Acer was just looking and the replies say it all. My current one is Toshiba on Vista which I love, certainly an improvement over windows 7, still it is five years old which in Laptop terms warrants a telegram from the Queen. Back to Toshiba I think although no rush now I am back on line, had HP in my office so many years ago now we had to reinforce the desk big ugly and to me a waste of time and paper At computer school I used the Apple as no one else would go on it, thought it a wonderful machine and program but why so costly compared with other well known names. Will wait for the sales when the children are back at school, mine are away caravanning in the Lake District.
Apple are the best, as you say, Frank. My acer does run vista, which isn't the best, whereas my HP runs Wiindows XP. Still think it is mostly about the power of the computer, though.
Picking computers it's fun, it all depends what you want, Toshiba are a good solid brand HP can be dodgy at times my last hp blew its usb ports.
What kind of laptop are you looking for? I like my netbook its only a 9 inch screen but it has 1024 pixels across and 600 down. Now if your eyesight isn't good that could be too small. For internet use the limiting factor is the speed of your internet connection. The computer spends most of its time waiting for the page to be transmitted.
Is battery life important to you, the batterys all decline in how much charge they can hold but would you like 8 hours on battery or just an hour. Optical drives are mostly just extra weight but you might want one. would you be happy to plugin an external dvd drive on usb if you ever needed it.
most cpu's are 64 bit these days it refers to the word size of its instructions and the amount of Ram it can address. Theres also multicore processors the advantage is that more than 1 task can run at the same time. a single core processor swops between jobs many times a second. a multicore processor can do more than 1 thing at once making it quicker than a single core processor.
There is operating systems to consider if its an apple it's native operating system is OSX but it can also run Windows and Linux as alternatives (usually that is done with OSX working as a middleman. Osx also is pretty much as virus and malware free as your likely to get. So is Linux (although you are unlikely to buy a computer with a version of Linux installed unless you really look hard. Windows comes in various flavours the most current is windows 8 and many people do not like it, You probably can still buy laptops with windows7 Barely scratching the surface here of the many possibilities how about an iPad or Android tablet perhaps? while mostly they don't have keyboards they can be installed. Really only you know what you want to use it for and for most people any laptop would do. You could just go the easy way decide how much you want to spend and avoid lousy brands like advent and packard bell. Asus and Acer both are good value for money. Then you get your toshiba, hp ,dell. Sony are usually overpriced Apple is expensive but is supposed to be high quality and they do fix thier machines if you buy the extended warantee. .. There is no easy answer i think that most laptops would be good enough.
I have a Macbook Pro which I bought about 2 years ago on a local online auction. It only cost about £200 and was like new, the guy that sold it was one of these computer gurus who regularly buys the lastest version. Perhaps if you look on eBay you might find something similar, just make sure you read the positive/negative feedbacks carefully and ask questions before buying.
Blackest started with a desk top then a Dell that gave me four years and is still being used as back up by my Daughter. The Toshiba has given five years service with nothing serious going wrong, it is just too slow now. Son runs Linux for research and work, I write reams on History local and national when asked plus making a complete history of the family for the family so a good keyboard essential. do not use glasses apart from bad light so not worried about screen pixels. Those ipod things go mad when I touch them, Daughter handed it to me to see some photo's they vanished quick time. I am not in a rush now as the power cord works everything although the batteries are duff will wait for the sales and go with Toshiba again, there are a couple of 17.5 screen with plenty of storage on the £400 + Mark but this one was marked down £90 when I bought it as a new version was coming out, could work again at the right time. My Mobile a clam shell five years old pay as you go will stay with me until it dies, I was the only one getting a signal when we were in Scotland among the hills, the modern go mad touch everything at X£ a month had to rely on me.
Frank with your son running Linux ask him if he can install Linux Mint as a dual boot on your Toshiba. I think you would like the cinnamon desktop. You should find your Toshiba snappy and fast.
I'd always leave windows on just as a backup for when you can't figure out how to do something with Linux. Think of it like getting a set of sockets to go with your spanners they both overlap in the jobs they are good for but its better to do both. Hope your son isn't too far away. Actually one thing that might be worth some thought is a chrome-book. cheap enough in England
Frank/Dad I know what you mean about the touch screenphones/netbooks etc! They drive me nuts! My 2 girls are very computer savvy, as all teenagers are these days, and it's frightening how quick they are at doing stuff! Oldest daughter was helping me last week to try and link my camera up (no longer have the disk for it) and she just downloaded and pressed stuff at 100mph!
As I always say-horses for courses- but it can be difficult to work out what's right for you sometimes!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
GG, think it's more to do with running Windows Vista on OH's laptop (what a pile of S***e), whilst mine is running Windows 7.
That's a whole other rant, which I'm not even bothering to start, don't have the energy today.
