which (type of) computer to get??? (1 Viewer)

[David Smith]

I have a desk top computer (approx 10 years old) and a lap top with a 17" screen (approx 5 years old) and the battery is failing...........get maybe 45 minutes from a full charge.
I have now retired so dont need the desk top. I use the laptop-mainly for emails/forums and some photo work............although that is getting less and less.

I know virtually nothing about computers but realise they have come on leaps & bounds in the lst 5 years.

What are my logical options???
Any advice appreciated.

 

[njlarsen]

Do you need the battery on the laptop? Or would an extension cord be all you really need?

Unless you have WinXP on that machine, then it might be time for a replacement.

You can probably take the HD out of the desktop and put it in an enclosure so that it works like an external HD for the laptop, but keep the monitor and use that as external monitor on the laptop when you want something a little better than the built in one. This applies with the old or a new laptop.

Niels

 

[Geoff Brown]

I have(had) an old laptop. I took it to my local friendly computer mechanic and he installed an ssd hard drive, more ram and windows 7. this really put some life into an old machine and it now starts and is ready to use in under 20 seconds. Its brilliant and about the same as buying a completely new and untried laptop. Also the old hard drive he put into a caddy to use as an external hard drive:t:

 

[iveljay]

It is always worth trawling the internet for replacement new batteries. I have been lucky in the past, however if it is a Windows machine that is not running at least Windows 7 it is really a security risk to you. If it is an Apple then it may be safer?

Go to any well known computer store and have a play - as everyone says its dead easy to plug your old disk into whatever you get.

 

[lmans66]

I would get a MAC...if you have to learn a new system, then learn a MAC over the newer PC's....more reliable, better with pictures etc... That is my next purchase once my old PC dies.

 

[njlarsen]

more reliable, better with pictures etc...

When looking at my colleagues who use mac (I don't) then I will question those statements. Looking at what they have to do on their laptops to get anything to work, then it is a thought process I do not think I can (at least I do not want to) get my head around. Win7 is so close to XP that it is not a problem.

Niels

 

[Duke Leto]

When looking at my colleagues who use mac (I don't) then I will question those statements. Looking at what they have to do on their laptops to get anything to work, then it is a thought process I do not think I can (at least I do not want to) get my head around. Win7 is so close to XP that it is not a problem.

Niels

Software is the same on a mac or PC ie photoshop / Lightroom / NX2 etc. so no difference. The main thing with a mac is stability and reliability.
I strongly doubt that any one using a mac has any trouble getting anything to work at least when compared with a windows based device.

 

[njlarsen]

I strongly doubt that any one using a mac has any trouble getting anything to work at least when compared with a windows based device.

As I said, that is what I can see

Niels

 

[Pinewood]

I have(had) an old laptop. I took it to my local friendly computer mechanic and he installed an ssd hard drive, more ram and windows 7. this really put some life into an old machine and it now starts and is ready to use in under 20 seconds. Its brilliant and about the same as buying a completely new and untried laptop. Also the old hard drive he put into a caddy to use as an external hard drive:t:

Hello Geoff,

I did that myself with an old MacBook, plus upgraded the RAM, but six months later, the mother board failed. I replaced the HD and sent the machine for recycling, but kept the SSD for my new external drive. There is only so much life in a computer, maybe five years, but I do not regret learning how to replace the HD with the SSD, and upgrading the RAM, especially as I am an OAP.

I hope that your revived machine may have a long life.

Hello David,

I use a Macbook Air 13 inch, with great pleasure, but I do not want to enter the fray between Mac and Pc users. Rather, I would advise that any new machine have, at least, 8 gigs of RAM. My brother, a PC user, screams, at his eighteen month old Windows 7 machine, perhaps because it has only 2 gigs of hard wired RAM, which means it cannot be easily upgraded.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood

 

[GeeJayW]

How about an iPad?

I have a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard for mine when I want to use it for serious typing, but most of my forum/web browsing stuff is done on my iPad. Can do some photo editing too and there is a version of Lightroom for the iPad though I've not tried that yet.

That said I also have an iMac 27, this after nearly 30-years of PCs. My wife has a Windows laptop if I need a Windows fix...

 

[danob]

The latest PC windows machines are so cheap these days I would get a new one rather than to breath life into dead tech gear