Time for a New Battery Again

I spent this last week on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California attending meetings. Naturally all sorts of problems arose at home in my absence. My wife and I care for our neighbor's house across the street and we had a few sprinkler problems. Fortunately I could talk my wife through them and we resolved them all without having to dig up any pipes or sprinkler heads. The only problem that had to wait for my return is that of my wife's laptop battery needing to be replaced.

My wife loves to use her laptop around the house unplugged from any power source. Then at the end of the day, she'll plug it in so it is ready to use for the next day. I generally keep mine plugged in at my desk and work there unless I am traveling. A little over 2 years ago I had to replace my wife's laptop battery. Thanks to iFixit.com it is easy to order a new one and have instant access to instructions on how to replace it.

While in California my wife informed me that she can only get about 30-minutes of use from her laptop before the battery is dead. She tried the usual remedies that include charging it overnight and then using the computer until the battery dies completely. Unfortunately nothing worked and so I ordered one last night. Fortunately I have an account with iFixit and they had a record of what I ordered the last time. I didn't have to try and figure out what battery she needed. Three clicks after I visited their site, I had the new one ordered.

Usually I prefer to visit online shopping sites as a guest and try not to create accounts unless I know I will be back. I have an Amazon account as I find myself needing something there on a monthly basis. With iFixit, I'm only there every couple of years or so. This time I am glad I have an account as it kept me from doing time-consuming research. If you have at least 3 electronic devices, such as a smartphone, laptop, or other battery-powered device, I highly recommend getting an account and ordering from them. It will save you a bit of a hassle in the future.

The new laptop battery will be here in a couple of days. My hope is that it lasts a few years. When it comes time to replace it, I think my wife will want a new computer. Right now, $50 is a much better price to pay than $1000. Besides, who wants to transfer all the data and files from one computer to another?

My Favorite Short Cut: ALT-TAB

You can tell how long someone has been using computers by paying attention to the short cuts he/she uses to navigate on the computer. I usually have quite a few application running on my computer and I need to be able to quickly switch between them. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Windows 3.0 first came on the market, I used to only have one or two apps running and could easily just click between them. It didn't take long to quickly exhaust that functionality, especially with the small screens on laptops we had back then.

I remember leading a training session on a new database tool and I kept having to switch between a PowerPoint presentation and the tool. I would escape out of presentation mode, minimize PowerPoint, and show my demo. Once I completed the demo, I would expand PowerPoint and go back into presentation mode. Then someone showed me the power of ALT-TAB that allowed me to instantly switch between all running applications. I thought it was great and still use that key combination today even though there are more advanced ways of switching between running applications. For instance, you can see the running applications in Windows by just looking at the toolbar on the bottom of your screen. I still prefer ALT-TAB.

There are a number of other computer short cuts that will give away the length of time someone has been using computers. My work laptop run Microsoft Windows but I am an old Unix guy. When I open the Windows Power Shell it is a hard to remember not to use the "ls" command to get a directory listing of files instead of the preferred "dir" command familiar to those who learned "DOS." Fortunately Power Shell understands both commands and so I don't get the old "Syntax Error" I used to.

Another trick that really shows how old I am is from when I started using Oracle version 4. When you wanted to get a list of all the tables in the database, you would run the following command:

SELECT * FROM tab;

The result was a very simple listing of tables and some other basic information. Oracle later added more complete table definitions but I still use this simple command. Why? Because it is so simple and easy to remember. Are there better ways to find out what tables are in your database or schema? That depends upon how you define better. If you have to go to a manual and look it up, nope.

I used to work for a company that took PostgreSQL and made it look like Oracle for a lot less money. The first thing I tried when I sat down to play with the product was the command listed above. When it worked, I knew there were others at the company that appreciated quick and simple. I also knew they had people on the development staff that had used Oracle for a very long time, an important fact to me at the time.

A New Phone, a New Chrombook, or a New Laptop

I have been working back at Sony for 6 months now and I need to make a change to my electronic tools. A few weeks ago I got stuck because an avalanche came across the road during my morning workout and I couldn't get home until 5:45pm that evening. I had some deliverables that I couldn't complete because of it. If I had my work e-mail on my phone, I could have gotten some of those deliverables done. Instead I had to work late into the evening and the entire next day, which was a Saturday.

