I have webtv+ and I wouldn’t if my sister hadn’t given it to me as a gift. Couldn’t afford it.
I would like to know how many webtvers are out there and would or wouldn’t rather have a PC. ( Don’t have to learn the jargon, put up with expensive updates, and so forth.)
If anyone has a PC now, and has had webtv in the past, I would like to hear from you too.
Thanks…Rick
I have Webtv+ as well. I also have a PC which I have never hooked to the internet, and rarely use it for anthing other than word processing. I do undertand that Webtv is incredibly slow compared to a PC, but have found that it suits my needs. I go online only for research and education, hence my presence here on the SDMB. Although my eyesight is 20/20, I prefer using Webtv and looking at a 27 inch screen as opposed to a smaller monitor.
As with anything, it boils down to “what works for you.” YMMV.
Sir
P. S. One great con to Webtv is the keyboards. The keys are usually incredibly tight and stiff–it has taken me a couple of months to break this one (my third keyboard) in.
Speaking of sight, another thing to take into account is clarity. While a 27" TV may be bigger than most monitors, I find that most TVs are way too fuzzy to out up with, especially with text.
Also, I’ve heard that some sites are not compatable with WebTV, particularly sites with heavt multimedia or interactivity (like online Chess or whatever).
Recently I visited hawaii & needed to use a webtv to see the board. First, I was suprised how little information fits on the screen & second only a fraction of the web can be seen.
One reason is because of Java. Microsoft & Sun are or were suing each other about this & you now Sun doesn’t want Microsoft, who makes webtv, to have Java access…
Also, if you want to chat with webtv, you can try talkcity.com its compatible.
This is really a survey of opinions, not a question of fact, so I’m moving it over to our forum for survey questions, called In My Humble Opinion.
I am a current PC owner who used to have a WebTV. It was the original one (or maybe they call it “classic” now?) which I got when they first came out. I don’t really know what the new ones do; basically mine was just for e-mail and web surfing. It had no printer, but if I wanted anything printed that I found while surfing at home, I’d just e-mail it to myself at work.
I liked the WebTV because it was relatively cheap compared to what computers were at the time (5-6 yrs. ago, mind you). I had no need for a computer (still don’t really, but they’re so cheap now compared to what they used to be), so it was a good option. I liked being able to e-mail from across the room on the big TV screen. Also, since there was no memory, you didn’t have to worry about being on any list from visiting certain sites (or so I’ve heard).
If you just want to do email, webtv nice for that, but expensive at $24.95 per month. Still, for that much money they shouldn’t put so many ads on your screen.
A Mailstation is $9.95 per month, portable & can fax too. We have one of those for one of the family that isn’t too computer literate. Very easy. Runs on a/c or batteries.
W98 came with Webtv for the PC but I haven’t tried it. Supposely nothing special.