Spanish shack. I would guess about 4 trips per year, each of 4 or 5 weeks duration.
The shack is cabled up to accept broadband but you have to take out an annual contract and it is bloody expensive compared to the UK.
I would like a computer in Spain, just to read emails. I use internet cafes a couple of times each week and in all fairness, could continue doing that.
An alternative would be to use a lap top with a wireless connection but I am not sure of the technology.
I have seen small laptops (I think called notebooks) that I could leave out there.
Are these as good as a conventional laptop and in order to keep everything in English, I would buy it in the UK and take it over there. Also the prices are currrently lower in the UK and there is far more choice.
I presume I could buy a dongle in Spain and use a local network.
Are there any other options or am I better off just using internet cafes ?
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by fatcat
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
I have seen small laptops (I think called notebooks) that I could leave out there.
If you intend leaving it in your Spanish shack, why buy a notebook.
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by Blueknowz
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by Mick P
quote:
If you intend leaving it in your Spanish shack, why buy a notebook.
Because we travel light. We have everything we need in the house therefore we do not carry any luggage what so ever.
Therefore I will just leave the pc over there. I only need it to answer emails, so the questio is, are these note books inferior to normal laptops, it is a practical proposition, or am I better off staying with internet cafes.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by Exiled Highlander
Mick
If all you are doing is checking email intermittently then stick with the internet cafe's. It's pure extravagance otherwise IMO.
Do the math. 12 x monthly broadband fees + cost of notebook vs. a few pesetas a week for checking email. Put your buyer hat back on and think about it!
Jim
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by fatcat
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
quote:
If you intend leaving it in your Spanish shack, why buy a notebook.
Because we travel light. We have everything we need in the house therefore we do not carry any luggage what so ever.
Therefore I will just leave the pc over there.
Surely the only advantage a notebook has over a laptop is its portability. If you intended carrying the notebook/laptop to and from Spain, the notebook is a good idea. However, as it will remain in Spain there is no advantage in buying a notebook.
Internet cafes are the cheap option, but if you needed to access your bank account or use your credit card on line, would you be happy using one.
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by PJT
Mick,
Another option to consider is the use of a cell-phone based modem.
Depending upon the Spanish broadband rates, it could be cheaper to use a roaming cell phone modem. This would go into either a laptop or PC box. In fact depending on your current PC, it may be a better option to get a new PC for home, and take your current PC to the shack.
Posted on: 19 July 2009 by northpole
Posted on: 20 July 2009 by Roy T
Mick,
Get the proprietor of the local computer shop to build you what you need and have the good grace not to haggle about the price. That way you have made contact with the locals, spent a bit of cash locally and been seen to be making an effort to mix and that can't be all bad for either you or them.
Posted on: 20 July 2009 by Mick P
Chaps
There is no "legal" Sky in Spain and Telefonica is both expensive and bloody useless.
The cost of a telephone line and a broadband connection is around 45 euros per month and you have to have a 18 month contract. I will probably be there for 4.5 months pa so that works out at about £100 for each month I am there which is ludicrous.
We Brits do not realise how cushy we have it until you go abroad.
Therefore my gut reaction is to take a British pc and link it in to a Spanish dongle.
The unanswered question is ... is a note book inferior to a standard laptop ?
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 20 July 2009 by Jim Lawson
Mick
Why you would ask for such advice here is beyond me. Go to a forum that specializes in such matters.
Jim
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Mick P
Jim
You only need to use a specialist forum for issues such as security. You are much better coming here for general consumer issues.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by lutyens
Mick
The only thing I can maybe sensibly add to your thoughts, is that notebook screens are bloody small. As someone who wears glasses these days, two pairs for different distances for anything beyond my elbow, the screen on the notebook was just too difficult. I had to change the one I got through work, it was small, mobile, light etc, to one I could see, a laptop!
But the best of all is a proper desktop 17in screen.............at the internet cafe.
james
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly
hello Mick dude.
If you have a Vodafone contract, why not look at a Blackberry. I think you cxan roam in Spain for no huge cost.
Hope all well.
M
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Patrick F
buy an iphone.
