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Cordcutting Thread
roamer_1:
--- Quote from: jmyrlefuller on June 12, 2021, 12:07:56 am --- Re: computer brands
I've had pretty good success with an HP. I have an HP laptop that so far has lasted me three years. The only problem was entirely my fault (smashing the screen, forcing me to run everything through the HDMI port and an external monitor, turning it into a desktop).
The most durable laptop I've ever owned was the Asus Eee PC, which I don't even know if they make that brand anymore. It was one of the last of the XP computers when I bought it in 2010 and if not for that, I'd probably still be using it. It's still sitting in a drawer somewhere (again, the screen was damaged).
Whatever you do, dude, don't get a Dell. They frequently break, wear down, and all in all don't last very long. I bought one for college on a three-year warranty and you would not believe the laundry list of times I had to go get it repaired for some problem or another.
--- End quote ---
Durability in laptops... Right now I am on an HP Elitebook running an i7 and 16g or ram. Has a front SSD 240g, and a 2T rear drive (I took out the DVD and put a HDD there, so two hard drives).... 17" large form factor laptop.
One of the things you find out in business class laptops, they are WAY more durable (this one is in a stainless steel body) and way more configurable/update-able, having none of the low ram limitations (as an instance) of consumer products.
And that reaches right across the board - Doesn't matter if it is HP, Lenovo, Dell, etc... And the same in desktops - My whole herd is HP business class except for a lonely Dell (business class) that is my main media server and runs my main TV.
If you want good, long-lasting equipment, go business class. HP is a great contender, but any of them will do pretty well. Even used - This very machine can be found end of lease refurbed for 4 hundred and some. If a feller only has 500 to spend, I would rather see you get solid refurbs than mess with consumer grade.
Smokin Joe:
--- Quote from: roamer_1 on June 12, 2021, 12:20:59 am ---Durability in laptops... Right now I am on an HP Elitebook running an i7 and 16g or ram. Has a front SSD 240g, and a 2T rear drive (I took out the DVD and put a HDD there, so two hard drives).... 17" large form factor laptop.
One of the things you find out in business class laptops, they are WAY more durable (this one is in a stainless steel body) and way more configurable/update-able, having none of the low ram limitations (as an instance) of consumer products.
And that reaches right across the board - Doesn't matter if it is HP, Lenovo, Dell, etc... And the same in desktops - My whole herd is HP business class except for a lonely Dell (business class) that is my main media server and runs my main TV.
If you want good, long-lasting equipment, go business class. HP is a great contender, but any of them will do pretty well. Even used - This very machine can be found end of lease refurbed for 4 hundred and some. If a feller only has 500 to spend, I would rather see you get solid refurbs than mess with consumer grade.
--- End quote ---
I'm running an HP Elitebook with an I5 and 8 MB. Got the itch to back up my files a little while back, so I did, just copied as much of the machine as would go into a remote drive. The very next boot up, no go.
The drive died. I took it to a friend who does this stuff, and he threw in a SSD and recovered purt'near everything from the old drive from the backup I made just on the spur of the moment.
With the SSD it is noticeably faster, and now I don't have to worry as much about bumps. I've been running it (bought refurbed) for three years now. The first thing I'd recommend is replacing the drive with the solid state one, and then max out the memory, just to get the best performance out of it.
roamer_1:
--- Quote from: Smokin Joe on June 12, 2021, 02:31:13 am ---With the SSD it is noticeably faster, and now I don't have to worry as much about bumps. I've been running it (bought refurbed) for three years now. The first thing I'd recommend is replacing the drive with the solid state one, and then max out the memory, just to get the best performance out of it.
--- End quote ---
Absolutely on both counts. In fact, if you have an old machine, the very BEST way to get an eyebrow raising difference is replacing the drive with an SSD... Then RAM, and then upgrade the wifi/net... pretty much in that order.
But one caution: Back up. SSDs work, and then they don't. when they leave, they are pretty much gone. I seldom recover anything from a non-working SSD. And when SMART tells you they are reaching their write limit, don't dawdle. Take it very seriously.
The part of your tale that matters is your poorly regimented backup. If that didn't teach you, I can turn my collar
around. In the end, backup is everything.
Even (or maybe even more) when traveling (which you tend to be) you need some bulletproof means in place.
