I have been working with a little IPad and just was not happy with it. Yvonne and I went into one of our favorite thrift shops today and got an older laptop for $40. We got it back to my place and Yvonne got it set up for me. I am so much happier with it. It is just easier for me to use plus it is what I am used to using.
Yeah, the iPads or tablets are good for some people, but not everyone. My wife uses her iPad for a lot of things now, but that small of a screen would drive me nuts. Plus, I like to have several tabs or windows open at a time. As it is, I often use my 27" screen on my iMac, plus a 29" ultra wide monitor, and occasionally even a third monitor.
Good for you Joyce, I'm so pleased you've got another laptop..and @Yvonne Smith was able to get it all set up for you. I've got an Ipad, but like @Ken Anderson it drives me nuts using such a small screen on the odd occasions when I'm on vacation that I have to use it... I have both a laptop and a Desktop... I much prefer the desktop... the monitor is huge, and I enjoy seeing pictures and photos and videos in particular on a big screen but a laptop is so much easier to use wherever you like in the house... so I can see why people like to use them too...
Is an iPad the same thing as a Kindle? I have a Kindle Fire and the only thing I use it for is to read. I check my email but the keys are so tiny that I have to use the stylus to type. I don't like that. I also bought a laptop and didn't like that, either. They are just too small for me. I like my desktop and big keyboard.
Kindles and iPads are both tablets, but the iPad is made by Apple and includes more computer-like applications than the Kindle has. I have a large Kindle and it's good for checking the forum after I go to bed, and before I go to sleep, or while I am in a restaurant or somewhere, but I don't use it as I would a computer, and don't like posting on my Kindle. Although I do, I hate not having a real keyboard, so posts that I make on my Kindle tend to be short. I also have both a laptop (MacBook Pro) and a desktop (iMac), and prefer the larger computer for most things. However, if I had to use my MacBook regularly, I could hook up a larger monitor to it and it would do just fine. I can't do that with my Kindle. I have gotten use to a smallish keyboard, though. I used to prefer the large ergonomic keyboards but I found that going back and forth from a large keyboard to the smaller one on my MacBook was difficult, so I use a keyboard for my iMac that is the same as the one on my MacBook. I also use a trackpad for my iMac rather than a mouse, for the same reason.
I have one of the large iPads, and the screen is almost 13”; so it is like using a laptop, but much lighter weight, and portable. I have a bluetooth keyboard that I use with it, and I like that much better than typing on the virtual keyboards. Even on the iPad Mini that Evelyn was using, I had a small keyboard, and that helps a lot with the smaller tablets. Here is what my iPad with the keyboard case looks like, and you can see that it is almost like a laptop in appearance. I think that you can also get an external keyboard for the Kindle, but all I use mine for is to read books; so I have no real need for the keyboard.
I have been having a lot of problems with my laptop lately. So many in fact that I thought it might be time to get a new one. A few days ago it wouldn't even let me log on...and I was not happy about that at all. I'm not that talented at fixing tech toys...but I do have one thing going for me...I can't stand not being able to fix something that I use often. So it's either I keep trying until I do figure the problem out, get someone to fix it for me, or buy a new one. And since spending money on the last two solutions is a last option for me...I will try anything and everything before forking any money out. This morning I learned a lot more about my laptop and evidently something I did has cleared up the problems too. My anti virus program showed I did not have any viruses...but I did need to do some cleaning up on my laptop. So I bought a year's worth of clean up for $19.95 and followed the directions and now my laptop is working just fine again. Sometimes spending a little money is worth every penny!
My PC had been freezing up lately. I initiated the WinClean Pro and that helped. The only drawback is it removed some of my usernames and passwords that I didn't save under Google Chrome. Drat. I'll know better the next time I use it.
There are several "tune up" programs out there. The best free one I know about is this one: https://www.iobit.com/en/index.php It probably isn't as good as the best of the paid programs out there, but it is better than some of the less capable paid programs. IObit has a subscription program as well and a lot of ancillary programs--both free and paid versions. I used AVG Tune Up for a while, and was happy with it, but when I tried to renew, they charged me, never sent an activation code, and would not refund the charge. I could have fought it, but decided not to use or recommend them anymore and let it go. IObit also has a free password manager, but I don't use it so I cannot comment on it.
I have McAfee Security. The clean my computer periodically. I am glad of that. I never even knew that it needed cleaning.
Technology is great and a paper saver. I bought a laptop for my wife to use instead of printing recepies. Mainly because rooting thru a pile of paper was a hassle for me. I like organized easy to find info. So setting up files like cake, soups, breads, cookies and others made sense to me. Another feature, I could copy a recepie to a note pad and separate the ingriedients and prep instructions into easy to follow steps. For example a cookie recepie called for 2 sticks & 1 & 1/2 TBSP. of unsalted butter. Buried in the instruction text was to brown the 2 sticks and use the 1 & 1/2 TBSP. to toast pecans. Later it said to chill the brown butter, even later to set aside the toasted pecans until the cookie batter was ready. Other steps for the dry & wet were equally poorly set up. I sequenced those steps and separated the ingriedients to match what was supposed to take place. Now instead of sorting thru paper my wife sets her Acer Aspire A515-51-563W 15.6" Laptop With Intel i5-7200U Processor, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 10 laptop on the counter, pulls up cookie file and appreciates the ease of using what I thought would make her life easier.
I do this same thing, except I do it with the iPad. Since I have Bookbub and Book Gorilla, they both have lots of Amazon free recipe books, and when I see one that I want is free, then I get it and it is saved in my Kindle books. All I have to do is take the iPad or the Kindle into the kitchen with the recipe, and then follow it right from the book, or the website. I have also discovered that Amazon puts a lot of their knitting and crochet books on sale either really cheap or free, so I also save those and follow the patterns right from the iPad instead of having to find the right booklet or printed pattern.
I appreciate my husband's laptop, my tech saavyness and Youtube to use it to stream Netflix on our bedroom television using Wi-fi.