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Help New computer needed

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trevhagl

Famous author , company CEO
Well i see Windows are making my old one obsolete in Jan , its been a good un , not one bit of bovver in 10 years (Zoostorm).
I don't do gaming but i need a fast one with plenty of storage , and not something like Acer thats gonna pack in in a couple of years
Choice seems to be limited on ebay etc
Any recommendations?
 
trevhagl said:
Well i see Windows are making my old one obsolete in Jan , its been a good un , not one bit of bovver in 10 years (Zoostorm).
I don't do gaming but i need a fast one with plenty of storage , and not something like Acer thats gonna pack in in a couple of years
Choice seems to be limited on ebay etc
Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

What's your budget. Do you need a new monitor? Do you mind refurbished? How much storage is plenty?
 
trevhagl said:
Well i see Windows are making my old one obsolete in Jan , its been a good un , not one bit of bovver in 10 years (Zoostorm).
I don't do gaming but i need a fast one with plenty of storage , and not something like Acer thats gonna pack in in a couple of years
Choice seems to be limited on ebay etc
Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
Have you thought of changing it to Linux, if you're simply using it for say word processing and spreadsheets etc?
 
Pickman's model said:
Have you thought of changing it to Linux, if you're simply using it for say word processing and spreadsheets etc?
Click to expand...
That's a bloody good idea. I've got an old laptop with seven or eight keys not working, ancient thing happily runs under Linux Mint. I've recently seen someone say you can do the same thing to a Chromebook, although I do try to avoid Google where possible.

Certainly worth trying it as a guest session you don't change anything on the computer, just load Linux onto a usb stick and plug it in :thumbs:
 
trevhagl said:
Well i see Windows are making my old one obsolete in Jan , its been a good un , not one bit of bovver in 10 years (Zoostorm).
I don't do gaming but i need a fast one with plenty of storage , and not something like Acer thats gonna pack in in a couple of years
Choice seems to be limited on ebay etc
Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
What's going obsolete? I've got older PCs than that around, running Windows 10 just fine with nothing out of support.
 
two sheds said:
That's a bloody good idea. I've got an old laptop with seven or eight keys not working, ancient thing happily runs under Linux Mint. I've recently seen someone say you can do the same thing to a Chromebook, although I do try to avoid Google where possible.

Certainly worth trying it as a guest session you don't change anything on the computer, just load Linux onto a usb stick and plug it in :thumbs:
Click to expand...
Still be a million times easier to install Chrome OS
 
Probably take 15 minutes actual doing stuff, rest is waiting for things to copy. Chromebook installation takes 900 microseconds? :eek:
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
Awaits thread on how to get the printer working...
Click to expand...
Because literally everything works so seamlessly with Linux right? 🤣

Expecting a non techie person to be able to easily understand how to install Linux on a machine is sheer fantasy land.

But don't take my word for it - here's the guy who works for the Linux Foundation as its Editorial Director of Research:

I have used Linux desktops like RedHat Workstation, CentOS, Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, and every GUI for the platform you can imagine, including GNOME, KDE, XFCE, and probably a dozen other weird forks of all of them.

In my estimation, none of these have ever been exceptionally well-designed systems for regular end users. They are fantastic for developers and technology professionals, but if you are a typical office worker, a student, or just someone at home who wants to get on their sites and do their stuff, Linux desktops are… well, they aren't good.
Click to expand...

Putting old PCs and Macs back to work​

I was intrigued with the idea that I could take a bunch of computers I had just sitting in my closet and have them do something useful again. First, I burned the ChromeOS Recovery Media using a USB flash drive (an 8GB one will do fine). That took about 10 minutes.

My first candidate was an eleven-year-old 15.6" Dell Inspiron 15R-5521 laptop (that shipped originally with Windows 8) with an Intel i7 and 16GB RAM. It was my wife's old machine, which was always a clunky and buggy system on Windows; we hated it.

I popped in the USB, interrupted the EFI boot process, chose the ChromeOS Flex drive as its boot source, and the old, and crusty thing booted right into its installer wizard. After confirming to wipe the system and install ChromeOS, within about 10 minutes, the device rebooted and came up with the new OS.

I had access to my Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth devices, the sound and webcam worked, and I had all my sites working. Even Zoom. And it runs crazy fast.


Frankly, there is no way this thing should work as well as it does on this old piece of crap. But it does.
Click to expand...

www.zdnet.com

I revived three ancient computers with ChromeOS Flex, and you can too

Don't throw out your old PC; breathe new life into it with the sustainable and accessible Linux for everyone. It's easier than you think.
www.zdnet.com www.zdnet.com
 
editor said:
Because literally everything works so seamlessly with Linux right? 🤣

Expecting a non techie person to be able to easily understand how to install Linux on a machine is sheer fantasy land.

But don't take my word for it - here's the guy who works for the Linux Foundation as its Editorial Director of Research:





www.zdnet.com

I revived three ancient computers with ChromeOS Flex, and you can too

Don't throw out your old PC; breathe new life into it with the sustainable and accessible Linux for everyone. It's easier than you think.
www.zdnet.com www.zdnet.com
Click to expand...

I wasn't the one suggesting Linux. In fact I said Pickman's was being a bit mean for suggesting it to a none technical user.

Edit. Fwiw though, I don't use Linux as main machine, but I've got a few systems at home with it and does work pretty well with most hardware these days. Until it doesnt or course.
 
