Poll: Using an external keyboard with laptop - personal/domestic use

When using a laptop for personal/domestic purposes, how often do you plug in an external keyboard?


  • Total voters
    33
  • Poll closed .
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Given that the question I was trying to address related primarily to 'personal/domestic/pleasure' use of laptops, I hope that a good few more people will find the time to vote in this poll. It's very early days, but I have to say that the votes so far are consistent with what I had expected.

Kind Regards, John
 
Numbers are creeping up very slowly, but a few more votes would be very nice!

Kind Regards, John
 
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Well, assuming that you have representative sample of the UK population ...
I think you are probably trying to take this a bit too seriously. A poll like this in a forum obviously cannot be more than a 'straw poll', akin to a 'show of hands' by the audience of a TV program or the attendees at a meeting. However, unless the sample is deliberately biased, it's always going to give more information than just a difference of opinion between two people.

The (necessary) assumption about the representativeness of the sample is obviously fairly iffy, since the sample is a self-selected subset of what is already a very selected (and very small) proportion of all laptop users (i.e. DIYnot members). Having said that, I have no specific reason to think that the sample will be particularly biased in one direction or the other as regards the personal/domestic use of laptops - in particular, neither you nor I have had any opportunity to bias the sample. Overall, I don't think there is any real reason to believe that the sample of this study is necessarily any less representative of the population of interest than is the case with quite a high proportion of surveys.

Although it 'proves nothing', it is somewhat reassuring (at least to me) to see that the general patterns of the current results in both polls generally are not far off what I had expected on the basis of my historical observations (of family, friends & colleagues - albeit again quite possibly not perfectly representative of all laptop users).

In any event, to be pragmatic, it's the best we have, since neither of us have the time or resources to even think of undertaking a survey in something approaching a random sample of all laptop users :) However, as above, any data (unless obviously biased) is better than none.

.... you are only about 1,000 votes away from have something meaningful.
That really depends upon what is meant by 'meaningful', and that will vary considerably according to the actual situation.

For any survey or experiment/trial, it's obviously the case that "the larger the sample the better", and if the sample is large enough, one doesn't even need any statistical techniques or expertise to interpret the results, since one can have a high level of confidence in the figures 'as they are' (i.e. the answer is 'obvious').

However, in the real world, very large surveys and experiments/trials are a luxury which one rarely sees, essentially for practical reasons - and it's almost the norm that what one sees being used in practice are the smallest (hence cheapest and quickest) samples which are (usually 'just'!) adequate to achieve what is required with an acceptable degree of confidence/precision - and that's when the statistical techniques/expertise come into play. I work in areas in which my task is often to draw the most 'meaningful' possible conclusions from data which necessarily derives from very small sample sizes.

I agree that the current 'sample size' of 22 in this particular survey is pretty small, which is why I said that "a few more votes would be nice", since it's generally when one gets to sample sizes appreciably over about 30 that it starts becoming more realistic to draw 'meaningful' conclusions (i.e. conclusions in which one can have a reasonable degree of confidence).

Having said that, even with current N=22 (and necessarily assuming, of course, that the sample is reasonably random and 'representative') we can say quite a few things, albeit with limited (but quantifiable) confidence/precision, but that is the way with much real-world research.

One thing to remember in terms of the sample size requirements for this present survey is that, statistically speaking, it is pretty non-demanding, since all we are looking for is a reasonable degree of confidence that the proportion of one of the dichotomous answers (reduced to 'yes/no') is above some (arbitrary) fairly high threshold. That is far less demanding (in terms of sample size) than, for example, wanting to have a reasonable degree of confidence about the difference between two political parties, which may be only a few percent apart, in a traditional political 'opinion poll'.

I will probably try to illustrate this briefly in relation to this survey, but I'll first wait to see if we might get a few more votes (the 'closing date' of the poll is currently 3rd November).

Kind Regards, John
 
I remember my sister referring to a docking station, and her laptop once at work did same as a desk top, however she also referred to desk top as a dumb terminal, from the days of using main frames.

