laptop/tablet OT

[stitchingmae]

Okay, So I have a laptop that keeps eating electric cords and...it is sooooo sllooow on the internet and that is all that I really use browsing here, youtube and that sort of thing. I have noticed that some of you use a tablet for you xstitch patterns how do you mark off where you have stitched? What program do you use to view the program. I am in the market for a new laptop/tablet but can't figure out which one I should get.

Tablet users let me know. I won't be using it away from anywhere that has wifi so data doesn't matter.

[Mrs Milkybar Kid]

I use an iPad for all my stitching now, and have been doing so for over a year. I use the good notes app to mark off my charts - it's not available on android but I am sure there are other PDF editing apps on android that others could recommend. I love stitching from my iPad so much that I even have to scan in paper charts as I can't seem to stitch any other way now!

[Serinde]

I use Goodreader on my iPad. I scan in the design I'm stitching, and I can then mark off where I've been (in different colours!) using the easy to understand menu. And yes! I do delete it all after I've finished.

If your machine is generally running slow, try getting rid of all the excess cookies and other junk that sites dump on your machine. That should help.

[stitchingmae]

Mine is just a cheap computer lol doesmt even have a fast processer or lots of ram lol

[rcperryls]

I use Goodnotes on my iPad, though mostly for magnifying those HAED charts with similar symbols. I still print pages though and mark them off with a highlighter. I found that it was also very helpful to use with Mabel's charts and think it would be great with any chart. iBooks is another app that works also and I think Kindle would also, though for ease of use Goodnotes seems best. I haven't used a laptop, but think it would work as well as a tablet, depending what you want to do with it.

Carole

[imogenX]

Thank you for asking, because I've been wondering the same thing since starting HAEDs. I've been printing them in poster format (not the most convenient!) since I don't have a tablet. Maybe I should add that to my holiday wish list...

[Nachstenliebe]

I don't use my tablet/laptop like that.. but any pdf format file you can open and hightlight.. I kind of enjoy the old school highlighting up a piece of paper..

[NeedleAndFork]

I work off my laptop because I want to be able to resize and mark off - does anyone know of an app that works well with android? I need to be able to mark off two colors and switch between them easily - I park and mark off both completed stitches as well as parked stitches, so I need two colors at a time. I tried something once but switching between two colors was a real pain so I ditched it and went back to using photoshop on my laptop.

[Serinde]

I mark up on paper using a yellow and blue highlighter. This way, I can mark up the single confetti in... green! So sad, I know.

[fccs]

I have always worked from a paper copy but with the fleur-de-lis I started today, I am using my iPad to see how it goes. The app I'm using is GoodNotes.

[dawn0621]

I have an Asus laptop and I've been working on my first project using this thing. I use PDF Touch. I can hightlight in five colors so i highlight in yellow what I want to stitch and then go over my stitched symbols in blue. I can also draw lines or whatever, zoom in and out, etc. The only thing I don't like is that I can't go back and erase the highlights if I mess up and don't undo it right away. Otherwise it works ok, but I'm thinking about going back to paper. My two cents.

[stitchingmae]

Okay so don't get a tablet just because the ability to use it with patterns. Good to know. I think I would rather have a laptop anyway so that I can use my webcam with skype!

[bookknurd]

I still use paper charts because I already look at a screen all day for work, and my eyes can only take so much.

Plus,
-I watch (or really listen to) Netflix/hulu/podcasts on my ipod or computer while stitching, so I don't want to use them for charts
-I don't like relying on battery power/electronics for things that I could do without them. I don't want to be frustrated that I can't read the book I want to or work on the project I want to just because it's on my electronic device, which has no battery power or is otherwise malfunctioning, when I could otherwise easily use it in the non-electronic form.

No, I'm not a technophobe, I just prefer to do some things the old-fashioned way.

Basically, it all comes down to how you want to work.

[stitchingmae]

I think i like my paper chart too.

[MaggieM1750]

I have a Kindle Fire.. so sort of computery.. but not a full blown system. I can read PDF's- not sure if I can edit/ highlight. Never tried. Haven't needed to with a hardanger chart.

The only pattern I have on there is Mabels SAL. I am not overly thrilled with working off a screen vs. working off a printed copy. I tried to do it electronically but ended up printing each months packets. Its nice that I always have the chart with me, should I ever be somewhere and my pattern goes astray. But I much prefer to have plain old regular printed pages to work from and to scribble all over. Its a combination of habit and ease of flipping pages/ looking at multiple pages at once. I also like to have Kindle available to look up YouTube videos/ Mabels blog and look at printed chart instructions at same time.

And, well, computers and I don't exactly get along very well. I do not speak their language- and I am not interested to learn. I'm good if all I have to do is plug it in.. if I have to do anything else I know it will take a few attempts, a phone call to my friends techie husband, threats to throw it out the window, and a lot of fingers crossed hoping I finally get it right.

[Ainjel333]

I just tried using my tablet (android) with the adobe reader program, to do my chart, and used the highlight feature trying to mark off each stitch was hard to do, and then when I got to the bottom of the chart, it started glitching out everytime I would mark off a few stitches and try to save. So then I tried using the same thing on my laptop, adobe reader with the highlighting feature...it was really hard to get the cursor exactly on the stitch spot to highlight it without it popping up a box for me to put a signature or note in it...it was horrid!
I finally went to the library and printed a good ole paper chart and am thrilled with being back to paper!
So I have not had any good luck with using technology for my charts...

[dawn0621]

What they said, plus it's a pain trying to chat or IM with someone when i'm going back and forth to a chart. Every time I go back to it I have to rezoom and reposition the page and then try to notice when I get a new message and save and switch back.....so yeah i'm going back to paper soon.

[kinley626]

I use both. There are aspects of the tablet that I like, such as being able to enlarge and resize. For confetti heavy places it's great. But I'm not completely sold on using it. I still make a working copy of my chart and more often than not, I'll work from paper.