(no subject)

[wellinghall]

We have a very dead laptop. Any thoughts on what / what not to buy? Just how bad is Windows 8?

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Comments

[emperor]

You can buy laptops with ubuntu on. Just sayin'

;-)

[aranelcharis.livejournal.com]

I would recommend Lenovo in a heartbeat. Best laptop I've had by far.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I've not seen a compelling reason to avoid Windows 8, but neither have I seen a compelling reason to upgrade from Windows 7. If you're still using XP or Vista, well, you shouldn't be. We haven't upgraded from 7 on any of our five PCs, but if I was buying a new PC today, I'd choose Windows 8. At the risk of getting into fanboy territory, I will say nothing about Linux or Macs other than a) if you're considering Linux, make absolutely sure you know exactly what you're getting yourself into and b) Apple make lovely laptops that can run Windows if you can't bring yourself to like MacOS but which are very expensive.

My last laptop at JOLF was a Lenovo, and was robust and workmanlike, if not fancy. Bunn's Sony Vaio is a nice machine.

Build quality is much more important for a laptop than it is for a desktop, so go and prod some actual models before you buy (where you are, John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway is actually pretty good). Don't skimp too much on RAM (6gb or 8gb will be fine). Unless you want to play proper games on it, then built in graphics will be fine.

If you go the Intel route, anything from a Core i3 up will be more than enough. Some of the AMD processors are also good, although I'd have to look up where the sweet spot is.

More important than the CPU and GPU in a general purpose laptop is the screen. Make sure you get a good screen, and know whether you prefer glossy, reflective screens or duller, matte ones (this is a matter of personal taste to some extent). I always think higher resolution is better (with the niche exception of cheaper gaming laptops which often have lower res screens so their mid-range GPUs can cope with games at their native resolution). If you want to watch HD television on your laptop, then don't forget you'll need a 1080p or better screen.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

If you use traditional desktop applications then, with the exception of the start menu turning into a start screen, Windows 8 is much like Windows 7. The 'Metro' applications seem to be pretty hopeless, though.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Windows 8 - just say "Dear God, no!" I've used it on a tablet (its native environment), and it was so awful that I'd be extremely reluctant to use it on a non-touch device.

I'm about to buy a new laptop, probably a Samsung, as they have non-reflective screens and sensible touchpads. I'd go and poke some real live devices before committing (it's what I did last week).

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

I have a Sony Vaio and a Packard Bell netbook. The Vaio doesn't travel anymore after I replaced its fan in a 5 hour operation but was left with two screws that I don't know where they should go... Hence the netbook.

Question - do you actually need a laptop? And if so, how much work would be done with it?

My move to a £199 netbook was because it's small, portable and if I drop it in some far flung river, only £199.

I will have to to run XP for some time to come as I have legacy software that I need to keep running for an old client. The actual software didn't run under XP at first and the company had to rush out a newer revision that could cope. Since then, the leading light there has died and they only sold legacy software.

I have used 7, but tend to convert it so tat it looks like XP. Don't get 7 Starter, it's very limited in some ways.

I never bothered with Vista and haven't tried 8 yet.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

My mother has Vista, and my friend Apples has Windows 8. The former is annoying as hell and the latter is extremely awful. I have Windows 7 at work and like it.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Windows 7 Professional (but not the Home version) has quite a good virtual machine that you can use to run XP programs, so I imagine 8 would have one too. We used it after upgrading to 7 to keep an old email program running while we worked out how to convert the mail database to something that worked under 7 :-)

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Or get some clever person (not me, although I need to learn how next time it's done) to convert your Windows 7 (or whatever) laptop to dual boot into that or Debian :)

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Happy with our 2 HP laptops, happy enough with W7 Prof (he's not here now but bek. has mentioned trying to track down a new 7 laptop for himself, rather than an 8, for reasons I can't remember).