Last house I had set up a wired lan and we used the desk top from the lap top, but this house never bothered, as yet. I hate the lap top mouse, so always use a plugged in mouse of some kind, but a standard desk is not deep enough to have a monitor, lap top and key board, so if I need to choose between two monitors and two key boards then two monitors every time.

If I close the lid of lap top I have lost a monitor, so needs to be open, I would love to have a set up like the late Terry Pratchett who when asked why he had 5 monitors answered because I don't have enough room for 9. However 32 inch TV as one monitor and lap top as other is all I can fit.
 
Last house I had set up a wired lan and we used the desk top from the lap top, but this house never bothered, as yet. I hate the lap top mouse, so always use a plugged in mouse of some kind, but a standard desk is not deep enough to have a monitor, lap top and key board, so if I need to choose between two monitors and two key boards then two monitors every time.
I think the main issue is that times have changed.

When laptops first appeared, they were expensive and were only bought by people who (mainly for business purposes) wanted/needed to use them 'on the move, so tended to use them 'on their laps' (the clue is in "laptop"!), coffee tables, meeting room tables etc., in which situations having 'external anything' (even a mouse, if literally on one's lap) was not practical, even though the inbuilt monitor, keyboard and (wretched!) 'touchpad' were less-than-ideal in many people's minds.

However, now that laptops have proliferated, and become cheaper, vast numbers of people now buy them simply as 'their (often only) computer' for personal/domestic use, and many of these never move from a particular desk/table/whatever. When 'business users' do that, they will quite frequently plug in (or connect wirelessly) external keyboards, monitors and mice (individually or via some sort of 'docking station') but, as I've said in other threads, in my experience, few people seem to do that (other than the mouse) when using the laptop for 'personal/domestic/pleasure' purposes.

However, my experience, inevitably based on my own circle of 'family, friends and work colleagues' may not be representative of 'personal' laptop users in general - which id why I started this poll.

Kind Regards, John
 
At work main use for the laptop was to interrogate a PLC, or alter the program, they had a hard life as the cabinet was not always in best location, being able to sit down while using it was unusual.
 
At work main use for the laptop was to interrogate a PLC, or alter the program, they had a hard life as the cabinet was not always in best location, being able to sit down while using it was unusual.
Well, yes, some 'work use' (perhaps often as for electricians?) requires a laptop to be used as a laptop (i.e. with few, if any, external things plugged into it, or connected to it wirelessly) - but, in terms of the big picture, probably most 'work/business use' is done at a desk, so having external keyboards/monitors becomes more practical and, in many cases, desirable.

Kind Regards, John
 
So lying on your back, with laptop on chest while you put a bit of card over a sensor to see if working is not normal use of a laptop for electricians? May be that's why I got into trouble for state of laptop when wax from candle making plant fell into it, it was scented wax for making candles so laptop smelt good at least.
 
So lying on your back, with laptop on chest while you put a bit of card over a sensor to see if working is not normal use of a laptop for electricians?
I think you may have misread or misinterpreted what I wrote because I was ssuggesting that that sort of 'work use' might well be applicable to electricians (as well s other groups of workers) - in contrast with the majority of 'business use' of laptops which I imagine is with the device on a desk/table.

Kind Regards, John
 
The number of votes is gradually creeping up, but at least a few more would be very welcome. We're currently at 27, but I would ideally like to see 'appreciably more than 30'. Thanks!

