Evangelina's son wants a new computer for college. It will be used for studying music and medicine. Leo says that any digital device is fine for listening to music. But for medicine, there may be specific software that he needs which could decide which platform he needs. She should consider who will be giving support for the computer. Whatever the school uses also could point to what platform he should be on.
Alan is trying to find a good tablet for his teenagers. Is the Lenovo Yoga a good option? And who should he trust for reviews? Leo says that Consumer Reports is trustworthy because they don't take advertising. But it also depends on the product. In some areas, they don't have the expertise and tend to review from a "normal joe" point of view. That's often the beef of audiophiles. And computer geeks have a similar complaint. Regardless of these concerns, they're worth looking at.
Heather's preschool and buy a bulk deal on computers and she wants to know what's best. Leo says that Google's Chromebook may be the best option. All it has is a browser, and you use extensions that are online. But if you have dedicated software, then that's not going to work. What brand computers? HP, Dell or Apple? Leo says that Apple is a better choice because there's no real issue with security and you can actually run Windows on it if you need to. But they're twice as expensive as a garden variety Windows machine. Still, it's a better option.
Scott travels a lot and he needs to connect to work a lot. So he's looking for a good laptop that he can remotely connect in. And what should he use to do so? Leo says that services like GoToMyPC and LogMeIn work with https secure logins, and that's a good solution, but they are costly. VPNs work really well because they essentially burrow a hole directly to your network that others can't get into.
Tina is a software instructor and her Dell Laptop is dying. So she bought an Asus 10" laptop and now her Asus is being recalled. She's returning that and now she's got no backup laptop to do her job. She's looking for something small that she can use.
Leo says that an ultrabook is ideal for Tina. It's thin and light, and has a decent sized 13" screen. It's also great on battery life. Tina's budget is $500, so Leo advises Lenovo's business class laptops.
Kim is a film student and she's trying to decide between Mac and PC. Her film school uses Avid. Leo says that Kim can use a PC with Avid. Can she use a Surface Pro tablet? Leo says that for most of her work, she probably could. It's great for note taking. Kim would have to buy the keyboard, though.
JR has a Lenovo computer, and has been getting error messages that his recovery partition is nearly full. Leo says that installing programs on Windows is almost always done to the C drive by default. He can choose otherwise, but it works best keeping all the programs on same drive as Windows. Leo says he shouldn't be able to put anything on the recovery drive, as it shouldn't even be visible from the operating system. The recovery partition is designed to only be slightly bigger than what is needed to hold the Windows recovery software.
Fran wants to get her husband a new computer. Leo says that the Asus S7 is a great ultrabook running Windows 8. Very powerful and beautiful. Leo uses one for all of his Windows needs.
Win bought a refurbished computer from Lenovo and it doesn't come with recovery discs. Leo says that he'll have to make them. But Lenovo says that he can't do that and that he has to buy them directly from Lenovo. Leo says that's odd. It's because Microsoft pushes hardware manufacturers to sell PCs without discs because they're afraid of piracy. If he Googles "create Lenovo recovery disc," and if he has ThinkVantage, he should be able to do this.
Heather is a writer and her track pad isn't working on her Lenovo laptop. She upgraded to a new Dell, and issues with it, so she returned it. She's afraid to buy a new computer because she can't find a laptop with a track point that works.
Leo says that looking for reviews of laptops can be an indicator of a problem brewing. Leo says that the best thing users can do when they're having trouble is post their reviews so that others can see the issues. The companies tend to watch them, also. Not many companies make track points on laptops anymore, either.
