OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[nhwbrooklyn]

Massive amounts of photo's and videos can be tough to go with a cloud solution. But if you can keep it below 5gb Dropbox is free and google drive is free.

[nhwbrooklyn]

So it's basically an android I-Pod?

My wife has an I-Pad and loves it, but we are looking for something for one of the kids and don't want to spend that kind of cash.

I read a bunch of reviews and they look good. I just wanted to know if anyone here had any experience with it.

Are there a lot of apps available?

Yeah tons of apps. Though they are not always the same apps if your kids are used to certain things being a certain way.

I have both the 3rd gen Ipad and the nexus 7 and the nexus 7 is the winner as far as being a better value. It actually does a lot of things better than the IPad 3rd gen. It's much lighter and easier to hold in one hand too. Of course the Ipad has the better screen so is better for work presentations and is better for productivity if you get a keyboard cover for it but overall the nexus 7 is more for your money.

There is likely way more apps geared toward kids on the ipad though. Not sure if those are the kind of apps you are talkikng about or not.

[Topweasel]

What do you all know about the Nexus 7 (point me to the posts if it has already been discussed)

Great Tablet for the price a 4 core beast with a nice screen and a completely unmolested up to date Android. Problems are storage, specially for the early adopter that went for the 8GB unit (like myself) since it doesn't have an SD slot. It is a tablet with a plastic back so its a bit creaky. But honestly its pretty perfect if you want a 7" tablet that is almost pocket-able (I can fit mine in every pair of pants I own and I am small guy). Great for games, book reading, and light to medium web browsing.

[Topweasel]

I may be wrong but for as cheap as external storage is I'd just buy a couple of 1 or 2 TB ext HD. I'm one of those squirrelly people that doesn't trust "the cloud" just for storage. I could see using it to share files to a group of people though.

I am with you on that.

As for a computer. Look for something cheap. Don't get upsold on Memory or HD space, as honestly even the smallest Hard drives will fit your use case (should be able to get a computer with a 1TB drive easily).

Basically get something run a Pentium G model or higher. Don't go higher then a Core i3 (you won't see an advantage on anything above it). 4GB of ram. 1TB HD. Get an external HD for backups and extra storage (once a week at least make sure you are backing your pictures and documents to it, Win 7 and 8 have some pretty easy tools for this). Other that you really don't have to worry about it. Don't get swayed by any fluff unless you actually see yourself using it.

[Topweasel]

So it's basically an android I-Pod?

My wife has an I-Pad and loves it, but we are looking for something for one of the kids and don't want to spend that kind of cash.

I read a bunch of reviews and they look good. I just wanted to know if anyone here had any experience with it.

Are there a lot of apps available?

It is closer to the Android version of the Ipod Mini. Its a small tablet. Not too small. But in comparison to the Xoom, Ipad, Transformer, or Galaxy tab 10, its small. But the closest to it in price is the Fire and Fire HD and the Nook Tablet, and in performance and capabilities it is vastly superior.

[mason reese]

I may be wrong but for as cheap as external storage is I'd just buy a couple of 1 or 2 TB ext HD. I'm one of those squirrelly people that doesn't trust "the cloud" just for storage. I could see using it to share files to a group of people though.

I always get freaked out by my external storage...seems like it locks up every once in awhile and I have to pull the plug to reboot it...one of these days I assume it just won't restart. But I did hear recently that their are higher quality external drives with lower lock rates; not sure what they're called.

[Mainevent]

Thanks Top.

[CGVT]

Thanks guys!

[Tony G]

That sounds like what I may need as a companion to a 17" laptop

[Masspartan]

I would wait until better versions come out though. That one isn't quite where it should be but soon there will be awesome huge touch screens that fold flat into touch tables and other cool stuff like that.

Wait and life passes you buy. Is there anything else like it that is better? I dont need tons of computer power. Just pay bills on line, kep some spreadsheets handy, produce a decent resume with it. Etc. I console game and only occasionally stream movies. Would like something to keep in my lap while watching the tube then set on the table when i need a keyboard. 20 inch screen sounds perfect for usinf while in bed and propping it up next to me to stream.


It does need to surf the net quickly which i assume this does?

[Topweasel]

Wait and life passes you buy. Is there anything else like it that is better? I dont need tons of computer power. Just pay bills on line, kep some spreadsheets handy, produce a decent resume with it. Etc. I console game and only occasionally stream movies. Would like something to keep in my lap while watching the tube then set on the table when i need a keyboard. 20 inch screen sounds perfect for usinf while in bed and propping it up next to me to stream.


It does need to surf the net quickly which i assume this does?

Absolutely. Anything should fly under Win8. But it has a strong, though certainly not the fastest CPU of this generation. Think of CPU's as Car engines. That has a small block V8 in it.

[DeanUK]

Not sure if any ISP's in the States are the same, but my ISP here (BT) gives free Flickr Pro membership. I upload all my pics at full size I'vecurrently got 5,500 pictures up there. Alternatively it's $24.95 a year. This is in addition to having RAID 1 and backing up to an external HD. The only thing I can't do, is back up my home movies to Flickr but I have DVD's distributed among the family and the original tapes in a small fireproof safe.

As for Win 8, my son has just got a Laptop and has it installed. It's certainly different, but he's getting on with it ok after a few grumbles. It almost makes it seem that going to the Desktop is going backwards and you're running Win 7 via an emulator. As it is nice to use though and hopefully Office 2013 will be more integrated with it and the cloud than 2010. Quite like that (as I understand it) 2013 license allows up to 5 machines too.
I'm looking into getting the Lumia 820 if it's not too expensive, I might then make the jump to Win 8. If they can get the Apps for PC and Phones to start booming then I can see it really succeeding.

[Coop]

Mainevent - if you are looking to replace the entire computer, check out Dell Outlet. Recommend a certified refurb Dell Optiplex (if desktop) or refurb Latitude if you're looking for a laptop. The good news is that Large hard drives are fairly cheap these days.

Dell outlet can save you 25 - 30% off the price of new.

[Mainevent]

Thanks Coop, i'll check it out. WOuld love to go the laptop route if I can find the things I need.

[unknown lions fan]

I am with you on that.

Don't go higher then a Core i3 (you won't see an advantage on anything above it). 4GB of ram. 1TB HD. ...

Only 4GB of RAM? As cheap as RAM is, I'd always go with 8GB. If it's a high markup on a new PC, you can add it aftermarket on the cheap.

So many apps have memory leaks, especially web browsing.