I was told by Dell today that the only advantage to the upgrade would better graphics . He said it i

it because it also uses a lot of memory.  I decided to go with Windows XP instead.  Dell is offering a free upgrade to Windows Vista if you purchase one of their systems.   They still gave me a free upgrade option, but I doubt I will use it.

Good Luck.

• Anyone considering Windows Vista? - OldeMT
  • Vista - Pat
  • Positively! When I designed the specs for this pc a few months ago, I made sure it would be... - lynn
  • I just ran thru Dell's Vista info...sm - OldeMT
  • I was told by Dell today that the only advantage to the upgrade would better graphics . He said it i - Theresa
    • (part of the message got cut off). Vista is supposed to be big for "gamers" and graphics peop - Theresa
  • Not until the bugs are worked out - babe

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I got tired of the promises...Oh I have gals doing 10,500 lines every 2 weeks in 8 hours a day.  (I think I choked when I heard this.)

It is NOTHING for me to type 8000 lines or BETTER in a week and I get paid way more for my 8000 lines.  I have been looking for another job, either PT to augment the lack of work or FT for the right situation.  First question I ask perspective employer? How do you feel about voice.  I have talked to about 7 or 8 companies in the past 2 weeks.  EVERY ONE OF THEM has said NO WAY, NOT HERE.  It is not very good...you can't expect an MT to edit that crapola for half of what they make typing, unless you don't care the least about quality.  I had two of them tell me it was unmitigated GREED on the part of these company's owners that they even entertain it.

I will say that the cream of the crop of MTs can transcribe so much faster than they edit, it isn't even funny.  Granted, there are plenty of MTs who are stop start, stop start, but when I get into a report, I put the pedal to the floor and TYPE.  I am down to about 1.25:1 or better than that a times.  A 5-minute report will take me under 6 minutes, as a rule, to transcribe.  My accuracy is something above 99.5%. I swear what attracts MTs to editing is the fact that they can't type enough lines to make it work as a career.  Either they can't sit still (that is me most days, but my speed makes up for it), they don't know their stuff all that well, or type slower than a 7-year itch...but they are not the cream of the crop.

Just you all wait...one of these companies who has crappy speech program and crappy "editors" is going to be sued and those extremely substandard reports are going to win the case for the plantiff and the hospital is going to be left high and dry, a couple of doctors with them.  We are here for a reason.  We protect patients and patient care.  We also protect the doctors from litigation.  I used to go through medical records looking for errors, loop holes and other boo boos for a malpractice lawyer.  The better the transcription, the more thorough the dictation, the less I could find proof against a doctor or facility. 

We need a national forum for this...newspaper something.

to use in combination with an Expander using a pen input device?  Just wondering how that works for you and if any recommendations on graphics tablets.

TIA

Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.

My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old.  Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard.  He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place. 

One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.

Overall, I have been happy with Dell products.  The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell.  No generic accessories will work.  My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house.  Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.

Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet.  I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.

was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell.   I'd get at least double that processor speed.  My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be.  It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff.   The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago.   You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell.   It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add.    You need to also think about tech support.  I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating.  I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer.    I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor.   They tend to be in all the lower end computers. 

I have to get some additional training and think I might go with MT Advantage.  Anyone have any experience with them?

Or, any other suggestions perhaps?

What process would I have to go through?  I'll talk to the director at my school, maybe she can help too.  As for the spelling, I think MTs are some of the worst spellers because we're used to the luxury of a spell checker.  Not bad spellers just lazy spellers.

most other people in that we know how to WRITE.  A friend of mine used to call it "The Power of the Pen", and it's true.  Even when you don't get the exact response you wanted when you write a letter, the fact that you were concerned enough to do it at all does NOT go unnoticed.  It raises questions in the minds of those to whom they were written.  And we have to KEEP AT IT.  Some of those with thicker skins (and skulls!) need to be reminded again and again that this country has a big problem with other countries profiting from our generosity, so-called "political correctness", and their general perception of our overall naivete.  With enough talking, blogging, letter-writting, petitioning, and educating of the American public, it might be possible to bring offshoring of American work to the forefront of the next election.  People need to be made aware that NO job is safe. 

