Can I use a laptop to time desktop computers (Internet Shop Setting)?

This question is from Anabelle Batabat who owns a small internet shop in General Santos City.

The answer is YES. I am actually using a laptop to be my internet café management PC or operator. The reasons I choose to do this are…


First, is for lighter power consumption. Obviously, the operator PC is always on to control all the computers in the shop so running a less power demanding PC is an advantage. But, I don’t actually have problems when it comes to timing the charging or running the laptop in its batteries because I installed battery-timer software in the laptop. This small program will sound or alarm me in my preferred battery level, which is 30% empty, to connect the laptop to its charger and alarms again if the laptop is fully charged. Well, I still need someone to look over it. The interval of human intervention is 10-20 minutes but sometimes I just let the laptop run while it is connected to the charger for hours.

Second, it is very easy to network a laptop to other computers. I don’t even need a LAN cable because I just used its Wi-Fi capability. All I need is a Windows 7 operating system, Home group configuration, my internet shop management software configuration (the operator setup on my laptop) then I’m good to go.

Third, laptops are easy to transfer wherever you want if you find your current position uncomfortable or if you will need to move because you just add another PC in your shop.

Fourth, laptops are good for technical experiments because they are easy to handle. I used a 2 GB Readyboost technology in my Windows 7 laptop which amazingly boosts my laptop’s processing.

Fifth, you can use a cheap laptop. I just use a dual core Intel Atom CPU with a 2 GB memory setup. With some tweaks, it runs swift as an internet shop operator. Sometimes, I even play Facebook games while in charge with the customer’s time, if the custodian is not there.