Some people do manage serious writing on laptops. My guess is that’s not sustainable as a person ages. Unless you really need the portability, don’t do it. I write hours a day. For portability, I use a thumb drive.
I’m very grateful for all the advice. Just to clarify, I don’t need anything ultra-portable. I just need something that gives me the option of setting up either in the spare bedroom or out in my outbuilding/office, which isn’t real feasible with a desktop. I can understand that I will have to go through some adjustments in writing on a laptop as opposed to a desktop, but I think I will have enough space to be able to rig things up. Also, I am of an age where I can remember typing on a manual typewriter, so just about anything seems like a magical improvement over that. 
I’d heard of the online backup services, but wasn’t sure how reliable they had proven to be. I was always paranoid about the reliability of discs, so I print out every draft or major revision, which has at least kept me from losing work when both my main and backup discs failed.
I guess I do have a couple of side questions. Does word processing drain the battery very quickly? (I’m under the impression that how long the charge lasts depends on what you’re using the computer for. It would seem to me that writing wouldn’t use as much power as some things, but I could be wrong.) Also, I understand that many (most?) laptops can also be plugged in, which is how I would prefer to use it. My outbuilding has electricity but it is, well, ancient, and I try to not run too many things at once. Would a laptop be likely to blow a fuse? Until recently there was a massive, not-at-all-energy-efficient deep freeze in that same outbuilding, and I’m thinking a laptop couldn’t use that much power, but I figured I should ask.
Oh, my, I do go on. Thank you all very much, and I’ll shut up now.
Word processing isn’t going to to be a great drain on the power compared to many other types of tasks.
If say, you can adjust screen brightness lower for example and see what is on screen ok then that will help conserve battery time if you need it.
No, a laptop won’t use very much power, and yes, they are all usable while plugged in. That would be the way to go. Most will give you two to five hours on a battery charge in a pinch, but you should have no need to do that.
Go to a Best Buy or Micro Center and try out the various computers; you’ll find one with a keyboard that you like. There are many different styles. You might buy on-line to save some bucks (and sales tax) but be sure to do a “test drive” at a real store to make sure it suits your style and needs.
Another good on-line storage option is Google Docs. They not only store your documents, but they provide the Word Processing software built in. So if your laptop doesn’t come with a word processor program, and you don’t feel like buying one, just go to Google Docs. And your documents will be accessible to you from any other computer you happen to sit down at…TRM
Most of the OP makes little to no sense. I can’t figure out what floppy drives have to do with being able to save and store files.
Anyways, for your needs just buy the cheapest laptop/netbook you can find. Refurbished, new, whatever. Composing long messages on a laptop is both an acquired skill and a person preference. They keyboards are compact and the key travel tends to be very short. Often the tactile feedback is iffy at best. Some people love this and some people hate it. I’ve found that after years of using a standard keyboard on my desktop that I have a issue using a chicklet style keyboard on a Vaio laptop, the short travel leads to a ton of unintended double tabs.
My advice to you is to go to Best Buy, WalMart, MicroCenter etc. and spend a food amount of time typing on a laptop. A good sales person will be patient with you, just open up Notepad and start typing a stream on consciousness or transcribe the lyrics to your favorite song, anything. The goal is to get the feel for different keyboards. Laptops tend to be made or broken based on the quality and fit of their keyboard. It’s impossible to say one is best since they are very specific to each person. One person’s favorite might be another person’s nightmare.
Now, once you find a keyboard you like doesn’t mean you have to buy that machine on the spot. Most manufacturers have settled on a basic layout and responsiveness to their keyboards and when you find one you love, you can go and find a comparable model from the previous years lineup or from a lower spec list online and expect the keyboard to be similar as long as the laptop is within a similar family within the brand.
Asking what the best laptop to type on is is like asking what the best brand of cola is. There’s no right answer, it’s all about preferences.
Keep in mind that if you’ve been typing on a brutally ancient machine with a old PS2 clicky keyboard that there’s going to be a period of adjustment to a compact laptop keyboard.
Something like this is a good starting point. Think about pairing a good full size USB keyboard with it to leave at your desk so you can take a break from the laptop keyboard once in a while when you’re expecting an extra long session.
Picking the right size it important. It’s a balance between portability and usability. Even if you don’t need something ultra-portable 90% of the time, having something small enough and light enough to fit into a shoulder bag/purse can be a god send when you need to travel, commute or work at a coffee shop or park in that remaining 10%. That said, every time you give away a pound of weight and a couple inches of size you give away real estate for the screen and keyboard. Smaller laptops obviously have smaller screens, which can be a hassle when composing documents, and tighter keyboards with narrower decks for resting your wrists.
There’s a bit of a bell curve in pricing. Super small laptops can get pricey because they are hard to make and require pricey miniature internals. Super large laptops tend to cater to gamers and power users and can come outfitted with way more horse power than you need. The goal will be finding the right middle ground that suits your needs. My instinct is that older people and those used to desktops will want to go as big as possible while avoiding “gaming rigs”. Luckily for you, budget laptops (not netbooks) tends to fall into that category.
You don’t want an online backup service. They are basically antiquated and require a lot of active management. They are better than floppy disks and USB drives for archiving (you should always archive locally and remotely) but the real advance is in cloud storage. The new Windows Office Live is a very nice option. New versions of Office will save constantly with online storage and will automatically upload to their server whenever you close the document. It essentially removes any active participation from the process. It’s not permanent archiving but it’s excellent for saving on the fly.
