Advise on buying new laptop

[Bigun]

That's why I don't like Apple... Their phones are a perfect example... No auxiliary drive bay. Spend STUPID money, and wind up stuck without enough storage. I paid 150 bucks for my Samsung A-50 and stuffed a big flash card in it the next day. Heck I don't even know how big it is anymore... But I will never worry about it.

For all the money paid for that dang Apple phone, you'd think they could add a mini flash port. Makes me mad.

Their pooters... same thing. They run great, no doubt, but crazy expensive bang-for-buck, and no where near as easy to upgrade. And hardware externals and software too... Just all the way around.

I like the vast and distributed Windows marketplace. Especially when you are talking used. A three year old WinPC can be found for a song. A five year old Apple is still big bread. There is an argument there about retaining value, but the freewheeling market on the Windows side makes that really negligible.

I have a Motorola Moto G Power (2021) that I paid less than $100 for brand new that does everything I know how to do and more.

[corbe]

@Kamaji

Never heard of such a thing. Do you have a brand name and/or a source you can give me?

   I only wore one when Wal~Mart made me wear one to work on their Lazer systems and Forklift Radio's.  If your area is experiencing Brown Outs you can forgo your usual paranoia about such things.   

[corbe]

   I gotta admit they are somewhat functional.  You don't lose that roach you just puffed on.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

Sort of like these:  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=anti-static+wrist&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0bi7nvKR-QIVJv7jBx0t1g1KEAAYASAAEgKANfD_BwE&hvadid=174231267041&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9067609&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8636382381488605389&hvtargid=kwd-2670500452&hydadcr=24658_9648989&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_92n8b8y6x9_e

@Kamaji

Thanks,just ordered one.

[sneakypete]

Viruses are pretty much non-existent since win10. Even spyware and such. I can't even tell you the last time I had an infection of any kind. Years and years.

@roamer_1

You don't consider Windows to be a virus?

[Cyber Liberty]

[Bigun]

Out of sheer boredom I went looking today and found it amazing what you can find for under $500 these days.

[Fishrrman]

catfish:
"If WIN has made that level of improvements around security, I might convert back.  Can't tell you how pissed off I was when I got my wife's last MacBook, and it was devoid of headphone jacks, SD ports, and standard USB connections."

Then... YOU DIDN'T BUY THE RIGHT ONE.
Didn't you investigate all the possible models before you bought?

My 2021 MacBook Pro 14" has:
Left side: Magsafe connection, 2 USBc ports, headphone jack
Right side: 1 USBc port, HDMI port, SD card slot.

Inside, the RAM, SSD and [Apple m-series] CPU are all "integrated" into a nonreplaceable single unit design.
Base model of the MBP 14" comes with 16gb RAM and a 512gb SSD. All that I'll need for it...

Runs great. Should last me at least 5-6 years, but could easily last 10 or more.
I gave my 2015 MacBook Pro 13" to my sister.
I still have a 2010 MBP 13" that boots and runs ok...

[catfish1957]

catfish:
"If WIN has made that level of improvements around security, I might convert back.  Can't tell you how pissed off I was when I got my wife's last MacBook, and it was devoid of headphone jacks, SD ports, and standard USB connections."

Then... YOU DIDN'T BUY THE RIGHT ONE.
Didn't you investigate all the possible models before you bought?

My 2021 MacBook Pro 14" has:
Left side: Magsafe connection, 2 USBc ports, headphone jack
Right side: 1 USBc port, HDMI port, SD card slot.

Inside, the RAM, SSD and [Apple m-series] CPU are all "integrated" into a nonreplaceable single unit design.
Base model of the MBP 14" comes with 16gb RAM and a 512gb SSD. All that I'll need for it...

Runs great. Should last me at least 5-6 years, but could easily last 10 or more.
I gave my 2015 MacBook Pro 13" to my sister.
I still have a 2010 MBP 13" that boots and runs ok...

Yes, I did do my research.....We wanted a MacBook Air, not Pro.