I am reluctant to load my work e-mail on my personal phone because of all the notifications I get. Working for a Japanese company means I get a lot of alerts at weird hours of the day and I find myself not listening to any noise my smartphone makes. When I have a work phone that is different from my personal phone, I find it easier to catch important work events as well as personal ones. I have found an inexpensive smartphone that does everything I need it to for around $325. Should I get it?

I also find that my Chromebook has slowed to a crawl. It is almost getting to the point where it is becoming unusable. I have had it for quite a few years and so I recently looked at getting a new one. I found 2 or 3 that would be significant improvements for only $225. Don't ask me why a phone is smaller than a Chromebook but costs more. That's just the way things work. So should I get one of those?

As I think about the Chromebook and if I should replace my existing one, I am wondering if I would be better suited by a new personal laptop. I would say that I can do about 85% of what I need with the less expensive device and I always have my desktop computer when I need it. However the laptop would be more usable and last significantly longer than a Chromebook. Should I get a new laptop?

I'm not sure what the best choice is right now. Should I get a new phone or just load my work e-mail on my personal phone? Should I get a new Chromebook or a new laptop? Finally, should I not do a single thing and just working along without spending any money? Let me think about it and I'll let you know what I decide.

My New Work Laptop

I have been at my current company for 2 months now and that has given me plenty of time to run my new work-provided laptop through its paces. It is a Dell Latitude 5320 and nothing special. It has an Intel i5 processor with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive. A simple description would be that it works for my daily activities as the director of software engineering.

Earlier in my career I did a lot of software development and this machine would not be nearly powerful enough. Now I do a lot of management tasks and that doesn't require a powerful machine. Truth be told, I could probably get by with a powerful Chromebook but I do like having a full-functioning computer. I do a lot of Microsoft Teams meetings and I use the camera a lot. I also use the computer for e-mail and I like having a full Microsoft Outlook client on my machine. That gives me the option to compose responses to e-mail while I am not connected to the Internet even though I have never had the need to do so.

That last sentence is very common when we think about what we want in a computer. While we may never use a feature, we want that option. Unfortunately it leads to wanting a machine that is more expensive than what we really need. Understanding that and being able to recognize it can ultimately save some serious money.

Another shift that has happened in the last few years is the idea of creating a document and storing it on your own computer. Now I am more apt to store a document on Google Drive or Microsoft's OneDrive as it is significantly easier to share. A document can be either a spreadsheet, word processing document, or presentation file. As they are stored somewhere other than my local machine, I don't need a large hard drive. If I did, I could always add an external drive and I have several laying around my office.

Honestly I never would have thought such a low-end laptop would work for me but I have to admit that it is. Should I need something a little more powerful, I can always go to our IT department and request it. For now that isn't necessary.

Chromebook vs. Laptop

Yesterday I returned from a week-long trip to visit my son in Ohio. I still have not found a full-time job and so I am looking. As I don't have a laptop from my employer that I would normally use on such a trip, I took my Chromebook and used it instead. I have to say that I would have preferred a laptop but the Chromebook did well and met all of my needs.

I really had only two use cases for a computer on my trip: reading e-mail and applying to jobs. For reading e-mail, there is no real difference between a laptop and a Chromebook. I use a browser to access my e-mail and it works the same on both devices.

I wasn't sure I would be able to apply for jobs as easily on my Chromebook. Before leaving on my trip, I uploaded a copy of my resume to my Google Drive so I could access it on the road. I probably should have also uploaded a sample cover letter but forgot. My job search on the road consisted of going through new job postings that appeared in my e-mail and applying to the ones that I am qualified to fill and find  interesting.

Those that have had to search for a new job know that it is best to tailor your resume for each posting. I could modify the resume in Google Drive using Google Docs. Then when it came time to upload the job-specific resume, I told the job application website that I would upload it from a file. In ChromeOS, there is an option to use a Google Drive file just as if it is located on the device even though it isn't. I could also do the same with each cover letter. In my case, I had to create the first one from memory but could then reuse it for each successive company making sure to modify it accordingly.

