I have to meet H&SE requirements for display screen equipment and a laptop screen, besides usually being quite poor compared to the latest free-standing TFT screens, just doesn't have the adjustments required. Besides which I've yet to see a laptop fitted with a P4 EE chip.
Colin Bignell
Where do you put the processor box then ? If it is off the desk, then that makes access to the various optical drives, floppy, media readers, USB, etc, awkward.
I've been sitting in front of desktop workstations for longer than I care to recall. It cannot be a coincidence that all the early "professional" (ie non-Wintel) workstations were *all* neat, desktop devices just the right size to fit under the monitor. And to my mind, a monitor needs to be lifted up by about 3-4" for maximum viewing comfort. Otoh, even so-called desktop PC cases tend to be just tower cases on their sides and are big ugly things as a result. Granted most non-PCs are not designed especially for ease of access to internal components, but still, there should be a real market for decently designed kit. Witness the premium prices that ex-office Compaq SFF units fetch.
My ideal PC would be a laptop with additional external monitor, kb, mouse and loads of external connectivity but they are still (imho) way over-priced.
Under the desk (see - the box is to the right on the floor, with a blue light behind a glass front panel - you might need to scroll the picture a bit). CD drives I don't use that much but they're easy to get to, especially as they're at the top of the box. Floppies - once in a blue moon. Media readers - I use a small USB converter for CF cards, and I keep it in a drawer under the monitor. USB - there are two sockets in the keyboard case.
That was true of the very first IBM PC, too (see, for instance, ). Of course the definition of "neat" has changed over the years. :-)
I like my eyes to be level with the top of the screen and my forearms to be about horizontal when using the keyboard and mouse. Here that translates to a 6" base plus the stand for the (19") monitor raised to maximum height - overall the bottom of the screen is 10" above the desk. This setup needs a height-adjustable office chair, set quite high, rather than a dining chair.
Agreed.
Historically they're dirt cheap (cheaper than the first PCs even before you take inflation into account), but towers are even dirtier cheaper. I think that that price differential will be with us for a good time yet.
The original personal computers had the keyboard built onto the motherboard, so there wasn't a lot of choice.
Only if you were very, very rich. A 5.25" floppy drive would cost about as much as the computer - more if you built it youself, as was quite common. The standard bulk storage device for most people for the first several years was a tape casette.
Colin Bignell
OP gone from server so I'll follow up here...
I've just purchased a Hi-Grade Xperian. Totally awesome machine, takes up no space. Well worth considering for home/business.
uncomfortably
Sounds like you're probably not a good typist then :-) Secretaries seem to like high monitors because they don't need to look at the keyboard. Head high is probably best for your posture.
??? My primary machine is a mid-range Sony VAIO laptop, cost under £1K - a *little* more than comparably spec'd desktops (but of better build quality, IMO) -- more than offset by the convience of portabiliy :-)
I've been through many variations of the laptop-alone, laptop-with-docking-station, etc., and have settled on a somewhat D-I-Y arrangement of the laptop sitting on a purpose built, wedged shaped stand which puts the screen about 70cm away in my normal working position, with its centre about 3cm below a horizontal eye line. Obviously, I don't use the laptop's keyboard or touchpad in this setup -- I have a USB keyboard and USB mouse, plus a connections to the network, speakers, and external USB hard drive.
Unless you need to put lots of additional hardware or interfaces into a system, I would always go for a laptop these days; if the typical laptop screen size/resolution is insufficient, LCD monitors have an increasingly attractive price/performance ratio.
For desktop systems I always put the processor box (whether 'desktop' or 'tower' config) underneath the desk top (or underneath a different desktop). 'Desktop' form boxes, slung underneath a desk or table, are my preferred option -- as long as they don't impinge on knee-space, this gives the best combination of keeping the work space clear and being able to get at disc drives, etc. On systems w/ conventional (CRT) monitors, I typically use a 75mm "raiser" beneath the monitor to bring it up to convenient working height,
Julian
"stuart noble" uncomfortably
I've been touch typing (that means that I don't look at the keyboard) since
1956.I didn't say that I liked the monitor high but I would find it uncomfortable if it were too high. Or too low.
Mary
[snip]
Not entirely true the reason the Tower was brought about was because todays processors became extremly hot and air circulation in the desktop was prone to get very warm and space was needed to increase air circulation which a desktop does not have.
The 166 or 266 Processors would work quite happily without a fan.
G
The words "keyboard" and "1956" do not seem synonymous!
No offence intended, but back then I wouldn't have thought a computer would have been able to keep up with a touch typist! I remember all too well the mechanical consoles on HP1000 systems in the early 80's, and hitting the keys too fast meant lost keystrokes.
PoP
Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me.