[Drago]

You must have got the "Johny Ive" model MB Air....my 2012 Mac Book Air has all of those ports (SD card, USB, and a headphone jack)...and is still running like a champ 10 years later!  The new "M2" MacBook Air's have a headphone jack and 2 T-Bolt/USB 3.2-4.0 ports and "Magsafe" is back for power. (Johny Ive not at Apple anymore...more ports and 1-2mm thicker is back!)   ;-)  The MacBook Pro's have all of the above and an SDXC card slot.

[sneakypete]

Ok guys,my refubrished Dell 16 inch laptop came in yesterday.

Looks to be perfect in every way.

Have it working properly now,downloaded my anti-virus software and loaded it,and am now trying to access my emails on microsoft mail on this computer,and can't even get the sign-in page to open.

Trying to avoid getting emails on my new used computer at the moment because due to my chemo brain,that would make me even more confused.

Is it me,or are there some problems now with the Microsoft mail system?

[corbe]

   I don't use Microsoft Mail, I found it very clunky. Can you use Webmail instead?  Is it a gmail or yahoo account?

[Smokin Joe]

I'm the same way about GM products now after the crap they pulled, and got away with, when Obama was dictator.  I'll walk before I drive anything GM.

I have a herd of GM--all pre-Obama, all 20th Century.

[sneakypete]

@Bigun @corbe @catfish1957 @Smokin Joe

Sorry for anybody I left out.

Well,my new/refurbished computer arrived yesterday,and not a moment too soon. MY hp Win. 7 computer is going nuts.

The damn thing looks like a new one,but seems to be a little slower than the Win 11 computer. Might/probably is due to chemo brain. I literally spent months trying to figure out WIN11,and since my memory sucks,I now need learn how to use WIN10 again. I have the professional version.

Even if this one turns out to be slower than the Win 11 computer,I really don't give a damn. It ain't like I am surfing the web for technical stuff,and I have no where to go but to doctors visits,and nothing to do but sit on my ass.

Besides,most of the problems I am having are directly related to Chemo Brain,and the computer has nothing to do with it.

 
The new/old one is one hell of a lot heavier than the Win 11 computer,and I like that.

BTW,went to the circulation specialist again today after him setting me free a few months ago. Since I can't bend my left knee or raise my left leg more than maybe 6-8 inches,

We got into a discussion about why my left leg continues to leak "water",and was told it was because my heart is too weak to pump the blood back up again.

Going to call me heart doc tomorrow and get an appointment so I can ask him if it is ok for me to stop taking the pills he gave me. My BP is typically low and has been low for the last year or so. NOT going to stop taking them until the heart doc and I have a face to face discussion,though.

I figured there was some good reason for me to fall asleep without warning while watching tv at night. Thanks to the left leg leaking stinking fluid,I have been sleeping sitting up for the last couple of years,and my back is killing me.

I know all this is off-topic,but maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes.

[sneakypete]

   I don't use Microsoft Mail, I found it very clunky. Can you use Webmail instead?  Is it a gmail or yahoo account?

@corbe

I use MS mail so I can keep my Firefox browser free of that crap.

As for clunky,I really don't care. I delete probably 90 percent of the mail I get without even opening it anyway.

[Bigun]

@Bigun @corbe @catfish1957 @Smokin Joe

Sorry for anybody I left out.

Well,my new/refurbished computer arrived yesterday,and not a moment too soon. MY hp Win. 7 computer is going nuts.

The damn thing looks like a new one,but seems to be a little slower than the Win 11 computer. Might/probably is due to chemo brain. I literally spent months trying to figure out WIN11,and since my memory sucks,I now need learn how to use WIN10 again. I have the professional version.

Even if this one turns out to be slower than the Win 11 computer,I really don't give a damn. It ain't like I am surfing the web for technical stuff,and I have no where to go but to doctors visits,and nothing to do but sit on my ass.

Besides,most of the problems I am having are directly related to Chemo Brain,and the computer has nothing to do with it.

 
The new/old one is one hell of a lot heavier than the Win 11 computer,and I like that.