We had Vista on the Acers too and I know it wasn't great sometimes whereas this is Windows 7. Did you notice I was slightly politer than you MMP?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Acer was just looking and the replies say it all. My current one is Toshiba on Vista which I love, certainly an improvement over windows 7, still it is five years old which in Laptop terms warrants a telegram from the Queen.
Back to Toshiba I think although no rush now I am back on line, had HP in my office so many years ago now we had to reinforce the desk big ugly and to me a waste of time and paper
At computer school I used the Apple as no one else would go on it, thought it a wonderful machine and program but why so costly compared with other well known names.
Will wait for the sales when the children are back at school, mine are away caravanning in the Lake District.
Frank.
Apple are the best, as you say, Frank. My acer does run vista, which isn't the best, whereas my HP runs Wiindows XP. Still think it is mostly about the power of the computer, though.
Picking computers it's fun, it all depends what you want, Toshiba are a good solid brand HP can be dodgy at times my last hp blew its usb ports.
What kind of laptop are you looking for? I like my netbook its only a 9 inch screen but it has 1024 pixels across and 600 down. Now if your eyesight isn't good that could be too small. For internet use the limiting factor is the speed of your internet connection. The computer spends most of its time waiting for the page to be transmitted.
Is battery life important to you, the batterys all decline in how much charge they can hold but would you like 8 hours on battery or just an hour. Optical drives are mostly just extra weight but you might want one. would you be happy to plugin an external dvd drive on usb if you ever needed it.
most cpu's are 64 bit these days it refers to the word size of its instructions and the amount of Ram it can address. Theres also multicore processors the advantage is that more than 1 task can run at the same time. a single core processor swops between jobs many times a second. a multicore processor can do more than 1 thing at once making it quicker than a single core processor.
There is operating systems to consider if its an apple it's native operating system is OSX but it can also run Windows and Linux as alternatives (usually that is done with OSX working as a middleman. Osx also is pretty much as virus and malware free as your likely to get. So is Linux (although you are unlikely to buy a computer with a version of Linux installed unless you really look hard. Windows comes in various flavours the most current is windows 8 and many people do not like it, You probably can still buy laptops with windows7 Barely scratching the surface here of the many possibilities how about an iPad or Android tablet perhaps? while mostly they don't have keyboards they can be installed. Really only you know what you want to use it for and for most people any laptop would do. You could just go the easy way decide how much you want to spend and avoid lousy brands like advent and packard bell. Asus and Acer both are good value for money. Then you get your toshiba, hp ,dell. Sony are usually overpriced Apple is expensive but is supposed to be high quality and they do fix thier machines if you buy the extended warantee. .. There is no easy answer i think that most laptops would be good enough.
Anyway Beechgrove is on in 4 minutes
I have a Macbook Pro which I bought about 2 years ago on a local online auction. It only cost about £200 and was like new, the guy that sold it was one of these computer gurus who regularly buys the lastest version. Perhaps if you look on eBay you might find something similar, just make sure you read the positive/negative feedbacks carefully and ask questions before buying.
I wouldn't say no to a macbook pro at that price.
Blackest started with a desk top then a Dell that gave me four years and is still being used as back up by my Daughter. The Toshiba has given five years service with nothing serious going wrong, it is just too slow now.
Son runs Linux for research and work, I write reams on History local and national when asked plus making a complete history of the family for the family so a good keyboard essential. do not use glasses apart from bad light so not worried about screen pixels.
Those ipod things go mad when I touch them, Daughter handed it to me to see some photo's they vanished quick time.
I am not in a rush now as the power cord works everything although the batteries are duff will wait for the sales and go with Toshiba again, there are a couple of 17.5 screen with plenty of storage on the £400 + Mark but this one was marked down £90 when I bought it as a new version was coming out, could work again at the right time.
My Mobile a clam shell five years old pay as you go will stay with me until it dies, I was the only one getting a signal when we were in Scotland among the hills, the modern go mad touch everything at X£ a month had to rely on me.
Frank.
Frank with your son running Linux ask him if he can install Linux Mint as a dual boot on your Toshiba. I think you would like the cinnamon desktop. You should find your Toshiba snappy and fast.
I'd always leave windows on just as a backup for when you can't figure out how to do something with Linux. Think of it like getting a set of sockets to go with your spanners they both overlap in the jobs they are good for but its better to do both. Hope your son isn't too far away. Actually one thing that might be worth some thought is a chrome-book. cheap enough in England
Frank/Dad I know what you mean about the touch screenphones/netbooks etc! They drive me nuts! My 2 girls are very computer savvy, as all teenagers are these days, and it's frightening how quick they are at doing stuff! Oldest daughter was helping me last week to try and link my camera up (no longer have the disk for it) and she just downloaded and pressed stuff at 100mph!
As I always say-horses for courses- but it can be difficult to work out what's right for you sometimes!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...