Laptops, Tablets, Phones, and Paper

I have several hours to kill while I wait for my next flight and so I am hanging out in Delta's Sky Club at the Los Angeles International Airport. Technology continues to evolve and so I thought I would look around to do a non-scientific survey of what devices people are using while they wait for their flights. The lady in front of me is working feverishly on her Mac laptop. In fact most of the laptops in here are Macs. About the only exception is the guy to my right with his Dell. However he is using his oversized iPhone, so does it count? In fact the majority of the people in the airport lounge are actually mostly staring at their small smartphone screens. I wonder how many of them are playing Pokémon Go?

I do see one or two women using tablet computers. All of them seem to be reading. Amazingly I don't see a single book out. I wonder if that is because there is a plethora of electrical outlets here, so everyone seems to be taking advantage of them to recharge batteries. Most of the aforementioned phones seem to be corded to the outlets as well.

Finally the older woman to my right has taken over her table with an old-fashioned paper notebook. Papers are spread everywhere as her husband carefully guards a small corner of space for his bowl of chicken chili. In a large room filled with about 50 frequent fliers, she is the only one using paper. Considering the lounge provides a stack of newspapers and magazines for everyone to read, I find that interesting.

As for me, I have my Mac laptop out as I prefer a full-sized keyboard over the simulated one on my phone. Earlier today I completed a Powerpoint presentation for my meetings this week and now want to top off the battery before my next flight. While I know there will be a power outlet by my seat on the plane, it still feels good to have a full battery just in case I need it. I also used my phone to call my wife and talk about her exciting morning without me. Yes technology is everywhere and most of my fellow travelers seem to be taking advantage of it.

Two Computers

I have a daughter headed to college in September. That means I got to buy her a computer that she will take to school. Luckily her birthday is in July and so I could get the laptop as a gift. I just had to decide which one to get. When I started writing this blog, one of my first postings was on which computer was the best to send with your kid to college. I was sending my oldest daughter off to school at the time and decided the MacBook was the best choice.

It is now 3 years later and the MacBook is no longer an option. Apple has two models, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. Each one has a number of options ranging from screen size to memory. If you are really looking for the original MacBook, you can pick up a refurbished model from MyService. I sat my daughter down and gave her a choice between the Air, Pro, or a refurbished MacBook. Naturally, she didn't want the refurb and I can't say I blame her. I told her I would give here the difference in price to help pay for tuition and she still wanted the new computer. While the Air is a very light computer, my daughter wanted something with a little more horsepower. So I got her the least expensive MacBook Pro.

A few days later, one of my oldest son's old roommates sent me an e-mail asking for help getting a computer. I have a corporate discount to one of the major laptop manufacturers and could save him about $100 on an $800 laptop. I mentioned that my daughter turned down my corporate discount option and went for the more expensive Apple computer. His budget wouldn't let him spend more than the $700 and he wasn't interested in a refurbished Mac. We played around with the configuration and kept the price withing his budget.

My daughter loves her new computer and has been using it constantly since her birthday. I will be interested in comparing the two computers over their respective lives. When I bought my oldest daughter her computer, I was confident it would last. Now I have two computers bought at the same time to compare against each other.  Time will tell which is the best deal, but I'm betting on the Mac. My oldest daughter's MacBook has required an upgrade or two, but is still running strong.

Time For a New Computer

It is time to replace one of my computers again. My company has finally given me a new laptop and it is a welcome change. My old laptop was between 5 and 6 years old. While it worked well for my needs, I am really enjoying my new MacBook Pro. The only problem is that now I need to install a bunch of my old software. Considering my old laptop ran Windows and my new one runs Mac OS X, this could be a problem.

My old laptop was plenty fast for what I used it for, which was mostly reading e-mail and logging into bigger computers. It's only flaw was that the battery life made it virtually unusable unless it was plugged into the wall. The nice thing about Mac laptops is their incredible battery life. I am looking forward to that on the flight home this evening. I might actually be able to get work done instead of just reading my magazine.

A New Laptop

Recently I received a new laptop at work. It isn't nearly as nice as my old black MacBook, but it means I have yet another computer. For a while I was leaving my work laptop in San Francisco and carrying my MacBook back and forth to Salt Lake. This week I decided to leave it at home and utilize the laptop the company gave me. So far, it has turned out to be a good decision, but the week is still young.

One nice thing about my MacBook is that it has a built-in camera to use with Skype. My new computer has the same setup. None of the computers we have at home have a camera and so it was kind of nice to talk to my son. He logged into my MacBook while I was on my new laptop and we were able to see each other as we talked. It didn't take long before everyone in the family was down in my office crowding behind the laptop screen to get a look at Dad.

Working 600 miles away from home can be a little lonely sometimes. While I spend quite a bit of time on the phone with member of my family, it will be nice to enjoy seeing them as well as talking to them.

Big Monitors

I had a friend come over last night and I gave him a quick tour of my home office. He was surprised by how many computer monitors I have on my desk. I have five but they only go to three different computers. As someone who sits in front of a computer all day long, I need to keep track of a lot of different things. Most home computer users can survive with a single monitor.

This morning I am working on a software development project that requires a lot of screen real estate. As fate would have it, I am using the smallest monitor for this task. So what can I do to change that?

Two of the computers on my desk have dual monitors. The third computer is my laptop and the machine I am using to work on this morning's project. Most laptops have an external monitor connection. It is generally added to laptops in case you need to give a presentation and need to connect to a projector. So all I need to do is connect my laptop to one of the monitors on my desk and I will have more space.

That will actually work well in theory because one of my computers is off right now and so I can borrow a screen to share with my laptop. When I am done, I can reconnect it with the computer where it originated. Unfortunately the extra monitor is on the other side of my desk and I really can't see it from my laptop. I already have trouble figuring out which keyboard goes with which monitor and this would make it worse.

My two primary monitors actually have two inputs each. One is an HDMI (the same as a high definition TV) and the other is a standard VGA as found on most older computers. Instead of moving monitors around for today's project, I can actually run a second cable from the monitor to my laptop. I can then use the switch on the monitor to change inputs. When I want to see my desktop screen, I use the HDMI input. When I want to see the laptop screen, I use the VGA input.

My first computer came with a ten-inch monochrome display that was 80 characters wide by 24 down. Now I have desk full of monitors that are vastly superior. However I pretty much do the same thing now as I did back then.