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| Tips Wanted on Buying a New Computer | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 23 2011, 06:20 AM (624 Views) | |
| dogleg | Oct 23 2011, 06:20 AM Post #1 |
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Super Poster
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My computer is about 8 years old. Compaq Presario 120 Gb hard drive , 2.7 GHz MP. I would like a smaller , more portable computer I can move around the house . I would like to be 'untethered' at least for part of my use time. Any suggestions ? Thanks. |
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| campy | Oct 23 2011, 10:29 AM Post #2 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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I can't give you any specific computer to replace the one you have because I hang on to mine until the bitter end. But I can tell you this. I would never buy another computer unless I knew I would get support for it on the installation and also later on. When you go shopping don't buy the unit right away. Go home and phone the support line for it and see what kind of service you are going to get or even if you can get through on the phone and speak to someone who speaks English. Just wondering about that. When they tell you to press 1 for English and 2 for French. I wonder if I would press 2 that the French person would be able to reply in English. The last calls I made for my cell phone were replied to from someone in the Phillipines and the next one was from the Dominican Republic. They were both hard to understand and kept apologizing over and over again for the service I was complaining about. Drove me nuts. |
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| wildie | Oct 23 2011, 12:51 PM Post #3 |
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I have a HP laptop that I really like, but HP is thinking about getting out of the personal computer business. For this reason, I would be leary of buying HP or Compaq. Acer buys cheap components on the open market and I know of several people who have had hardware failures with their offerings. Probably Apple products are the best, they cost a lot more. I would likely have a close look at Sony or Toshiba, if I were going to buy right now. In the next while Windows 8 will be coming out on new computers. It may be a good idea to wait for Win8 and then you should be good for next while. |
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| Delphi51 | Oct 23 2011, 01:16 PM Post #4 |
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I like Dell. The computer comes with a restore disk for one thing. But you can get a better price at Costco if you like what they happen to have. Right now they have a mini desktop with 20 inch monitor for $300, 2.4 GHz, 6 GB memory. Nobody can beat that. 1 year warranty - pick up a new one at the store if anything goes wrong. I think all the stores are terrible for support. Better to find somebody who lives nearby to help you. I do it a lot in my town and never ask for money. I did accept $50 from a lady yesterday after sitting at her $4000 computer desk in her castle with 5 car garage and 50 foot motorhome for 2 hours. Consider a laptop. They are the same price as desktops now. I would get a 15 inch screen laptop for portability and add a large monitor later if needed. Don't wait for Windows 8. Buying at the end of a windows version gets you a peppy computer. At the beginning of a version, it will be sluggish unless you pay extra for faster processors. |
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| wildie | Oct 23 2011, 01:47 PM Post #5 |
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My first computer was a Dell and it was built like a tank! That was back in the mid 90s. Haven't had much to do with them since. My bro-in-law always buys em and seems to be happy with them.
From 'untethered' I assumed that the OP was thinking of a laptop. Thats why I never mentioned a desktop machine. I have seen screen shots of Win8 and it seems to be a major shift away from what we have been used to with Windows. I'll be updating my Vista laptop to Win8 when its available. I suggest Win8 on the basis that a new laptop with the latest OS would likely be usable for at least 5 years. Win7s life seems to destined to be short lived! |
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| Delphi51 | Oct 23 2011, 04:36 PM Post #6 |
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Hard to say, Wildie. XP is still the most widely used version of Windows and it must be 10 years old. I tried Vista and 7, then went back to XP. All Windows does is enable you to run programs, which look the same in all versions. Folks like us who don't need 64 bit programs using more than 4 GB of memory really gain nothing from these new versions, which inevitably are bigger and slower. I hear win 8 boots in 30 seconds (almost as fast as XP) but the fine print is that means the desktop is visible - and you probably have to wait another minute before you can run a program. Apparently HP has a breakthrough in fast non-volatile memory that will enable computers to retain most of the OS in memory when shut down. That might be worth waiting for. |
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| dogleg | Oct 24 2011, 07:14 AM Post #7 |
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Super Poster
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Thanks for the input. I guess most lap tops will do pretty much what my existing computer does ??? I need to be able to burn discs to save pictures etc. Evidently some of the new desktops are wireless and can be moved around the house like a laptop ???? I would like to have a printer with a FAX capability also so maybe a laptop isn't so practical for me??? Thanks again for your comments. |
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| Durgan | Oct 24 2011, 07:37 AM Post #8 |
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Burning disk is passe. Use the cheap memory sticks and for large files buy a USB storage drive. For a computer most of the present laptops are perfect. There is no reason to buy a desk top any more. I buy all my computers from: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/indexcc.asp?SRCCODE=CANWGOOSITE&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE All parts are made in Asia, and there is no difference in the parts amongst the computer assemblers. Also the name of the computer is absolutely no assurance of so called quality. HP for years made the junkiest computer on the market. A computer only consists of about five boards or less and is easily assembled with only rudimentary knowledge. I throw a desktop together in about two hours on a slow day. |
