Sold My PC & Just Bought My First Ever Laptop

Kintarō Hattori

After moving into a new apartment and there's less space than in the old place so the decision was taken between myself and the missus to sell my PC and buy a laptop, a first for me. I got a decent price for the PC, added a little extra and bought a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ11L. I know there are better options, but the store I work for sells Vaio's so should I have any issue's I should be covered.

I have to say it's taking some getting used to. I'm not overly fond of the keyboard, and I'll be getting a mouse ASAP. I like how little space it takes up (rather obvious perhaps, but my PC was a monster in size terms), and I like being able to use it in the bedroom or on the couch. The screen could be better, I was rather spoiled with my old Viewsonic monitor and the battery life could be better when wireless is switched on. As a result of this we just have it stationed at the table and plugged in permanently.

For the moment the jury is out on whether it's a good move or not. Having extra space in the apartment is good, but using my PC was a much more comfortable experiance than this is proving. It's taking some getting used to.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the best from it? Any tips, tricks I should know about? The touchpad is driving me a tad crazy. Sometimes when browsing the web it seems to scroll pages rather than just moving the mouse- what's up with that?

solas

awww..so cute


mousepad will grow on you and after a little hile you'll never understand how you did without

Kinetic^

When I used to have a laptop in my old job I hated it. Got a mouse straight away and num pad too, although it might not be nessecary.

Soundman

With regards the pages scrolling when using the trackpad, just make sure you keep your finger away from the right hand side of the pad as generally this is used as a scroll bar so you don't have to use the arrow keys or the Page Up/Down buttons.

Kintarō Hattori

Soundman wrote:

With regards the pages scrolling when using the trackpad, just make sure you keep your finger away from the right hand side of the pad as generally this is used as a scroll bar so you don't have to use the arrow keys or the Page Up/Down buttons.

Wow I see that now and it makes alot of sense, I thought it was acting up. Thanks for that bit od advice, it'll certainly make browsing websites alot easier, particuarly for the missus who wasn't too impressed!!!

solas wrote:

awww..so cute

How so?

Soundman

Makes a lot of sense. Makes it so much easier too. You might be able to alter the width of the scroll bar on the trackpad in the trackpad settings if it seems to be too wide.. I don't know the Sony's so am only speculating.

solas

eo980 wrote:

How so?

I remember my first laptop.....

Kintarō Hattori

Soundman wrote:

Makes a lot of sense. Makes it so much easier too. You might be able to alter the width of the scroll bar on the trackpad in the trackpad settings if it seems to be too wide.. I don't know the Sony's so am only speculating.

The width seems to be OK actually, just knowing that the right side is used for scrolling makes browsing alot easier and explains what was happening.

solas wrote:

I remember my first laptop.....

What was it and how many years ago?

I was browsing Komplett today and out of curiosity was looking at the Apple MacBooks. For roughly the same price as I paid for the Vaio I could have had a very nicely spec'd MacBook. The only major difference was the size of the screen which though physically smaller had the same resolution. As we were craving space, this might of actually have been a blessing.
While it might have been interesting to get, neither herself or myself have used Mac's so the OS would have been totally unknown and I wouldn't have been able to answer her questions which undoubtedly would have been many.

solas

eo980 wrote:

What was it and how many years ago?

presariov5000 and only 14 months ago. My daughter theifed it. I paid 749 at the time which was reasonable.

TerrorFirmer

I have a laptop, but it only ever gets use when for some reason my desktop machines are doing something else, or I'm playing Lan games, or whatever. I hate using it, I even had to buy a desk just so I could set it up with a spare monitor and speakers, just simply can't stand using it otherwise. Yes, I hate my laptop that much...

Kintarō Hattori

solas wrote:

presariov5000 and only 18 months ago. My daughter theifed it. I paid 749 at the time which was reasonable.

Ah I see. I thought you were an old timer and had bought one many many moons ago!

solas

nope, just enjoying the memories of when I was allowed to use it

barrett1965

Laptops take some getting used to. I think the jury is out when it comes to their popularity. My neice said she would never trade her PC for a lappy, saying that they look so uncomfortable to use etc. It took me ages to get use to the keypad 'mouse'. One good thing though I like about notebooks is how portable they are and how you can save so much space at home. I suppose they're an aquired taste.

Spud83

If the only real reason you bought it was for sapce and not mobility ya should have looked at the iMacs. The take up very little room and look stylish too, so they can fit in a modern apartment nicely.

Tom Dunne

barrett1965 wrote:

Laptops take some getting used to. I think the jury is out when it comes to their popularity.

On the contrary, the jury is well in on this one. Laptops are the fastest growing sector of the computer industry. I'll dig out my source when I get around to it.

alanmurphy83 wrote:

If the only real reason you bought it was for sapce and not mobility ya should have looked at the iMacs. The take up very little room and look stylish too, so they can fit in a modern apartment nicely.

You can get similarly sized small PC laptops too. They might not be as stylish as the Mac, but they would be that bit cheaper.

Spud83

tom dunne wrote:

You can get similarly sized small PC laptops too. They might not be as stylish as the Mac, but they would be that bit cheaper.

The iMac isn't a laptop thats why I was pointing it out as a possible alternative to a tower PC or laptop.

Tom Dunne

alanmurphy83 wrote:

The iMac isn't a laptop thats why I was pointing it out as a possible alternative to a tower PC or laptop.

I stand corrected.

MjM

I prefer using the touchpad to using a mouse with my laptop, it just feels easier all in one package. I've played and finished HL2, C&C 3, Rainbow Six Vegas and am playing Oblivion with only the touch pad and it feels almost natural! When im at my desktop I've got a nice wireless mouse to use but on the laptop I feel its too much hassle to get an extra mouse especially as I'm using it on my lap most on the time. A nice touchpad is very good and it feels like the mouse is your finger on the screen to me, my 2 cents!

AlmightyCushion

I like using a touchpad but for playing games I have to use a mouse. A touchpad is just way to akward for that

barrett1965

On the contrary, the jury is well in on this one. Laptops are the fastest growing sector of the computer industry. I'll dig out my source when I get around to it.

I take your word on that Tom. I think I was trying to say that maybe punters may regret buying a laptop and revert back to a PC, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself in that regard.

I asked a guy in PC World how were laptops selling for them and he told me they were going out the door at about 70/30 in favour of laptops.

mathias

I asked a guy in PC World how were laptops selling for them and he told me they were going out the door at about 70/30 in favour of laptops

Id well believe that , considering the rubbish that PC world are trying to pass off as PC's.

Laptops are great , for portability , for Students , etc . They are the biggest sellers , but if you work a lot at a PC , say in publishing , developing , or CAD , they are an ergonomic nightmare.

At work ( large well known multinational thats probably a part of your PC ) they supply all us engineers with a thinkpad , but for deskwork , you have a docking station , with a full size monitor , and a real keyboard and mouse , just so we dont end up all achy twisted and gnarled from being hunched over such a small machine all day.

Thats a good option if you have the room , a docking station , a monitor , and a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then while your at home , you can work/play in comfort.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony-Vaio-FS-Series-Docking-Station-VGP-PRFS1/version.asp