Shiny!

[erastes]

yesterday I took possession of new shiny laptop. It’s last Christmas’s present from Dad. It’s an Acer Aspire 5735z and the screen is as big as my desktop. Having big hands, i wanted a normal sized kind of keyboard and a big screen.  It’s so …. SHINY…. It also has voice recognition which kind of rocks big rocks and i’m going to start training it up tomorrow and I’ve always wanted to dictate my books, seeing as how that’s how i think them up, in the car, in bed, speaking aloud like The Mad Cat Lady (TM)

I tried to dictate this but it got a bit confused to say the very least.

I had 2 collar doves on the bird table today. Whether they are the same ones (which i THINK they are) I’m not sure, as I’d really thought that Lucius had got at least one, but it’s nice to see a pair back.

One major snag to the laptop is that I don’t actually HAVE a lap, so will have to find a TV table or something to operate on, as I’m perching this on one leg at the moment, and that’s not ideal…

Comments

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, laptop! :) Enjoy the new toy!

[chris-smith-atr.livejournal.com]

Whee! Shiny!

*strokes the new toy*

Glad about the doves too - what a fantastic thing to see. :)

[kittymay.livejournal.com]

Nobody puts their laptops on their laps anyway...unless you're a fool who writes 60,000 words hunched over on one and then ends up at the doctors because he can't actually use his arm...*dies*

Good about doves. I have a greater spotted woodpecker now, who keeps waking me at 6 am on the peanut feeder. He's pretty, but Herself thinks he is breakfast....

[sleveen.livejournal.com]

New laptop!!! OM NOM NOM NOM

(loves technology) :D

[beckyblack]

I always use my laptop and even my wee Acer Aspire One on a table or other hard surface anyway. Somehting soft like a lap just blocks the cooling vents and then it overheats and burns you! It needs clearance undeneath.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

its nice to get out of the typist's chair, and I watched True Blood in bed last night - oh the luxury!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

nod nod - not good for it - i'm on the sofa with the Shiny on a chair today.:)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

am using sofa and chair now which means more comfort than being in the typist chair all day.

[sleveen.livejournal.com]

I know! I love having a laptop. I can sit and surf while Hubby watches tv - I no longer have to go to the office to do that. :)

[aunty_marion]

It's usually damn uncomfortable using a laptop directly on the lap. Not only is it too close to the body to type easily, they get HOT. Get one of those bean-bag laptray things, if you really want to use it sitting in a chair/sofa. Or IKEA now do a specially designed laptop table thingy called Dave (of all daft names!).

[erastes.livejournal.com]

i really wish i had access to an ikea - i want a ton of Billy shelves

*glum*

[aunty_marion]

Well, Dave is available to buy online (though I don't know how much delivery is); so is Billy. Check the FAQs?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

No, there's no delivery here, I've been waiting patiently for a long long time

[aunty_marion]

What? How mean of them! Complain! It says right there on the FAQ - "Can I buy online today? Yes, if you have a credit or debit card, and live in mainland England and Wales. If you do not live in mainland England or Wales and would like us to let you know when you can Shop Online Click here and leave us your details."

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Hmm - that's new - it wasn't up there last month - £35 delivery and they deliver on Fridays. Well worth it i think if I order a few billys which i desperately need- THANK YOU!

[copperbeech.livejournal.com]

i've never had luck with dictation software. other writer friends swear by it. maybe it depends on the software? i also find that something happens between the brain and the mouth--the synapses just go weird in a different way than they go weird between the brain and the hand.

ah well. let us know how it unfolds!

and yay for the new laptop!!!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I think it's working for me (in wordpad as I don't have Word gah.) because i write very slowly e.g. one sentence and then stare at it. and i do a lot of story creation vocally too, in the car. I can't get it to work within firefox, though

[copperbeech.livejournal.com]

openoffice.org is MS Word, open source. it installs easily and for the most part talks to Word very well, should you ever need to switch back and forth. it's also much lighter than Word and runs faster. i've used that to write my latest manuscript in, so i've stretched its limits pretty well. the download for open office includes a word processor, slide creator, spreadsheet... the same stuff as Word Suite, just you're not paying $400 for it.

i've had a problem getting page numbers to show up switching between Word and OO, and i had a problem with a footer between PowerPoint and OO... otherwise it's pretty much the exact same.

good luck with things!

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

I use OpenOffice, too. The only place where it falls down is when you are transferring back and forth between it and Word, and the person using Word likes to use inserted text boxes to make comments on your work. Otherwise, it's completely compatible.

I sometimes use a large, flat textbook to rest my laptop on if I am sitting on the couch lenghtwise.

Yay, technology! What voice rec. software are you using? I've been eyeing Dragon for a little while.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

damn - are you saying it doesn't do tracked changes????

That's going to be a Major Disaster..

The voice software is on the PC, seems to be working well, you have to be patient and work on the training, and learn the commands, but I'm switching back and forth between applications ok now - it doesn't seem to want to type anything in Firefox which is a nuisance, probably works perfectly in I.E and i hate IE

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

O. Well, you can download O.O. for free and try it out. If it doesn't work, then you'll likely have to buy Word. If you know any uni. students they can usually get it for a very good price.