melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) (07/25/90)
I know someone that wants to purchase a computer to do a lot of spreadsheet work. But I am hesitant about recommending a Macintosh because she only wants to spend about $2500 dollars on the computer and that is only enough for a Mac Plus or an SE. I personally find the 9" screens on Macs unbearable, especially when using a spreadsheet; too much scrolling back and forth. Is the small screen something that most people learn to live with, or are large screen add-ons the route to go(how's their performance)? I really don't want to tell her to get a PC with Windows! -Mike
aslakson@cs.umn.edu (Brian Aslakson) (07/25/90)
melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >I know someone that wants to purchase a computer to do a lot of >spreadsheet work. But I am hesitant about recommending a Macintosh >because she only wants to spend about $2500 dollars on the computer >and that is only enough for a Mac Plus or an SE. I personally find >the 9" screens on Macs unbearable, especially when using a >spreadsheet; too much scrolling back and forth. Is the small screen >something that most people learn to live with, or are large screen >add-ons the route to go(how's their performance)? I really don't want >to tell her to get a PC with Windows! How will a PC help with the scrolling? The screen may be bigger, but the letters will be bigger, and you'll end up scrolling... (Yes, there are ways around this). Yes Macs cost too much. Yes 9" is too small. (Well not really, but if it's too small for her, it's too small). With educational discounts, some 3rd party products, and some caution, she could end up with a Mac with an add on screen that'll run lots of spreadsheet boxes. Besides, Wingz is really a Mac product. (When I found out the BS I had to go to to get Excel to do X-Y graphs, I decided I didn't like it anymore). There are some in the departmental office who use spreadsheets alot on Pluses and they seem to be okay on the small screen. (They use Excel and are okay on it for what they do). Good luck! -- Macintosh related: mac-admin@cs.umn.edu All else: aslakson@cs.umn.edu
philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (07/26/90)
In article <1990Jul25.104252.26995@cs.umn.edu>, aslakson@cs.umn.edu (Brian Aslakson) writes: > melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > > >I know someone that wants to purchase a computer to do a lot of > >spreadsheet work. But I am hesitant about recommending a Macintosh > >because she only wants to spend about $2500 dollars on the computer > >and that is only enough for a Mac Plus or an SE. I personally find > >the 9" screens on Macs unbearable, especially when using a > >spreadsheet; too much scrolling back and forth. Is the small screen > >something that most people learn to live with, or are large screen > >add-ons the route to go(how's their performance)? I really don't want > >to tell her to get a PC with Windows! > > How will a PC help with the scrolling? The screen may be bigger, but > the letters will be bigger, and you'll end up scrolling... (Yes, there > are ways around this). Yes Macs cost too much. Yes 9" is too small. > (Well not really, but if it's too small for her, it's too small). With > educational discounts, some 3rd party products, and some caution, she > could end up with a Mac with an add on screen that'll run lots of > spreadsheet boxes. Besides, Wingz is really a Mac product. (When I > found out the BS I had to go to to get Excel to do X-Y graphs, I decided > I didn't like it anymore). > > There are some in the departmental office who use spreadsheets alot on > Pluses and they seem to be okay on the small screen. (They use Excel > and are okay on it for what they do). > I've used Excel on both 9" and 19" screens. I know which I'd use if I had the option, but a 9" screen is bearable if you use a font that's legible in 9 point, and make careful use of Excel's split window (pane) feature. I've seen an ad for a 14" monitor for an SE, which also allows use of the built in monitor, for around $800 including video card. I have no experience of this (just saw it in a MacWarehouse catalog...). I don't know what street pricing is for SEs, but if you can get educational pricing, this would come out as about $2200 for an SE HD40/2M RAM + extra screen. Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
gchow@ipsa.reuter.com (george chow) (07/26/90)
In article <F2exnw51@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: >I know someone that wants to purchase a computer to do a lot of >spreadsheet work. But I am hesitant about recommending a Macintosh >because she only wants to spend about $2500 dollars on the computer >and that is only enough for a Mac Plus or an SE. I personally find >the 9" screens on Macs unbearable, especially when using a >spreadsheet; too much scrolling back and forth. Is the small screen >something that most people learn to live with, or are large screen >add-ons the route to go(how's their performance)? You may want to try out Stepping Out II. It's an init that gives you as big a virtual screen as you want (size is limited by memory). It's not as nice as a real large screen but for $100, it's not bad. I use it for previewing TeX documents and it works great. >I really don't want to tell her to get a PC with Windows! > >-Mike George Chow