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Question about working away from home occasionally. - Cant Retire Yet

Posted: Feb 02, 2012

My mother is getting pretty old and sickly, has CHF among other things. One of my sisters is already bearing more than her share of responsibility taking care of mom, but she lives the closest. Still, in the very near future, the rest of us are going to have to rotate in and out of taking care of mom, so it's spread out more equally.

My question: If I already use a PC with a DSL line at home, and plan to visit mom for a week once every 4-5 weeks, and be able to work from her place (I work at home for a national), what's the best solution? I don't want to have to haul my big, heavy PC with me every time I travel the 450 miles to mom's. I'd also have to set up a DSL line at her place, too.

If I bought a laptop to work from, is it possible to connect that laptop with my existing PC, so that I can log into my company's website and software remotely? Do you have to have WiFi to do that? Would I still have to have DSL installed at mom's and then plug my laptop into that?

Also, if any of you do something similar to that, what type of laptop is the best for doing medical transcription? Do you use it's existing keyboard, or attach a standard keyboard to it?

These are all things I don't have to do quite yet, but will probably have to look into before summer, so I thought I'd better start asking! Any suggestions, warnings, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

working from hom - soupwench

[ In Reply To ..]
I have a similar situation with my mom. I had my company's TECH support load a duplicate of everything I need onto a 17 inch laptop. I use a standard USB keyboard that I plug into the laptop. I can't type for squat on those itty bitty laptop keyboards. I also use a USB mouse. You can get wireless if you like. My mom's house has broad band cable so I bought a 50 foot cable to plug into my laptop and just use her cable hook up.

I have also worked remotely on vacation from a hotel room with the same set up. I don't know about connecting remotely to your home PC. I think its easier to have Tech Support do a duplicate install. Its nice to have as a back up if your normal work computer ever goes down for any reason. It might be cheaper to get cable set up than DSL. Maybe compare the prices. I know cable is more reliable than DLS. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your suggestions! - Cant Retire Yet

[ In Reply To ..]
I didn't think about the duplicate loading of all the work stuff. That would really help.

With the work laptop away from home, were you still able to access your email, MTStars, Facebook, etc.?

laptop - I use one

[ In Reply To ..]
You can do anything on your laptop that you do on your PC at home. You call your internet carrier and they can walk you through setting up your email, but as far as MTstsrs, facebook, you just access them as if you were at home.

Just download your work software as you did on your home PC. You have to have their software and platform no matter where you are. It is just like you bought a new PC if yours should crash or something, you would just go to the website or whatever you used when you originally set up your work platform on your existing PC, ann download it on your laptop.

Also if you have a wireless cable/DSL box you can be anywhere in your house without an extra cable. I work wireless all day on my laptop at home. If you are at a hotel too you can work in your work there, just get the code from the front desk to get connected to their internet service and off you go.

If you do not have a wireless cable box, ask your internet provider if they can send you one, the wireless is built right in. Maybe a silght extra cost but not much. Not sure what part of the country you live in, but it can probably be arranged to get a wireless cable box. Just ask.

I use a 17 inch computer, used to have the next smallest one and worked on that for 2 winters while I was gone to the warmer climate, but the 17 inch makes a big difference. The price has come way down these days too. My 17 inch was $750 with complete set up with computer store. I kinda wish I had bought on off QVC or HSN, but have more hardware on their machines. So you really don't need a special computer for MT work, it is the software that you add from your company that makes it. However some companies are not compatible with Vista and Windows 7 64 bit so make sure you find out from them first what their requirements are. Get a print out of what they require in a computer as far as memory, etc and take that with when you look for a computer. Helps a lot.

Make sure you get enough USB ports. I need only one for a wireless mouse and my foot pedal, but if you want to use an external keyboard you would need one for that too, and most of the laptops come with 4 USB ports now. that should be enough.

good luck. I use mine every day, did not think I would, but I have a couple dogs that like to share the couch with me when I work, so that is why I work on the couch these days.

Wow - lots of great info in your post! Thanks! - Cant Retire Yet - (sm)

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm still wavering about screen size. The one I'm on is 17 inches, but I think a 15 would be just fine. It was only today that I finally found out they measure that diagonally, not from side to side!

I've been poring over the specs and prices of various laptops, and have a list of possibilities that needs to be gone over and made shorter.

Tomorrow I plan to go to Best Buy and just look at them (not ready to buy yet). See how big (or small) a 15" screen really is, look at keyboards, ports, etc. Ports are important to me... I have a photo printer to hook up to it, also plug my camera into it to download photos, and my cellphone to download short videos. So I hope to find one with at least 3 high-speed USB ports.

I definitely like the wireless part of it. Although at home I would use it at my regular desk, and plug my work keyboard into it, for other times, like just checking email or Facebook, or online shopping, it would be nice to be able to use it out at the kitchen table, or the living room sofa.

I don't travel much, but when I do, one of the things I've always hated was not having access to the Internet. I also plan to retire my old desktop and use it as a backup computer.

Not too long ago, it used to seem like laptops were more trouble than they were worth... the few people I knew that had them were always having problems. But now, I'm one of the few people left I know who still uses a desktop, and they all say the laptops are just as good, if not better. And of course, more portable.

So, I'm excited! Thanks for all the information you've passed on to me!

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