Hello, all.

 

I’m getting ready to purchase a new laptop computer, and want to be sure I get one that is adequate for Jaws.  I currently use Jaws 16, and my SMA covers Jaws 17.  So I will likely put Jaws 17 on the new computer.

 

I realize that any new laptop will have Windows 10 as its operating system, and am prepared to begin learning to use Jaws with that new operating system.

 

My question is this:

 

What should I be looking for in a laptop?  I found the following system requirements on the Freedom Scientific web site, but wonder whether those are absolute minimum requirements:

 

Summary: Software and hardware specifications for JAWS

 

table with 2 columns and 7 rows

Description

Specification 

JAWS Home Use Edition and JAWS Professional

Windows® 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server® 2012, and Windows Server 2008 

Processor speed

Minimum 1.5 GHz processor 

Memory (RAM)

4 GB recommended (64-bit)

2 GB recommended (32-bit) 

Required hard disk space

20 MB to 690 MB required per voice for installing Vocalizer Expressive, Vocalizer Direct, or RealSpeak Solo Direct voices (file sizes will vary depending on the voice installed) 

Video

A display adapter capable of at least 800 x 600 screen resolution with 16-bit color (1024 x 768 screen resolution with 32-bit color recommended) 

Sound

Windows compatible sound card (for speech)

table end

 

Any specific recommendations would be appreciated.

 

Are there certain brands of laptops I should stay away from?  Right now, I’m thinking of either an HP or a Dell.

 

Dr.  Tom Behler from Michigan