While everything worked technically, the real proof of success is in the fact that I managed to get three different screening interviews during the trip, one of which is a direct result of submitting an application while traveling. That is equal to my results using my desktop computer at home. I have to say that the Chromebook worked well.

The only problem I had with the Chromebook during the trip is when I couldn't connect to the WiFi network at the Detroit airport. After trying for a few minutes, I turned my phone into a hotspot and connected to it. Then I could respond to e-mails for phone interviews. I only needed it for a few minutes and everything worked fine.

As I mentioned at the start, I would have preferred a true laptop computer. However the Chromebook is significantly less expensive and did everything I needed it to do on this trip. I just needed to plan ahead a bit. If my regular workflow was to habitually keep all of my documents on Google Drive, I would not have needed to do anything differently.

Comforts

Today I had an interesting discussion with my oldest son's wife about comfort blankets we carry as adults. Her dad has spent the last two and a half years in the Philippines and she laughed at some of the things he brought with him. Today's conversation started with the 31 pairs of pants he brought and then she talked about a patch of turf he brought from one of his favorite football stadiums. I mentioned that he probably brought it because it is a source of comfort. Her own two kids carry blankets whenever they come to stay at our house for the same reason. She agreed.

We then talked about comforts others carry. Mine is my laptop. I feel a lot of insecurity when I travel without one. As I don't have one at the moment due to being between jobs, I have been carrying a Chromebook I got for free that is quickly reaching its end of life. Sure I could use my phone to do the same things but I really like having a full-sized keyboard. When I visited my youngest son in Ohio last month, I didn't need to bring a computer but I still carried that Chromebook with me.

My daughter-in-law remarked that her smartphone is her comfort. She says that she justifies it as a means for others to communicate with her but it also helps with any anxiety she may have. My son agrees and believes his phone serves the same purpose as his son's and daughter's blankets.

So think about it. What is your source of comfort? What is something you will take with you when you travel to sooth anxiety or provide some level of comfort? I'm sure we all have something even if it is a favorite pair of shoes.

Performance Improvement

One of the fundamental lessons I learned in my days as an Electrical Engineering student is the order that performance improvements should be addressed. Always work on the largest problem first. This is really counterintuitive as people will throw out minor improvements because they are easily seen and understood. Unfortunately the improvements may be so minor that they are imperceptible. Let's look at some examples.

Recently I drove a car from San Mateo, California to Salt Lake City, Utah. This is a great example of performance as you always want to minimize the amount of time spent in the car. There are a number of variables you can play with to decrease the amount of time the trip takes. First off is which route you will take. Interstate 80 is the fastest route but is sometimes closed because of snow. You also have how fast you go. You can drive the speed limit or try to go above it. That introduces a few more variables like gas mileage and the risk of getting pulled over to receive a warning or speeding citation. The faster you drive, the more you will have to stop for gas. Don't forget that you may require additional stops to use the restroom or get food.

Thinking of the driving example, most people will point out that you can save time by combining food and restroom breaks with fuel stops. During my recent trip, I stopped for an hour to sleep and that could have been avoided by leaving earlier in the day. Leaving earlier would have also helped with the gridlock traffic I encountered leaving the Bay Area. Ultimately though, that all had very little effect on the overall drive. The best performance gains on a long trip like that are going to be solved by changing the speed of the trip from 80 miles per hour, the legal speed limit for most of the trip in Nevada and Utah, to 500 miles per hour which is how fast you can make the trip in a commercial plane. That is how I got to San Mateo in the first place and if I didn't have to bring a lot of stuff they don't allow on airplanes, it is how I would have gone home.

Another example of performance improvement I saw came in the form of a National Geographic article. It described how to save water while doing dishes. In many parts of the world, water is a scarce resource. In other parts it falls from the sky in large quantities. The article encouraged everyone to avoid rinsing your dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. No offense National Geographic but if you have a dishwasher, there are significantly better ways to save water. Taking a shorter shower is a good start. Better yet is to water your lawn only when necessary. Not rinsing your dishes saves about 2 gallons of water. Taking a shorter shower will save more than the 2 gallons of water. Watering your lawn only when necessary will save hundreds of gallons of water. In other words, stop worrying about 2 gallons and worry about 100 gallons. Once everyone gets that down, you can worry about smaller amounts.

