I’m not a computer geek, I use one but barely able to navigate myself around and I can somewhat use a smart phone. That’s about it.
I see that new computers are now shipped with Windows 8. I’m not familiar with this operating system. For all you techno experts, is it easy to learn this system? i.e. is it easy enough for old folks like me?
Please keep the answers simple.
Thanks.
Yes.
(shortest answer I can think of)
It’s not horrible, in fact you can still bring up the old START menu. Switching between apps is more “smartphone-ish” than Vista or Windows 7. You’ll do fine if you watch the tutorial.
Thanks, I like short answers. My computer at work and my netbook are running Windows 7.
I will disagree. It is terrible.
Restore media takes 24-48 hours to complete. The interface sucks unless you are using a touch screen and actual usage seems an afterthought to the look.
I agree with kwelz on the need for a touchscreen. We’ve been playing with it for a few months, and it’s best on a tablet device.
What are the needs you are working to fulfill? Do you have an old computer that needs to be replaced? You can still buy the Windows 7 media, and it will be supported for probable lifetime of any computer you buy now.
I’m building a new personal laptop right now, and I’m sticking with Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I’ve got a laptop with Windows 8 as a toy just to play with. I like the personalization, but it’s still early days.
SeriousStudent:
Like I said in the PM, I’m down to the last working computer, which is my netbook.
I don’t need a tablet or touch screen. A 17" laptop is preferred, if the 17" is too expensive, I’ll settle for a 15" screen. I noticed that most laptop now come with 6Meg of RAM and at least 500Meg of hard drive. I don’t know which brand is more durable than the other. Around here (Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples), HP, Toshiba, ASUS, Lenovo are all over the place. So is Dell, but Dell tends to be higher priced. Toshiba seems to be the lowest price.
I don’t play games or do any computin’ on it. I use it to send emails, chat, Facebook, forums (of course) and watch youtube videos. I want to spend less than $500.
I can live without Windows 8, as long as the old operating system will still be compatible with the current internet. I wasn’t aware that 7 is still available, it seems like the stores are pushing 8.
Windows 8 is nowhere near replacing 7, it’s a niche OS at best. I honestly don’t see it 8 being around for too long.
Computers are a lot like AR’s. You pay for what you get. With a $500 budget, for a new PC, you are stuck with a crappy PC built with the cheapest components on the market. There’s a lot that goes into a computer, and with that cheap of a price you are getting crappy mother boards and memory. Then you run into hard drive failures, MB failures, ram failures, ect.
That is aside from the OS. Win 7 will be fine for anything it seems like you plan on doing, and MS is going to keep supporting it for quite a few years. There are still plenty of XP machines out there connected to the net.
Where Win 7 and Win 8 different most is in the start menu. Win 8 replaces the traditional Windows start menu accessed by the button on the task bar in the lower left by hitting the Windows key on your keyboard with a full screen ‘Metro’ interface which combines your traditional programs with apps you can add to or take away. For instance there are Fox news, WSJ, time, date, calender, and other apps to easily access things like your photos you have stored or things like a simplified version of outlook you can have email. It is different than the windows we are all used to but MS cannot keep churning out ‘tuned’ versions of Windows 98 that never changes the UI or way of doing things. I think that is the biggest challenge MS has to overcome. People are so used to the classic boring Windows method of doing things something like changing the start menu to a full screen menu instead of a crappy little window that pops up in the corner that sucks to navigate has people in a tizzy. Win 8 is just as capable program wise as 7 just changes the way the user interacts. Like I said people just, sometimes, cannot adopt to a new way to access something. Like taking someone who has always had the shifter on the steering column and putting it inbetween the two front seats. You’ll get people who cry about the change and others who like it. People get stuck in a rut doing something one way and won’t change even if the change is actually better.
Belmont: You described me to a T. :
Sam, I would look at the new Google Samsung Chromebook for $250.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
No thanks. That’s basically the same as the Acer Aspire One that I’m using right now, which I paid $275 two years ago.
Not to me. I’ve owned both a netbook and a chromebook. I’ll loan you my chromebook if you are interested. Pm me if so
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
LL:
Thank you for your very generous offer. The Chromebook has an 11.5" screen from what I searched. I need a bigger screen, at least 15" but prefer 17".
I’d look at the Vizio MacBook air clones. Get a solid state hard drive
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
free windows 8 for dummies pocket guide from Dell
http://slickdeals.net/f/5412510-Free-Windows-8-for-Dummies-eBook
Here is the newegg Win 8 tutorial: http://youtu.be/-ijE3RSeTrU
Take a look at these. If link doesn’t work just go to newegg, hit PC’s and laptops, laptops/notebooks, and on the left side hit ASUS under manufacturer then click on the top right under sort by click cheapest. They have quite a few ASUS laptops under $500. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%2050001315&IsNodeId=1&name=ASUS
I use a Samsung laptop but ASUS, Lenovo (IBM), and Toshiba all have good track records. Not saying you are going to get a high quality machine for under $500 but if I was going to buy a sub $500 laptop those 3 would be it.
