The Talk -- How To Buy the Right Computer Cheaply -- Part 3, Talk at the Kinnelon Library Thurs. Mar. 5 7 PM

Thank you all of you who came to this past Thursday's talk at the library. I enjoyed talking to you about the problems and concerns you have with your machines. As promised, following is a slideshow of the presentation you saw.
Do remember, any of you who want to subscribe to the Working Computers Blog, just go the right hand side of the page and look for the "Enter Your Email Address" box and click on "Subscribe", or click on the "Subscribe in a Reader" icon. The first choice will get you the once a week articles on computer use and maintenance problems you face as a home or small business user. The 2nd will allow you to see the articles in your RSS reader -- if you do not know what that is, make the First Choice!I have included a slightly updated slideshow of the talk given last week, and I would like to emphasize a few points that were made:Unless you have almost nothing to do online or with your computer except read email and do some light word processing you need a modern multi-core computer if you expect it to last and be useful for a number of years. Intel Processors Rule: AMD processors save you $$$ in the short run, but will run out of gas after a few years.Check out TechBargains and LogicBuy.Underlined "www ..." phrases and other underlined words are links to the sites and pages referred to.  

Take Care of Your Computer Part 3 -- How to Buy a Computer Cheaply and How to Buy the Right Machine

View more presentations from Ted Whittemore

If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email at the address to the right.

See you April 11!

~TED


PS  For those who expressed interest in Carbonite online backup, I checked into it again, and it seems to me there are a number of drawbacks:

1) There is no free version that allows you to try the service to see how you like it. Unlike iDrive.

2) The upgraded, system-image backup is NOT an online backup, but requires you to back up to an external drive you purchase and install and then still pay $99 per year for the privilege to back up to your own drive, and the online backup is separate from that, although included.

3) The online backup feature seems to be an admission that online backup alone is insufficient. But there is no need to pay Carbonite for that. See my 2nd 2012 talk from February on free and/or inexpensive disk cloning.

PPS Yes, it is a PC. No, I wasn't suggesting you buy one! I do like it, though.

But ... because of its shape, probably has special powers ...

Taking Care of Your Computer For Free -- How to Buy the Right Computer Cheaply -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library 7 PM Mar 7 2012

What? You don't like it???

Maybe this would be better ...

I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Library Thursday, Mar. 15 at 7 PM, which is the 3rd of 6 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 3 to:

Buying the right Computer, and Not Paying Too Much for It, including :

1) Who to buy a computer from and how to get the best price, by at least several hundred bucks.

2) What kind of computer you really need and how you can make sure it lasts a long time.

3) How to get the Very Best Deals on related computer equipment and software as well as consumer electronics of all kinds.

I will discuss where you can get the best deals online for top tier name brand machines such as Dell and HP and whether or not you should consider an extended factory warranty, as well as buying from local resources such as BJ's, Best Buy, and so on.

We will repeat our "Open Mike" period at the end of the talk so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:

Ask Your Questions and Solve Your Problems --"Open Mike" -- Questions such as

1) Is my machine too old? When do I need a new machine?

2) How can I "pin" that program to my Taskbar, and what is a "Gadget?"

3) Why does my computer ... ?

4) If you have a laptop with a problem, bring it along and we'll take a quick look.

5) Questions and on-the-spot diagnosis will be limited by the time available!!!

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1321 and reserve a spot.

See you there!

~Ted


PS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP

Photo Credit: various websites