BTW,went to the circulation specialist again today after him setting me free a few months ago. Since I can't bend my left knee or raise my left leg more than maybe 6-8 inches,

We got into a discussion about why my left leg continues to leak "water",and was told it was because my heart is too weak to pump the blood back up again.

Going to call me heart doc tomorrow and get an appointment so I can ask him if it is ok for me to stop taking the pills he gave me. My BP is typically low and has been low for the last year or so. NOT going to stop taking them until the heart doc and I have a face to face discussion,though.

I figured there was some good reason for me to fall asleep without warning while watching tv at night. Thanks to the left leg leaking stinking fluid,I have been sleeping sitting up for the last couple of years,and my back is killing me.

I know all this is off-topic,but maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes.

@sneakypete Like it or not, I'm going to continue praying for you to get those medical problems solved and get back to your normal self.

WRT to the computers, I'm very sure the light W11 computer you like can easily be reverted back to W10. If you can't do it the local shop can do it for you for a few $$$.

Many here can walk you through doing that if you need it.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete 

WRT to the computers, I'm very sure the light W11 computer you like can easily be reverted back to W10. If you can't do it the local shop can do it for you for a few $$$.

Many here can walk you through doing that if you need it.

@Bigun

Thanks for the offer,but  doing this stuff makes my head hurt worse than ever. I will be trying to do something,and forget what I am doing while I am doing it.

In other words,fooling with the 14 inch laptop with the silver keys that I absolutely hate is just not worth the grief.

I will never again buy a 14 inch computer,or any computer with silver keys.

[Bigun]

@Bigun

Thanks for the offer,but  doing this stuff makes my head hurt worse than ever. I will be trying to do something,and forget what I am doing while I am doing it.

In other words,fooling with the 14 inch laptop with the silver keys that I absolutely hate is just not worth the grief.

I will never again buy a 14 inch computer,or any computer with silver keys.

Yeah! I hear ya!  (I think I misread what you wrote earlier.)

[DefiantMassRINO]

Windows 10 is not impervious to security vulnerabilities ...

CVE Details
Microsoft » Windows 10 : Security Vulnerabilities
https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-26/product_id-32238/Microsoft-Windows-10.html

... any software, including operating systems, can be vulernable to security exploits at any time.

[Gefn]

I’m looking between a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air.

Anyone here in a Mac platform? Which do you prefer?

Leaning towards the Pro…I’m replacing a Pro from 2011.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I’m looking between a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air.

Anyone here in a Mac platform? Which do you prefer?

Leaning towards the Pro…I’m replacing a Pro from 2011.

I think the Air is cheaper.

[catfish1957]

I’m looking between a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air.

Anyone here in a Mac platform? Which do you prefer?

Leaning towards the Pro…I’m replacing a Pro from 2011.

The Air's did away with the SD slots, and I understand the "pro's" kept it.  My wife's new "Air" also didn not have that nice mag power connector either.....  And finally it was a tad smaller too.   So if cost is not an issue, I'd go "Pro"

[roamer_1]

I’m looking between a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air.

Anyone here in a Mac platform? Which do you prefer?

Leaning towards the Pro…I’m replacing a Pro from 2011.

Sorry, I don't do Mac.

I know you can save a ton if you by a used one 3 or so years old... At least out here, they tend to drop in value around there. Still, figure on paying 2/3 of new...If you can find one.

Which is why I don't do Mac. The bag-for-buck is crazy better on the PC side. A comparable PC would have cost half as much as a Mac to start with, and by 3 or 4 years old, that PC would be worth a third of that.

[Bigun]

Sorry, I don't do Mac.

Or anything else Apple!

[Cyber Liberty]

Sorry, I don't do Mac.

I know you can save a ton if you by a used one 3 or so years old... At least out here, they tend to drop in value around there. Still, figure on paying 2/3 of new...If you can find one.

Which is why I don't do Mac. The bag-for-buck is crazy better on the PC side. A comparable PC would have cost half as much as a Mac to start with, and by 3 or 4 years old, that PC would be worth a third of that.