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| campy | Oct 24 2011, 09:21 AM Post #9 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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Burning disk is passe. Use the cheap memory sticks and for large files buy a USB storage drive. No they are not passe. You can't play a memory stick on your CD player in your car. You can't take a memory stick to the drug store to use their printer. You can't mail a memory stick to a relative so they can view the pictures of a grandson. CD's are still a necessary evil. |
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| Durgan | Oct 24 2011, 09:25 AM Post #10 |
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You can take a memory stick for photos. I send a memory stick of pictures to my daughter in Japan all the time. I don't know about the car radio. CD's are unreliable in many cases and always have been, plus a hell of a lot of time preparing them. And will they work? They always have been useless technology. I use the disks to scare birds away from my cherries with some degree of success. Their only use. |
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| Dialtone | Oct 24 2011, 09:37 AM Post #11 |
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Gold Star Member
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Although I still use my desktop DVD writer to burn movies and occasionally other things, the CD/DVD is slowly becoming redundant. On most new vehicles these days you can use a USB flash drive, or plug in an MP3 player. On my new truck I have a USB port that I can plug in a flash drive. I can play any song, any artist, any album just by voice activation, basically just tell the truck to play whatever I want to hear as I'm driving. I have over 5000 MP3/WMA songs on an 8 GIG flash drive and I can listen to them all, it will just take me a few years. The female voice that interacts with me is a bit of a bitch especially if I make an instuctional mistake, but she's becoming better at recognzing my voice and I'm becoming better at obeying her.
Edited by Dialtone, Oct 24 2011, 10:11 AM.
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| wildie | Oct 24 2011, 10:47 AM Post #12 |
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I use my laptop computer about 80% of the the time. The rest of time I use my desktop for print jobs etc. I always recommend to my friends that they would buy a laptop. Laptops can do anything that a desktop can and have portability. Of course, desktops can be easily modified, but if you aren't a hacker like me, that isn't important. With a laptop, you will need a router to allow mobility. So if you have a router a network printer can be used for printing, scanning etc. I think that a network printer can have fax capability, but I cannot say for sure. I agree that USB drives do subplant CDs and Cds to a certain extent. However, its nice to be able to burn a disk from time to time. Usually laptops come with a DVD burner/drive anyway. For example, I have an old XP laptop that I plan to use as a server for my Magic jack. It was only service pack #2 and to keep it secure, I wanted SP3. I downloaded the SP3 ISO file, burned it to a CD on my Win7 desktop and then used the CD to upgrade the XP computer. I do admit, that my requirements are not the norm and the average person can get by with less. However, it never hurts to have flexibility. |
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| Dialtone | Oct 24 2011, 11:22 AM Post #13 |
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I have a quad core desktop, powerful, fast, and it has all the bells and whistles including wireless and TV PVR capabilities. I also have a laptop, duo-core but not nearly as quick as the desktop. The laptop is great for taking on vacation, my wife's mail, misc stuff, and her card games, but isn't real great at CPU intensive functions. You can buy powerful laptops, but expect to pay top dollar. For my money, it's a powerful desktop that I can upgrade and add to if required, and a middle of the road laptop that will do most things at a slower and cheaper rate. Although I have wireless capability with my PCs, I use a wired configuration for security reasons. Honestly, just how often does a person actually need to work or surf at a couch in the living room ? All my PCs are in one location when at home, and although I can take them anywhere in the house, I don't. The thing about laptops is if a main piece goes belly up, you're into serious money to fix it or throw it away. I like to tinker and have never had to go to a PC shop, my desktop is on it's second main hard drive, an added a second DVD burner, I can swap out hard drives, cards, and peripherals permanently or add what I want. As mentioned, CD and DVDs are becoming less popular with the increase in flash drives and USB hard drives for data transfer and backup. But, in their defense they are still a good medium for movies and music. Our local library has over 2000 movies on DVDs and endless music CDs I can loan for free. These are not on USB devices and aren't going to be any time soon. Just about any software you buy still comes on discs, so if you get a new computer make sure it has a CD/DVD burner/reader, they will be around for a while yet. Edited by Dialtone, Oct 24 2011, 11:29 AM.
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| campy | Oct 24 2011, 11:29 AM Post #14 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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but she's becoming better at recognzing my voice and I'm becoming better at obeying her. That's all I need. A dominatrix in my vehicle. What will they think of next? |
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| Dialtone | Oct 24 2011, 12:07 PM Post #15 |
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Gold Star Member
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Actually, I think she's the reason men lately enjoy their trucks, an erotic women's voice telling them what to do without having to answer correctly, how great is that ? banana77 |
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