All computers are extremely low power devices these days, laptops triply so. The laptop will almost certainly be the lowest power device on the circuit. Desktops use about the same amount of power and an incandescent light bulb. Laptops much less.
If you buy a Mac (even an old one) you can get a cheap software program called Scrivener which is not exactly a word processor but is a great writing program. It helps organize your scenes, move them around, keep research docs, take notes, make outlines, etc. Many of the writers I know use it. I don’t know of anything similar for PCs.
A lot of laptop keyboards are full sized and ergonomically fine – I’ve written two novels on a laptop. But it has to be a 13 inch or bigger, with a full sized screen.
Finally, a lot of writing is about sharing files, at least for me. I share stuff with my crit group, with my agent, with my editor. So while there are always RTF exports and other craziness, for the most part Word is the program everyone uses and it’s probably the best to use… so you’d want an OS that runs it. I do know there are cheap (even free) knock offs, but I’m not a big believer in them – but all of that only matters if you do expect to be sending files around and getting them back and want to be compatible.
P.S. You export stuff from Scrivener in Word format… it works fine, but I usually bring it into word and touch up the formatting. Eventually I stop using Scrivener and just work in Word.
I’m recommending emailing the file as a backup because if the OP is still using floppies and printouts as backups, I seriously doubt whether dropzone or cloud computing is going to be a realistic option. Emailing is low-tech enough that there is no learning curve.
sweetie pea, most new computers no longer have floppy drives. You will need to have a backup of your work in a different format in order to transfer it over to your new computer. Emailing the file is the simplest, safest and most foolproof method I know.
You can often get a good basic laptop for under $400 on sale.
I probably should have made it clearer: I do not intend upon using floppies anymore. That’s a large part of the reason for buying a new computer.
Thanks for the hand-holding, ya’ll!
Good decision. It sounds like you were saving your work on floppies only, which is a big risk.
Well if that’s the reason, why don’t you save your work on the computer itself? If it is connected to the internet you could also email your work to yourself as a backup system.
Are you sure it has NO usb ports at all? Some really old models used to have optional USB on the inside but it needed a little cable and enabling. You could also buy a simple USB 1.1 card. (Old computers may not be able to take on brand new USB 2 cards.) In case it is still running windows 98, there are two different drivers for universal usb storage device. Although if you’re not endowed with some technical skills it could be a bit of a challenge installing this.
Although I’ve been struggling to see the value in Apple’s iPad, I’m intrigued by the idea of using it as a word processor with their keyboard dock accessory (scroll down).
Here’s a demo of their word processing software.
Not only is keyboard size important, but layout as well. My boss (bless his heart) bought me a Compaq laptop. The keyboard is placed to the left of the touchpad so that the g and h keys are off center. My right hand is constantly getting in the way of the touchpad and I hate it hate hate it.
I don’t know if you use any special software to write but OpenOffice is available for free from OpenOffice.org.
If you are using a laptop at a desk it’s (IMO) crazy not to spend a little money on a nice USB keyboard and USB mouse and a 22" or larger monitor. It makes it so much more usable than hunching over a little screen and a little keyboard.
I have a question about using an external keyboard with a laptop. Where the hell do you put the keyboard so that you can still see the screen? It seems like you’ll be pretty far away from the screen if you plop it down in front of the laptop.
You raise the laptop on a stand and use the new keyboard right in front. This puts the monitor in a much better viewing position.
I did originally save my work on the computer as well, but it was reaching the point where my husband & I would have some 150 items in My Documents, which was getting unwieldy, so now I just keep some of the temporary stuff on there, things like letters or story beginnings that may or may not work out. Also a computer tech once helpfully wiped out our entire documents section (I don’t remember what he was SUPPOSED to be doing, but that’s what he managed to accomplish) so after that I was nervous about keeping things there. I didn’t trust the floppies either, even with 2 discs of everything, so I also kept paper copies. I’ll probably never stop keeping paper copies, if for no other reason than to occasionally hand-edit with colored pens.
As for the possibility of extra USB ports…shhh. There’ll be no talk of making the old desktop more amendable to my needs.
Saving it on your computer is important, but computers will crash. If you email it to yourself, you can be sure you have a copy you will always be able to access anywhere, anytime (with an internet connection). It’s also a way to get it over to your new computer, which will in all likelihood not have a floppy drive.
150 items? That’s nothing. Are you familiar with the concept of folders? You know you can create new ones within My Documents and subdivide your Docs into categories to make browsing simpler? This isn’t intended to sound patronizing, but storing everything on floppies only because your My Documents folder gets too busy seems pretty bizarre. Floppies are a horrible medium and are about 100 times less reliable than anything stored locally, idiotic tech guys included.
Even when you find a new laptop, I think a lesson in efficient file management and backup concepts will be very helpful. You current method is quite flawed.
As mentioned earlier in the thread, you’ll probably want an external floppy. Not to continue saving things, but to make accessing older files easier. Fortunately, they’re not $50, just about$23.
And you can pry my ergonomic keyboard from my cold, dead, yet very comfortable hands. I spend most of my day writing and while I’m fine working on my laptop (sometimes weeks on end, sometimes just an hour a day), the comfort of the curved and split keyboard makes for a better experience.