How to purchase a New Computer

[MossRoad]

Yep, David, I found some ways to get rid of all the personal information, but then I'd never taken a hard drive apart or seen the magnet discussed in the Chalkley Cup thread. I had two hard drives; a 20 meg and an 80 meg in it and I've already taken them out and torn them apart.

Hahahaha!!! The Chalkley Cup! God bless Mark and Harv, where ever they are!

For those that have not heard of the Chalkley Cup,

WONDERMAGNET.COM - NdFeB Magnets, Magnet Wire, Books, Weird Science, Needful Things

 

[riptides]

Someone mentioned wireless routers.

Cradlepoint makes a leading edge product. Battery operated, ultra small, leading edge, for the highly mobile crowd.

Piggybacks off the 3g networks, broadband speeds, totally cool.

Wireless, wireless....

-Mike Z.

 

[orezok]

I'm using an apple right now, my first. Had it 15 months and 0 problems . Actually, it's a Mac Mini, measures a whole 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" x 2". Only drawback is the need to purchase otherwise useless software to read Word documents.

A good open source software suite for Mac is available here NeoOffice Home

It reads, writes and works virtually the same as Microshaft Office.

The best part is it's free!

If you're looking for the equivalent for Windows (same exact program) go to
OpenOffice.org: Home

 

[dmccarty]

Why have a TV Tuner in your PC?

If you have a DVR you have a PC with a TV tuner. You can turn your PC into a DVR by adding a TV tuner. Search for HTPC, Home Theater PC, and you will get lots of hits. In the not so distant future, the old stereo/media system will be replaced with a PC. The PC can DVR, play music, play DVDs, etc. We keep looking at a new HP Media Center PC for all of the above reasons but the money gets spent on higher priority items.

Laptops are NICE. Its wonderful to be able to take your PC from one's office to a meeting, from the study to the living or the kitchen. I'm working at home today on my laptop. Currently I'm in the study. But I started the morning at 7:00am in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to finish and the bagels to toast. Now I'm in the study working while using remote desktop to work on three systems sitting in my cube. One of those system is connected to a mainframe I'm getting ready to torture.

The desktops are nice to run as a server and HP is selling servers for the home market. Our old desktop system has close to a terrabyte of disk space at this point. The first hard drive I worked on had 5 megabytes.

At this point I'm pretty sure we will buy HP or DELL. I have tried locally assembled systems since they could do it cheaper than I could. They used The Best Components of the day but I had more problems with that PC than anyone I have ever owed or used. It literally caught on fire. So its Dell or HP from now on.

Later,
Dan

 

[MossRoad]

I'm using an apple right now, my first. Had it 15 months and 0 problems . Actually, it's a Mac Mini, measures a whole 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" x 2". Only drawback is the need to purchase otherwise useless software to read Word documents.

Count your blessings. We have several Mac minis. They are not any more dependable hardware wise than a PC. I am currently working on a Mac Mini that has a disk stuck in the CD drive. All of the software tricks to make it eject do not work. We had to disassemble the Mac mini, and disassemble the CD drive because they do not have a manual eject button that you can poke with a paper clip like a "normal" Cd drive.

 

[milkman]

On the advise of an old friend and bank computer expert, I started using Norton utilities before we ever heard of Windows, so I've stayed with it. I'm using Norton AntiVirus and Norton SystemWorks.

I liked Norton and used it for several years, then I started listening to a computer show on AM radio while I was driving and heard about AVG antivirus by GRIsoft. It is a free download, works flawlessly, is not a memory hog, doesn't take over your computer, just simply works, updates automatically and scans when you set it to scan. Wouldn't go back to Norton if they paid me, and I liked Norton better than McAfee.

 

[1bush2hog]

I liked Norton and used it for several years, then I started listening to a computer show on AM radio while I was driving and heard about AVG antivirus by GRIsoft. It is a free download, works flawlessly, is not a memory hog, doesn't take over your computer, just simply works, updates automatically and scans when you set it to scan. Wouldn't go back to Norton if they paid me, and I liked Norton better than McAfee.

