Apple

Kim wants to switch carriers and wants to know the best option for getting an iPhone. Leo was going to suggest T-Mobile, but that's where Kim is and she doesn't want to have a contract. Leo says that without a contract, she'll have to pay for a phone unsubsidized. She can also buy the iPhone 5S unsubsidized and make payments on it, but that's just like having a contract. Should she wait? Leo says we'll know when the iPhone 6 is coming out in a couple months. It'll probably be out in September.

Jeff's laptop is over 10 years old and he's ready to finally get rid of it. But there's so many choices for replacing it. Leo says it's important to think about anything out of the ordinary or unusual he'd want to do with it. If he has a specific software package that requires a certain operating system, that could help make the decision. Should he get Windows 7? Leo says that some machines come with Windows 7, including some from Dell. But Windows 8.1 is the current version and even though people hate it, it's the OS moving forward.

MJ is thinking about buying a refurbished Mac. Leo says that if he's going to go refurb, don't ever buy it from anyone other than the manufacturer. He should buy it from Apple. What about Mac Enthusiast in Santa Monica? Leo says he knows those guys and he'd consider that the exception to the rule. But remember that a warranty for a refurbished computer won't be from Apple.

Tom's contract with Verizon is almost up and he's thinking of moving to another carrier. Leo says that Verizon is on CDMA and T-Mobile and AT&T is on GSM. But pretty soon all will be on LTE, so it won't matter anymore. He wants to move to a no contract carrier. His mother wants to get an iPhone 5S. Can he get that off contract? What about the iPhone 6? Is that coming in the fall? Leo says that's the speculation. Will it be larger? Leo says nobody really knows. There's been pictures of larger screens, but they're prototypes.

Charlie still uses a Palm Tungsten E2. He also has an iPhone 5, but he prefers the way his Palm Pilot can sort his contacts by category. He's been having trouble syncing his Palm Pilot with his laptop, though. Leo says that the Palm Desktop software will probably work. But the Palm Pilot used a serial port and they aren't available anymore. So he'll have to pick up a serial to USB adapter. Leo thinks he should be able to do everything he wants with the iPhone, though, so let's try and find a solution so he doesn't have to carry both devices all the time.

Tad hears he can run Windows on an Apple computer. Leo says he can, and there's two ways to do this. One is to use Apple's BootCamp. Installing under BootCamp would allow Tad to choose which OS to run when he boots the computer. The other option is running Windows in virtualization. If Tad has a dedicated program that he needs to run on Windows, he can run Windows virtually through Virtual Box, which is free from Oracle.