What's your budget?

x-posted with Natter:

I am going to take some online computer classes to acquire some more cutting-edge computer skills. Like C# and maybe MS SQL SSAS and SSIS or more .NET stuff. Anyone have recommendations for online computer class sites?

Still wrestling with my user profile service not logging in problem: one of the suggested solutions is to restore my computer to a previous state, however, I don't have a set restoration point. Is that something I should be able to do now? In safe mode?

I am sure that one of the complications I have is that I am the owner/admin for the laptop and therefore it is the admin profile that isn't being logged in.

Thanks!

So in order to work from home, I need to use VMWare Horizon Client on my Macbook, and it's not going well. Everything is very slow, I cannot seem to get access to the parts of the network I need to use, and the MS Windows interface works poorly with my Apple keyboard. Right now I'm unable to use the cursor: it just doesn't show up.

So I'm thinking: should I buy a cheap PC to use for my work-from-home days? And if so, what should I get? It's been years since I bought a non-Mac laptop, I don't know what to look for. Basically all I would use it for is to log into the work server and run the virtual desktop software...

Any advice, oh work-from-home Buffistas?

I have an old Dell you can have, Connie. It's from circa 2010 but if all you need it for is what you're talking about here, it should be fine.

What model of MacBook do you have? You can install a full version of Windows on a Bootcamp partition and it will run as a full native Windows machine. I do this in my office for all my employees.

ND, I'd rather not, actually. It'd be a good way to keep the work life separate from the non-work life if I used a different machine...

Nanita -- that's a thought, but only if you're really not planning to use it again.

Sounds like you might have it covered. But my suggestion would be something like a refurbished ThinkPad 440 or 450.

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A 4th or 5th gen i5 is still a very solid laptop CPU, barely any slower than a current gen i5 and T-Series Thinkpads are well built. My E-Series (the cheapest series) Thinkpad is 6 years old and still works fine and I've even dropped it a couple of times.

Connie it's all yours. I bought a new one earlier this year. I just need to wipe it.

Well, it's possible I won't need it, since I f got to the office this morning to discover the whole network has been down for 30 hours...