Kind Regards, John
 
When 'business users' do that, they will quite frequently plug in (or connect wirelessly) external keyboards, monitors and mice (individually or via some sort of 'docking station') but, as I've said in other threads, in my experience, few people seem to do that (other than the mouse) when using the laptop for 'personal/domestic/pleasure' purposes.
Interestingly, several work hats ago - when laptops didn't exist, and portables were more correctly "luggable" and eye-wateringly expensive - even by Apple pricing standards (we sold and supported Apple computer back then). We had a client who had a need for "transportable" computing, but not really "mobile". A Mac LC suited him nicely - he had keyboard, mouse, and monitor at home and office - and just stuck the LC in his briefcase.
My current employer has had a policy of "laptops for all" for some time - though there are still a fair number of desktops still in use. By the time the Win10 refresh is done, I think the plan is that there won't be any desktops except perhaps for a few specialist applications. But docking stations with real monitors, keyboard, mouse is also the norm - and people are strongly discouraged (it's part of the mandatory H&S training) not to use the laptop on it's own for any length of time. That's gone as far as spending what must be a s**tload of money buying monitors, keyboards, mice for people who are now working from home "for the duration". I wouldn't use the work laptop on it's own except by necessity - for one thing I can barely read the screen as it's "full HD" on a 13" display, and I'd rather forgo the extra screen space and keep the lid closed.
Oh yes, and many laptop users (until March) rarely (or never) actually used it away from their own desk - it only ever travelled the distance from the locker to desk in the morning, and back again in the evening.

But for personal/home use, that would be the exception from my observation.

May be that's why I got into trouble for state of laptop when wax from candle making plant fell into it, it was scented wax for making candles so laptop smelt good at least.
With a previous work hat on, you must have been working for one of our competitors then. Our candle moulding machines weren't that sophisticated :rolleyes:

Mind you, one day one of the factory lads brought a radio to me for repair. It had been dropped in a vat of wax (but very quickly retrieved) and was completely encased in the stuff. But it was a decent make (Icom I think) and "waterproof", so once I'd picked the wax out of the grills etc it worked fine. They didn't fare as well when dropped under the wheel of a forklift :whistle:
 
I worked for Jayes, now gone, in Mold, among others, and the laptop was an essential tool. I remember the wax was poured into glasses and the problem was the warmer the weather the longer it took to set, so it was wanted to adjust the plant speed as the day progresses, I wrote a part of the program to allow that to happen.

But today not sure I could still write PLC programs, it was a long time ago.
 
Mine was Colony up in Cumbria. Our machines were all (at the time I started there) completely manual - though some had an electric motor to drive the screws that lifted the pistons in the moulds. These were making all different shapes, but not in tins or glasses. The operator had to manually turn on hot water to pre-heat the moulds, monitor the temperature, turn off the host water, pour in wax with a jug, turn on cold water to cool everything and set the wax, and then turn the handle to wind the pistons up and lift the candles out of the moulds.
I designed a small box with a Siemens Logo (which was brand new at the time) so the operator could press the red button and walk away. The controller would open the hot water valve, turn on a red light to show it was heating up, and when the machine reached the required temperature, close the valve and start flashing the red light. Similarly, the blue button did the same with the cold water valve and blue light. That was considered very high tech at the time - for us ! Meant one operator could handle a couple of extra machines through not having to baby sit them.

For an amusing anecdote, by this time we were owned by an American outfit, and they inflicted a beast of a machine on us - Automated this that and the other, PLC driven, and used huge amounts of water. They'd built it with GRP moulds while we had tin moulds - a slight difference in thermal conductivity. To prove a point, our maintenance guy got a couple of tin moulds made for it - you could instantly see the difference in setting rate of the wax, but the design guy from the US was having none of that. So the maintenance guy did a demonstrations - hold these, he said, handing a plastic and a tin mould to the US guy.
He then grabbed the freshly boiled kettle and poured hot water into the plastic mould. "Can you feel that ?" "Yeah, it's getting warm". Then he poured hot water into the tin mould and didn't have to ask if it was getting hot as the US guy dropped it very quickly accompanied by a bit of colourful language.
"See, proves the point" says our maintenance guy. "No it doesn't - it's completely different as the machine has the hot water on the outside of the moulds" says the supposedly competent and qualified US guy :rolleyes:

But getting back to electrical matters, I've actually had electricians tell me with complete certainty that the dividers between sections of trunking only insulate one way :confused: Yes, some believe that you can only put the mains in a certain section, and ELV stuff (e.g. my network cables) in another specific section.
 

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