I would also try to get at least an Intel ‘i’ series processor. Im using an i5 and it works fine. I have a desktop with an i7 3770k overclocked to 4.2ghz for anything the laptop isn’t suited for. The i series would include the i3, i5, and i7.
Here is one with a 17" screen with an i3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230694
Its a 2nd gen i processor which is known as Sandy Bridge. 3rd gen Ivy Bridge is current production. Nothing wrong with Sandy Bridge, though. In fact they tend to run cooler than Ivy Bridge processors. Anyways I would stay away from the cheaper Dell’s, HP’s, ect. Their business stuff is good but their regular consumer class stuff isn’t as good as the brands I mentioned.
Thanks everyone for the tips and links. I will be using them when I need help.
I went to Best Buy last night and looked at a few machines and talked to the USELESS sales boy. He was absolutely worthless and just about to scare me off W8. I was pretty disappointed.
But this afternoon we happened to be near Staples and 30 minutes before their closing time. We popped in and talked to a very helpful salesman. He showed us W8, demonstrated various machines and made me feel comfortable with the system and the different processors.
I will definitely stick with the “i” processor, 17" machine, 6 gig of ram and 750g of hard drive. It will come down to either a Toshiba or HP.
Hourly employees in a retail electonics store are usually as useful as the ones found a gunstore. To quote the much-missed Templar: “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”
I am unsurprised the lad at Worst Try fell short. They are usually polite, and that’s about it. Plus look up the term “Spif” - stuff they get extra commission to move, because they need to unload excess inventory.
I have a couple of Chromebooks at work, and agree with LLB that the hardware is a very good deal for the money. But you do have to dive into the Google ecosystem.
I’m not saying that is bad. I am saying that when you don’t pay for something, you are not the customer. Google and Facebook are “free”. That’s because they mine your data. You can decide if that is a positive or negative for you.
I have not touched one of the Vizio macbook clones. My only concern, which I hope is unfounded, would be the QC on the components. There is a cotttage industry here in finding the Vizio TV’s have have been dumped, fixing a couple of blown capacitors, then reselling them. So they cheapen a couple of parts by maybe a dollar? I’d rather pay the extra dollar.
The laptops may be made in a different factory, by an entirely different set of monkeys, sans alcohol and sledgehammers.
We have some Toshiba laptops, and probably more of the HP’s. HP is nearly legendary for slow parts deliveries. A wee little fellow has to row a boat all the way across the Pacific, I think. Toshiba tends to get our repair guys the parts faster, when I asked them. We repair all our laptops and desktops in-house. That’s well over 10,000 laptops, and over 90,000 desktops.
LLB is also spot on with the solid state drive suggestion. They are really, really becoming very attractive now, regarding their price/performance ratios. All my work and personal computers have them now. You can pick up a 750 GB Western Digital Caviar Black off Amazon for about 85 bucks, and a good drive enclosure for it for about 15 bucks. That’s your backup. The operating system runs on the SSD, and it runs like a raped ape. Imagine a laptop that boots in about 18-20 seconds. Mine does.
If you can load an AR magazine, you can put the drive into the enclosure. Don’t let that scare you.
And you can find a 128 GB Crucial M4 SSD on sale for $100 if you look. They are definitely going to be a sale item on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Which is another thing to consider. Wally World usually has some crippled laptops on sale as loss leaders, to drag your sleepy self into stores. Cheaper than others, but with fewer USB ports, slower hard drives, less memory, slower bus speeds, older hard drives, lower-resolution screens, yada yada yada.
But you may want to chat with the helpful fellow at Staples, and find out what they are planning to sell. IIRC, they did the midnight opening last year, and you could snag something early. Bring a chair and a cup of Starbcks, and score early.
So if you can wait three more weeks until Thanksgiving, you might get a smoking good deal.
Thanks a lot. This is what I do right now…
And if you are the exception, that is terrific. I was not seeking to personally offend you. If you thought I was trying to do so, then my apologies.
But I would offer the example that people frequently see here. Would you prefer firearms advice from Bubba in a local gun shop, or Kyle Defoor?
There are people on this board that work in very complex IT environments, handling several hundred thousand computers, and even more users. Their organizations are under constant attack, 24/7/365 by nation states.
I would politely submit that their opinions are valuable. They see a lot more trends, data, and incidents.
If their systems are breached, billions of dollars can be lost, planes can be crashed, power grids can be shut down, or people can die. That’s a fair bit of responsibility. I’m one of those people.
So I wasn’t talking smack to you personally. This is my lane, and I’m comfortably in it.
If you are still irritated, shoot me a PM, I’d rather not divert Sam’s thread further. But I did want to respond to you. Have a good day, and I mean that.