Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8?

[dmccarty]

There is no doubt whatsoever that you guys all know more about computers than I do, but way back about the first of 2002, I bought a new Dell computer and by the time I got through dealing with Dell . . . . well, let's just say it's highly unlikely that there will ever be a Dell product in my house.

All it takes is one bad experience to sour one on a company. Amazing how that works.

I bought a Dell back in the 90's and I still have the system. I powered it up a month or so ago to see if I could retrieve some files. The system started up just fine but the hard drive is toast which is not unexpected for a system that is about 20 years old. Surprisingly, I was able to pull most of the data from backup FLOPPY discs. Anyone remember 3.5 floppy discs? :laughing::laughing::laughing: Thankfully, the data was on on the 5.25 floppies because I would have had to power up my PC 1! I bet that system will power up though and I know the monitor for the PC 1 still works because it is a TV/Monitor that we were using up until a year or so ago.

At work, I have a Dell PC and two monitors that are at least 9 years old and still work. The hard drives are getting a big iffy but that is a limitation of the technology. The flat screens are just fine thank goodness.

Oddly enough, we bought our 65 inch TV from Dell. :confused3: Dell sells a variety of TV sets and they had the best price for the TV we wanted to buy. It is not Dell but from a different company.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Same thing in reverse here Bird. No more HP's for me, even if received as a gift.

I have an HP that is about 7-8 years old that we now use to stream to our 65 inch TV we bought from Dell. The HP system works just fine. Knock on wood. I do want to buy a small case of the HP and move the components into a smaller chassis with better and quiet fans.

HP seemed to have a problem a few years ago with some bad motherboards that they handled really poorly. If I remember right, Eddie was burned by HP too.

The only non brand PC I have owned was built by a local store for me. They had the exact components I would have used if I had built it myself but they could do it cheaper than I could buy the parts. The power supply literally caught fire one day. :shocked: They had used an el cheapo power supply and I suspect that might have been why the graphics card burned out.

No pun intended, but one can get burned by any of the brands. Just a matter of luck I suppose. I will never buy a GM vehicle again after two bad experiences. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Xfaxman]

There is no doubt whatsoever that you guys all know more about computers than I do, but way back about the first of 2002, I bought a new Dell computer and by the time I got through dealing with Dell . . . . well, let's just say it's highly unlikely that there will ever be a Dell product in my house.

That sounds like the old saying, "cut off your nose to spite your face". Think about your favorite Tractor, If you would have had trouble 13 years earlier "dealing" with that company, you wouldn't have that "favorite Tractor".

We have had 3 Dell laptops since November 2003. They all still work, the newest one is almost 7 years old. Never had to "deal with Dell". Ordered them online.

I am looking at the Dell XPS18 touch screen all-in-one, for when support of XP ends in April.
XPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop | Dell

I know a touch screen makes Windows 8 a neat OS.

 

[madmax12]

That sounds like the old saying, "cut off your nose to spite your face". Think about your favorite Tractor, If you would have had trouble 13 years earlier "dealing" with that company, you wouldn't have that "favorite Tractor".

We have had 3 Dell laptops since November 2003. They all still work, the newest one is almost 7 years old. Never had to "deal with Dell". Ordered them online.

I am looking at the Dell XPS18 touch screen all-in-one, for when support of XP ends in April.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...146d1378817989-anyone-use-windows-8-xps18.jpgXPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop | Dell

I know a touch screen makes Windows 8 a neat OS.

Looks nice. The standard 5400rpm hard drive is slow, for certain applications. There are other options listed, including a small solid state drive. That would be quick.

 

[Bird]

That sounds like the old saying, "cut off your nose to spite your face". Think about your favorite Tractor, If you would have had trouble 13 years earlier "dealing" with that company, you wouldn't have that "favorite Tractor".

We have had 3 Dell laptops since November 2003. They all still work, the newest one is almost 7 years old. Never had to "deal with Dell". Ordered them online.

I am looking at the Dell XPS18 touch screen all-in-one, for when support of XP ends in April.
XPS 18 Portable All-in-One Desktop | Dell

I know a touch screen makes Windows 8 a neat OS.