I'll second the AVG software. I previously used NOrton antivirus, but after trying to unsuccessfully upgrade several PC's in my office and spending hours on the phone with someone in India, I have abandoned Norton

AVG and Avast are both good alternative solutions for AV

 

[Eastinlet]

Ive been having good luck the last few years with an Apple Imac. Had a power supply issue that was covered under warranty, but it was fixed expeditiously. Their support staff is excellent and all seem to speak fluent English.

I could care less what brand i run, but the Apple OSX is a rock solid operating system and I couldn't recommend it more. I appreciate reliability and ease of use.

I still keep a couple Windows boxes around to run specialized work software, but I by choice spend way more time on the Mac. I've got to get around to getting Bootcamp so I can run Windows on this thing too...

 

[CurlyDave]

I have a non geek friend who has thrown his MicroSwear away and purchased an Apple and suffered the learning curve and extra initial cost because he's tired of fighting it and paying $200 to get it "fixed" when it hangs. Interesting to see this thought presented also on TBN... could it be a trend??

"Extra initial cost" -- my hairy purple donkey!

DW and I can't afford not to use Macs. She is a University Professor and runs a small consulting business on the side.

When I met her 11 years ago she was a committed PC user, and would never even look at a Mac. I could use either, but preferred Macs.

Part of her consulting business consists of writing ~100 page reports for the people she consults with, maybe 6 to 12 times per year. The deadlines for these are absolute, drop dead due dates.

What I noticed right away was that about every 6 months her PC would go belly up the weekend before a report was due. Now I was always able to fix it given about 3 or 4 days and the software that came with it, but she didn't have 3 or 4 days. So, we would go off to the computer store and get a new PC (always HP or Sony, never a cheapie), and she would finish the report on that.

Now, she always was paid enough for the report to justify the computer, but there wasn't a whole lot of profit in that particular report.

I could always get the old computer working in a few days with many instances of "blessing the keyboard", and she would donate it to a needy student.

Then she somehow decided to try a Mac, and since that day, about 5 years ago, we have never had a crisis requiring computer replacement. We get new ones from time to time, but always because we want to, never because we have to in order to meet a deadline.

I used to keep a cheap PC laptop around to update my GPS units, because they wouldn't work with Macs, but now I use Parallels and can do it all on my Mac.

Using Macs saves us $3-4 k per year.

 

[Bird]

Well, finally all my computer problems are over. I know that's true because Bill Gates said so. I just now finished downloading and installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 that's supposed to fix everything. I think it was only a little over 66 meg, but seemed to take longer than usual to download. Then when it was ready to install Service Pack 1, it had the usual admonition to save your work, close all applications, etc., but also said the installation might take an hour or more, your computer would restart several times during installation, and that you could not use your computer during that time. In my case it took 51 minutes to install.

 

[Egon]

I am going to have to look into doing that too Bird.

 

[Egon]

In the process of trying to find out how to download I came across information this service pack would download automatically about mid April.

I am opting for this option.

 

[Bird]

Egon, I first read/heard that Service Pack 1 was coming out the middle of March, and for those who had their computers set to automatically check for updates, it would be the middle of April. So one day last week, I saw a news article on the Internet that Service Pack 1 was available. And I tried, unsuccessfully, to find it to download it. Then yesterday when I clicked on "Windows Update" it showed one (critical or important or something) update. And Service Pack 1 was what it downloaded.

 

[rox]

Well, finally all my computer problems are over. I know that's true because Bill Gates said so. I just now finished downloading and installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 that's supposed to fix everything. I think it was only a little over 66 meg, but seemed to take longer than usual to download. Then when it was ready to install Service Pack 1, it had the usual admonition to save your work, close all applications, etc., but also said the installation might take an hour or more, your computer would restart several times during installation, and that you could not use your computer during that time. In my case it took 51 minutes to install.

Bird since you bought an HP you may want to check out theri massive recall. I bought a new 17" screen HP laptop in September 2007. In October it failed and french GP "fixed it", December it failed again, mailed it to USA and USA HP "Fixed it" march it failed for the thrid time, sigh... it will not turn on.