Chz said:
What's going obsolete? I've got older PCs than that around, running Windows 10 just fine with nothing out of support.
Click to expand...

yes, i thought i'd got a few years left of W10 (main computer is a slightly dubious upgrade so probably won't handle W11, not sure laptop meets the specs for W11.)

haven't really looked in to it in detail as thought it wasn't this year's problem.
 
Puddy_Tat said:
yes, i thought i'd got a few years left of W10 (main computer is a slightly dubious upgrade so probably won't handle W11, not sure laptop meets the specs for W11.)

haven't really looked in to it in detail as thought it wasn't this year's problem.
Click to expand...

Not a problem for another 3 years yet in fact :)
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
Not a problem for another 3 years yet in fact :)
Click to expand...
That's what they've promised thus far. I consider it very likely it will end up like XP and 7 and have its support extended at least a couple of times. The problem they're up against is that the newest computers that are ineligible for Win 11 are barely 5 years old and will be perfectly good computers for a long time yet.
 
Chz said:
That's what they've promised thus far. I consider it very likely it will end up like XP and 7 and have its support extended at least a couple of times. The problem they're up against is that the newest computers that are ineligible for Win 11 are barely 5 years old and will be perfectly good computers for a long time yet.
Click to expand...

The easiest way would be to relax the TPM requirements, but I'm not sure they will. They could do it maybe on home editions and not buisness.
 
thanks for all the info , firstly yes i am not a techie so changing the system is probably no go for me . I shoulda mentioned i am on windows 8.1 so thats what they are phasing out in Jan (not windows 10) . I am constantly busy so i need the simplest solution - i guess maybe i could get Windows 11 onto the same computer but i don't think (being 10 years old) it would be strong enough to support it.
Budget , well up to a grand i suppose , current specs are Intel R Core i3 4130CPU 3.40GHZ 340GHZ , Ram 8GB , 64 bit operating system , 64 based processor (all of which means as much to me as a Starmer promise)
i got good advice regarding the Zoostorm on here so if you can point me to a quality set up much appreciated . I have a monitor and keyboard
 
ah gotcha :)
no need to spend a grand if you're not gaming and already have the peripherals
need an optical drive?
 
trevhagl said:
thanks for all the info , firstly yes i am not a techie so changing the system is probably no go for me . I shoulda mentioned i am on windows 8.1 so thats what they are phasing out in Jan (not windows 10) . I am constantly busy so i need the simplest solution - i guess maybe i could get Windows 11 onto the same computer but i don't think (being 10 years old) it would be strong enough to support it.
Budget , well up to a grand i suppose , current specs are Intel R Core i3 4130CPU 3.40GHZ 340GHZ , Ram 8GB , 64 bit operating system , 64 based processor (all of which means as much to me as a Starmer promise)
i got good advice regarding the Zoostorm on here so if you can point me to a quality set up much appreciated . I have a monitor and keyboard
Click to expand...
You haven't mentioned the one spec that matters. If your disk is an SSD, I'd say you're fine to upgrade to Windows 10 on that machine. Win10 does not have a higher spec requirement than 8.1.
If you're on spinning rust, it's probably time to put it out to pasture. New desktops aren't all that pricey.

The key thing to take away is that, although Microsoft said free upgrades to Windows 10 would be a limited time deal, that "limited time" still hasn't come to an end. You can get the upgrade program from here:
 
trevhagl said:
thanks for all the info , firstly yes i am not a techie so changing the system is probably no go for me . I shoulda mentioned i am on windows 8.1 so thats what they are phasing out in Jan (not windows 10) . I am constantly busy so i need the simplest solution - i guess maybe i could get Windows 11 onto the same computer but i don't think (being 10 years old) it would be strong enough to support it.
Budget , well up to a grand i suppose , current specs are Intel R Core i3 4130CPU 3.40GHZ 340GHZ , Ram 8GB , 64 bit operating system , 64 based processor (all of which means as much to me as a Starmer promise)
i got good advice regarding the Zoostorm on here so if you can point me to a quality set up much appreciated . I have a monitor and keyboard
Click to expand...

We can definitely find something nice for less then that. :)

One thing I might consider if you have the budget. Monitors have tumbled in price and got a lot better in the last few years. It might be nice to treat yourself to a nice 27" one whilst your at it.
 
So this has better specs then most Dells we buy for people at work and is cheaper. It's a lot, lot, more powerful then what you have at the moment and should last you many years. :)


New monitor if you fancied it, much nice to use


Edit. Win 11 is a free upgrade if you want it
 
UnderAnOpenSky said:
So this has better specs then most Dells we buy for people at work and is cheaper. It's a lot, lot, more powerful then what you have at the moment and should last you many years. :)


New monitor if you fancied it, much nice to use


Edit. Win 11 is a free upgrade if you want it
Click to expand...

thanks for that , i looked at that computer and it looks great BUT its Windows 10 , i would prefer it to be a Windows 11 so i get an extra couple of years
 
Chz said:
You haven't mentioned the one spec that matters. If your disk is an SSD, I'd say you're fine to upgrade to Windows 10 on that machine. Win10 does not have a higher spec requirement than 8.1.
If you're on spinning rust, it's probably time to put it out to pasture. New desktops aren't all that pricey.

The key thing to take away is that, although Microsoft said free upgrades to Windows 10 would be a limited time deal, that "limited time" still hasn't come to an end. You can get the upgrade program from here:
Click to expand...
not sure if its a SSD , it looks like this model here (but mine is higher spec than the one in this ad) - any ideas? Zoostorm Desktop Base Unit, PC, Intel Celeron 1.80 GHz, 6GB RAM, 1TB Storage. | eBay
 
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