Computer?

[jansman]

The internet has become vital for many. There are many businesses that are web based or web dependent. I love the web. However, I love books too, and Ihave many. They do not need power or a remote computer/server too deliver what is seen on the screen.
One book I have, 'Lucifer's Hammer' has an academic character who stores waterproofed books in a storm drain, as he knows that after society has broken down(after the looming asteroid strike) the knowledge to rebuild will be in those books. With little electricity, he was proven right. Granted, that book as written in the '70's, but as we depend more on technology we should look at 'Plan B'. Books last.

[dangerman]

Tablets are good for battery life, but that's about it.

They're almost paralysed without a regular internet connection. A proper computer can do so much more practical things for you. Simple things like card readers and USB ports allow you to expand the capacity of media available. An iPad particularly would be useless without the internet - it completely depends on a computer to run properly. Unless you like paying full price for every little thing from iTunes (which would require internet).

Should the internet go down, I could still head to my families houses, friends too, exchange games, media and files. I could also still access programmes for the computer that don't need internet access. Just useful softwares - use your imagination. Remember the 90s? Computers were a part of every day life and rarely, if ever had internet.

A laptop is absolutely part of my kit, and where possibly, I'll always take it.

[rik_uk3]

Tablets are good for battery life, but that's about it.

They're almost paralysed without a regular internet connection. A proper computer can do so much more practical things for you. Simple things like card readers and USB ports allow you to expand the capacity of media available. An iPad particularly would be useless without the internet - it completely depends on a computer to run properly. Unless you like paying full price for every little thing from iTunes (which would require internet).

Should the internet go down, I could still head to my families houses, friends too, exchange games, media and files. I could also still access programmes for the computer that don't need internet access. Just useful softwares - use your imagination. Remember the 90s? Computers were a part of every day life and rarely, if ever had internet.

A laptop is absolutely part of my kit, and where possibly, I'll always take it.

It depends on the tablet; I've got a Superpad 8, Hudl, Hudl2 and really they are used as small media centres but... I've invested in a Surface Pro 3 which is a tablet with an Intel i7 processor making it a full blown computer too. My main laptop is a Sony Vaio which is a cracking bit of kit and my lad and I have i7 based PC's so computers are used a lot at home and away.

Back up and back up the back up's are vital. I use 'cloud' storage but would not dream of relying on it, all our files are stored off line too.

Do I consider computers essential to prepping? Absolutely they are.

[dangerman]

Tablets are good for battery life, but that's about it.

They're almost paralysed without a regular internet connection. A proper computer can do so much more practical things for you. Simple things like card readers and USB ports allow you to expand the capacity of media available. An iPad particularly would be useless without the internet - it completely depends on a computer to run properly. Unless you like paying full price for every little thing from iTunes (which would require internet).

Should the internet go down, I could still head to my families houses, friends too, exchange games, media and files. I could also still access programmes for the computer that don't need internet access. Just useful softwares - use your imagination. Remember the 90s? Computers were a part of every day life and rarely, if ever had internet.

A laptop is absolutely part of my kit, and where possibly, I'll always take it.

It depends on the tablet; I've got a Superpad 8, Hudl, Hudl2 and really they are used as small media centres but... I've invested in a Surface Pro 3 which is a tablet with an Intel i7 processor making it a full blown computer too. My main laptop is a Sony Vaio which is a cracking bit of kit and my lad and I have i7 based PC's so computers are used a lot at home and away.

Back up and back up the back up's are vital. I use 'cloud' storage but would not dream of relying on it, all our files are stored off line too.

Do I consider computers essential to prepping? Absolutely they are.

Agree!

There must be kit around that can do more than I know - but the Surface and other generation equipment are not tablets in the sense that I was talking about. I'm talking about things like the iPad and Galaxy Tabs etc. If a tablet has the same ability as a computer then, really, it's a proper computer with a detachable keyboard. Computer prices too from what I can see.

What I like about my mac (yes I'm a computer fop), is that it runs Windows (easily pirated) as well as OSX, making it versatile when it comes to running various programmes and software. The only problem is, I've got Windows 8.1 on here, but I've never used it and at the moment it's just clogging up my very tiny solid state HDD.

