Computer Help

[Boycey]

Acer and Lenovo usually do pretty reliable budget laptops, you would probably get one that would suit your mothers needs for €300ish...  I recently found that Argos were keener than Pc World or the like for same spec machines... Also if your mother has no experience of Windows 8 avoid like the plague (or avail straight away of free upgrade to 10) its the most counter intuitive thing ever compared to previous Windows versions..

[macdanger2]

Is Windows 10 any good? I had the option of the free upgrade (from Windows 7) a while back but I figured it would be buggy as hell so I didn't bother with it

[laoislad]

Cheers.
What about the Dell stuff?
I have a Dell Latitude myself that I bought second hand on ebay 2 years ago and I find it great but it would be a lot more powerful than the one I would be getting her.
Would a Penitum processor be much of an upgrade on the Celeron one she has or would I be better off getting her an i3 one for the sake of another 70 or 80 quid.
It's windows 7 she has on the current laptop.

[Boycey]

Cheers.
What about the Dell stuff?
I have a Dell Latitude myself that I bought second hand on ebay 2 years ago and I find it great but it would be a lot more powerful than the one I would be getting her.
Would a Penitum processor be much of an upgrade on the Celeron one she has or would I be better off getting her an i3 one for the sake of another 70 or 80 quid.
It's windows 7 she has on the current laptop.

At the level of use it sounds like your mother would be at I'd not be getting caught up too much in what processor is just make sure it has decent amount of RAM

[laoislad]

One of those Dells has 4gb would that be plenty?

4GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1) ?

[JoG2]

One of those Dells has 4gb would that be plenty?

4GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1) ?

for basic computing, yes. I'd agree with mcdanger and get the machine wiped and rebuilt as a starter.

I just bought a highly spec'd Dell laptop (reconditioned) from their outlet store, i7 etc for £520. Some wagon. The Dell Outlet store would be worth a look

[laoislad]

Alright lads thanks for the advice.

[laoislad]

Is there a computer program that will scan a document and turn it into an editable word document?

I have a book of electrical test sheets that I fill out on a daily basis.I have a pain in the arse filling these out by pen all the time and then having to scan them to upload them to email.
I want to have them on file on my laptop that I can fill them out on the go as I do the work.

The sheets aren't just text though,there are boxes I have to check and other boxes I have to fill in results etc.
I doubt I would be able re create it myself from scratch in Word,hence I was wondering if I can scan the page and it will be turned into a word document that I can edit and fill in results.
For example the picture below is a sample of one of 4 forms I have to fill out.I basically want this as a word file that I can edit for each different job I'm on.

,

[imtommygunn]

http://www.onlineocr.net

Have a look at something like that. Haven't really used it but looks like it may be of some help.

Looks like you need it scanned to pdf mind.

[laoislad]

Thanks Tommy I'll have a look at that.

[muppet]

If you want to put the document on an iPad, so you can use it on the go, I recommend: http://www.goodreader.com

A really great app, that takes a little getting used to. Take a photo of your document and then convert it to a PDF. Good reader can edit any PDF using typing and it also allows handwriting with your finger, so can tick boxes and even sign a document.

It can store large documents, e.g. manuals and has a great search function and bookmarking facility as well.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

If you want to put the document on an iPad, so you can use it on the go, I recommend: http://www.goodreader.com

A really great app, that takes a little getting used to. Take a photo of your document and then convert it to a PDF. Good reader can edit any PDF using typing and it also allows handwriting with your finger, so can tick boxes and even sign a document.

It can store large documents, e.g. manuals and has a great search function and bookmarking facility as well.

Have you by any chance used it for documents containing mathematical/logical symbols?  I've had to convert a lot of documents of this sort to PDF, and find that mathematical symbols are regularly misconverted, and have to be reentered by hand. 

[Gaffer]

Anybody ever try Dragon Dictation software where you speak and it writes the words you say onto Word?

Saw it in action the other day and for anyone who has a lot of writing to do then it's some job.

Available on Amazon!

[Syferus]

Anybody ever try Dragon Dictation software where you speak and it writes the words you say onto Word?

Saw it in action the other day and for anyone who has a lot of writing to do then it's some job.

Available on Amazon!

And torrent sites if you want to try it out..

[Green Fields]

Santa is leaving my youngest a talking unicorn, you can download an app to interact with it but my devices are all iOS6 and it says you need iOS7 but my devices can't upgrade to iOS7 am I stuffed? The app is form apple.