PCs in RVs?

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SeilerBird said:
That might have been true five to ten years ago but not today. Here is a smoking laptop with an Intel dual core, 4 gig of ram, 1tb hard drive, 17 inch screen and all the bells and whistles for $400.

http://www.amazon.com/Hp-Pavilion-Laptop-Memory-Silver/dp/B018DZD55A/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1455189945&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A7817234011

Just Windows alone will be 1/4th the cost. Then you have to buy a tower, power supply, motherboard, memory, monitor, hard drive, optical drive, keyboard, mouse, camera and other little goodies. I doubt you could build one for less than the price of the smoking laptop. I used to build my own computers too until it became a dumb idea since a laptop is already assembled and works just as good.
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That, to me, would be of moderate performance, Tom. And it's original price is $700, not $400 -- it looks like a clearance sale to me. An I5 isn't "smoking." To me, "smoking" is a machine that will run Lockheed-Martin's Prepar3d at 30 fps in most areas, even with many add-ons to the program. I don't know of ANY laptop that would run P3D as smoothly as my 5 year old desktop from Digital Storm. I also do video editing on this machine, which also needs a lot of power.

In other words, so much depends on the intended use. You don't need "smoking" for web browsing, word processing, etc. and the machine you linked to is good for a lot of things, but "smoking" it's not.  So Gary's right in many ways, depending on your needs.
 
Larry N. said:
That, to me, would be of moderate performance, Tom. And it's original price is $700, not $400 -- it looks like a clearance sale to me. An I5 isn't "smoking." To me, "smoking" is a machine that will run Lockheed-Martin's Prepar3d at 30 fps in most areas, even with many add-ons to the program. I don't know of ANY laptop that would run P3D as smoothly as my 5 year old desktop from Digital Storm. I also do video editing on this machine, which also needs a lot of power.

In other words, so much depends on the intended use. You don't need "smoking" for web browsing, word processing, etc. and the machine you linked to is good for a lot of things, but "smoking" it's not.  So Gary's right in many ways, depending on your needs.
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That is not a clearance sale price, it is the price Amazon normally sells the laptop for. No one sells at list price. But let's go ahead and use $700 that gives you $350. Please list the components you would buy to build a complete desktop system that would be much better than this laptop
 
Seilerbird is somewhat correct in that I cannot build that "smoker" from scratch for 1/3 the price of the laptop, even though the one he cited is hardly a "smoker" (1.7GHz, even in an I5, ain't real hot). However, I rarely build from scratch.  My coach PC is in a 10 year old case and I update various components piecemeal from time to time. The display, high performance disks (I use solid state type) and windows license generally last a couple-three generations of processor and motherboard. It's currently an 8-core, 3.7 Ghz processor with a highly capable motherboard and super-fast memory. And the display is head & shoulders superior to the low power ones used in low-moderately priced laptops,

Granted, this approach is not best for everybody. I was merely addressing the question of using a desktop/tower PC in an RV. There is no reason not to do so, if that's what best suits your wants and needs.
 
SeilerBird said:
That is not a clearance sale price, it is the price Amazon normally sells the laptop for. No one sells at list price. But let's go ahead and use $700 that gives you $350. Please list the components you would buy to build a complete desktop system that would be much better than this laptop
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Tom, my current desktop has two 1 TB hard disks, plus one that is 2 TB. It has 12GB RAM, an I7 (3.2 GHZ) quad core processor and a GTX 970 video card (recently updated from a 570), along with a 27" 1920x1080 monitor.

Without the monitor, it was around $2500 5 years ago. If I got one today, it'd be with the updated processor and motherboard and memory, but otherwise about the same, probably from Digital Storm again. Of course I have a laptop only slightly better than you linked to for use on the road, and it's more than adequate for that.

There's not really any need to continue this, as I think my point about "smoking" is made, and what to get is so much dependent on the needs of the user, and Gary certainly makes some good points, too. Certainly it's true that few people need the capabilities I have, nor do I think they need to get a "smoker." I just think we need to be careful with the terminology we use.
 
Its good to know we wont have to dump our PCs. Changing over is a hassle. But I am like Tim the toolman when it comes to gadgets. I do like my gadgets. Im looking for a good way to move things to the cloud just to make it easier when we have to eventually switch. But thats a different thread. It would be nice to be able to walk into a public library or internet cafe somewhere and get to my stuff. Not that I would make a practice of doing that, but sometimes things happen and that would be an option in a pinch. 
 
cadee2c said:
Its good to know we wont have to dump our PCs. Changing over is a hassle. But I am like Tim the toolman when it comes to gadgets. I do like my gadgets. Im looking for a good way to move things to the cloud just to make it easier when we have to eventually switch. But thats a different thread. It would be nice to be able to walk into a public library or internet cafe somewhere and get to my stuff. Not that I would make a practice of doing that, but sometimes things happen and that would be an option in a pinch.
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... and the best way to get hacked using an opened and unprotected WI-FI !  8)
 
We carry our MAC, when we go long distance/time. no problems, we have our own wifi hot spot off our phone. be prepared for huge data usage.
 