[rik_uk3]

Tablets are good for battery life, but that's about it.

They're almost paralysed without a regular internet connection. A proper computer can do so much more practical things for you. Simple things like card readers and USB ports allow you to expand the capacity of media available. An iPad particularly would be useless without the internet - it completely depends on a computer to run properly. Unless you like paying full price for every little thing from iTunes (which would require internet).

Should the internet go down, I could still head to my families houses, friends too, exchange games, media and files. I could also still access programmes for the computer that don't need internet access. Just useful softwares - use your imagination. Remember the 90s? Computers were a part of every day life and rarely, if ever had internet.

A laptop is absolutely part of my kit, and where possibly, I'll always take it.

It depends on the tablet; I've got a Superpad 8, Hudl, Hudl2 and really they are used as small media centres but... I've invested in a Surface Pro 3 which is a tablet with an Intel i7 processor making it a full blown computer too. My main laptop is a Sony Vaio which is a cracking bit of kit and my lad and I have i7 based PC's so computers are used a lot at home and away.

Back up and back up the back up's are vital. I use 'cloud' storage but would not dream of relying on it, all our files are stored off line too.

Do I consider computers essential to prepping? Absolutely they are.

Agree!

There must be kit around that can do more than I know - but the Surface and other generation equipment are not tablets in the sense that I was talking about. I'm talking about things like the iPad and Galaxy Tabs etc. If a tablet has the same ability as a computer then, really, it's a proper computer with a detachable keyboard. Computer prices too from what I can see.

What I like about my mac (yes I'm a computer fop), is that it runs Windows (easily pirated) as well as OSX, making it versatile when it comes to running various programmes and software. The only problem is, I've got Windows 8.1 on here, but I've never used it and at the moment it's just clogging up my very tiny solid state HDD.

No the Surface Pro is a tablet by any definition although the 3 has a bigger screen than the original Pro I got when first launched and trashes the ipad in terms of performance. I'm not a fan of anything 'Pomme' lol but W8.1 works fine and I'd never recommend Apple at any level purely on the grounds of them having such limited software/games plus being grossly over priced (plus whenever I think of Apple kit I think of Scientology for some reason and have images in my head of Steve Jobs in his jeans and roll top sweater, multi billionaire who listened to quacks when diagnosed with the cancer that killed him rather than go to the professionals).

The Hudl 2 is fantastic value for money too, pretty much pees over the Galaxy tabs, well worth getting.

[zer0her0]

I think the computer would need to be pretty special. Just reading about Directed Energy Weapons: http://www.ausairpower.net/dew-ebomb.html The Eileen Walling paper is interesting though pretty vague. 0.

[Fozzie]

I think having a laptop with you would be a huge advantage. Aside from the pics, videos, lists etc stored on them. You can plug a GPS antenna into them and with the use of a mapping program, help you navigate - I believe Garmin used to sell such a device and mapping software. There's a USB Dongle, that when hooked up to a suitable antenna, can receive a range of signals from UHF,VHF, even Airplane radios etc (Was mentioned in the Comms section a while back)
I believe, depending on your budget, you could use it for weather prediction stuff, like storm chasers in the US do
You can power a laptop with an inverter from a 12 volt battery. You may even find, since most charger are multi input voltages, that you can connect 12-24 volts directly to the charger and it will output the correct voltage for you
I don't expect the internet to be running in any sort of apocalypse, so I guess it would be best to put anything you want, onto external hard drives now that can be connected to a laptop later on

The appeal of a laptop is that the screen is protected when it's closed. I'll admit I have very little experience of tablets but I'm curious how tough those screens are and how useable they are if cracked/broken

[dangerman]

No the Surface Pro is a tablet by any definition although the 3 has a bigger screen than the original Pro I got when first launched and trashes the ipad in terms of performance. I'm not a fan of anything 'Pomme' lol but W8.1 works fine and I'd never recommend Apple at any level purely on the grounds of them having such limited software/games plus being grossly over priced (plus whenever I think of Apple kit I think of Scientology for some reason and have images in my head of Steve Jobs in his jeans and roll top sweater, multi billionaire who listened to quacks when diagnosed with the cancer that killed him rather than go to the professionals).

