The saying goes, "You can't take it with you," but today you can take technology with you to just about anywhere, from across the building to across town. On this episode, we take a closer look at laptops, PDAs, and a few other devices that help you stay on top of things when you're on the go.
Guests
Renee Rivers
Renee Rivers
Renee Rivers is the manager of University Computer Services (UCS) for the University of Minnesota's Office of Information Technology (OIT). Renee has worked at the University for over ten years and at OIT for the past six. She has worked on various University-wide projects such as the Y2K project and the Enterprise Systems Project as part of the latter's communications team. UCS offers a departmental computer recycling program and an overnight laptop rental program, as well as computer support and software sales to the University community.
Mike Waltonen
Mike Waltonen
Mike Waltonen has worked for the University of Minnesota's Academic and Distributed Computing Services since 1999. He graduated from the University with a bachelor's degree in computer science in 2004 and currently provides computer support to multiple departments at the University.
For Your Files
Renee Rivers, manager of University Computer Services, said people like laptops for their wireless capabilities:
"Most of the laptops sold today do have this option already built in, and as long as people are next to a wireless access point they can access their e-mail and browse the Internet."
Renee also gave us some points on what to look for when buying a laptop:
"The hard drive size: if you are saving a lot of pictures, that type of thing, you want a bigger hard drive. The memory is important; the more memory you have the more applications you can have open at one time. And the wireless access—most of them come with that already but it's important to make sure that it has that. The screen size is really a personal preference. Of course the smaller the laptop, the less weight it's going to be."
Technical consultant Mike Waltonen told us about portable computing options even smaller than laptops:
"Pocket PCs, you can think of as a smaller, less-featured version of Windows in a much more portable form."
For anyone interested in buying a PDA or a Pocket PC, Mike also told us what to look for:
"The speed of what's inside . . . , what software comes with . . . , how big the screen is, how many colors it can show, how detailed the screen is, how good the pictures will look—things like that."
And he recommended getting a case to protect it:
"These screens are kind of sensitive and if there's any kind of hit to them, you could put a big scratch into [them]. You also want to be careful with the stylus itself, so you don't push too hard and . . . damage . . . it either. And you can buy pieces of plastic that stick on one side [of a Pocket PC] that you can lay down on it to protect [it] from [scratches]."
- Realplayer video
- Quicktime video
- PDF transcript coming
Dock
A holder for a personal digital assistant (PDA) that also connects to a power source and a computer. When the PDA is placed in the dock, its battery can charge and the data on it can be synchronized with the data on the computer.
FireWire®
A connection used for transferring data to and from a computer. FireWire is faster than other types of connections (e.g., USB) so it is commonly used when transferring large amounts of data. A special cord and connector on the computer is required.
Stylus
A tool, similar to a pen, used for writing or selecting options on the touch screen of a personal digital assistant (PDA).
Trackpad
A small area on the keyboard of a laptop computer you move your finger across to control the cursor on the screen. It can be used instead of or in addition to an external mouse.