I had a MacBook Pro once, and I liked it.  However, Apple also practices Bloatware, so it became useless after a few years just like a Windows box.  Snow Leopard killed my machine dead.

Planned Obsolescence is alive and well at Apple.

[Bigun]

I had a MacBook Pro once, and I liked it.  However, Apple also practices Bloatware, so it became useless after a few years just like a Windows box.  Snow Leopard killed my machine dead.

Planned Obsolescence is alive and well at Apple.

Their marketing scheme SUCKS.  I'm not playing their games.

[roamer_1]

I had a MacBook Pro once, and I liked it.  However, Apple also practices Bloatware, so it became useless after a few years just like a Windows box.  Snow Leopard killed my machine dead.

Planned Obsolescence is alive and well at Apple.

The thing I don't like is that they guard their service. Open that box without the codes to reset the security and new boxes will brick... And they are among the worst for having unrepairable components and no thought toward expansion.

Almost every new PC box has BOTH m.2 (or NVMe) AND SATA ports - so adding a drive is nothing.
Adding RAM is a piece of cake... Not so easy in MAC.

My sis is into Apple Phones. She is forever dogged by not enough room on that phone, and no way to expand it... First thing I did on my droid was to install another 128g flash card into it... I don't ever worry about storage onboard. With somewhere around 180g, I have my entire music library right onboard.

Yeah. No Macs for me. But different strokes... 

[sneakypete]

Ok guys,my refubrished Dell 16 inch laptop came in yesterday.

Looks to be perfect in every way.

Have it working properly now,downloaded my anti-virus software and loaded it,and am now trying to access my emails on microsoft mail on this computer,and can't even get the sign-in page to open.

Trying to avoid getting emails on my new used computer at the moment because due to my chemo brain,that would make me even more confused.

Is it me,or are there some problems now with the Microsoft mail system?

Ok,guys,girls,undecideds,been having trouble with the  "new/reconditioned computer" that I bought maybe a year ago this week,and I just don't have the mental facilities or the patience to try to fix it thanks to chemo brain,so I just ordered a 15.6 reconditioned Dell from Amazon for $268 that comes with a fresh reload of Win10 Pro. Given how little 268 bucks buys these days,that's a bargain just because I don't have to figure out how to fix corrupted software.

Plus,it will be screaming fast compared to my old one.
 
Dell Latitude E6540 15.6in Laptop, Core i7-4600M 2.9GHz, 8GB Ram, 500GB SSD, DVDRW, Windows 10 Pro 64bit (Renewed)

LOT of computer for 268 bucks.

[corbe]

   That is a lot of laptop for $268 @sneakypete

[sneakypete]

   That is a lot of laptop for $268 @sneakypete

@corbe

That was my thinking,also.

Plus,I get to start off with a clean software reinstall instead of having to use my chemo brain to get everything working with the new software.

IF I am lucky,the first thing I will do after booting it up is to take a thumb drive and download all the software programs,if I can figure out the logical way to do it.

I am VERY open to suggestions on this. I would really love to have a pristine software install on reserve for when I screw it up and need to reload Win 10 pro.

[corbe]

   Win10 and Win11 (all flavors) have an easy and great Restore/Reset feature in the Settings.  Open a Microsoft and gmail account to take care of everything except your personal data (docs, pics etc..) you'll have to figure that out and put it on an inexpensive thumb drive, would be my suggestion.

[sneakypete]

   Win10 and Win11 (all flavors) have an easy and great Restore/Reset feature in the Settings.  Open a Microsoft and gmail account to take care of everything except your personal data (docs, pics etc..) you'll have to figure that out and put it on an inexpensive thumb drive, would be my suggestion.

@corbe

Thank you!

What would be wrong about putting the new operating system on a thumbdrive?

[corbe]

   Sure, you can download it from Microsoft and make a bootable USB drive.