A typewriter had a keyboard and typewriters go back far longer than me. The keys were heavier to use, had round keys with brass frames, raked far more steeply and with a lever instead of a return keypad - but a keyboard nevertheless. Qwerty to boot.
If it's comforting, I can't use the numberpad so use the numbers over the letters - which is where they always were :-)
No offence taken, I'm sure it wouldn't have kept up with some. But a touch typist isn't necessarily fast, I am faster than any computer user I know but that means little since most are slow! No idea how fast I've ever been, only those going for exams or competitions bothered to find out. The essence of touch typing is not looking at the keyboard, which is what Stuart's point was.
In fact, a touch typist didn't usually look at the paper (aka) screen either. When I was taught to type the whole machine was covered, we could see neither keys nor paper. When doing real work most was copying, one had one's head to the side looking at the text to be copied. A bit like looking into a microscope with one eye and keeping the other on what you were drawing at the side! Even when dictated text documents were being typed you didn't bother looking at the paper. By the way, I haven't had a career in typing but it's come into most things I've done and I've had my own since I was twenty.
I believe that, along with driving, keyboard skills are essential parts of life and everyone should be taught them - but taught well. You might think that you'll never need them but it's best to be prepared and few people will be able to escape. Being able to do something efficiently gives confidence when it's needed.
I only look at the screen when designing a document or leaflet etc. or when running a spellchecker. I'm not as accurate as I used to be, arthritic fingers see to that.
I'm sure you're right, that sometimes happened when I used a 'portable' typewriter. My first experience of a computer was a BBC one in the 1980s, I thought I was in heaven ...
Mary
We hear that story, but I dont see how it can really be true. The volume of a desktop is equal to or in many cases greater than todays tower units. Also the air movement is done by fan, not by chimney effect, so from both points of view a tower really gains nothing in cooling.
As usual I think it was a very minor issue blown out of all proportion to encourage more sales of new puters.
Regards, NT
My processor packed up in the hottest part of last summer and the tower has plenty of ventilation.
So what your saying is put a crowed of people in small room to the extent they can't move and the temp will stay the same.? Me think's not. G
"stuart noble"
"stuart noble" uncomfortably
Interestingly I've just been to the physiotherapist for a knee problem. She gave me a booklet about the best position to sit at a pc. My chair, keyboard and monitor positions are absolutely spot on.
So there
Mary
Dell's bringing a laptop with a P4 EE chip in it. Though I can't think of what people really need a P4 EE chip in a laptop for - unless its gaming (which is probably not really a H&SE covered thing... ;)
You're probably just the person to answer this. As a software engineer I use a keyboard all day and keep thinking that I ought to go to night school to learn to type properly but, although I do have to type "plain English" such as specs and test procedures, the bulk of my work is coding which, unless you are a COBOL programmer, involves extensive use of "non-standard" keys (for want of a better description); all 8 punctuation keys to the right of the letter keys and the shifted number keys. I get the impression that most typing courses are designed for office work, i.e. plain English, so would any of these courses be likely to train you properly to use the whole of a PC keyboard? I feel that if they don't that I'd slip back into bad habits due to not being able to touch type the extra keys.
Oh yes, and most Programmers editors make extensive use of Control and Alt (ever used Emacs[1]?).
Here's an example; would you have any trouble touch typing this?
while (@row = $sth->fetchrow) { for ($i = 0; $i Tr({-id=>"op$row[0]", -bgcolor=>"#DFE8FF"}, $q->td({-align=>"right"}, "Op:"), $q->td($q->b("$row[0]")), $q->td({-align=>"right"}, "Alt Op:"), $q->td($q->b("$row[1]")), $q->td({-align=>"right"}, "Work Centre:"), $q->td($q->b("$row[2]")));
print $q->Tr({-bgcolor=>"#DFE8FF"}, $q->td({-align=>"right"}, "Sealed:"), $q->td($q->b("$row[3]")), $q->td(" "), $q->td(" "), $q->td({-align=>"right"}, "Op Description:"), $q->td($q->b("$row[4]")));
Your comments would be appreciated.
Regards,
Parish
[1] Emacs - _E_ditor _MAC_ro_S_ although it is alternatively suggested that it is an acronym for Escape Meta Alt Control Shift due to it's unbelievably excessive use of those keys.
Never mind the ventilation, check the Ny-ties. I forgot to snip the tail off one and when the self adhesive clip fell off (obviously didn't like being stuck the the warm PSU) the cable bundle dropped and the Ny-tie tail stuck in one of the CPU fans - the BIOS shut the PC down and when I restarted it the CPU temp was 104.5degC :-O It survived though :-)
Using those keys isn't the only problem, just having them there messes up keeping your fingers in the right place and using carriage return. Mary's formatting suggests she relies on line wrap rather using than carriage return, which is probably the case for most word processing courses. I think your COBOL example has c/r as much as []{};
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