Thoughts On A New Laptop

[David Gwilliam]

In the next few weeks I intend to buy a new laptop. It occurred to me that many people would be interested to know what programs members recommend and what tips other people have.

I realise that I need to change to Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer. I will be sticking with Microsoft Word simply because I have many years worth of notes in it. I have been using Power DVD 13 to play DVDs. Is there anything better?

As one of the least techno-savvy members of the forum it is a real cheek for me to give advice but I will start the ball rolling. Have people thought of getting their music from YouTube. For this I very much recommend Replay Media Suite. . As everyone knows YouTube includes whole concerts both classical and a favourite of mine 1950s rock and roll. With Replay Medias Capture I can keep just one or two items from the concert. Above all people have downloaded their entire music collections. With rock and toll or folk music this can include obscure records never released in Britain.
Replay Media Catcher also allows me to capture rare clips of speeches by political heroes such as Robert Kennedy and Aneurin Bevan or of places and buildings I am going to visit

I have heard of a program called Fences which organises the desktop. Does anyone on the forum use it?

 

[Matt_B]

In the next few weeks I intend to buy a new laptop. It occurred to me that many people would be interested to know what programs members recommend and what tips other people have.

I realise that I need to change to Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer. I will be sticking with Microsoft Word simply because I have many years worth of notes in it. I have been using Power DVD 13 to play DVDs. Is there anything better?

As one of the least techno-savvy members of the forum it is a real cheek for me to give advice but I will start the ball rolling. Have people thought of getting their music from YouTube. For this I very much recommend Replay Media Suite. . As everyone knows YouTube includes whole concerts both classical and a favourite of mine 1950s rock and roll. With Replay Medias Capture I can keep just one or two items from the concert. Above all people have downloaded their entire music collections. With rock and toll or folk music this can include obscure records never released in Britain.
Replay Media Catcher also allows me to capture rare clips of speeches by political heroes such as Robert Kennedy and Aneurin Bevan or of places and buildings I am going to visit

I have heard of a program called Fences which organises the desktop. Does anyone on the forum use it?

I used to use fences then found it easier to have a tidy desktop instead.

 

[RHYDAL]

Avast. That is all.

 

[alex]

Macbook Air, that is all.

 

[SJN-Fox]

VLC Media Player for DVD playback, free and far better than many of the other players available. Open Office, also free and compatible with MS Office files including Word. Infra recorder for CD/DVD burning and Format Factory for converting between media formats.

With regard to saving extracts from You Tube, you do realise that this contravenes their terms and conditions , although I'm sure that there are many people that do it.

 

[SwedeFox]

Macbook Air + uTorrent is all you need in life (if David can promote piracy so can I).

 

[spionfox]

Has OpenOffice sorted out the non compatibility issue with Excel macros yet?

 

[Macky]

Has OpenOffice sorted out the non compatibility issue with Excel macros yet?

OpenOffice hasn't been worked on for a few years, seeing as all of the developers walked out and aint nobody using that shit no more. This decade is all about its big brother the LibreOffice, that's where all the cool kids is at.
Whether or not it's any better with Excel macros I haven't a scoobies, but I imagine it would be as they have a 6 month release schedule and there's been work on .xlsx support mentioned. It is a better product than OpenOffice was.

 

[Cate Fox]

OpenOffice hasn't been worked on for a few years, seeing as all of the developers walked out and aint nobody using that shit no more. This decade is all about its big brother the LibreOffice, that's where all the cool kids is at.
Whether or not it's any better with Excel macros I haven't a scoobies, but I imagine it would be as they have a 6 month release schedule and there's been work on .xlsx support mentioned. It is a better product than OpenOffice was.

Is it free??

 

[jb5000]

Firefox over Chrome, if you value your privacy.

 

[spionfox]

OpenOffice hasn't been worked on for a few years, seeing as all of the developers walked out and aint nobody using that shit no more. This decade is all about its big brother the LibreOffice, that's where all the cool kids is at.
Whether or not it's any better with Excel macros I haven't a scoobies, but I imagine it would be as they have a 6 month release schedule and there's been work on .xlsx support mentioned. It is a better product than OpenOffice was.

Cheers Macky, I'll give Libre a go but if it don't do excel macros I'll have to keep looking.


--
Blue Army - 20651

 

[Macky]

Is it free??

It is indeed, free as in 'free speech' as well as free as in 'free beer'. Everybody loves drinking free booze then saying whatever they want.

It's a full office suite and is easily on par with MS Office and has no bother dealing with documents created in Office. It also doesn't have that dog awful shitstorm of a design **** up new 'Ribbon' layout that Office uses now.
The only problem you may have is if you're awkward and insist on using proprietary macros created for a different piece of software, in that case you'll need to part with money :icon_bigg

 

[Jeff]

if you're awkward and insist on using proprietary macros created for a different piece of software, in that case you'll need to part with money :icon_bigg

Is the free version of Office 2010 still available?

I still use Office 2003, as I don't see the point upgrading for features I never use. But I have the free (ad supported) version of Excel 2010 installed which I use when I need to open XML files.

 

[Jeff]

Is the free version of Office 2010 still available?

I still use Office 2003, as I don't see the point upgrading for features I never use. But I have the free (ad supported) version of Excel 2010 installed which I use when I need to open XML files.

That's no use, the free version of Excel 2010 doesn't support macros. Info about it here: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/downloads/3250058/microsoft-office-starter-2010/

 

[Macky]

I still use Office 2003, as I don't see the point upgrading for features I never use. But I have the free (ad supported) version of Excel 2010 installed which I use when I need to open XML files.

That would drive me demented. I get nauseous if I see an ad on a billboard when I'm walking down the street, never mind in a piece of software

 

[Jeff]

That would drive me demented. I get nauseous if I see an ad on a billboard when I'm walking down the street, never mind in a piece of software

It's not too bad. Wouldn't want to use it all the time though.