Now i don't know if this is a coincidence or not but i wrote a paper letter to the CEO, the Executive VP of Sales and the VP of Sales mailed from France. 10 days later I got an e-mail "URGENT HP upgrade required" Here are the models that are covered
HP Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 and Compaq Presario v3000/v6000 Series Notebook PCs -  HP Limited Warranty Service Enhancement 

Herre is a website that describes some of the problems- scroll down to read the discussion http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/laptop-support/154122-hp-dv9000-battery-power-supply-problem.html

Then if you fo into the User Forums right at hP you can read many other posts about the problems related to the "recall" Business support forums - notebook PCs - pavilions, presario

I never know if it is windows or the hardware that is the culprit. Thankfully I am on my backup hP laptop as i wait for a reply from my letter. the deal is I can get if fixed free, for the third time from HP, however they only will pick it up from a USA address. Last time I mailed it to my daughter for pick up and repair but for the third failure I would like FED Ex to pick it up in France, why should I again pay the postage?

What i do intend to do with my back up laptop is to convert it to linnix/unix. I read on this forum another person who did that and their computer although old, worked incrediably fast and curised the internet without virus problems etc. Sadly HP has lsot both my son and my daughter to Apple over the last 18 months. Theyjsut got tired of haivng to fight the Windows errors, hardware issues etc. it jsut is not fun to own a pc and it is fun to own and play with an Apple. They would never go back. I jsut really like a big screen on a laptop and to get that in an Apple is way to expensive for me, they both went with 15" screens, but after my new laptop failing 3 times I am starting to think that those 2 extra inches are probably not worth it and I will probably convert to an Apple one day also.

 

[Bird]

Rox, I don't have a notebook computer; just stayed with a desktop, and my monitor is a HP w1907 (19" flat panel) taht I really like so far. I had a 17" CRT monitor with my last Dell computer.

I think it was only 3 or 4 times that this one has suddenly gone blank or black, and then came back in 3 or 4 seconds each time without losing anything and I got a dialogue box that said something about the display driver quit responding and had recovered. So I think that little problem wasn't the monitor.

Of course, I've long been accustomed to running updates for software such as Windows, Anti virus, and such, but this computer periodically runs Hewlett-Packard updates during which it says it's searching for software updates from HP. That surprised me a bit, but so far it always ends by saying my computer is already up-to-date and hasn't found any updates for me.

And in spite of all the bad stuff I'd heard about Vista, I actually do like it much better than XP when everything is working right.

 

[texbaylea]

I am something of a maverick when it comes to computers. I have built and owned microcomputers since 1974 starting with CP/M OS and 2 8" floppy drives. The first commercial machine that I bought was a DEC Rainbow. This was contemporary with the first IBM PCs and far superior but DEC lost the marketing war. As to PC type desktops I build my own - it is simple to do - it is installing Windows that sometimes is a problem because of drivers.

On OSs: The best that I have used is/was OS2, very stable with a simple and an easy to use GUI. Here again IBM lost out to Microsoft when MS used IBM's own tactics against it, FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). NOTE: since Win 2k it has had OS2 code in the kernel, it is everything else piled on it that makes it so iffy.

When I stop doing the work I do for the Houston "World Series of Dog Shows" I will go back to OS/2 in its current form of eComStation.

My newest Laptop has Vista Home Premium and I am thinking about going back to XP Pro. When I do depends on whether I can solve the problem of one of the SP1 prerequiste updates failing. I am willing to try SP1 for a while.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

Vernon, I've never known enough about computers to build my own. I did buy a new IBM computer in January or February, 1993, that came with OS2 on it, but also included the disks and instructions to uninstall it and put Microsoft's Windows on it instead, and I did that because everyone I knew was using Windows. So I think my experience with OS2 was about one or two days, and of course, that was long before I had any experience with the Internet.

 

[riptides]

On OSs: The best that I have used is/was OS2, very stable with a simple and an easy to use GUI. Here again IBM lost out to Microsoft when MS used IBM's own tactics against it, FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). NOTE: since Win 2k it has had OS2 code in the kernel, it is everything else piled on it that makes it so iffy.

First I have heard of that! Win2k having OS2 in the kernel code. I think you better read up on where Dave Cutler worked before Microsoft.

-Mike Z.

 

[texbaylea]

Remember IBM and Microsoft developed OS/2 in a partnership and MS has ownership rights for portions of the code. That fact is why IBM could/would not release OS/2 to the public domain. Win 2K would evecute programs written for OS/2 (non graphical) therefore so could XP. When I have time to research it I will look for the references.

Vernon