[corbe]

Create Windows 10 installation media


To get started, you will first need to have a license to install Windows 10. You can then download and run the media creation tool. For more information on how to use the tool, see the instructions below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

[Bigun]

Ok,guys,girls,undecideds,been having trouble with the  "new/reconditioned computer" that I bought maybe a year ago this week,and I just don't have the mental facilities or the patience to try to fix it thanks to chemo brain,so I just ordered a 15.6 reconditioned Dell from Amazon for $268 that comes with a fresh reload of Win10 Pro. Given how little 268 bucks buys these days,that's a bargain just because I don't have to figure out how to fix corrupted software.

Plus,it will be screaming fast compared to my old one.
 
Dell Latitude E6540 15.6in Laptop, Core i7-4600M 2.9GHz, 8GB Ram, 500GB SSD, DVDRW, Windows 10 Pro 64bit (Renewed)

LOT of computer for 268 bucks.

 

[DB]

Ok,guys,girls,undecideds,been having trouble with the  "new/reconditioned computer" that I bought maybe a year ago this week,and I just don't have the mental facilities or the patience to try to fix it thanks to chemo brain,so I just ordered a 15.6 reconditioned Dell from Amazon for $268 that comes with a fresh reload of Win10 Pro. Given how little 268 bucks buys these days,that's a bargain just because I don't have to figure out how to fix corrupted software.

Plus,it will be screaming fast compared to my old one.
 
Dell Latitude E6540 15.6in Laptop, Core i7-4600M 2.9GHz, 8GB Ram, 500GB SSD, DVDRW, Windows 10 Pro 64bit (Renewed)

LOT of computer for 268 bucks.

All of that sounds pretty good for $268. An i7 and SSD will help quite a bit to make it a fast machine. Having someone upgrade the memory to 16 GB would be a plus and shouldn't be expensive.

[DB]

That's why I don't like Apple... Their phones are a perfect example... No auxiliary drive bay. Spend STUPID money, and wind up stuck without enough storage. I paid 150 bucks for my Samsung A-50 and stuffed a big flash card in it the next day. Heck I don't even know how big it is anymore... But I will never worry about it.

For all the money paid for that dang Apple phone, you'd think they could add a mini flash port. Makes me mad.

Their pooters... same thing. They run great, no doubt, but crazy expensive bang-for-buck, and no where near as easy to upgrade. And hardware externals and software too... Just all the way around.

I like the vast and distributed Windows marketplace. Especially when you are talking used. A three year old WinPC can be found for a song. A five year old Apple is still big bread. There is an argument there about retaining value, but the freewheeling market on the Windows side makes that really negligible.

Apple demands total control of what goes in their stuff. A micro SD card slot would make it more susceptible to water damage since they make access to the inside difficult.

[roamer_1]

Apple demands total control of what goes in their stuff. A micro SD card slot would make it more susceptible to water damage since they make access to the inside difficult.

 

So make do with 32 or 64g?

Absolutely not. Not for that kind of money... 

Nope. I will stick with Droid and as much storage as I can stand, for a quarter of the cost. It ain't no damn piano. It will be junk in another year or so when I go to upgrade again. So why spend big money to put up with it? Makes no sense to me at all.

[DB]

So make do with 32 or 64g?

Absolutely not. Not for that kind of money... 

Nope. I will stick with Droid and as much storage as I can stand, for a quarter of the cost. It ain't no damn piano. It will be junk in another year or so when I go to upgrade again. So why spend big money to put up with it? Makes no sense to me at all.

I was agreeing with you... Just adding to it...

[Hoodat]

Just bought a new laptop several weeks back (discussed on another thread).  For email, I installed Thunderbird to manage my gmail account, and I am very happy with it.  Microsoft can kiss my ass with their monthly charge for Outlook.  Thanks again, @roamer_1

Now I am looking for a pdf reader program that can combine pdf files into a single file.  That's basically all I need with pdfs.  A permanent license from adobe is around $350.  Would really like to avoid paying that.

[Elderberry]

Just bought a new laptop several weeks back (discussed on another thread).  For email, I installed Thunderbird to manage my gmail account, and I am very happy with it.  Microsoft can kiss my ass with their monthly charge for Outlook.  Thanks again, @roamer_1

Now I am looking for a pdf reader program that can combine pdf files into a single file.  That's basically all I need with pdfs.  A permanent license from adobe is around $350.  Would really like to avoid paying that.

