I am trying to get my wife a portable device, issue is she is diabetic and on an insulin pump. The pump currently connects to her laptop (ageing acer) via a usb thingy, the info from the pump does not stay local but get uploaded to www.carelink.minimed.com where it is made available as many different types of reports and graphs. The carelink website says their software will only work with

Required Settings

Windows XP/Vista/7, MacOSX 10.5 (Intel), MacOSX 10.6/10.7

IE 7/8/9 (Windows), Safari 4/5 (Mac OS), Firefox 5

128 bit key

800x600 or greater

8-bit colors or greater

Is there a way to run a full blown OS on a portable device, or do I have no choice but to look for a new laptop?

 palm tops, which are smaller than laptops, run xp and vista.

 

 

I use carelink as well.  You can get a netbook in the 400.00 range running W7.  That's about as cheap as I am aware of for anything portable running W7.  The tablets are at 600 or more.

Dave

I see where an HP slate 500 can be had on ebay for $299 used, but since this will be her primary unit, I was thinking something like an ipad (size wise) which, like Dave pointed out brings the price over $600. Makes me think I should be looking for a laptop. The last 2 laptops I have purchased were bought during black Friday sales, November is a long way off. This is a little more than I wanted to spend but looks like a good deal.

Toshiba 17.3" Laptop w/ AMD Quad Core A6-3420M Processor, 640GB HDD, 6GB DDR3, Blu-Ray & HDMI Output! $459 at

http://1saleaday.com/?CID=168142&AFID=178621 This one is out, wife say's it's too big.

Most of our faculty have gone from getting 17 inch laptops back to 13 inch ones. When they are in the office, they dock to one or two larger monitors. Plus, the smaller ones are less expensive... and a lot easier to carry around.

Windows 7 is fast... anything that still has Vista on it should be shot or reformatted with Win 7 installed.

Bruce

 

agreed Vista should have never been released.  7 is the way to go

Ipad would work as it doesn't run Mac OS.  TigerDirect is an outfit I use with good results most of the time, or Newegg if I can't fing it at TD.

Dave

did you mean to say ipad "won't" work?

The iPad runs iOS which is an optimized version of Mac OS X.

Mallette:

Ipad would work as it doesn't run Mac OS.

 

 

Here is a tablet with Win7, 2 USB ports, 1280X800 resolution, built in ethernet, bluetooth, HDMI, 32 gig SSD, 2 gigs ram, and wifi built in. It's about the size of a sheet of paper 1/2 in thick, and weight about 2 lbs. $520 with free shipping from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215081

Oh, and I just found out it can dock to a keyboard if you wanna use it as a laptop. Pretty neat.

neo33:

The iPad runs iOS which is an optimized version of Mac OS X

My bad.  I don't know anything about these things.  Hard enough to keep up with standard computers.  I was just going off my friends who do that say they can't run most Mac software on them and use something called IOS. 

I'd want to test first if it were myself, but I am always skeptical until I see something work.

Dave

Does the Ipad have a USB port?

Now that Steve is no more, it's time to bring the attention of this feature to Tim.

merkin:

Does the Ipad have a USB port?

Many software that run on Mac OS X also have a version for iOS.

Mallette:

neo33:

The iPad runs iOS which is an optimized version of Mac OS X

My bad.  I don't know anything about these things.  Hard enough to keep up with standard computers.  I was just going off my friends who do that say they can't run most Mac software on them and use something called IOS. 

I'd want to test first if it were myself, but I am always skeptical until I see something work.

Dave

I know I'm late to the party here, but I assume that you have at least one windows PC in the house, yes? My thought is enter meter data on that machine if the meter connects to it but if you want to access the program on the road and its existing data try "LogMeIn Ignition" on any iOS or I think android device as well now. I use logmein ignition now on IOS and its fast, secure & easy to access my home desktop remotely whenever. Got questions? You know how to reach me. I use diabetic software too. So basically if i'm at the doctor's office and I need numbers I can jump on my Iphone/ipad in about 1min be on my home desktop running meter software and emailing a PDF of my numbers on the spot. Keep in mind if you have any computer issues you know where I live and that's what I do. I have worked with MIDs and tablet PC's also. See Ignition for Android $19.95, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fxq23U1mBMM