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Thread ID: 122765	2012-01-11 06:48:00	Prodigal daughter returns, has list. Sigh	BBCmicro (15761)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1253536	2012-01-11 06:48:00	She writes: "when I arrive in wgtn and before I move to Auckland (uni starts on the 13th feb) I have a few things that I would like to get organised and for which I would be grateful your help: 1/ notebook needs "servicing" - general advice, query upgrade/replacement. virus definition stuff 2/ phone: recently broke my last nokia in the rain. currently borrowing one. considering joining the 4G generation. welcome your thoughts? 3/ printing: for study purposes may need a basic printer 4/ want to keep up my french by downloading new caledonian news bulletins onto USB key and listening to them as i drive to university - would like to investigate car stereos with USB inputs 5/ headphone and micrphone set for skyping (one i used here was borrowed from work)" Any advice? Her current computer is an Acer Aspire One AOA-150 netbook running XP and Office2007	BBCmicro (15761)
1253537	2012-01-11 07:17:00	Get George to service the laptop, The rest is....meh.	Metla (12)
1253538	2012-01-11 07:26:00	Sell the daughter and deny all knowledge of any list :D	Iantech (16386)
1253539	2012-01-11 07:38:00	Tell her to get a job or buy you a money tree. Any kid who wants a smart phone should be prepared to fund it and the bills	gary67 (56)
1253540	2012-01-11 08:16:00	A netbook is a good idea for university due to the (usually) good battery life and easy to carry around and if she is happy with the form factor . . . . That said, this one is an Acer (:yuck: personal opinion) and if it's running XP, it means it's probably a few years old now (pushing the envelope of reliability for an Acer!! :)) and the battery won't be at its optimum . There are some good, relatively cheap (Asus) netbooks available these days if you want to consider getting something a little more up to date - you should be able to reinstall her copy of Office from the Acer (but you'll have to do it from a flash drive since netbooks don't have DVD drives . Not difficult to do, just tedious) . If you do go down this track, just make sure you uninstall the 'free' Norton or McAfee and install Microsoft Security Essentials in it's place . Agree with gary67 re: smartphone . If she has sufficient disposable income, let her do what she wants . Lots of cheap portable inkjets around - they're so cheap these days (around $120) it's often cheaper/easier to chuck them out when the ink runs out and buy a new one! New Caledonian news - sounds like she needs an iPod for this, although I don't agree with using earbuds while driving . Blocks out too much ambient noise, and Auckland traffic isn't very predictable at the best of times!! (Which brings me to " . . . driving to university . . . " - !!! What's wrong with the bus? I thought students were poor? Parking is horrendously priced in the CBD . . . ) A Logitech headset for Skype - there are models to suit every budget and they make good gear .	johcar (6283)
1253541	2012-01-11 20:29:00	Sell the daughter and deny all knowledge of any list :D Ha ha - don't want to do that now that she's reformed: "Other things on my list for which i will not need your help but which mama will want to see done include tidying all my stuff at your place into one concise space" @Johcar: thanks for those suggestions. She is very hard on equipment and I will steer her away from 4G as you and gary67 suggest. There's a bit of a reality disconnect. Her car, which is our old one, is 13 years old and done 267,000km. She will be staying free with a relative but it's not handy to uni Her netbook has lasted 3.5 years so I guess a new one of those is a good choice? I agree that Acer might not be the one to get. She had to flash the BIOS three times. Not an easy thing to manage by text message. Will check out Asus. It's a pity she didn't speak up before the boxing day sales My vision of an ideal (future) world is a quad-core tablet with HDMI and USB host facilities (for a printer in particular), running Windows 8 and some version of Office, a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, wifi but not cellphone. That would give her portability along with modest desktop home facilities. It would also avoid having all eggs in the one basket, ie, it would not be a cellphone. An arrangement like that would allow replacement of individual items. Point taken about having your wits in Auckland traffic	BBCmicro (15761)
1253542	2012-01-11 23:47:00	Her car, which is our old one, is 13 years old Point taken about having your wits in Auckland traffic Is that all? Mine's 20. Husbands is 25. Never mind the traffic - where's she going to park?! You know what parking costs in there - never mind actually getting one.........even in the weekly parking buildings...	pctek (84)
1253543	2012-01-12 00:09:00	20 years! (choke) What will you do if your Cruise Control suddenly fails? your ABS computer throws a wobbly?	BBCmicro (15761)
1253544	2012-01-12 00:13:00	Cruise control is my right foot, abs is when I get a twitch our car is 15 years old, I really can't see much point in getting anything newer the depreciation is way too high	gary67 (56)
1253545	2012-01-12 00:38:00	Well no point joining 4G, NZ has no 4G network so thats useless. RE Skype, most laptops have mic and camera built in now, if getting a new laptop thats a better choice than carrying around all that baggage If getting a smart phone save the french news onto that and if she insists on a head unit get one with a 3.5mm headphone jack, most of them have one now and it will be cheaper/easier to use than a USB version. Also good for music. Printing? Cheap laser printer. Most of the time people don't need colour, she can probably find/borrow a colour printer when needed	The Error Guy (14052)
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