to touch or not to touch......

[geronimotwo]

my daughter is getting to the point where she is writing papers and doing a lot of homework on the computer.  i am considering getting her her own laptop and was wondering if a touch screen is worth considering.  while on the subject, which operating system makes the best use of one.

thanks
g2

[Fly320s]

I would say no to the touch screen.  Trying to do any real work on my ipad can be a PITA with the touch screen, especially writing and editing.

[lupinus]

If you go touch screen, Win8 was designed with it in mind. So I'd say go Win8.

That said, touch screens are for phones and tablets, mainly because a mouse isn't practical for most uses on them. On a PC (regardless of desktop or laptop) some industrial applications aside touch screen is worthless IMO. I'd personally either save the money or put the money into better overall hardware.

[geronimotwo]

I would say no to the touch screen.  Trying to do any real work on my ipad can be a PITA with the touch screen, especially writing and editing.

i agree the touch pad alone is a pita, but i was thinking this would be with a keyboard as well.  the ad that caught my eye this week is for this acer at office max.

http://www.officemax.com/technology/computers/laptop-computers/product-prod5012172

what is a 10 point touch screen?

If you go touch screen, Win8 was designed with it in mind. So I'd say go Win8.

does this mean i should i wait till the bugs are straightened out, say windows 12?  what hardware is needed to run 8 effectively?

[zahc]

I'm guessing a 10-point touchscreen means you can touch up to 10 places at once, and the system will still recognize them as distinct touches.

[lupinus]

does this mean i should i wait till the bugs are straightened out, say windows 12? 

No. I think you should just get the computer and forget the touch screen 

[Boomhauer]

No to the touchscreen. Trust me on this one, it's fairly worthless when you've got a mouse and keyboard. Windows 7 if you can still get it.

I use a box stock $400 Toshiba laptop from wal-mart. It is excellent for what a typical high school or college student needs to do.

[Phantom Warrior]

That said, touch screens are for phones and tablets, mainly because a mouse isn't practical for most uses on them. On a PC (regardless of desktop or laptop) some industrial applications aside touch screen is worthless IMO. I'd personally either save the money or put the money into better overall hardware.

Agreed.  Touch screens are mostly for consuming content.  Watching videos, reading stuff, etc.  If you have to produce stuff (i.e. type and move the cursor around a lot) you want a real mouse and a real keyboard.

My recommendation is to get her a $400-500 15" Windows 7 laptop.  You don't need to spend more than $500 or so to write papers and surf the Internet.  A 15" screen is large enough to use comfortably yet still carry around in most backpacks.  Unless she's going to be carrying it around all the time (consider smaller) or never carrying it and needs lots of screen space (consider larger), I think a 15" screen is the best all around choice.  Windows 7 works well, is current, and you won't have to worry about buying special Apple software.

If she still feels a need for a tablet a $200 Google Nexus tablet would be a good mobile compliment to the laptop described above.  That's the setup I use. 

[Ben]

Okay, I just impulse bought myself a new travel laptop, and it came with Win8 and a touchscreen. I've been playing with it for the last couple of hours, and instead of getting used to it, I am growing to hate Win8 and how it interacts with the touchscreen. I'm putting one of the Win7 interfaces on it pronto. As mentioned above, if being used for media stuff or what you would use a tablet for, I guess it's fine. But if using the computer as a computer, in my opinion at least, it will drive one nuts. Especially with the stupid "corner" tools, especially if you want to use them without using the touchscreen (e.g., using a touchpad).

I am not averse to touchscreens. I use a touchscreen Toughbook all the time at work to run a a couple of different flight program that require a bunch of inputs. For doing that, a touchscreen works more efficiently than a mouse/keyboard. Of course the programs I use don't activate a bunch of stuff if you touch certain parts of the screen, they're just used for populating dropdown menus and hitting screen buttons and stuff. If they tried to do too much, like Win8 does, I would hate them too.