So what does this have to do with computers? A lot actually. If you find yourself looking to improve performance, look at the system as a whole. Break down the tasks and their various times to complete. If task A takes minutes and task B takes seconds, focus on task A. Don't worry about B as it doesn't really matter until you can get task A into the seconds range.

Preferred Device for Video Conferencing

I have quite a few computers available to me at home. Currently I am posting this blog using my desktop computer. I also have a Chromebook that I keep near the kitchen. Sadly I no longer have my laptop since I have left Sony PlayStation. They made me give that back. I am reluctant to purchase a new one for myself as I am actively interviewing and will let my new employer get one for me. I am tempted, however, to go get one and then give it to my wife once I start the new gig. My reason for doing so? I am attending a lot of video conferences and my device of choice is a good laptop.

I have a great camera set up on my desktop computer. It does a great job but has one fatal flaw: where do I put it? My desktop computer is connected to a 43-inch 4K monitor. If I put the camera below the monitor, it looks straight up my nose. If I put it on top of the monitor, you can see a huge reflection from my bald head. If I put it to either side, it looks like I am staring off and not paying attention to anyone in the video conference. Basically there is no good place for the camera. That doesn't keep me from using it though. In case you are wondering, I have gone for the up-the-nose look.

I have used my Chromebook for a few video conferences but it is really under powered. I keep getting popups from the various video conferencing software saying that I need to shutdown other applications. The sad thing is that I don't have anything else running. I have thought about upgrading the Chromebook but the choices make it very confusing. A high-end Chromebook is more than a cheap refurbished laptop which will do a lot more.

I suppose I could use a mobile phone as well but the reality is that I loved using my laptop for video conference calls. If I didn't want to take the call in my office, I could bring it to the living room. When I was in Hawaii, I even took a few calls from the Lanai. I didn't even have to use a fake backdrop.

Fortunately my wife really does need a new laptop. Christmas is coming too. Do you think it is bad if I get a laptop for a month and then put it under the tree as a gift for my wife? I should probably add some jewelry there too.

Time for Another New Laptop

My youngest daughter and I got to spend the day together. My wife is accompanying my youngest son on a road trip as he moves to Ohio. That allowed my daughter and I to spend the day together rock climbing, buying wood to replace our backyard fence, and watching a movie together. During the course of the day, my daughter told me it is about time to replace her aging MacBook. I asked her why and she reminded me that her current computer is 8 years old. I think she may be right about replacing it.

I recently went through the exercise of replacing a computer and know that you pay a premium when you buy a Mac. However it is hard to argue with the fact that her current Mac is 8 years old and lasted her well. When I bought her that computer, I told her to take care of it as her next one would be her responsibility. She has treated it well and only now does she need to replace it.

Having spent 8 years with a Mac makes it difficult for her to want a Windows computer. She knows all of the ins and outs of the Mac operating system. I think a shift to Windows would confuse her. I asked her what she wants, thinking that she might go for the less expensive MacBook Air. Nope, she wants another MacBook Pro. Given the difference in prices, she will end up spending about $400 to $500 more than for the MacBook Air. I thought about it for a bit and realized that the Pro will probably last another 8 years while the Air would only last 4. That justifies the cost of the more expensive laptop as it will ultimately be cheaper in the long run.

It is important to note that not all Mac laptops are supposed to last that long. My oldest daughter gets only a couple of years before things start breaking as she is a little harsher on her computers than my youngest daughter. My youngest daughter also really only uses her computer to do things like visit social media sites and browse the Internet. She is not a software developer nor does she require a lot of horsepower.

My daughter didn't order the computer today as she is waiting to make sure she doesn't have any expensive bills coming up any time soon. She doesn't want to deplete her savings until she does a little financial forecasting first. This is good as it will give her some time to evaluate which options she wants and is willing to pay for. I'm sure she will be excited when the new computer comes.

