Time to buy a computer

Our desktop computer is probably close to 7 years old. It's worked really well, but, like all of us old codgers, it's getting less and less reliable and more and more temperamental. Hence the topic of this post.

I think we'll replace it with a laptop. (I suppose there are reasons to go with another desktop model, but I'm darned if I can see what they are.) My plan, conditional on getting approval from my wonderful son-in-law, is to take the peripherals we've been using with the old desktop unit -- two printers, a gadget that communicates with the wireless keyboard and mouse, the external drive we use for backups -- and plug them into a USB hub. I'll then plug the hub into the new laptop. I'll also connect our old monitor, speakers, and the internet cable to the new laptop.

To see if this arrangement would work, (it does!) I tried it with our old laptop, like so:

Click for a larger image.

One of the neat features of this setup is that the virtual desktop stretches across both monitors. Thus, for example, we can have Photoshop open in one monitor and a spreadsheet opened in the other. Usually, of course, one monitor is plenty, but now and then it's nice to have a little more real estate on which to display things.

Another nice feature is that we can, if needed, unplug just a few cables and take the computer anywhere we like. I don't see us doing this very often -- we can and do take our current laptop with us wherever we go -- but I like knowing that we'll be able to take the new computer along too (or instead).