I've been using PDF Studio Pro for a lotta years now, but never needed to combine pdfs with it. I looked, an it has that capability.

[roamer_1]

Just bought a new laptop several weeks back (discussed on another thread).  For email, I installed Thunderbird to manage my gmail account, and I am very happy with it.  Microsoft can kiss my ass with their monthly charge for Outlook.  Thanks again, @roamer_1

Very happy to have been of service @Hoodat   

Now I am looking for a pdf reader program that can combine pdf files into a single file.  That's basically all I need with pdfs.  A permanent license from adobe is around $350.  Would really like to avoid paying that.

It's a kludge, but you can do that printing to pdf with the common printer available in windows since Win6.

Now, it is a careful thing without much for options, but you can (or could) select several files (in file manager, throw a rope or ctrl-select for example)... RClick should make 'print...' available. From there select 'Print to PDF' and away you go.

Now, it is a kludge as I said, because the only control you have is order according to your selection, as you select it - There was something weird in that, like the order being opposite of expectation or something like that... But it worked.

Sorry if that is vague. I have not done it in a long, long time, and I only used it that way for a while when my Umax flatbed quit speaking to it's software after an OS upgrade. Too kludgy for me, and I went to an HP all-in-wonder to make it a fix.

Tangentially, you can probably bring up multiple docs in a scanner software, combine and sort them, and then print to pdf... But that would depend upon your scanner software.

I have nothing more, unless you want to play with OpenOffice or LibreOffice, whose inbuilt ability in their word processor should function - Again, open multiple, read and edit/upmark/order in oOo, and then print to pdf.

But I am no longer in that kind of work, for a long time, so I got nothing, really. 

[Hoodat]

Any time I want to convert a scan to PDF, I use the 'Microsoft print to pdf' option, even on pooters that have Adobe.  But lets say I'm doing an expense report and I have to scan receipts for each expense.  Once completed, I want to take all those pdf files and combine them into one multi-page pdf file.  Acrobat has an option for combining pdf files.  I want to know if there is a competitor that offers the same thing.

[roamer_1]

Any time I want to convert a scan to PDF, I use the 'Microsoft print to pdf' option, even on pooters that have Adobe.  But lets say I'm doing an expense report and I have to scan receipts for each expense.  Once completed, I want to take all those pdf files and combine them into one multi-page pdf file.  Acrobat has an option for combining pdf files.  I want to know if there is a competitor that offers the same thing.

That can be done inside the scanner software, part and parcel with the scanning... That's how I did it back when I did it for real. But, like I said, that depends highly upon your scanner software - Which sometimes resides on the DVD and is not installed unless you go looking for it. But scanner workshop software used to be provided. If all you've done is install the drivers, I would go looking on the DVD or scanner site.

But like I said, it's been a long time... maybe that ain't so anymore. That's why I stayed in Umax scanners as long as I did... because their scanner desktop software really worked well for the organization you are looking for.

[Bigun]

Any time I want to convert a scan to PDF, I use the 'Microsoft print to pdf' option, even on pooters that have Adobe.  But lets say I'm doing an expense report and I have to scan receipts for each expense.  Once completed, I want to take all those pdf files and combine them into one multi-page pdf file.  Acrobat has an option for combining pdf files.  I want to know if there is a competitor that offers the same thing.

@ Hoodat Take a look at https://dochub.com/

[Hoodat]

Thank you, sir.

[Bigun]

Thank you, sir.

I don't have much need for it now, but it worked for me in the past.

[sneakypete]

Just bought a new laptop several weeks back (discussed on another thread).  For email, I installed Thunderbird to manage my gmail account, and I am very happy with it.  Microsoft can kiss my ass with their monthly charge for Outlook. Thanks again, @roamer_1

@Hoodat

Huh? I have been using MS Outlook for a couple of years,and have yet to get a bill or pay a dime.