From: thomas.e.elam@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/18/26 4:49 PM, Alan wrote:   
   > On 2026-02-18 13:17, Tom Elam wrote:   
   >> On 2/17/26 2:55 PM, Alan wrote:   
   >>> On 2026-02-17 10:55, Tom Elam wrote:   
   >>>> On 2/15/26 6:08 PM, pothead wrote:   
   >>>>> On 2026-02-15, Tom Elam  wrote:   
   >>>>>> The two longest lasting phones I have owned were a Blackberry at   
   >>>>>> about 5   
   >>>>>> years and an iPhone 14 Pro at 3+ years. In between a series of   
   >>>>>> Android   
   >>>>>> phones. The 14 Pro will do for at least another 1-2 years. The   
   >>>>>> wife has   
   >>>>>> an iPhone 14, same story.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> Android tablets were tried for something like 10 years. All were   
   >>>>>> disappointing. Slow, limited updates, and clunky OS. My iPad   
   >>>>>> experience   
   >>>>>> has been the exact opposite. Frequent updates, plenty fast, and   
   >>>>>> consistent OS. The current oldest is Gen 7, 6 years old, and running   
   >>>>>> great with a fully patched OS. None of my Samsung tablets came   
   >>>>>> even close.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> IMHO Apple deserves the price premium. Good hardware, incredible   
   >>>>>> support, durable. No regrets.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I agree completely with your assessment of your Apple devices. I   
   >>>>> too had   
   >>>>> a Blackberry and at the time I enjoyed using it and it did last a   
   >>>>> long time   
   >>>>> despite the abuse from me.   
   >>>>> I also have had several Android devices from Motorola, Samsung and   
   >>>>> LG. Mostly   
   >>>>> top tier devices for the most part.   
   >>>>> They have never been as smooth as my iPhones which I have been   
   >>>>> using since one of   
   >>>>> the early models. I currently have an iPhone 14 as well.   
   >>>>> One of my biggest complaints with Android has been the massive   
   >>>>> amount of bloatware   
   >>>>> that they come with. Apps from the manufacturer as well as the   
   >>>>> carrier. And some   
   >>>>> can be a PITA to remove.   
   >>>>> I've never used an Apple or Android tablet so I can't comment on that.   
   >>>>> My only complaint with the iPhone and Apple was iTunes as I don't   
   >>>>> use a desktop   
   >>>>> Mac so it was quite clunky to me. Android was better in that regard   
   >>>>> because it   
   >>>>> was seen from the PC as just another file system. To me that is   
   >>>>> logical.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Yesterday I took the next step and bought a MacBook Air. Probably   
   >>>> just before the next update, but what the heck. Got almost   
   >>>> everything up and running except 2 standalone utilites that are   
   >>>> Windows-only. A few years back the poor state of Quicken and an M1   
   >>>> MacBook Pro that failed to boot 13 days after purchase derailed the   
   >>>> process. Quicken has been updated and now works OK. I have two   
   >>>> Windows 11 machines around that can run those utilities. This is   
   >>>> being sent on the Air/ Thunderbird.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Still a few kinks to work out, thanks to Google and YouTube I'm   
   >>>> confident I'll not be needing Parallels.   
   >>> Do yourself a favour. Set up the Windows machine for remote access   
   >>> using the "Windows" application you can get from the App Store.   
   >>   
   >> Help me out here, what does that do for you?   
   >   
   > You put the Windows machine somewhere where it doesn't take up much   
   > space, and keep one computer where you use it the most.   
   >   
   > You get to use the Mac's keyboard, mouse and screen, and the mouse   
   > tracking is almost always smoother than Windows, and the display of   
   > higher quality.   
      
   No complaints here on the Dell screen or keypad. The laptop screen is   
   3456x2160 OLED and the keyboard and mouse pad are as good as anything   
   Apple has. I also have a 27" Dell 3840x2160 backlit LED monitor that is   
   as good as anything with similar specs on the market today.   
      
   The issue with the Dell is the Intel i9 CPU. I kills the battery, runs   
   hot, and the fans make a lot of noise. It has a better sound system than   
   the Air. BUT, the Air is at least as fast as the Dell, runs all day on a   
   charge, and no noise. To me the OS differences are not and issue. Both   
   work just fine.   
      
   I bought the Dell for a specific project that was taking up to 20   
   minutes to run stats tasks on an even older top-of-the-line HP. That   
   went down to well under 5 minutes. The HP had a 1 tb hard drive, the   
   Dell a 2 tb SSD that helped too. It did the job at the time, 4 years   
   ago. The client paid for it. A lot has changed.	   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)