Setting up a New WiFi Access Point

My wife and kids have been complaining about the slow Internet at my house and so I had to take a look at it this weekend. When your kids are young, you can blow off their complaints about slow Internet access. When they know more than you do about computers it is time to listen and fix the problem. That is where I found myself on Saturday.

I couldn't understand what the family was talking about because my primary computer has a physical wire connected to our Internet router. Everything worked well for me. I even ran a speed test and got close to the physical limits of my hardware. Then I started running speed tests on other computers around the house that connect via WiFi. To keep things uniform, let's assume my max Internet connection is 100 Mbps (that's mega-bits per second, not to be confused with mega-bytes per second). Running an Internet speed test on my hardwired desktop results in a speed of 93 Mbps. The laptop next to my WiFi access point came in at a paltry 23 Mbps. The further away from my access point, the slower the speeds. That indicated I might want to update my WiFi access point. I headed down to the local Best Buy and spent $60 on a new piece of hardware.

Setting up a WiFi access point is not as simple as plugging in the hardware and turning it on. I had to turn off and on the cable modem and run a configuration program to let it set itself up. It only took a few moments and then I had things working to the point where I could run my speed tests. My hardwired desktop still had a result of 93 Mbps. Next I tested my laptop and it came in at 83 Mbps. That is significantly better than the 23 Mbps from before. Furthermore I was getting significantly better numbers on devices scattered throughout the house. The PS4 Pro in my TV room came in at 53 Mbps while the PS4 in my bedroom tested at 45 Mbps.

One thing I noticed is the degradation of the WiFi signal. My new WiFi access point actually comes with 2 access points: one at 2.4 GHz and the other at 5.0 GHz. The higher number frequency provides for faster speeds but has a range limitation. I can see the 2.4 GHz signal throughout the house but have to be fairly close to the access point to see the 5.0 GHz network. You'll want to remember that as you select where to place your WiFi access point should you be running through the same exercise. As my bedroom PS4 is furthest from the access point, it is stuck on the 2.4 GHz network as it can't see the 5.0 GHz one.

The final step for setting everything up was to configure my printers. I use IP printing with 2 laser printers (one black and white with the other color). All of the computers in the house expect the printers to be at fixed IP addresses and so I had to configure that in the new WiFi access point. It is easy enough to do and I completed it quickly. Now everything is set up.

I did all of this work while the rest of my family attended a wedding reception and so when everyone got home they noticed they couldn't get on the Internet. The old access point SID had disappeared. All anyone needed to do was look for one of the two new ones and reconnect. I do have to admit I chuckled every time I heard one of my kids exclaim, "Hey, what happened to the Internet?"

A New Laptop . . . Again

Last week I thought my IT department was to blame for the poor performance of my laptop. It turns out that my laptop really did break. There is an internal ribbon cable for my keyboard and mouse that needed replacing. I could have fixed it with an $8 part but my IT department just gave me a new laptop instead. The bad ribbon cable is a common problem with that era of MacBook Pro.

One of the reasons I keep adding to this blog is that it serves as a technical notebook. When it came time to copy all of the stuff off my old computer, I just looked up what I did the last time and that allowed me to get my new machine set up quickly. I picked up the new computer on Monday and returned my old one this morning. The only thing I had forgotten to include in my last instructions is to copy over the VPN settings. While my IT department set up the primary server settings, there is an older secondary one that will often work when the other doesn't. For those keeping track, I made sure to:

1. Copy all of the files from my backup
2. Copy bookmarks from my browser
3. Set up printers
4. New: copy VPN settings

I'm not sure I like the new computer though. While my old computer had an intermittent keyboard and trackpad failure, my new computer likes to crash and reboot itself every 10 minutes. I have tried a number of troubleshooting techniques to figure out what could be causing the problem. So far, I haven't figured it out. Monday I had a number of problems with the laptop and then it ran flawlessly on Tuesday. Yesterday the crashing returned. Today it has run without incident all day. My hope is that the crashing is related to copying all of the old files onto the computer and then having to encrypt the files. Time will tell.