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Mick P
Patrick
What is the advantage of an Iphone ?
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Patrick F
you can take it everywhere. You can purchase international packages. it has wifi. its a phone. if you don't want international roaming you can turn it off and catch wifi to check email.
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Mick P
Chaps
Thanks for the replies and only one smiley in the entire thread.
Methinks the Iphone appears to be the best option and I shall look into it.
Many thanks.
Mick
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by garyi
Its a great device, but very very small. Surfing the web with it is a right royal pain in the arse (yes ok better than similar devices, but seriously, be honest its shite)
Email on it is fine, but the monthly package thats going to allow you to roam is going to be fing expensive. Have a lad at work who is paying 45 quid a month now and thats for basic with a few extra texts thrown in.
Posted on: 21 July 2009 by Patrick F
ipod touch. no plan
just wifi
here.
Posted on: 23 July 2009 by Mick P
Chaps
I called into a telephone shop today and was immediately pounced upon by some oily young man who was dressed in a smart suit and he reminded me of a 1950s Soho spiv.
I explained my problem and mentioned the suggestions of the Blackberry and Iphone.
He said that the charge for these with a roaming facility would be expensive.
His advice was
1. Use an internet cafe
2, Buy a Toshiba Notebook in the UK and buy a Spanish dongle. Bring the Notebook home to keep it charged.
At least he was honest and possibly this is my first experience of a salesman feeling sorry for a poor old pensioner. He has restored my faith in human nature.
Regards
Mick .... (thinking of buying a walking stick and a cloth cap to look even more like a pensioner)
Posted on: 23 July 2009 by u5227470736789439
Mick .... (thinking of buying a walking stick and a cloth cap to look even more like a pensioner)
Definately get a hat. I have several nowadays.
Anyone who wears a hat is at an immediate advantage in any given situation.
I was told that if you want to get ahead, then get a hat!
ATB from George
Posted on: 23 July 2009 by Mick P
Greetings George
I have had a sad experience with hats.
About 5 years ago I called into Locks of London after a very good business lunch at Rules and splashed out just under £300 for a Panama. I was with a group of chaps and we did over do it on the wine and hence my slackness with the cash. It was a beautiful wide brimmed one.
I wore it with pride until one day when standing on the coast it was whipped off my head by a gust of wind and sank into the sea without trace. Mrs Mick laughed her socks off.
I now wear a more modestly priced Panama.
I also have a cloth cap for shooting and a brown Trilby like thing that you buy at the races.
I must admit I think a Fedora is ultra cool.
What sort of hats do you wear ?
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 23 July 2009 by u5227470736789439
Flat cap for cold, and straw sun hat for hot!
I will get a posh [not trilby] for winter use where a flat cap is too rural such as for when going to concerts, as there is no thatch left now!
At the races a tidy flat cap is in my view preferable to a tribly, but my father was fond of trilbies, and for me they resonate with "wide boy or plain crook!"
I ride my bike in a flat cap as I can stop the rain getting in my eyes, and can really pull it down hard for when the wind gusts.
Yes hats are wonderful things.
Never mind getting a stick though. They just make you look vulnerable.
Best wishes from George
Posted on: 26 July 2009 by u5227470736789439
Silly picture of me in my sun hat, sitting in the sun!
ATB from George
Posted on: 29 July 2009 by Stoik
This "Notebook" is in fact a "Netbook". It's a small computer perfectly able to give you access to your emails and internet as long as you have an Internet Service Provider readily available, or a close neighbor with a WiFi network router that give you the permission to access his secured wireless connection.
That kind of portable computer have great merits IMO, the battery life is usualy very good, so you could use it aroud the house with you for hours. It's also perfectly able to play compressed music and videos, and could be used as storage to dump the photo camera's memory card into it, plus it makes a good picture viewer.
There's no DVD burner on those Netbooks, but that's nothing a good flash memory stick and an external DVD burner could come over if you realy need it.
My suggestion: The Asus Eee PC 1008HA
http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=LUiLXJyf53i17DmhAnd it surely makes a great remote control for a HDX throught the WiFi and Naim's HDX control software.
Bye.
