Re: off topic: advice for PC purchase

[Harry Binswanger <hb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I do a kind of seminar on Zoom with roughly your number of
people. I would recommend using two monitors: 1 for the students and 1
for the chat and management (to see hand raises mainly). You could use
your laptop monitor for the chat and management--it doesn't need to be
large at all. Then get a wide one, 27" minimum, for the one to show
the class members.

You can also get "Classic Shell" to make Win10 start menu look
like Win 7 or earlier. I even use an add-on to all Office programs that
adds the classic menus across the top so I don't have to deal with the
Ribbon.



> I had intended to try upgrading
> my PC from Win 7 to Win 10 this month; but it now seems easier to buy a
> new Win 10 PC on Amazon. 
>
> My current computer was built for me several years ago by a guy who has
> since moved to Austin, Tex. and hasn't yet replied to my email His
> successor here in NYC is primarily an Apple guru - and under present
> circumstances, he isn't making house calls. Not having bought a retail PC
> in years, I have no idea what to buy.’nbsp; 
>
> I use the PC to write and edit, mostly in Xyrwrite, which I convert to
> Word for my editors; and to do online research. No game playing. And with
> any luck, this will be a secondary computer. Eventually, I'd like to get
> Win 10 up and running on my current machine. 
>
> The new PC would be a useful tool at the moment. Like countless others,
> I'm using ZOOM for all the stuff I usually do in person. In my case, that
> includes teaching a couple of classes.( ZOOM works fine on my iPad; but
> on the iPad, I'm limited to seeing 9 people at any one time, which isn't
> ideal in a 28 person class. On a desk top, I could see the whole class.)
> And of course I'd use a new Win 10 PC to take my time playing with Win 10
> and learning to adapt its user interface -- which looks godawful to me --
> to resemble what I'm comfortable with.
>
> Many thanks for any suggestions!
>
> Lynn