So I vote non-touchscreen and Win7 if you can get it, or else Win8 with a Win7 shell. Or the new Win8 if they fix what everyone hates.

[charby]

I probably write at least 100 pages of text each month related to course work. Typing papers on a laptop sucks. Seriously consider a desktop over a laptop.

Also for typing papers I don't see how a touch screen would have any advantage over a non touch screen. For internet usage, it is nice though.

[Boomhauer]

I probably write at least 100 pages of text each month related to course work. Typing papers on a laptop sucks. Seriously consider a desktop over a laptop.

Also for typing papers I don't see how a touch screen would have any advantage over a non touch screen. For internet usage, it is nice though.

If you hook up a keyboard and mouse then laptop becomes no different than a desktop. Plus the laptop can easily be taken to school and used at the library, in between classes, and in class (I can type about 60wpm wheras my handwriting absolutely sucks, so being able to have a laptop in skool can be a definite plus).

I got a hell of a lot of work done between classes, especially during semesters that I had an hour or more between some classes, thanks to having a laptop in my bag. Moar work done during the day = moar time you can devote to your life outside of the class day.

[lupinus]

I probably write at least 100 pages of text each month related to course work. Typing papers on a laptop sucks. Seriously consider a desktop over a laptop.

Also for typing papers I don't see how a touch screen would have any advantage over a non touch screen. For internet usage, it is nice though.

I'm going to go the exact opposite. For a student, short of work that requires raw power, I can't see a single bonus going desktop over laptop. Laptop goes to class, goes under a tree, work on the couch or from bed, etc. Portability as a major perk simply can't be denied. Especially these days where the price gap is pretty much non existent and laptops pack plenty of power and battery life.

Short of having a compelling reason to be tied to a desk or needing raw power for graphics or such, for a student stick with the laptop.

[Phantom Warrior]

If you hook up a keyboard and mouse then laptop becomes no different than a desktop. Plus the laptop can easily be taken to school and used at the library, in between classes, and in class (I can type about 60wpm wheras my handwriting absolutely sucks, so being able to have a laptop in skool can be a definite plus).

This times a million.  Everything plugs into a USB hub that plugs into my laptop.  I also have an external monitor and speakers.  When it's time to go those three things get unplugged and I'm out the door.  Unless you need serious power for gaming or other high end applications I think most people would be better served by a laptop.  You may not need to take it with you that often but when you do a desktop is a huge hassle and a laptop isn't.

[geronimotwo]

at this point she's not a gamer.  she spends most of her time reading ebooks and surfing facebook or other when she's not doing homework.  right now she is interested in forensic sciences, but that may change in the next few years before college. 

so far the most nays seem to be because of the lack of a proper operating system.   if i were to put this off until christmas, would ms likely come out with a better version of win 8 by then?

[Ben]

I like docking stations myself, and am going to a workstation laptop / dock solution when I upgrade my main (currently desktop) system.

I only wish there was a slick universal solution that worked across manufacturers that is as nice as what Dell puts out for their Latitude and mobile workstation lines. I have everyone at work on the Dell port replicators, and I love having just the one socket on the bottom of the machines that snaps into a well laid out port replicator.

[TechMan]

Get her a second power supply, so she can have one in her bag and one on her desk.  This is so if she is running late she can just unplug everything and shove the laptop in the bag and go, knowing she has a power supply with her.

Oh and No to the touch screen and Windows 7 or  Windows 8.1 but HELL NO to Windows 8 unless you purchase a Windows 7 shell.

[Scout26]

I got a Asus tablet with a keyboard (and 15 hours of battery life) for right at $200 through Groupon.  Robert uses it for his (admittedly short) papers for 7th Grade.

[erictank]

Just had to buy my wife a new laptop - hers died last week. My thoughts:

- Windows 8 owns the new-PC market. Between Amazon, Micro Center, Newegg, and TigerDirect, I found *FOUR* models that fit her (truly not excessive) needs which were available with Win7 (7 Pro, all of them). I found probably hundreds with Win8. She has a Win8 computer now.