My Blog and an Important Date

Recently I updated my work laptop's operating system to High Sierra. Naturally this broke a number of applications until I could update them as well. I updated everything except for iMovie and Garage Band as I kept getting a message about how my Apple ID did not have permissions to update those applications. I didn't worry about as I don't really use those apps on my work computer. However it is starting to get annoying that my computer tries to upgrade them each week but can't because of the Apple ID. Today I had a few minutes of time and so I went to the company help desk to see if they could help me.

Ultimately we came up with a workaround that involved creating a new user on my laptop and having the new user update those two programs. Once that worked, the help desk employee suggested that my laptop is getting old and is eligible to be replaced soon. On the way back to my desk I wondered how long I have had this computer. Then I realized I wrote about it in this blog. A quick search showed that I got it around February 4, 2016. We have a policy that allows me to replace the computers every 2 to 3 years. I will probably wait a bit but it is nice to have a written record of when I got it.

Research on a New Computer

A friend has asked me to work with him on a new project. This will be outside my normal work and is something completely different from what I do at my regular job. Therefore I don't want to use my work computer for the project as that is not fair to my current employer. This new project needs to run on an iPhone and so I need to invest in a Mac as that is the best place to develop iOS applications. Yes, I know you can develop on Windows, but I have another personal project where I would like to use a Mac and so buying one solves two problems for me.

My natural tendency is to go out and get the best computer on the market. Fortunately I realize that I really don't need that much processing power. Remember that this is a side project and isn't my full-time job. If it was, then I would have no problem spending the extra money.

Today I went through Apple's website and compared the iMac and Mac mini. My second project requires a 4K monitor and so I don't want a laptop. While I could add a 2nd monitor, that just adds to the cost of the machine and I am trying to spend as little money as possible. So I ran through the website and configured 2 comparable machines in each style of computer. I erroneously assumed that the Mac mini would come in at a less expensive price. That is true, but once I add a 4K monitor, even with a highly discounted one, it is about $200 than the iMac. Furthermore, the iMac has a slightly faster processor and I can get it with twice as much memory than the max configuration for Mac mini. For the record, both computers come in at under $2,000 with 16MB of memory, 1TB disk drives, and Intel i7 processors running at or above 3GHz.

I have to say that I am surprised as I expected the Mac mini to be the less expensive choice. There are a number of other things on the project to research before I purchase the computer and so pricing may change in the near future. Apple has a tendency to announce more hardware choices towards the summer and that may influence prices a bit. If that happens, then I will adjust accordingly.

No Exciting Computers

I had a bit of time to think as I walked the 3 miles to my office this morning. Mostly I thought about how I had already crossed the threshold of distance to where summoning Uber seemed a waste even though it was raining. What driver would pick me up for such a short drive. I did think about other things and one of them surfaced again when I go to the gym at work and prepared to get another 30 minutes of exercise. I briefly glanced at the locker-room TV and noticed that one of the ESPN commentators has the same laptop I do. It seems like the vast majority of people have settled on the same few laptops. There just doesn't seem to be any exciting new computers these days.

Naturally I have spent part of my day thinking about the state of computing hardware and what would make me excited. The size of a laptop is something that used to differentiate various models. Now it seems we have settled on small, medium, or large and each has its merits. We also used to have peripherals such as floppy, CDROM, or DVD disk drives. Now it seems that everyone relies on network connections and doesn't need removable media any more. What about case material? Well you have the brushed aluminum look, solid black carbon fiber, or some colored plastic cover. All of that is boring. About the most exciting difference between laptops is the lit brand logo that appears on the back of the screen. Some love the simple Apple logo while others prefer the 3 intertwined-snakes for the gamer specific Razer laptops.

As I thought about the lack of excitement in the computer market right now, I realized that we can't really blame the hardware manufacturers. It is tough to get excited about new hardware when it all runs the same old software. You have your choice between Windows, MacOS, or Linux. Even then Linux really isn't an option for most people as it is still more of a hobbyist's operating system unless you are working with servers.

So what will it take to get me excited about a new computer or laptop? I don't know. Perhaps this just means there is a new opportunity out there for something extraordinary to come along. I would hate to think that computers have evolved as far as they will go.

