etd's longevity

[Allan L. Gilreath, RPT]

List,

A few thoughts:

The utility of either route partially depends on how you use it.  I've
personally switched over in the past two years from my venerable old SAT II
to running a laptop.  On one hand, I got many years of service out of my SAT
(#1422) and less from my first laptop.  However, there are a number of
features that on my computer that I wouldn't want to get by without these
days.  My scheduler, service files, accounting files, email, etc. are always
at my fingertips.  If I get a few minutes while waiting on a customer or,
heaven forbid, when there's a no-show, I can put the time to good use in a
number of ways.  While I realize that some folks want to leave this
information behind in the office, it's become invaluable to me in saving
time in working up estimates, scheduling, using visual aids (and printouts)
for explaining procedures to customers, evaluating scales and working on
your institute.  So those are maybe just a few factors to throw in along
with the price, tuning features, longevity, battery life, ease of use,
preference discussion.

And now for the shameless plug (if you've read this far), you can see all of
these items and more in the CyberCafe in Arlington next July.  If there are
particular areas that you're interested in, let us know so we can work on
it.

Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Assistant Institute Director
PTG Annual Convention
Arlington, VA July 5-9, 2000
Agilreath@mindspring.com
706 629-3063

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
Michel Lachance
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 1999 6:27 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: etd's longevity

Hi,

The whole question is that you have on a side a program that you use with a
laptop, and other side, the SAT that is self contained.

Letting aside the longevity itself of each of these devices, the fact that
the tuning software and the laptop are independant of each other makes
things very different.  If your laptop breaks, you can go to your local
dealer to have it repaired.  If your SAT breaks, you have to ship it at
Inventronic's.

You can get brand new laptops for less than $1000, and you can easily find
used laptop in your own hometown for less than $500.

Your SAT, once bought, will always stay the same.  Your program, on the
other hand, can upgraded for a better version later on and keeping the same
laptop.  Reversly, you can buy a better laptop and keep the same program.

Longevity is only one the issues when you have to choose between the two
systems (SAT and RCT).  I think that if you consider getting an ETD device,
you should also compare the inherent features of each visual tuning device.

Regards,

Michel Lachance, RPT

>I've not heard any discussion of "longevity" regarding ETD's.   I am
>beginning to seriously consider one, and wonder what the "useful life" of
>a SAT III is, vs. the life of a laptop.   Thanks
>les bartlett
>houston
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