A Laptop for Christmas
Do you use a laptop? I never had one until I retired and started building and writing content for websites and blogs. What a difference portability makes!
Our PC history.
We have had a pc since way back in the 1980’s. I worked for TWA as a mainframe computer programmer. Most of us coded in COBOL, RPG II and Fortran and had no idea how to operate a personal computer, let alone code for one.
Back then, you pretty much had to build your own applications, typically using Basic. Our big boss in the computer software department for the airline (not the reservations systems, but everything else) was a thinker. He realized that personal computers would be big and convinced his bosses that he needed to supply one for us to take home so we could get familiar with them, as well as be connected to the mainframe so we could take care of non business hour issues and fires.
That old pc with its’ so very slow dialup connection on our one phoneline was my first exposure to the wonderful world of personal computing. It provided my kids the tools and ability to learn and play with this new form of electronics that eventually led to them both becoming web programmers.
I remember one time, I was dialed up to the TWA mainframe working away on a project one Saturday. Unbeknownst to me, hubby was having a vehicle emergency and was trying to call home for a ride. Because I was dialed in, our phone was busy for hours. He walked home, pretty darn mad as the walk was several miles!
We splurged for a second phone line shortly after that, as there was no other alternative for us at that time – DSL hadn’t arrived yet.
Eventually I left TWA and went to another company that didn’t provide any home equipment so we splurged and bought a system – for $3000 plus dollars! For that we got a pc with no hard drive (it used those 5 1/4 inch floppies to load the OS), a monitor, printer and keyboard. Whew, we were in the big time!
For years we traded in one pc system for another as the software kept eating up our processing and memory power and as the boys took off for college with our old desktops!
We were chained to the den where the desktop lived and had to go there whenever we wanted to do anything on the computer. The tangles of wires and connections gathered dust and took up space and only one person at a time could use computing power and later access the internet (now via DSL).
Enter the laptop!
When I retired, I knew I would be on the computer a lot, because I was already planning to develop and write for multiple web sites. I also knew I didn’t want to have to sit in our windowless little computer room to work. I felt that we might have some issues on computer use time as well.
To solve those problems, I bought my first laptop AND a wireless router. Now we can both share our internet connection and each have our own device.
We need another one.
The problem now is that our sturdy old desktop (an HP) is finally suffering from old age. I’m hoping (shhhh don’t tell) to buy hubby a new desktop for Christmas, or maybe even a laptop as he doesn’t care which he uses.
I love to shop Amazon online sales (see below) and will personally be checking out these deals to see what kind of computer to get for hubby.
Laptops are great and now’s the time to buy.
I love using my laptop. I take it when we travel, I used it at the condo, I sit outside in warm weather while I work and sit on the couch watching TV while writing. It’s a great gift for anyone who likes some mobility yet needs a bigger screen than tablets provide as well as a usable keyboard (especially necessary for the blogger in your life)!
Holiday time is an excellent time to buy, due to all the sales, so check out these from Amazon and help out a struggling writer and blogger at the same time (that would be me as I get a small commission if you follow this link and buy something!).
Thanks and happy shopping!
What kind of computing/internet device do you use the most? Do you use different types for different tasks?
