How's Your Day? Archives

Any recommendations for a good, cheaper laptop techie folks? I don't want vista I want XP.

 

How about something like this? mini laptops seem like they'll be the new thing. They make a lot of sense

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ategory&v1=Mini&series_name=mini1000xp_series

 

nahhh we just enough

Fuzzy

 

here's the standard rule for computers (or anything technological):

Good, Fast, Cheap...
Choose any two

you'll be hard pressed to get XP anymore, unless you buy used, which will be your cheapest option anyway.
pretty much any of the major brands will work...HP, Dell, Toshiba
what are your needs? you might look into the mini-notebooks, like the Asus EeePC or something if all you need is web-browsing and documents

stay away from Celeron/Sempron processors, they're like the 4-cylinder version of cars - cheaper, but performance stinks

 

Not a techie but how about a Dell.. I have two older ones that are great for me.

Fuzzy

 

Good day all.

Seems like I missed the breakfast buffet.

Penguins will want to be wearing sweaters if I controlled the weather.

My new computer has Vista. Ugh. Support for XP is just about gone and most new PCs will have Vista on it already. XP is getting harder and harder to find.

These are a good idea depending on what you're looking for. If you do take this route, I'd go with The ASUS EeePC over the HP one, though. ASUS has phenomenal customer support and great warranties.

 

I want to stay away from the mini ones

I thought you could still get some computers that could be backgraded to XP?

Have a dell now and I like it but I have been thru 3 keyboards on it and a new hardrive.

 

there, fixed it for you

yes, you can in some cases choose XP, but now they're starting to charge $100 to do so
I read this a few days ago, tempted to try it, but haven't yet

 

Whew, thanks for the save on that one, Jim. I agree with you 100 percent.

 

I have been impressed with Vista. Few things
- upgrading is never a good idea. Fresh installs of any OS work better.
- Check before you buy it that your hardware is supported. Some scanners/printers etc are not supported. Manufacturer's fault, not Microsoft's.
- if you image machines, you will need to find a new method.

 

Are these computers from Walmart legit or are they recon's from manufacturers?

 

The new ones doesn't often come with XP but you can downgrade if you want to. The major problem with that is that you need to find all the drivers for the computer. Most common is that you'll find these on the manufacturers webpage but it can be a bit tricky if you haven't done it before.
Vista is okey after all. Lack of support for a few programs but mostly it gets the job done.

 

I will say, my laptop came with Vista pre-installed, at first I was going to immediately wipe it out and dual boot Ubuntu and XP, but decided to at least get familiar with Vista first, after all, being a computer tech, I'm going to have to deal with it eventually I'm afraid, although we've been intentionally avoiding it.
It's great eye candy, but in day to day use doesn't really do much more than XP (on the user's end)
I plan on eventually triple-booting it, but I've been waiting cuz I know when I do I'll rarely boot back into Vista!
+1 to clean install > upgrade, always
as long as you get a laptop with beefy specs, Vista will be okay, but then that defeats the "cheap" aspect...

 

I saved you some bacon... it is under that towel over there...

One of the roomies broke a key on one of mine.. that is all I have had trouble with in 4 years


Fuzzy

 

Before you buy any laptop, take a look at this chart, Tracy:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/156450/apple_laptops_extend_their_lead_in_reliability.html

Mmmm. Bacon. Is it a trap?

Fuzzy... how old is that Dell of yours? The Dell laptops I've seen in the past few years have a horrendously cheap build quality.

 

404 - page not found!
wow, you're right...that's awful!
:happy097

 

I didn't want to say anything... so I'm glad you did!

 

One is about 4 years old one is about 3.. a 5100 and 5150

Fuzzy

 

:sad024

I know where you live, Jim...