I didn't say I'd never have a Dell; only that it's highly unlikely. I probably bought the worst lemon new sedan Ford ever made in 1966 and for 25 years you couldn't have given me a Ford, but things do change, so for the last 21 years I've been driving Fords.:laughing: Who knows, it's always possible that I'd buy another Dell, but not likely.:laughing: And it's not cutting off your nose to spite your face to not buy inferior products and or those with no manufacturer support or warranty. With the Ford, I only got a bad car, but with Dell I not only got a bad product, but I found no support at all for their products back then until they realized it was going to cost them money. That may have changed, but I see no reason to chance it.

 

[pacerron]

HP seemed to have a problem a few years ago with some bad motherboards that they handled really poorly. If I remember right, Eddie was burned by HP too.
Later,
Dan

That's the one:thumbdown: Thousands of dv series through a string of numbers with "Black Screen of Death"
First the WIFI went which I didn't care as I had it wired. Then I started reading about the heat problems and called them while it was working an in warranty. Answer was, not broke, we don't fix in anticipation. So soon after the warranty it went black. Then they wanted over $300 to look at it and maybe more to fix it if things were bad in addition to the poorly soldered MB. There was even
a class action law suit later about the problem, which I didn't mess with. I fixed it once running hair dryer heat on the CPU but it didn't last long.
Meanwhile I got a new laptop from Dell. I had started with Dells back when W-98 came out. Modified it adding drives, etc. and systems up to and including XP which still works. Dell Lap has W-7, newer desktop has W-7, and wife's new Dell desktop has 8.1.
So I have 4 operational Dells out of 4 and 0 operational HPs out of 1. Do the math, which would you prefer

 

[pacerron]

Sixdogs

You might put this into your mixing bowl.
Concerns rise on OS X Mavericks' Gmail compatibility | ZDNet

 

[Bird]

I'm going to apologize for my comments about Dell. Brand bashing is prohibited on TBN, so if any of the moderators would like to remove my first post on the topic and the others, I hope they'll feel free to do so.

Incidentally, I'm currently using an HP desktop that's five and half years old, running Window 7 Home Premium. The power pack has been replaced, but otherwise it's been pretty good. And I have a new HP laptop that's supposed to be delivered tomorrow by FedEx with Windows 8. They said I'll have 21 days to decide whether to keep it or return it. So we'll see what happens.

 

[pwright]

I think for nearly all the computer does in the home environment (photos, movies, music, internet) Mac OS and hardware are superior to any PC running any OS. When you add it can't be hacked and have to run all the crap for virus the Mac is clearly the winner. I know no one who has not had to wipe a hard drive in their PC eventually. Since 1982 I have never had to do that, they just work. PC is a nightmare. The reason for the lack of hacking is not low volume interest by hackers, but the way the OS operates with the CPU and OS, it just makes it impossible. HS

Impossible to hack? OSX has been routinely and regularly hacked in the competitions at Defcon. In some cases hours before systems running Windows and Linux were hacked. You clearly don't actually follow computers. There is plenty of malware out there targeted at Macs.

I've worked in IT support back when Apple actually had some presence in the business space and supporting Mac users was always the biggest pain in the *****. This was when PCs used Windows for Work Groups and getting peripherals hooked up was always a juggling act of addresses and IRQ jumpers.

I haven't had to wipe a hard drive on a PC since Windows 98 and then it was because the OEM installed drivers were crap. A clean install of 98 and that PC worked for several years without issue. Anyone that has to routinely re-install Windows to keep it running is their own worst enemy. Even with Vista I've never had to re-install and that was definitely one of the worst releases ever from MS.

I've never had a virus infect one of my Windows PCs though I see a few get caught now and again attached to emails to my dump account. Of course I don't click on random links in emails from people I don't know or get copies of software from the "guy at work" who knows how to get free software. That may have something to do with it.

We have multiple Windows PCs (7, I think) in the house running everything from XP to 8 and two are dual boot with Linux. We also have an iMac cuz we are technology geeks. Don't love it. Don't hate it. Just don't care for it.

 

[troutsqueezer]

For me, laptops have little use anymore. Even though I have two, a Sony Vaio and Dell along with an ASUS netbook, their usefulness has diminished. For Internet browsing, my iPad and KindleFire's are handier except when I want to do research using screen captures and such. For productivity, I don't like looking at programs through a straw either, which is what laptops are like when compared to our desktop systems. We both do websites, I do CAD, graphic art and videos. She handles all the business on her computer, using Microsoft Office. The tablets are good for mild surfing and checking emails, but not writing them and have no place in our office, neither do the laptops.