# Eve Upgrades Her Edison Wind-Up Computer and Needs Advice **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247 "2003-01-22T17:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/41 "2003-01-23T16:22:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **I will ask how much $$$ a DVD thingie is and decide how much I want one.** Given the subject of your work, I think it’d be a great thing to have a portable movie player. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![GrandfatherTrout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GrandfatherTrout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandfatherTrout)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/42 "2003-01-23T16:31:45Z")
As far as Manhattan ISPs go, I’ve had excellent experiences with TimeWarner’s RoadRunner cable service. Very fast, and generally trouble-free. Avoid Verizon DSL like the plague; ditto any service offered by RCN. I love my HP DeskJet 5550 color ink-jet printer. For less than $150, it does very nice b/w and color printing. And it is reasonably quick about it, too. My one complaint is that it takes up a little more square footage (well, square inchage) on my desk than some of its competitors. But **DeadlyAccurate** raises a good point: if you don’t need color printing, and if you do a lot of black-and-white printing, you might consider a low-end laser printer. And, weighing in on the DVD question: if you’d like to be able to watch movies as you traverse Europe by rail, an in-laptop DVD player serves nicely. However, if you confine your home-cinema habits to your lushly-appointed drawing room—or even your delicately-perfumed boudoir—then you might as well just buy a DVD player that you can connect to your television set. Last I checked, you could get a decent DVD player for under a hundred bucks. What fun is spending an evening with a favorite movie if you have to sit at your desk and watch it on a 12-inch screen? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/43 "2003-01-23T18:20:21Z")
That’s a good point. Eve, if you don’t have a DVD player at all, you might consider just getting one. Really. As big a change as the VCR. It _almost_ brings the movie experience home. You see things you wouldn’t see except on the big screen. Anyhow. Perhaps not Publisher, but something like it, not for books, but as a desktop publishing item, for posters and signs and greeting cards and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/44 "2003-01-23T23:41:51Z")
EVE! Get off this Board and get back to your typewriter! (Click Clack Clickety Clack) Swear to God I read this as Her ELGIN wind up watch. But of course we all know Eve is too young to know about wind-up watches. And of course that I can’t read worth a damn. As You Were. Jake ---
**Author:** ![Spacegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Spacegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spacegirl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/45 "2003-01-24T00:51:33Z")
**Eve** , if you haven’t yet, I would suggest going to [www.apple.com](http://www.apple.com). You can check out the Ibooks, components, and ram and get exact prices. That way you can go into the store and know exactly what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/46 "2003-01-24T16:05:47Z")
Well, I am being taken shopping by a hard-headed computer expert, so I am relying on her to keep me from buying a pup. That sobbing you hear wafting over the breezes on Sunday will be me, trying to make heads or tails out of the instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/47 "2003-01-24T17:14:18Z")
You do know that iBooks only come in white nowadays? Doesn’t this mean that you can’t use them after Labor Day? Before you buy, check out [dealmac.com](http://dealmac.com) and look for good buys on slightly older models. Just because you’re a starving author doesn’t mean you have to spend it all on a laptop – it’d be nice to have a few lumps of coal to throw on the grate as you shiver in the garret. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247/48 "2003-01-24T18:29:22Z")
Hey, Eve, bring your computer expert over! We can say hi! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eve-upgrades-her-edison-wind-up-computer-and-needs-advice/150247.md?page=2)