Smokin Joe:
--- Quote from: roamer_1 on June 12, 2021, 04:12:45 am ---Absolutely on both counts. In fact, if you have an old machine, the very BEST way to get an eyebrow raising difference is replacing the drive with an SSD... Then RAM, and then upgrade the wifi/net... pretty much in that order.
But one caution: Back up. SSDs work, and then they don't. when they leave, they are pretty much gone. I seldom recover anything from a non-working SSD. And when SMART tells you they are reaching their write limit, don't dawdle. Take it very seriously.
The part of your tale that matters is your poorly regimented backup. If that didn't teach you, I can turn my collar
around. In the end, backup is everything.
Even (or maybe even more) when traveling (which you tend to be) you need some bulletproof means in place.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the advice. Keeping in mind that we don't all have the setup you do, what would you recommend for backup/recovery?
roamer_1:
--- Quote from: Smokin Joe on June 12, 2021, 08:23:16 am ---Thanks for the advice. Keeping in mind that we don't all have the setup you do, what would you recommend for backup/recovery?
--- End quote ---
If you are at home, and you have multiple machines, network access between them is KEY. Pick one that is to be 'Always On' And use that to serve the other machines... One of the things to serve, is as a place that is always there that all the other machines back up to.
I actually have two 'Always On' machines - One that is my file and backup server, and one that is my Media server. Since they are BOTH always on, one doing business stuff, and the other doing media stuff - they back up between themselves too - So I have a native backup, twice replicated onsite.
Something similar, but on a smaller scale would be an always on NAS or USB storage space - Both basically the same thing, one being a direct network appliance (probably faster and more bandwidth), and the one I will touch on here briefly, which is a standard USB external hard drive. Most modern routers have a USB port on them, and that is what it is for... To receive an exernal hard drive that will always be on, and will always be accessible from the local network.
With that in mind, with either a machine, or an appliance that is always on, any machine attached to your local LAN can have an automated means of backup, because when the backup program runs, the target location is sure to be there. You get the idea.
I am not a fan of imaging software for backup uses... It seems efficient, but the problem is, the entire backup is in a single file, and if that file is damaged, all of the backup is effected. If it is a raw copy software, every file in the backup routine is simply copied to the target location... If you get damage, you may lose some files,but not the whole thing. The native Windows backup solution is like an image - it is rather, a container file more like zip, but the same problem applies. Don't get me wrong, it is better than nothing, sure, but a raw file copier would serve you better.
I am still using Cobian even though it is not in development and has been sold... Cobian 'Gravity' the last version of the original program is still available and I really can find nothing better. And it is free, btw.
Another thing to consider for critical data - Now critical being a small subset, small enough to comfortably fit in what I am talking about - is the use of Microsoft's native cloud system... It is complicated if one desires not to log your machine onto microsoft every time and retain a local user (which is what you want), but if you have a Microsoft mail account, your machines can use something kinda like a roaming profile from Microsoft's cloud. I use this to keep my main desktop and my main laptop synchronized. That is everything in the profile - many Windows settings, desktop background, and three primary file locations : Desktop, Documents, and Pictures are kept sync'd between them always using Microsofts OneDrive...
This would be recommended for you, if you have lightweight critical data on the road - Because every time you log in to internet somewhere, those files are pumped up into the internet, and if your desktop at home is online all the time, automatically sync'd to your home from wherever you are. It is not worth it, at least to me, for backing my whole backup, but if you can manage with the free stuff you get with a Microsoft email account, Or better yet, if you are using an Office 365 subscription already (which gives you way more space to work with) This is hard to beat.
Also, both at home and on the road, I will return to a USB external drive - The same backup software can back up on demand too - Which means you can plug in a drive and manually run a backup job, and then unplug the drive when it is done... Nice to have a backup that is offline in case of some electrical failure or fire or whatnot... Grab the family Bible and the external drive and get the hell out... Especially on the road, where a daily backup to an external is an immediate and local-to-you backup regardless of cloud tricks and the vagaries of access to it.
And depending on your weight, don't forget thumb drives. If you have USB3 on your laptop, a USB3 thumb is a sufficient and highly portable solution. And they are getting huge and cheap. A 128g thumb is what, maybe fifty bucks? If you can live in that, it is way cheaper than an external drive of average size.
I will stop there and call it good. If any of it sounds like something you want to play with, I am always around to help out... or even write something up that is a little more grandular, if there is a demand.
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