Why Buy New When Used Will Do?

About two weeks ago, I mentioned a couple of tablet computers I was interested in that double as laptops. One was the Microsoft Surface Book and the other was the Google Pixel C. Well, I have since realized that I don't necessarily need a new PC for school or Windows 10, for that matter. After finding out that Newegg.com was selling certain older PC models in the sub-$200 range, with reasonably decent specs, I narrowed my options down to two that I am really interested in.

Dell XT2 Docking Station

Dell XT2 shown halfway-orientated
into tablet mode.

This particular option would come

in quite handing for school tasks, 

such as note taking, among others.

Dell Lattitude XT2: This is a 2-in-1 that has Windows 7 pre-installed on it, but the units I am considering do not come with a stylus or DVD burner. While this may seem like a tragedy, Most software is available as a digital download these days, and at one point, I was considering a DVD burner for my desktop anyway. There is an after-market docking station available for this particular model, however, that restores DVD burning functionality, but it is not included in the cost of the laptop itself.

The other tragedy would be that this particular item does not come with a stylus, but those are so affordable to come by these days, that I would only have to go somewhere like Best Buy, Walmart, Office Depot, or even as unlikely of a spot as Big Lots to solve that particular issue. 

Amazon Pricing: Click Here Newegg Pricing: Click Here
Dock (Amazon): Click Here Newegg Price Unavailable

HP 6910P: This particular laptop comes with a DVD burner built in to the computer. Having the extra feautre also makes the computer in question a little on the bulkier side when compared with the Dell XT2, however, the trade off is that the cost of the DVD burner is already factored into the unit itself. It also still looks less bulky than the current Toshiba laptop that I have written this article on. While I wouldn't mind a computer with this design, I am leaning more towards the Dell XT2 because I can leave the DVD burner at home if I do not need it for a particular class assignment that day.

HP 6910p. Left/Right Side Shown.

While having the DVD burner would be a nice addition, in this day and age, having an optical drive to install software is almost unnecessary. A while back I wrote either in here or in my memoir that I was able to find full versions of my favorite childhood DOS games available for download on "abandon-ware" websites for free. Optical drives also have a tendency to make a laptop weigh more in the long run, and sometimes it would be nice to detach it and save the extra weight on class days where I do not need it.

Amazon Pricing: Click Here

Newegg Pricing: Click Here

As for my final verdict between the two, I am leaning towards the Dell XT2. At the risk of cursing my choice, I have had the most success with their hardware, and the cooling systems they use on their hardware have a habit of running quietly while still keeping the machine from overheating. I can also appreciate the lighter-weight benefit that would come from leaving a DVD burner at home on the days where I need to carry a laptop to class for note-taking and other purposes, which the Dell XT2 would fulfill quite nicely, especially with an affordable modern after-market stylus.   

Microsoft Office Subscription: Is it cost-effective?

I recently applied for (and got accepted into) Red Rocks Community College. I specifically applied for the Health Sciences program, whose campus is in Arvada, Colorado, which is sort of in the general vicinity of Downtown Denver. But anyway, for this article, that is kind of beside the point.

One of the benefits of this particular academic institution is the fact that they give their students a license for Microsoft Office 365 at no additional cost. When it was first introduced with Windows 8, I was intrigued at the concept. In short, the consumer pays an eight-dollar monthly fee, and receives software upgrades at no additional cost when they are released, as long as the subscription is still valid. 

The subscription, if purchased at retail price, grants a user five desktop licenses, as well as five additional tablet and phone licenses, each. This costs one hundred dollars per year, and also comes with an hour of the paid version of Skype, so there are a lot of benefits.

On the reverse side, a retail box copy of the current version of Microsoft Office (now 2016 for both Mac and PC) is a flat fee of one hundred and fifty dollars (all prices are United States dollars) and not only doesn't get the additional perks of Office 365, but once the Office license is purchased, the user is stuck with the current version of Office on their machine with no hope for an upgrade unless another retail product is purchased.  

Initially, I thought that the pricing meant that Office 365 would be a waste of money, especially since when it was introduced, Microsoft hadn't updated Office for Macintosh since 2011 -- not that I had ever intended to purchase a Mac in the first place. However, a few weeks ago, Microsoft released Office 2016 (as mentioned above) and it was released for Macintosh as well as PC. The cost for the full retail version, as also mentioned above, was between one hundred fifty and four hundred dollars, depending on the version purchased. When placed in this perspective, Office 365 is a bargain.  

The subscription also includes licenses for up to ten mobile devices for the Home version, and up to three for the University edition, but in the latter case, there is a cost of one PC license if three mobile licenses are used. Ironically, Microsoft's Office Mobile apps are already available in the Google Play Store at no charge, regardless of whether the user has Office 365 or not, and I already have them installed on my phone (see Just Made an App Swap) so this isn't really good or bad news, it's just news. On the flip side, though, a person can just head over to Google Play and download the apps separately and save one of their licenses for a desktop or laptop computer as well.

All in all, I feel that yes, Office 365 is a cost effective alternative to its full retail counterpart. While I was skeptical at first, I have practically become converted to the concept, and I will admit, that having a license handed out to me by an academic institution just for enrolling with them might have swayed my vote.  

Replacing Vista: Where to go From Here

My Toshiba laptop is getting a little long in the tooth, and I have been throwing ideas around regarding what I should do to replace it and put the beast out to pasture (it's a sobering thought of irony, since the machine I typed this on is the one I am considering replacing!).