It's sickening that big US firms are taxed to the MAX when it comes to offshoring.  What a huge windfall for THEM.  Instead, those of us that they are screwing are expected to pay the taxes that support our country's infrastructure.

If this trend continues the way it has for the past 10+ years or so, there will be no need for another country to take ours over militarily.  We'll all simply be BOUGHT.

Another poster asked how many MTs use laptops, and that got me wondering what the advantage to a laptop would be.  I understand traveling, but it sounds like some use it for home. 

I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm trying to figure out how I can transcribe outside on the back deck with a C-phone and computer (I live in a rural area).  I guess a laptop, extension cords, and moving with the sun would probably be logical, but are there any problems with that scenario that anyone can think of?  Does anyone have any other ideas for outdoor transcription?  I get kind of lonely during the day, so I thought the outdoors might help.  Also, work wants me to transcribe 2 hours before breaking!  Even though I'm new with this company, I haven't met that goal yet.  Thought I would try some new scenery, if it's possible!  ');>

Stop a minute and think about this. What other person on the planet would be allowed to do this to you? Not one. The reason he is allowed to do it is because you let him.

"Tired of working?" Hell, we're all tired of working, but we do it because we have to. You keep your chin up, girlie. Find you a rat-hole and put some money in it. Even if it's a quarter at a time. Save your change, filch from your paycheck. Get a little padding there so you will have some options.

I lived with a horribly abusive man who took advantage of me for 30 years. I'd still be living with him but he's dead. I know I'd never have left.

Don't get me wrong. I adored him, God knows why - I let those "good times" outshine the horrible times and I stayed with him till death did us part - all to the detriment of my poor children. I have a daughter who thinks it's noble to stay with an abusive man. I have a son who, I'm grateful to say, is kind to his SO, but he endured a 10-year relationship with a lying, emotionally abusive girl - all thanks to me.

Do it as soon as you can. If that guy quit his job because he's "tired of working" there's nothing he won't do. Sending a hug. I know where you're coming from.

It is a USB thing that looks like a flash drive and it bypasses the sound card.  It has lots of settings to adjust to improve sound.   I got it and didn't think it made much difference, but then didn't use it for a couple of days and realized that it did make a difference.  I got mine at Best Buy for about $30.  There have 3 different levels and I think Audio Advantage is the middle one (which was the only one they had at Best Buy).  You can Google Audio Advantage by Turtle Beach and probably find their website. 

Creative is a good brand of sound card and likely it isn't the sound card that is the problem, just poor quality dictation.  The USB thing above will help, but if you don't have good dictation to work work, you can only do so much.   If you don't have them also try noise-cancelling headphones.  They are rather pricey, though can probably get a good pair for about $60 or less on sale, and they make a significant difference too. 

I have LOTS of peripherals on both my laptop and desktop Dells and they certainly didn't come from Dell. You've been misinformed.

I love my Dells.

my ShortHand would type only the first letter of an expansion and then take all the letters away!  I checked and the Type It button is grayed out!  I have restarted the computer and looked on the Shorthand Help menu but can find nothing that applies.  Can anyone please help me ASAP?  I am lost without it!  TIA

But this article states it would only affect new customers right now.  So I am upset over nothing.  I went through heck with BellSouth when they charged me a surcharge of an extra 50 a month and then would write a letter saying I had to switch to a long distance service and pay by the minute because of my "excessive" use. They told me the unlimited charge was for an average of an hour a day not somebody who worked out of their home and I needed to switch a business plan at over 200 a month charge.  I switched over to cable because of that and then to read that cable was going to charging on a per use fee and not a flat monthly fee it upset me.  It is the nature of our work, VR, only paying for VBC, having headers and footers taken away, now being charged for being on line, etc.  It just seems that everything is done to keep to insure less money.

just for personal reasons, as I'm still working, etc.  I see Medword has a 9 specialty CD set for $269, and of course there is the SUM Advanced package but that's $840.  My goal is to be more employable by just broadening my skills as I've only been doing ER and clinic for years (going on 10); however, I'm certainly not made of money!  ;)  Do you think the Medword one would be okay or a waste of money?  I've heard great things about the SUM program but do you think it's really necessary?

Thanks for your thoughts!