The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Laptop for Overseas
Wezoin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my grandpa from England is coming over to Canada in a couple weeks. He does alot of work on computers, but essentially it's just a case of typing emails and letters. As much as he likes working, he is in his mid-80s now, and is finding it fairly difficult to type because of the condition of his hands (I'm assuming he's probably got arthritis, but he's too proud to ever admit anythings wrong.)
Anyway, my grandma has asked me to look into a laptop for him after I happened to mention that I was playing around with the voice recognition in Vista. She would essentially like something that would allow him to speak into a microphone and have it type everything up for him. It's not so much that I'm having trouble picking out a laptop for him, but I have a few general questions to ask.
1) Wireless Networks: Is there any reason (ie, different frequencies, region locks, w/e) that a laptop from Canada would not be able to connect to a British wireless network?
2) Would using an adapter (similar to what you would use if you took say a hair dryer overseas) be ok to use with a laptop?
3) Do all versions of Vista have voice recognition? (I'm assuming he'll probably end up with Home Premium, but just incase)
4) With relation to warranties: Once he gets back to england, would the repair centers in europe be willing to repair his machine? (ie, would HP Britain fix an HP Canada laptop)
If theres anything I haven't mentioned here it's probably because I haven't thought about it yet, so if you notice anything else that might be of relavence please let me know.
Thanks.
Anyway, my grandma has asked me to look into a laptop for him after I happened to mention that I was playing around with the voice recognition in Vista. She would essentially like something that would allow him to speak into a microphone and have it type everything up for him. It's not so much that I'm having trouble picking out a laptop for him, but I have a few general questions to ask.
1) Wireless Networks: Is there any reason (ie, different frequencies, region locks, w/e) that a laptop from Canada would not be able to connect to a British wireless network?
2) Would using an adapter (similar to what you would use if you took say a hair dryer overseas) be ok to use with a laptop?
3) Do all versions of Vista have voice recognition? (I'm assuming he'll probably end up with Home Premium, but just incase)
4) With relation to warranties: Once he gets back to england, would the repair centers in europe be willing to repair his machine? (ie, would HP Britain fix an HP Canada laptop)
If theres anything I haven't mentioned here it's probably because I haven't thought about it yet, so if you notice anything else that might be of relavence please let me know.
Thanks.
Wezoin on
0
Posts
Apple also has laptops.
Yeah, but as he's not familiar with Macs (and as he'd like to keep it fairly cheap) that pretty much knocks Apple out of the picture. He's looking in the sub-$1000CAD range, so I'm looking at some AMD 64 X2s.
Also, if he gets a model with just 1gb of ram, would it run decently? I mean, he's not doing anything overly demanding, and I dont think he expects the machine to be that fast (he uses a pre-2000 machine in his office currently.)
Another question, do you think his british accent will cause problems for voice recognition? I haven't done much training with it, and find it fairly good for myself, but I just want to make sure I dont get him to buy a machine if it's not gonna work for what he wants. (I plan to get him to try it out on my laptop first to make absolutely sure, but if any of you happen to know about this that'd be great.)
not sure about canada, but in US wireless has 11 channels, and in UK there are 13 channels available. A US system may not be able to connect (or even see) channels 12 and 13 (this was the case with a C2duo macbook pro i just got for my sister). It's possible this is just a driver issue and if you got an US HP laptop, mebbe he could go to UK HP website and get drivers that work for him getting him channels 12 and 13 (I'm assuming this is not O.S.-region dependent).
i'd think any decent voice recognition software (e.g. dragon naturally speaking) will adjust during training to an accent.
warranties -> vary by manufacturer. but with Apple, if you bought a US Mac then you have to buy US Applecare, and when you register it you have to provide US address (but the machine can and will be serviced in country of use, assuming they provide service there). i know this in particular to apple b/c i just went thru this re: laptop mentioned above.
I understand that XP will get better performance with lesser parts, however from what I understand Vista's voice recognition system is much better than XP's, and therefore more appropriate for the intended use. I realise it'll be slower, but how much slower are we talking? Like to the point where you'd start moaning about the time it takes to open a folder? Or more to the effect of "games are laggy"?
So with the "channels" thing you're saying it'd work with some networks but not others? Can anyone confirm if there are or are not drivers that allow compatibility with the extra channels?
Travel adapters are fine, but be careful, there are different kinds for different appliances, and the ones made for hair dryers can fry a computer. Most laptop manufacturers now make universal AC laptop adapters with interchangeable plugs for the different parts of the world (using the standard Japanese power cords), Apple sells a kit of different sockets that fit on their AC adapters.
As for international warranties, you should confirm that by talking to the individual laptop manufacturers. Service by mail will probably be available, but at high shipping costs, service on-site will probably not be available due to regional contract issues.
As for Vista speech recognition, you might want to watch this.
wifi in UK -> this is only a problem if he's at a wifi cafe or something and they are running on channel 12 or 13 (possible, as people tend to set their wifi either at the extreme ends of the range, or in the middle).
you should only need a plug adapter (not a transformer block) as any notebook sold today should come with an auto-switching dual-voltage power supply (look for 100-240 Volts on the power brick).
Because maybe his Grandpa is actually a closet CoD2 freak?
But he's right on the WiFi and power thing. Laptop adapter bricks will work on North American or British power, even though the voltage/frequency is different. They are one of the few devices that easily adapts because their actually power throughput is quite low (generally less than 2amps input). The trick is just ordering the spare Wall to Brick power cable, it's just got the British version of our