Anyway, I have had several thoughts, from nixing the laptop altogether and adding a couple of parts to my Dell desktop, to getting a completely different computer. I even at one point considered getting a 2-in-1, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro, HP x2 or x360. However, every time I try to reach a final decision, I always end up back at square one with no decision reached whatsoever.

At one point, I considered purchasing a Google Pixel device. The problem with that is both models that have been released have been Chromebooks, and after my experience with the Samsung 500c, I had just about sworn them off. That was until I saw an article for the Pixel C Tablet. Despite being an Android product, it at least doesn't stick you with Chrome and nothing else, and actually tries to be an every day use computing device.

Google's Pixel C Tablet. Introduced instead of a flagship Chromebook.

Well, today I saw a review for a couple of new Microsoft Surface devices. Now ordinarily, I would pretty much ignore news like this, and I have only ever considered purchasing a Surface tablet once. Just the fact that they only sell half of a computer with a starting price of $500 is pretty outrageous in my mind, but on the other hand, Apple sells the iPad for about that price, and technically speaking, since a person needs Team Viewer or another piece of Remote Desktop protocol software to do anything productive on it, it really only counts as 1/4 of a computer. On that note, it drives me nuts how quickly these have been adopted in the Enterprise market.

Anyway, I found the a fore-mentioned article in my Facebook news feed, and it was "click bait" at first sight. It seems as though every two years, Microsoft decides to upgrade their "flagship" (another overused word in the technology industry) tablet, just as Apple and Google do with their phones (although Apple and Samsung's cycle seems to be about six months anymore!--but that's beside the point).

I then take a look at the article, and discover that not only is Microsoft making a fourth Surface Pro tablet, but they are also making a (nearly) full-functioning laptop. Dubbed the "Surface Book," this thing has a sort of appeal that hasn't won me over on a new computer in a while. It also comes with Windows 10, and seems as though it will fit in a backpack without weighing a person down. 

Microsoft Surface Book. Announced today.

After seeing the article (and a picture similar to the above one to go with it), my interest is captivated. Sure, it doesn't have a DVD burner or other type of disc drive, but in this day and age, practically nobody needs one. Besides, if I did go with the parts option mentioned above, it would save some weight when toting around in between classes. 

All in all, the Surface Book seems like a real winner in mine (pun intended!). At some point after it is released, I feel as though I ought to go down to the Park Meadows Mall in Centennial and try it out. It looks as though it is a really solid device. 

Just made an app swap. Feeling Perplexed.

Yes, you read that correctly. One of the apps I initially downloaded and recommended was 'Microsoft Office Mobile.' Well, today, I gave in to Microsoft's nagging and uninstalled the particular app in question. 

In its place, I downloaded the four individual mobile components that are found in the Home and Student version of Microsoft Office 2010. That consists of Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft OneNote. Microsoft Outlook and a couple of other apps were also displayed on the Google Play Store, but I decided to opt out of these because I already use GMail, and since I am not an Enterprise customer, I don't have any need for Outlook, Lync, SharePoint, or Remote Desktop Connection.

All in all, the individual apps feel like an improvement. As of this writing, I just tried the PowerPoint app to make sure I would not be disappointed, and so far, I like it better than the desktop version of Office 2013. This is probably because Office 2013, along with Windows 8, was designed with touch enabled mobile devices in mind, because I tried it on Windows 7 back when I was taking classes at Sinclair, and I felt that the software was somewhat horrible. 

Yes, it's not very practical to create a project on a four-inch screen, however, since I only have one computer with Microsoft Office, it will be nice to have more than one device that I can create, edit and view documents on. 

For Microsoft Word, click here

For Microsoft Excel, click here 

For Microsoft PowerPoint, click here 

For Microsoft OneNote, click here

Five More Must Have Android Apps

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a favorable review of the Samsung Galaxy S3, an Android smartphone that is capable of running version 4.4 (a.k.a. "Kit Kat") of the operating system. Since the writing of said article, I have found another five apps to make a list of. A couple of apps on this list will look familiar, as I have written individual reviews for them. Keep in mind that all of them are free, so there might be ad placement.

5) Tetris - Electronic Arts Click Here

This game has been ported seventy ways from Sunday since its initial debut on Nintendo's GameBoy. E.A.'s particular rendition is fairly decent and worth downloading. I have tried it a couple of times, and have not been disappointed by it. 

4) Acrobat Reader - Adobe Click Here

When I first saw this available in the Google Play Store, I might have scoffed at it. However, it has actually proven to be quite useful, because Google Cloud Print defaults to "Save as PDF" if you are using Chrome and it is also handy for storing coupons that are sent though a user's email address.

3) Messenger - Facebook Click Here

While not absolutely necessary, if you spend a lot of time on Facebook, it is quite handy to have. Apparently, a lot of Facebook applications that would normally be used in a desktop web browser instead have separate counterparts, and just like 'Words With Friends' and 'Candy Crush,' the chat feature of Facebook is no exception. I found this out the hard way when I tried to check a message using the regular Facebook mobile app.

2) Facebook - Facebook Click Here

As previously stated, it's pretty pointless to not have one app without the other. While the Facebook Messenger app allows a user to chat with others, the Facebook app allows a user to browse their news feed, as well as post status updates, and things like that. In a sense, it is the "Home" and "Profile" screens of the Facebook website, but redesigned for a user's mobile phone.

1) Remember the Milk - Click Here

This app tops the list because it initially got its own separate review (click here). It is a handy scheduling app that acts just like those old day planners that your high school used to give out for free at the beginning of the year and may or may not have had coupons included with them. I haven't had much experience with it, but I feel that once I either update my weekly goals, or enroll in college, it will prove to be quite useful.