Business laptops-how do you use yours?

[gear junkie]

Do you keep it at home or does it come with you? If it does come with you, what kind of printer do you use with it? What kind of uses have you found to use with it?

[JCsPlumbing]

Last I looked, there were only 2 mobile printers. One by HP, one by Canon. I like the Canon better.

I've got my eye on a Pelican Case for mine to get it mobile. If I had it in any thing else, I would get in a hurry or something and damage it.

J.C.

[MrsSeatDown]

Rick takes 1 with him and prints invoices on a small canon printer that they don't make anymore. He also has another 1 at home as backup.

But you had to know he had more than 1:rolleyes: The only thing he has 1 of is a wife, only cause I don't think he could handle more.

[ToUtahNow]

I carry two laptops (3 for now) and a tablet on my truck. Brenda carries one laptop with her. I use to have a Canon i80 which is frustrating if you are going to print more than one page or anything that takes a lot of memory. I now carry a Brother 420cn all in one printer in a Browning case (made by Pelican) for the hotel but need an inverter in the truck.

Mark

[gear junkie]

What's the difference between a tablet and a laptop? Which do you like better?

[PLUMBER RICK]

ben, i've been taking a laptop with me for 8 years. same with the printer. the printer they quit making 4 or 5 years ago. i'm on my second of 3 that i bought.

the great thing is i can reference any job from the last 8 years. also all my material and database. i print invoices at the job and leave the customer with a properly documented and printed invoice. i can update anything at any time with material and pricing.

i get more compliments on my little printer than i do on my computer. but the fact is, my computer is pretty much my entire 8 year history of clients and business. no looking at old invoices and guessing. i know the entire history of every job. better than any doctor:D

old school was looking at thousands of old invoice books. i needed a time frame to get close or an invoice #. plus i had no way to keep track of inventory or prices.

tax time is pretty much a push of a button for my year to date. my accountant loves it and it shows in his billings to me.

rick.

[JCsPlumbing]

Tablet is like a combination computer and giant PDA if I recall. The screen can do a "flip around" and lay flat where you can do some touch operations. Some handwriting recognition. Gates was involved with it I think, and like alot of things he touches, it didn't catch on.

J.C.

[ToUtahNow]

What's the difference between a tablet and a laptop? Which do you like better?

As JC posted a tablet is just the screen but some have keyboards which flip underneath as well. My tablet is so I can fill in spread sheets while I am in the field. They are like a regular laptop but run Windows mobile as an operating system and input can be by keyboard or by stylus pen. A tablet can be used as a laptop but depending on the screen it will either be easy to see in sunlight or in the shade. The difference is you either have a front lit screen or a back lit screen. I have not seen one yet but I have been told Dell just came out with a new tablet that lets you do it all and could be both a tablet or a laptop.

Mark

[ToUtahNow]

Tablet is like a combination computer and giant PDA if I recall. The screen can do a "flip around" and lay flat where you can do some touch operations. Some handwriting recognition. Gates was involved with it I think, and like alot of things he touches, it didn't catch on.

J.C.

To the contrary tablets are giants in the construction field. UPS and most of the other haulers all use tablets today as well. Now surveyors and graders can even connect them to their GPS units. I recently was on a 40-story building where I had the full set of drawings (not just plumbing and mechanical) scanned into my tablet. You can imagine now much easier that is then running back down stairs to review plans when a question comes up. Plus with proper bookmarks I can easily access information much faster than with paper plans. I carry the Fujitsu which is is in a waterproof/shockproof Pelican case with a see through panel so I never have to remove it to work with it.

I really believe we have only seen the tip of what tablets are capable of. Soon every plumber in town will have the ability to use a tablet for his invoicing. If nothing else the spell check feature will make us all look much smarter than we really are.

Mark

[MrsSeatDown]

Gates was involved with it I think, and like alot of things he touches, it didn't catch on.

J.C.

Actually, I see them all the time. Our childcare licensing representative uses the tablet when they come out for their bi-annual inspections. The thing that's nice is the forms are all set up and we sign them with the stylus and print them right there. Our local heath department inspectors and fire inspectors also use them. I think they are the new high tech thing and we will be seeing them more.

As far as the the spell check that Mark is talking about. . . 2 years ago our health inspector refused to give me a written report on the spot in spite of having all the paperwork in his hand. Finally, he said it was because he had to go back to the office and run everything through spell check and re-write the report. Last year, he smiled as he handed me the tablet. He said I was so insistent the year before that he had to break down and tell his supervisor what happened. Turned out he wasn't the only one with that problem.

[ToUtahNow]

Here is a link to the new Dell tablet.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_xt?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Mark

[JCsPlumbing]

Thanks on the tablet info. Last I saw them was about a year ago with Gates on Charlie Rose (PBS interview) and just haven't seen ANY market penetration here since. I'm really not even sure if you could find one locally. Sounds like they've really taken off out West though.

I'll have to start looking at them again. Might make things easier. Just wish these things weren't as fragile or I wasn't as clumsy. :)

J.C.

P.S. I still am not convinced Bill Gates is good at marketing. :D

[JCsPlumbing]

Here is a link to the new Dell tablet.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_xt?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Mark

$2500.00. Too much.

J.C.

[Josh]

I have not been impressed with tablet PCs so far. I obviously have different uses though. The technology still isn't quite where it needs to be to be a viable option. We thought about outfitting our sales force with tablets and decided against it.

You can buy laptops for as low as 400 bucks now (for a decent one)

Josh