Laptop Size Recommendation

When I first started my current job, I had a laptop provided to me and didn't have the option of choosing it. I was not the first user and the computer had seen better days. Eventually the time came and I got to order a new laptop and I selected one of the larger laptops available. I did so based on the processing power available. I also liked the size of the larger screen.

I liked the new laptop and used it for several years longer than required. Our company policy allows us to refresh our computers every couple of years. At the 4-year mark, I decided to make some changes. I noticed that others carried their laptops with them a lot more than I did. The larger format of mine discouraged that. Instead of the 15-inch model, I chose the 13-inch one. I am pleased with the change. I find myself bringing my computer with me everywhere. I also find myself pulling out my laptop a lot more on planes and in airports. It is much easier to find space for a smaller machine.

If you are in the market for a new laptop, think about any changes you would like to make with your current one. Think about more than just processor speed and memory. Is your computer bag too heavy when you put your laptop in it or do you even notice. Is your screen too small to be useful or is it more than adequate. These are small things that are often overlooked but end up making more of a difference than you probably realize. I know it surprised me.

Final Answer

My son finally made it home safely after two years in Armenia. I have been struggling with the decision on what computer to get him for his first year in college. I presented several choices to him and let him do some research for several days. He came back with a computer choice. Then I felt I needed to make one last look to make sure we reviewed all possible options.

There are several online computer vendors that allow you to specify the features you are looking for and so I visited Best Buy's. They have a store really close to my house and so I knew I could order it, have it shipped there for free, and pick it up rather quickly. I used the configuration tool and put in the options I thought would work best for a college freshman looking to start in the Mechanical Engineering department. Surprisingly I found a computer I had overlooked. I presented it to my son as a viable alternative to his choice and let him decide. I always believe that any large purchase should be thought about for at least a day. When I go to buy cars, I often tell the salesperson I want to sleep on it before I make a purchase. They hate that but then I don't have buyer's remorse. So I let my son sleep on the decision.

He came back and settled on a MacBook Air with an Intel i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128 GB solid-state drive. Sure I could have gotten more disk space, but with terabyte drives costing $70, why would you need to? I agreed with his decision and so I ordered the computer. The only problem with his choice is that the i7 is an upgrade and so it is not kept in stock at the Apple stores. I had to have it custom built. It will be here next week but is coming all the way from China. School starts on Monday so I hope my son doesn't need his computer until Wednesday when it is due to arrive.

Time for a New College Laptop Again

Back in February I wrote about how my youngest son will soon need a new laptop. I didn't see the urgency in making a decision at the time because heading to college seemed so far off. In two weeks he will be home after spending two years in Armenia and getting ready to attend college.

As I wrote before he will need to talk with his academic advisor to see the best recommendation for his engineering program in school. Some engineering software is only available for Windows and so a Mac might not be a good choice. Or the opposite could be true. I doubt it, but it could be.

A quick stop at Best Buy shows that there are even more choices than before. In addition to Windows or Mac, you can also choose a Chrome OS laptop. If you can get by with using online applications for everything you do, then it is a viable option. I don't think it is a good choice for an engineering student though and so I won't bother looking at one of those.

The next question boils down to budget: How much do I want to spend for my son's laptop. I always joke with my other children about how I like my youngest son the most. They all think that is true but reality is that whatever I do for one child, I have to make it fair for all of the rest. When my older son went to pick his laptop, I looked at the lowest price MacBook Pro and used that as the maximum budget. Why? That is what I got his two sisters. While time passes and laptop specifications change, Apple has done a pretty good job identifying realistic price points for student computers. Yes you can get a lower-priced computer but they don't last nearly as long as if you spend a bit more. Just look at my oldest daughter's experience as most of her college roommates needed new computers before the end of the first year.

I am often asked if brand makes a difference. The short answer is, "Yes." You want to be careful about what you purchase online. However if you are visiting a reputable store like Best Buy, they won't carry a junk brand and so your choice will boil down to features for a given price. I recommend more RAM over a faster processor. I also favor a solid-state drive over rotating disk even though you can get enormous disks for next to nothing. If you think your child will have a lot of large files, spend $60 and get an external USB drive and factor that into the cost of the computer.

