I have been buying Dell computers for around 20 years. Perhaps more significant for that company, as someone who ran the PC department for BA and has written for a good number of PC magazines over the years, lots of people have asked my advice on buying PCs, and I would say because of that advice Dell has sold dozens of computers. But my advice has changed - whatever you do, don't buy a Dell. This has nothing to do with my recent conversion to using an iMac - I accept that Apple isn't for everyone, and are overpriced. It's just that Dell has let me down in a big way. The reason I've recommended Dell for such a long time is not because they are the cheapest, or have the absolute best machines. It's because I've always found their service to be good when things go wrong. So when number 1 daughter wanted a laptop, I didn't hesitate to get a Dell. And because it has always worked for me, I got an extended onsite warranty. So two years in, with two years of...

It's an iPhone - get over it As long as Apple Computer has existed it has roused strong emotions. It has been a marmite company. You love it or you hate it. We shouldn't feel too sorry for Apple. They started it. Once they had the Mac, they undertook aggressive comparative marketing, putting the savvy, smart Mac against the creaking, boring PC. And they had a point. But back then I wouldn't have touched a Mac with a bargepole. They wouldn't work with anyone else's network, they had poor file interchangeability and they were closed systems that you couldn't add hardware to, nor could you do much with the software. So it's not surprising that back then there were strong pro and anti feelings. But I think it's time we got over it. Macs are good computers - so are PCs. Android phones are excellent - iPhones are brilliant. As yet the iPad is the only decent tablet, but it won't be for long. It really quite saddens me when I see the silly, unthinkin...

A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with Doctor Happy Mac . He may sound a bit like a cross between a Bond villain and a Macdonalds character, but Doctor H M (aka Andrew Stephens) is in fact the man to know in the Cirencester/Swindon area if you have problems with Apple products and want them fixed. Or just a bit of Appley advice. As it happens our conversation was not primarily about computers, but I thought Andrew's invitation to have coffee at the particular location we ended up in made an excellent allegory for my deliberations on whether to buy a Mac or a PC as my next desktop computer. 'Come and have a coffee at Made by Bob ,' he said, 'and you'll never fancy a Starbucks again.' Now there is no doubt that the Made by Bob coffee was nicer than the equivalent in Starbucks, and the place certainly had more interesting food (not that I tried any). But the thing is, Starbucks is within walking distance of my office and provides free wi-fi. Made by Bob is a 1...

As I have mentioned earlier I have recently started using an iPad as my 'away' computer - and does everything I need much better than any compact laptop/netbook. One particular app on the iPad has got me thinking seriously about the way software for 'real' computers is priced, and whether this pricing can hold. What you have to remember with software is that the pricing (like for ebooks) is almost entirely arbitrary. Although there is a big development cost, the unit production cost is minimal - pricing is a marketing decision. Obviously if the price is lower you have to sell more units to pay off your development costs - but then you may well succeed because they are cheaper. Up to now having two platforms, PC and Mac has done little to drive down the cost of programs, because most people have one or the other, so there is little competitive effect. However, if someone has, say, a PC and an iPad, then there is more opportunity for comparison and resultant impact o...

The on-train office. Screen reflection was in photo, but not in use of iPad. There was a time when I was very wary of Apple. I was a DOS man. I knew my way around that operating system like the back of my hand. I could do things with a command line prompt that would make your hair curl. I sneered at the limp wristed Apple users who hadn't a clue what was going on in their machines. If anything went wrong (and it seemed to quite a lot in the early days of Mac - remember the 'bomb' icon?) they were stuffed, where I could reach under the covers and sort it out. Now, of course, with Windows 7 or Vista I'm just as stuffed as they were. But I couldn't possibly think of changing operating system, could I? Then, under the influence of alcohol and Dr G. of Cromer I got an iPhone. Up to that point I was of the 'all I need is calls and text' persuasion. I was still using my 10-year-old Nokia, persuading myself it was cool because they had them in the Matrix . B...

I came across this photograph the other day and it opened up a powerful window on the past, in a number of ways. First there's the technology. Not the computers (we'll come back to them), but the photograph itself. This was taken by a professional photographer in 1988, and back then, pre-digital, the pros took test shots with a Polaroid back on the camera before putting the real film cartridge on. This photograph is such a Polaroid. Then there's the setting. This is PCHQ at British Airways. Opened on Halloween in 1988, this was a newly fitted out centre to handle everything to do with PCs in the company. It was responsible for purchasing and support, but more importantly back then, it had a role of evangelising. People didn't really get PCs at the time. Bear in mind that BA got its first PC in 1984. They were still strange objects in 1988. What we set up was a centre where you could drop in and try out the different PCs and exciting new facilities like 'Desktop ...