Buying PC (still not got it yet)

[joe-90]

Ok so 32 or 64? I tend to be happy with older versions of Office etc, so is there any point in going 64 bit? Would it run older versions? I'm not a gamer or using CAD design, just the sort of browsing your mum might do with the odd You Tube video.

 

[jockscott]

Depends how much RAM the computer has Joe. If it has more than 4Gb then go for the 64bit OS as a 32 bit system can't ever use more than 4Gb of memory.
BTW, just been to my grandson's 16th birthday bash. His mum bought him a new Zoostorm gaming computer 2Tb SSD, 8Gb Ram and a NVidia GTX960 graphics card, running Win10 64bit version. Had a quick go on it this afternoon and my,,, it's frighteningly fast. (shame he's only on a 2Mbs connection though)

 

[joe-90]

Yeah well I'm frighteningly slow these days.

 

[securespark]

Me and Mrs Secure both started with Win 7.

I upgraded to Win 10 as soon as I could. She didn't: she hates Win 10, I love it!

As I said in my earlier post, it depends how much RAM you are going for as to whether you choose the 32 or 64 bit version.

 

[joe-90]

Well which do you have?

 

[JBR]

Well how do these retailers sell computers with Windows ready installed? Isn't it just the same if you buy the license?

I should imagine that manufacturers can buy Windows from Microsoft at a cheaper price as they are effectively buying in bulk. No doubt they also get paid some sort of fee by the 'bloatware' manufacturers for including their rubbish with the computers.

I sometimes think it might be advantageous to buy a computer with absolutely nothing pre-installed - neither Windows nor bloatware - and choosing what to install myself. Moreover, if I chose to install some version of Linux it could be much cheaper than any traditional Windows pre-installed computer. My worry would be, can I obtain and install drivers, etc., from the manufacturer?

 

[joe-90]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu?

 

[jockscott]

Used to use Ubuntu....

Pro's,,,,, it works out of the box. Practically virus free, Comes with almost everything you need (browser, email client and Libre Office software).

Con's some programs are a blugger to install,, almost forget about Windows programs (Play on Linux etc, just don't hack it, but if your running a Linux OS why would you want to run Windows programs?? ) ,, quite easy to make mistakes using the command line and f**k everything up,,,,, you will have to use the command line at some point,,,, generic drivers for graphics cards etc , don't utilise the graphics card to it's full capabilities,,,,,,

Apart from that,, go for it Joe.. It's free and there is loads of support from the Linux community.
If your just going to use it to browse the internet, email people etc, then by all means use it. You can try it before installing. Download the ISO on to a USB stick, set the computer to boot from that first, stick the USB stick in before turning on the computer and away you go. Just select "Try Ubuntu".. If you like it, you can then install Ubuntu. The interface is quite like Windows, with icons etc. Pretty straightforward really.

 

[securespark]

Well which do you have?

Just looked it up in Windows.

64 bit Windows 10 Home.

But I have 4GB RAM.

Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz.

A fairly old machine now but still runs good.

 

[HawkEye244]

For things like browsing and online banking you are probably best off with windows 10, 64bit will mean programs run a bit faster than 32bit. I would go for 64 bit to give the computer a bit more longevity.

What happens is that when you buy a windows OS, the key becomes logged to the hard drive, so you have to buy another key when you change your hard drive basically, Microsoft has always behaved like this, it's a money spinner.

In fairness getting cracked keys to get a free copy of windows is easy to do, but it can sometimes be a nightmare as well, and if you are not tech savy you can find yourself regretting having not just paid for a copy.

Another operating systems like Linux Mint, great operating systems but not very user friendly unless you are good are programming code, but new improvements are being made all the time.

Personally I use windows 7, and I'll be moving onto Linux when Microsoft stops supporting windows 7 in 2020 (so five years time). I can't stand the touchscreen appearance of windows 10, it feels as though the operating system is hiding all it's inner workings from the user, not something I'm accustomed to having grown up with windows 95/98, you lose a sense of control when everything is micromanaged for you by the OS.

 

[ellal]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu?

Try Ubuntu Mate on hard drive.
Or Porteus on USB drive if running windows on hard drive, and use that to access the internet/email.

The beauty is viruses become a thing of the past, as anything online in Linux won't affect any windows system.

As for anyone considering windows 10, think again:

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/30/windows-10-and-privacy/

Why load spyware? Especially as you don't know if Cortana is actually turned off or not despite using the options!

After all, Microshaft aren't exactly averse to 'pulling a fast one'!

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tec...-if-you-dont-intend-to-upgrade-11364003965810

 

[JBR]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu?

Try Ubuntu Mate on hard drive.
Or Porteus on USB drive if running windows on hard drive, and use that to access the internet/email.

The beauty is viruses become a thing of the past, as anything online in Linux won't affect any windows system.

As for anyone considering windows 10, think again:

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/30/windows-10-and-privacy/

Why load spyware? Especially as you don't know if Cortana is actually turned off or not despite using the options!

After all, Microshaft aren't exactly averse to 'pulling a fast one'!

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tec...-if-you-dont-intend-to-upgrade-11364003965810

Welcome back, Ella. Nice to see you decided to return - really, I mean it.

I'm still not sure about Windows 10. I downloaded W10 on my 'other' laptop when I noticed the 'Window logo' in my notification area. It's not bad. Like anything new, it is taking a bit of getting used to and, to be honest, I'm finding the process interesting.

However, the main thing is that I have not found any distinct advantages of W10 over W7, in fact on the contrary there are one or two things that don't work now: nothing too important, but all the same I wonder why Microsoft had to do that.

My main laptop still runs Windows 7, which I have found does everything I want (and probably a lot more). What I don't understand is why MS insist on people 'upgrading' to W10 for no apparent reason. The only difference I can see is that it is more suitable for tablets and mobile phones, which I wouldn't use it for anyway - I use Android.

I know that MS realised that W8 was a pile of $hit, in most people's views, and wanted to attract customers back. So why didn't they offer W8 users a free 'upgrade' back to Windows 7?

 

[HawkEye244]

Has anyone tried Ubuntu?

Try Ubuntu Mate on hard drive.
Or Porteus on USB drive if running windows on hard drive, and use that to access the internet/email.

The beauty is viruses become a thing of the past, as anything online in Linux won't affect any windows system.

As for anyone considering windows 10, think again:

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/07/30/windows-10-and-privacy/

Why load spyware? Especially as you don't know if Cortana is actually turned off or not despite using the options!

After all, Microshaft aren't exactly averse to 'pulling a fast one'!

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/tec...-if-you-dont-intend-to-upgrade-11364003965810

The updates can be turned off, it sounds like you know the score already though. I made a point of not installing the data mining updates for 7, at least they give you the option which is nice. They offer free upgrades to 10 for windows 7/8 because they want total saturation, or as close as possible (in my opinion). No doubt Gates has sat down with the NSA and talked through strategy, he is only a business man after all, if government want something done a certain way their always determined enough even if it means a total violation of privacy.