Writing all of this down has helped me organize my thoughts as I get ready to help my son with his computer. Hopefully it helps you as well. Naturally I will be sure to let you know what I decide.

Power on Airplanes

I spent the last two days flying to Lund, Sweden for meetings here. During the flight from Salt Lake City to Paris I spent most of the time working on a presentation I will be giving during the trip. Fortunately my laptop has a seemingly never-ending battery that lasted the entire flight. However if I had needed it, I could have plugged in my power supply and charged the battery. There is a universal power outlet on most International flights. It will either be between the seats in front of you or down behind your knees.

I started my trip in San Francisco and the young lady sitting next to me had a phone with very little battery life left. She looked at the funny blue light above the outlet on the seats in front of us and asked me if it was a power outlet. After all, a universal power outlet will accept most plugs and so it doesn't look like your standard outlet you would find at home. I told her should could use it to charge her phone which she did.

Not all planes have the outlets and so you can't rely on them being there. However if your plane has them, you should not hesitate to keep your electronics topped up. Almost all of my flight experiences are restricted to Delta, Alaska, and Southwest. My experience is that most Delta planes have the outlets. On Alaska about 60% of the planes have them. Very few, if any Southwest planes have power to the seats. Your mileage may vary.

Researching a New Laptop

My youngest son will be starting his first year of college in the fall and our family tradition is that I purchase him a laptop. My very first post for this blog contained my recommendation for my oldest daughter when she started college. When my youngest daughter headed to school, I followed my original advice and got the same brand of computer. When it came time for my oldest son to head to school, I had him help with the process and he decided on something else.

With my youngest son I am rethinking all of my decisions. My daughters really only need a computer for word processing and e-mail. My oldest son will finish up his Computer Science degree this April and his laptop decision was the correct one for him. My youngest son has already been accepted into the Mechanical Engineering department and so I am torn between a Windows laptop or another Mac computer. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I wound my way through Electrical Engineering school, Windows was the operating system of choice. A number of the software programs throughout the discipline relied on it and could not be found for the Mac. Now I am sure things have changed but it has me wondering what the laptop of choice will be.

One nice thing about the Mac is that it will also run Windows and do so quite well. Sure I may have to set up Boot Camp on the Mac, but that isn't really that difficult. However you still pay a premium for Apple computers and can get more for your money with other laptops.

Fortunately I have some time and don't have to make that decision right now. I want my son to talk with his academic advisor and see what the school recommends. I think I know the answer but would like to be pleasantly surprised. If my son and I do decide to go with a Windows laptop, then I will have to also figure out which manufacturer to buy. I'll keep you posted what I decide.

A New Work Laptop

After almost 5 years with the same work laptop I broke down and ordered a new one. I really liked my old 15-inch MacBook Pro and didn't want to take the time to get a new machine configured. The thing that caused me to finally break down and get one is that my old laptop needed a newer version of the operating system. The brain trust in our IT department recommended against an upgrade and so I took this chance to fix a few things that I didn't like about the old one.

This time I went smaller. I opted for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Retina display. So far I have to say that I really like the smaller form factor. My computer bag is so much lighter and I appreciate that. Sure I would have gotten more horsepower out of the 15-inch, but I mostly use my laptop for e-mail and spreadsheets. If I need more computing power, I have 2 desktops for that.

This time it was fairly painless setting up my new laptop as I had a nice backup of my other computer. While the old backup took about an hour to copy to my external USB drive, it only took 7 minutes to copy to my new computer, thanks to the USB 3.0 port. I highly recommend one.

In addition to copying files and setting up e-mail, which my IT department took care of, I also had to copy all of the bookmarks out of my browser. Fortunately this was a great time to go through and clean them out. I only ended up keeping about a half-dozen of them. I also had to go through and set up printers. The process was painless but something I had to remember to do so I could print my airplane ticket for tonight's flight.

I still have my old laptop for the next couple of days. My hope is that I don't have to turn it on. Then I will feel safe giving it to our IT department. Naturally I will remove all of my files from the machine as opposed to assuming it will get done for me. Then I really hope I got everything.