Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
I am planning on buying a new laptop soon, and I could use some advice from other Fibro patients. Im not very computer-savvy so I dont really know what I should be looking for to meet my needs. Even if you can only answer one or two of these questions, I would greatly appreciate any advice I can get. If not, I would also appreciate any recommendations or suggestions based on your experiences.
Thanks!
1) Typing on keyboards really hurts my wrists. I would love to get an ergonomic keyboards, but I am not sure if using one with a laptop is possible or practical. I realize that needing an ergonomic keyboard, it would make more sense to buy a desk-top computer, but there is very little space in my house for a desk, and portability is an important feature.
--- Has anyone used an ergonomic keyboard? If so, what kind was it and how did you like it?
--- Can an ergonomic keyboard be plugged into a laptop and used comfortably?
2) My next issue is that I need it to work fast. Speed is very important to me because having so much pain and fatigue I want to be able to complete my tasks with ease.
--- If anyone knows what I should be looking for in this area in terms of speed or memory, I would appreciate some advice.
3) My last issue has to do with entertainment. I would like the laptop to have good picture and sound quality, and I need it to have a disc-drive that can play CDs and DVDs. I know I can download movies and songs from the internet but our CD and DVD collections are still pretty big, and when Im not feeling well I would like the option of enjoying them in the privacy of my room.
--- Does anyone know what I should look for in terms of sound and picture quality?
--- Will it be hard to find laptops with all of these features?
Thanks!
1) Typing on keyboards really hurts my wrists. I would love to get an ergonomic keyboards, but I am not sure if using one with a laptop is possible or practical. I realize that needing an ergonomic keyboard, it would make more sense to buy a desk-top computer, but there is very little space in my house for a desk, and portability is an important feature.
--- Has anyone used an ergonomic keyboard? If so, what kind was it and how did you like it?
--- Can an ergonomic keyboard be plugged into a laptop and used comfortably?
2) My next issue is that I need it to work fast. Speed is very important to me because having so much pain and fatigue I want to be able to complete my tasks with ease.
--- If anyone knows what I should be looking for in this area in terms of speed or memory, I would appreciate some advice.
3) My last issue has to do with entertainment. I would like the laptop to have good picture and sound quality, and I need it to have a disc-drive that can play CDs and DVDs. I know I can download movies and songs from the internet but our CD and DVD collections are still pretty big, and when Im not feeling well I would like the option of enjoying them in the privacy of my room.
--- Does anyone know what I should look for in terms of sound and picture quality?
--- Will it be hard to find laptops with all of these features?
I have a super el cheapo and lightweight Asus laptop of the "notebook" variety. Love it.
For wrists? They have gel wrist "rests" for mousing that I use by placing on the laptop to either side of touch pad and that really helps me and my carpal tunnel. As I work on my laptop, that's huge.
So a couple wrist rests meant for mousing? Can be an easy way to avoid the potential hassle of a USB port being eaten up by a keyboard. I've done both routes and found that they're about the same in terms of comfort for me, and with the wrist rests, I have that USB port free. Most computers have two or three, but since one of my USB ports is always attached to a work-related device, I like having one free for other purposes, such as keyboard, mouse, etc.
All computers slow as they age if not given regular disk maintenance, and an annual "checkup" where an IT person cleans out those random bits of code that system tools can't necessarily eliminate, makes sure there's not fragments of code from would-be-infections from viruses etc., and so on. So if you can get a maintenance schedule with a good IT person, that can really help keep up the performance of the machine in the long run, and I know you may know that, but I'm such a nerd that yes, I even take my laptop to the "doctor"!
I've actually found that the super-high def screens bug my eyes more than the "medium" ones--- a lot of things seem off, almost as if they'll start to break up. So if this is for watching 3D movies? Go for it. If not? Eh. Save the money, IMO.
Sound is dicey. As far as I'm concerned, no laptop has good sound. That said, newer ones have pretty awesome sound cards, and I play DVDs and CDs on mine no problem and it's the "intermediate" mode Asusl from Best Buy.
Speed and memory specifics I don't know, but more RAM is always better IMHO, and processing speeds now are pretty awesome in general. As far as download speeds? That's more about your provider.
OK, wrote a novel sorry, but I ask my uncle in IT about this and that's pretty much the sum of what he's told me over the 20 years I've had personal computers.
I've gotten custom high-end jobs from Hewlett Packard that ran great, loved 'em, but my lsat one had a fatal disk issue caused by damage in transport from the factory in China, and I stopped spending big bucks after that. Irony? My cheapo Asus that was half theprice of my last HP? Runs pretty much the same except for sound quality and battery life. ANd weighs half as much, which is nice for me, as I truly do put my laptop on my lap a lot!
Hope something in there helped. I can't be too specific b/c most laptops you buy are gonna take into account that you want them for entertainment versus professional work environment versus whatever.... So if you go to COnsumer Reports, that'd be probably more helpful than me rambling on so I can avoid laundry!
Hugs,
Leo
PS Regular computer maintenance such as disk defrag and disk cleanup in system tools should be done weekly according to my uncle, and it's worth it to buy reallllly good internet security software, b/c even fragments of virus code can kludge up performance.
I honestly haven't found a laptop with a keyboard I like - I prefer to use an external keyboard. Other than the keyboard, the biggest and highest resolution screen I can get is what I go for, as I want to be able to see it without either eye or neck strain.
Definitely do take a CD/DVD with you and test when you're purchasing if that's important to you.