'Potential'
Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!
I'm with Theo. You can get a great external drive pretty inexpensively. Good, reliable, external drives.
That said, are you sure your computer can read/write DVD-R and not DVD+R?
I purchased a spindle of blank DVDs from Amazon, and only about 50% seem okay to burn.
What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?
Even if I had an external drive, the back-up process doesn't let me pick where to put the files, it automatically picks my DVD drive.
Suzi,
You should just copy the files (from the Itunes directory on your computer) and not use the Itunes process. That's what I did when I moved computers.
There are a lot of new-ish netbooks out there now, which are pretty stripped down, and most importantly INEXPENSIVE. Howver, it sounds like she wants a bigger screen because of vision issues, right?
Theodosia, I think the bigger screen thing is mostly for the luxury of it. She seems to have pretty good eyesight...perhaps even better than mine!
I kept trying to get her to buy a $400 refurbed Toshiba that looked great to me, but she kept wandering over to the 1K machines that are roughly 3 to 4 times what she really needs.
ND, I like the Toshiba's too and, believe me, I pushed hard on the Apple issue. I can't imagine why she is entrenched when ease of use would be so much higher with a Mac.
I'll look for a Toshiba model to contrast with the Dell and let her decide.
My only laptop experience in Toshiba and it has worked well. I'd make sure to get Windows 7 on it, they've made some nice UI enhancements.
le nubian - thanks for the help. I have all my iTunes stuff on my new computer. Wheeeeeeeeee!
I also have a shiny new external hard drive and have backed up the old computer and have room for backing up the new one too!
awesome cakes! :-)
Yay SuziQ! Tech to the rescue!
Update: Thanks to encouragement from ND and Gud, I steered my friends to the Toshiba Satellite L550. I'm excited for my oldster friend to have something she can rely on.
Much obliged gentlemen.
Glad to help in a small way. If they haven't bought it yet, be sure to wait a few days for Windows 7 to be the OS instead of Vista. You can get a free upgrade but it will likely be a pain to get and install.