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Laptop vs. Tablet: A Technical Dilemma   2 comments

Posted at Mar 5, 2013 @ 12:41pm gadgets and gizmos,Story Time at TurnKey

bigstock-The-computer-sinks-in-water-15728288Howdy’ do, Turnkey Lovers?

It’s your favorite technician, back again, with another piece of knowledge from my heart to yours. Well, that’s a bit misleading, as I actually need your help.

You see, not too long ago, my girlfriend and I drove down to good ol’ Georgia to spend Christmas with my family. This was the first time that my girlfriend spent with my family. Yeah, we’ve been dating for 2-years-plus and this was her first time meeting them. Well, let’s fast forward a bit here in the story. She met the family and everyone loved her, as expected. Now, this is a rather long drive to make from New York to Georgia. It actually took us about 16 hours. Not too bad, especially when you have some technology to keep you entertained.

What do you pack for technology on a trip? For us, it was:

1. Cellphone (x2)
2. Cellphone charger
3. Laptop (x2)

You might think we should have brought a GPS, but we both have Samsung Galaxy 3’s, so we didn’t need one.

Let’s jump ahead again to the drive back up to New York after a GREAT few days in Georgia. This is where things got interesting. On the way back, we placed one of our laptops on the back seat. At one point, we had to hit our brakes pretty hard…as there are people who can’t drive safely…and the laptop flew under the seat. Now, this wouldn’t be that big of deal, unless you add in a wet carpet from water leaking into the car. Well, as anyone out there may know…

Laptop + water = water damage.

We were hoping and praying that the laptop would be fine. That by some miracle, the laptop—let’s call her “Lappy”—would be OK. Well, this wasn’t exactly the case. When we booted it on, the video display wouldn’t even display anything. I knew Lappy was still online, but we couldn’t access her. Since I’m a slayer of tickets, fighting for top-notch customer support for every Turnkey Client, I knew the video card was now damaged. This put me in quite a conundrum:

1. Replace the laptop?
2. Replace the motherboard?
3. Purchase a tablet to replace the laptop?

Option 1 and option 2 are very similar. If I replace the laptop, it would essentially be the same as replacing the motherboard, and the cost would be just about equal. Enter: Option 3; purchase a tablet to replace the laptop. Now, this seems like a good option. I’ve been considering a tablet purchase for months, and what better time to get one than when your laptop dies because your carpet is too wet? Before I make such financial decisions, I like to look at the pros and cons. Here is a list of some of the pros and cons I’ve developed for this particular situation:

Pros:
• Upgraded version from broken laptop (bought said laptop in 2007)
• Greater mobility
• Increased computing power (over old laptop)
• Touch screen
• Pricing

Cons:
• No physical keyboard to do work from home
• Easier to break (moving it a lot more than a laptop)
• Inability to run work-related software (like VPN, for instance)

Based off that information, I feel that the best option may be to go with purchasing a new laptop. I would still be able to use a lot of my work software that I’m not sure would work on a tablet, and that’s important. On the other hand, I could just buy the tablet and drive into the office to do any other work, which wouldn’t be too much trouble for someone who lives only 10 minutes away. Looks like I still have some thinking to do…

This isn’t a typical blog post, but we’re not a typical hosting company.
Any suggestions?

 

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Written by Jeremy on March 5th, 2013

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