The Hudl 2 is fantastic value for money too, pretty much pees over the Galaxy tabs, well worth getting.

I know, Steve Jobs was a prick and I hate everything that Apple stands for. This is why I don't have an iPhone. I'd rather a phone that lets me do what I like rather than do what they like me too and pay through the nose for it. If I wanted that lifestyle I'd move to North Korea.

However, macs are different to other Apple products. They're incredibly versatile and most of the stuff people say about them just isn't true. I can't think of any programmes worth having that are available for Windows that aren't available to Macs. Also, there are loads of games available for my computer. And they run smoother than most comparable PCs too. Most gaming is going to streaming now anyway, so is doesn't matter what computer you're on as long as you have internet access. Currently, if you're a serious PC gamer then most package PCs are useless, I've been told you'd need to build one as a dedicated gaming device (£££ thousands?).

I'm on my third Macbook. I upgrade when I can, not because the Mac is dead, but just because I fancy it and it doesn't cost too much once you factor in the resale of the old Mac (they hold their value really well!). They don't slow down (very much), they require less spec to run faster and more reliably than a PC. They seem to run forever with very little maintenance. They don't get viruses (really, I've had Macs for near ten years and never had an issue). And even if you still prefer Windows, the Apple Mac hardware package is superior to pretty much any PC laptop hardware package anywhere near it's price range - so just buy one and then use Windows on it if you must.

So I'm not an Apple fanboy, I just like a good deal. And this is, in my opinion, the best value option.

(£850 for a Macbook Pro Retina, the only computer you'll ever need - bargain.)

[ojiu0u4]

Interesting, given me a lightbulb moment. Will need to fiddle putting my RPi into acting as local wifi access point + dhcp + dns server, but that is inspired for use with my kindle fire and my htc with juicessh client plus browser. All three are usb powered and could run off my solar panels. Even when there is no upstream net access I can at least get cli and graphical browser interface to proper computer without the bulk and power of laptop. I can even add more filesystem storage to the rpi via usb ports over and above the 32gb on the sd cards. And I can run all sorts and dev on RPi. Cool!

[rik_uk3]

No the Surface Pro is a tablet by any definition although the 3 has a bigger screen than the original Pro I got when first launched and trashes the ipad in terms of performance. I'm not a fan of anything 'Pomme' lol but W8.1 works fine and I'd never recommend Apple at any level purely on the grounds of them having such limited software/games plus being grossly over priced (plus whenever I think of Apple kit I think of Scientology for some reason and have images in my head of Steve Jobs in his jeans and roll top sweater, multi billionaire who listened to quacks when diagnosed with the cancer that killed him rather than go to the professionals).

The Hudl 2 is fantastic value for money too, pretty much pees over the Galaxy tabs, well worth getting.

I know, Steve Jobs was a prick and I hate everything that Apple stands for. This is why I don't have an iPhone. I'd rather a phone that lets me do what I like rather than do what they like me too and pay through the nose for it. If I wanted that lifestyle I'd move to North Korea.

However, macs are different to other Apple products. They're incredibly versatile and most of the stuff people say about them just isn't true. I can't think of any programmes worth having that are available for Windows that aren't available to Macs. Also, there are loads of games available for my computer. And they run smoother than most comparable PCs too. Most gaming is going to streaming now anyway, so is doesn't matter what computer you're on as long as you have internet access. Currently, if you're a serious PC gamer then most package PCs are useless, I've been told you'd need to build one as a dedicated gaming device (£££ thousands?).

I'm on my third Macbook. I upgrade when I can, not because the Mac is dead, but just because I fancy it and it doesn't cost too much once you factor in the resale of the old Mac (they hold their value really well!). They don't slow down (very much), they require less spec to run faster and more reliably than a PC. They seem to run forever with very little maintenance. They don't get viruses (really, I've had Macs for near ten years and never had an issue). And even if you still prefer Windows, the Apple Mac hardware package is superior to pretty much any PC laptop hardware package anywhere near it's price range - so just buy one and then use Windows on it if you must.

So I'm not an Apple fanboy, I just like a good deal. And this is, in my opinion, the best value option.

(£850 for a Macbook Pro Retina, the only computer you'll ever need - bargain.)

Oh you are lol my PC is faster than your mac so there...