Urgent! Advice needed on the best type of laptop

[londoncatlover]

I am doing a Celta course and realise I need to buy a new laptop. The main problem with my current laptop is that I bought it second hand 4 years ago and somehow it says that my copy of windows is not genuine. Most of my lesson templates and assignments are not compatable with word 2003 and come out in some weird text.
I could buy the latest vesian of office but I am worried that if I install it it will ask me for my windows licence key which I don't have as it's second hand. So my fear is that my whole laptop will stop working if i update it.
My logical or (illogical) conclusion to solve this problem is to by a new lap top.
I quite like the Sony Vaio in Red but it is pricey at 599 pounds. It seems quite light which means I can take it places which I can't do with my current one.
I would love to know peoples opinions of a dyspraxic friendly laptop. I need something lightweight. Are their any lap tops with key boards which are slightly angled? My wrists seem to be more comfortable bending inwards then straight.
A friend of mine who is at uni says that the students with dsa use a Mac Book. Whch is something i will look into in the future but learning a completly new systym seems duanting at the moment.

[Tom fod]

May cause issues if your copy of Windows is not genuine esp when it comes to it working with your updated Office. but no expert. perhaps you could buy new copy of Windows 7? too though believe new laptop would be most sensible solution given age of laptop

Apple system is pretty easy to get to grips with. MacBooks are dearer though I know Apple do a good educational discount worth considering though I am a Mac Geek

[Tim G]

I am a mac guy too so i would say get a mac, a older macbook pro is reletvie cheep or a mac book air which has a sloaping keyboard and is verry light. Mac's are verry easy to use and user frendly etc but they are more expensive then PC's and you will have to buy into the whole mac thing.

Regarding pc's I think your best bet is to look around on ebay, inderpendent computer shops, 2nd hand places etc for a good one. You can ushlie get a good deal going there, I wouldent suggest going to commet or high street shops etc as they tend to sell you stuff you dont need and its reltivie costie.
Check out Dell and see what they have - there laptops are ok.

[agsiul]

You could used Open Office. You can download it for free

[DSA Tutor Aileen]

Macs are great for dyspraxics because they are much more operated on commands based on images, a less cluttered 'front page' when you are doing stuff, and that helps to cut down on language processing, depends on pictures which are much better remembered by dyspraxics, and cuts down on wasted energy processing other irrelevant stuff. I got a PC notebook just to write on, DELL and I just could not believe how much extra nagging it did asking to be maintained. If I did not have a mac I would believe that the constant nagging, such as looking for updates (selling software) was part of using a computer, and necessary.

I turn on my Mac, it goes. No detours distracting me from my mission. I have enough of these already.

Regards,

Aileen

[daysinthewake]

I would love to know peoples opinions of a dyspraxic friendly laptop. I need something lightweight. Are their any lap tops with key boards which are slightly angled? My wrists seem to be more comfortable bending inwards then straight.
A friend of mine who is at uni says that the students with dsa use a Mac Book. Whch is something i will look into in the future but learning a completly new systym seems duanting at the moment.

If you've got money to waste on anything Apple, you probably don't have to worry about money.
Seriously though, it depends on your needs.

Microsoft Office is pretty bad at compatibility like that, so I suggest giving Libreoffice a shot (it's free). You shouldn't need to spend more than about £300 on a laptop tbh, 2gb of ram and a 2ghz dual-core processor (and more) with Windows 7 are usually the minimum people get from the shop.