On this trip (we left home Dec 1) I brought the PC from home. I play an online hunting game for relaxation (theHunter.com) and it is a resource gobbler. Our plans were to be gone for 3-1/2 months and I didn't want to not be able to play. To get the best out of the game, I have 32G of RAM, a Nividia GTX 930 video card, Gigabyte G1 gaming motherboard, and a quad core processor. I use a 10 year old Dell 24" 1920 x 1200 display. I have a wifi extender antenna, a Logitech G930 wireless headset, and a 1 TB portable drive attached.

Its easy to take down (I store the tower under the kitchen table with the chairs on each side butting up against it) and put back together when we move. It's far better (IMHO) than a laptop at any price. It's custom made for what I want to do.

I haven't had any problems with it traveling.
 
Larry N. said:
That, to me, would be of moderate performance, Tom.

In other words, so much depends on the intended use. You don't need "smoking" for web browsing, word processing, etc. and the machine you linked to is good for a lot of things, but "smoking" it's not.  So Gary's right in many ways, depending on your needs.
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I agree with Larry.  The specs on that laptop are not considered smoking in my world.  It would be a considerable step backwards in technology compared to what I need and currently have.
 
For my son's combined 18th birthday and graduation gift, I let him build his own computer just for himself and I paid for it. It had a whopping 1 full gig of RAM. His friends were all impressed. My how things have changed.  ;D
 
cadee2c said:
For my son's combined 18th birthday and graduation gift, I let him build his own computer just for himself and I paid for it. It had a whopping 1 full gig of RAM. His friends were all impressed. My how things have changed.  ;D
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You don't say what year. My first computer came with 16K of RAM -- yes K, not M or G. I later filled it up to 48K (all it could address). It was a TRS-80 that I got in 1978. Yes indeed, times have changed -- a LOT.
 
The wife has two lap tops.  A 17" and a 11".  I have an iMac.  Initially a 24" and now a 27".  I do all my computing on the big Mac unless we're just stopped at a rest area.  We also watch movies on the 27".  Great picture and sound isn't bad.  We also carry an all-in-one printer.  They take a lot of space but everything fits in the cupboards except my big iMac.  I built a foam case for it and we just put it on the floor when we travel.  So far in 50,000 miles of traveling, we have not had any problems.   
 
cadee2c said:
For my son's combined 18th birthday and graduation gift, I let him build his own computer just for himself and I paid for it. It had a whopping 1 full gig of RAM. His friends were all impressed. My how things have changed.  ;D
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LOL.... Carol... Indeed things have changed. A scratch build up in the old days gave you bragging rights. Now, for the vast majority of average users it just doesn't make sense. The guts of a computer are actually quite simple. Knowing what components to add for your usage are a different story, and a custom build up is expensive.
Gary's custom build of a power box makes sense - his vast research and data storage is beyond the average user.
I work remotely from the RV and need a better than average computer, but still my needs are not "power user" category. MS office, e-mail and web, but a dual monitor is a must. (I work with pdf contracts all day long).
As with most products, somewhere between "bargain budget" and "smoking" fits most of our needs.
 
Surface tablet with keyboard.  Compact and Windows 10.  Same as a desktop unless you are doing some seriouis 3D or video editing work.
 
TCRLS, which surface tablet do you have?  Will it handle serious editing of raw images.  (Full versions of Photoshop, Lightroom, and other editing software?)
 
I have the Surface 3.  I'm not sure how that software would work.  The below article might provide you some answers.

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/reviews/creative-hardware/microsoft-surface-pro-3-for-photoshop-lightroom-review/

 
Thanks TCRLS,

Thanks for the link.  We've been thinking about getting a tablet and the Surface Pro 3 is on our short list.  While we've been thinking several other powerful tablets have been been introduced.
 
Larry N. said:
You don't say what year. My first computer came with 16K of RAM -- yes K, not M or G. I later filled it up to 48K (all it could address). It was a TRS-80 that I got in 1978. Yes indeed, times have changed -- a LOT.
Click to expand...

Now you're bringing back memories.

I bought a Model I TRS-80 with 4K memory and a cassette player for I/o back in the late 70's.  I was a 1st year teacher and wrote a BASIC program that would actually run in the 4K of memory it had and used it for my remedial reading class.  It would do the current 10-question quiz and if a question was correct, would kick on the cassette player with my echoing voice booming "Great Job!" or, "UH OH" if wrong. (I had a buddy who had some neat sound editing equipment)

Kids loved it and I eventually licensed it to a company in NY called Educational Activities and got royalty checks for 5 years for it. (about $500 per year on average). 

The instructions included how to load the program and type in new questions and answers then save the program back to tape before using for the days quiz.  LOL

Times have REALLY changed.  8)
 
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