- For Win8, I honestly would have preferred a touchscreen computer, since it's basically a tablet/smartphone interface. Not with otherwise-decent hardware at around $1000, though.

- Harder than I would have thought to find a model with BD optical drive plus backlit keyboard. We got one, but it took some work. ETA - at less than $1500, it's hard.

- Win8 with StarDock's Shell8 greatly resembles Win7, for $5, and is highly configurable. I'll be messing around with that once I get a little time to do so. 30 day free trial is currently running.

- the new-gen clickable touchpads royally suck. My stepdaughter has one on her new Sony Vaio, which her dad bought her, and my wife's new HP Envy that I got her has one. I also bought a Logitech 325 wireless mouse for my wife's computer, which is what she wanted - we'll be investigating how to turn off the touchpad.

- A thousand bucks will get you a nice machine. Lori's HP Envy-17 j092nr has :
Intel Core i7-4700MQ Processor 2.4GHz (wasn't a critical requirement, but better to have more CPU and not need it...)
Microsoft Windows 8
12GB DDR3 SDRAM (lots of RAM helps her on the job, teleworking)
1TB 5,400RPM Hard Drive (up from a 320 GB 5400rpm - could have gotten a similar machine with a 750GB 7200rpm, but HDD speed is not a thing for her)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M (this WAS a critical req - the integrated graphics on her prior machine choked hard on Netflix. This should not.)
Blu-ray Player and SuperMulti DVD Burner (again, better to have and not need...)
Multi-format Digital Media Card Reader
10/100/1000 Network
802.11b/g/n Wireless
Bluetooth
17.3" HD+ BrightView LED-backlit Display

The screen is pretty, and while not true HD, at 1600x900 is better than her previous one and more than sufficient for her needs. System is portable, powerful, and while the battery life isn't the greatest, she almost never goes untethered anyways, so it's not an issue.

[Ben]

- the new-gen clickable touchpads royally suck. My stepdaughter has one on her new Sony Vaio, which her dad bought her, and my wife's new HP Envy that I got her has one.

I heard that. If I'd have wanted an Apple style touchpad, I'd have bought a Mac. Again, they are fine for web browsing and media, but suck for actual work. Does no one freakin' use computers for work anymore?

[Boomhauer]

- A thousand bucks will get you a nice machine.

Yes but to me spending $1000+ on a general college student's machine is a bad idea...doesn't make financial sense. I know I did it when I went into college...put together a $1200 rig that matched or exceeded the specs of the College's $1500 Gateways that they wanted us to buy. That computer lasted for 6 years so basically it came out to $200/year ownership cost.

A $400 setup that would have done the exact same things for me (just didn't realize it at the time) would have made much more financial sense. I wish I had done that instead.

Obviously this stuff does not include high horsepower rigs for such tasks that require them, I'm just talking about normal use internet, skypeing, basic photo editing, watching DVDs, and using the office program suite to get stuff done for class. The $400 basic laptops excel at this stuff.

[Tallpine]

I heard that. If I'd have wanted an Apple style touchpad, I'd have bought a Mac. Again, they are fine for web browsing and media, but suck for actual work. Does no one freakin' use computers for work anymore?

It's the Age of 0bama.

No one has to work a job.

[geronimotwo]

looked at some models tonight,  man that acer is cheesy.   in my price range I was impressed with the asus model.

[lupinus]

Asus makes good stuff.

I've also been happy with my HP laptops, biggest issue has been heat, but only when gaming or doing graphics intensive stuff. Chill pad helps with that quite a bit IME.

I was less than impressed with the Acer we had.

[Boomhauer]

Acer is kind of the Taurus of the computer world...

[geronimotwo]

Acer is kind of the Taurus of the computer world...

i was hoping for better.  i've been happy with our acer desktop.........but then i hear there are taurus fans out there as well.