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New laptop advice (Read 9944 times)

Dexter

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#25 Re: New laptop advice
May 02, 2014, 03:26:22 pm
Why no acer? (curious)

Forgot to mention mrs is still a student so if theres anyone who offers deals on that, that would be gran. Think apple do, but have an extremely strong dislike of them...

another consideration is depending on where she is a student you can get loads of free software which save a bunch.
I got windows 7 free through my uni and saved £70 on my desktop by buying it without an operating system.
You may be able to get word etc this way too.

It can be a pain to find where the free stuff is however (uni's dont seem to want to advertise where it is for some reason)

slackline

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#26 Re: New laptop advice
May 02, 2014, 03:34:59 pm
Why no acer? (curious)

Forgot to mention mrs is still a student so if theres anyone who offers deals on that, that would be gran. Think apple do, but have an extremely strong dislike of them...

another consideration is depending on where she is a student you can get loads of free software which save a bunch.
I got windows 7 free through my uni and saved £70 on my desktop by buying it without an operating system.
You may be able to get word etc this way too.

It can be a pain to find where the free stuff is however (uni's dont seem to want to advertise where it is for some reason)

Or you could save yourself the pain and legal minefield* and just use free software (e.g. GNU/Linux as an OS, LibreOffice if you need word processing/spreadsheets although you may as well use Google Drive/Docs, GIMP for image processing (although I use darktable for RAW picture processing), Audacity for music editing etc. etc. etc.).

If there are programs for studying/working that are a only available for M$-Win then you can run M$-Win under VirtualBox and install them there.


Don't know what Uni you're at but CiCS at Univ of Sheffield have it all listed in one place.

* Technically its probably a violation of the license if its your partner who's the student and they buy it for you to run on your computer, as the information at the above clearly states "All software is for use by members of the University only.", although I realise that sticking to software licensing is frowned upon by many.


Obi-Wan is lost...

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#27 Re: New laptop advice
May 02, 2014, 03:45:35 pm
Have zoomed out which looks ok but doesn't affect top toolbar. Oh well I'll have to look at big writing for a few wks. Cmd stuff just hurt my ears  ;) cheers tho
have you checked display settings? If you've plugged into a projector or monitor recently it might have screwed up your resolution.
 :thumbsup:

a dense loner

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#28 Re: New laptop advice
May 02, 2014, 06:24:34 pm
I have Toby and it worked, quite a strange un intuitive way to get there though. Same with all apple stuff it's quite logical once you've done it, until then it seems bizarre!
Cheers

Duncan campbell

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#29 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 02:29:47 pm
Reviving this thread…

Seems like my old and up to now trustworthy iPad is on its way out. Can’t seem to release enough storage to keep Netflix on it…

So looks like I might finally need to buy a laptop having survived without one for probably 8 years.

My options are;

Do something clever to my iPad to open up storage - preferable but haven’t managed to sort it yet

Or buy a laptop.

My needs are very very simple; I just want to watch YouTube, Netflix etc

Go on ukc and ukb

And do my work invoicing

Be good if it had a decent battery life or the ability to be charged via usb for when I’m away in the van for work/pleasure (not sure if this is a thing)

If it comes to this I’ll defo get a refurbished laptop, unless told otherwise.

Any recommendations on what to look out for?

I have literally no clue about computers and have no real inclination to start learning about them, as long as I can do what I need on the bloody things

Paul B

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#30 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 02:57:24 pm
Perhaps see my Chromebook thread?

Duma

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#31 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 05:43:28 pm
From your post I guess your not tied to apple? If so as Paul says a chromebook is likely the way to go. Or if you'd rather a tablet there's plenty of decent android ones about for not too much cash.

Duncan campbell

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#32 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 07:11:14 pm
Perhaps see my Chromebook thread?

Not seen that but I’ll check it out!

Duncan campbell

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#33 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 07:15:19 pm
From your post I guess your not tied to apple? If so as Paul says a chromebook is likely the way to go. Or if you'd rather a tablet there's plenty of decent android ones about for not too much cash.

Not especially. I regret buying into iPhones. It’s useful how your photos transfer onto iPad but not enough to shell out for one. My current one was a Xmas present and although it’s been great and probably lasted me approximately 9 years, it would be handy having a laptop. But I’m definitely not shelling out for a MacBook.

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#34 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 07:26:37 pm
Get one of these. Basically meets your requirements and they’re good machines. If you hate Amazon grab it from curry etc

HP 15.6" Laptop PC 15s-fq2016sa, Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, FHD, Natural silver https://amzn.eu/d/6ogvZxV

remus

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#35 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 07:51:05 pm
I think a chromebook would be perfect for your usage duncan.

If you want a cheap option google now do a version of chrome os that you can install on lots of laptops (so you dont have to buy a specific chromebook) https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex/ This means you could get a cheap second hand machine off fb marketplace or ebay, install chrome os flex and you'd be off.

spidermonkey09

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#36 Re: New laptop advice
June 26, 2022, 09:23:09 pm
 Second the view that a Chromebook would be perfect. I would take a spin round a big Curry's and/or John Lewis, look at the ones they've got in and speak to the staff. I learnt a lot about chrome books from the JL staff at the Trafford Centre which I found really useful. No hard sell either.

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#37 Re: New laptop advice
June 27, 2022, 01:12:50 pm

Do something clever to my iPad to open up storage - preferable but haven’t managed to sort it yet


Depends on what's consuming all your storage. Otherwise there's no way to know whether this is feasible.

 You can see this in Settings > General > iPad Storage and the usual culprit tends to be images/photos. In which case you could consider offloading those to cloud storage (e.g. iCloud or Google photos)

Duncan campbell

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#38 Re: New laptop advice
June 27, 2022, 03:09:04 pm

Do something clever to my iPad to open up storage - preferable but haven’t managed to sort it yet


Depends on what's consuming all your storage. Otherwise there's no way to know whether this is feasible.

 You can see this in Settings > General > iPad Storage and the usual culprit tends to be images/photos. In which case you could consider offloading those to cloud storage (e.g. iCloud or Google photos)

All my photos are in the cloud. Think basically it’s just old and full of updates. Cleared my browser cache and deleted all non-essential apps and have managed to re-download Netflix (for now!)

A large part of the storage is media (not sure exactly what this means) and other (equally not too sure)

Have managed to clear about 5GB of space which is enough to keep it limping on for now.

Will look into chromebooks next time I’m near a JL and look to get a refurbished one when this iPad eventually gives up the ghost. Hopefully got a bit more time with it!

MischaHY

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#39 Re: New laptop advice
June 28, 2022, 08:41:10 am

Do something clever to my iPad to open up storage - preferable but haven’t managed to sort it yet


Depends on what's consuming all your storage. Otherwise there's no way to know whether this is feasible.

 You can see this in Settings > General > iPad Storage and the usual culprit tends to be images/photos. In which case you could consider offloading those to cloud storage (e.g. iCloud or Google photos)

All my photos are in the cloud. Think basically it’s just old and full of updates. Cleared my browser cache and deleted all non-essential apps and have managed to re-download Netflix (for now!)

A large part of the storage is media (not sure exactly what this means) and other (equally not too sure)

Have managed to clear about 5GB of space which is enough to keep it limping on for now.

Will look into chromebooks next time I’m near a JL and look to get a refurbished one when this iPad eventually gives up the ghost. Hopefully got a bit more time with it!

Media will be music/video or potentially app content or similar. If you have a large volume of music downloaded on Spotify or just MP3's then this could be causing the issue.

In all honesty though the most straightforward thing to do in order to breath life into an older device is to do a backup of important things and then a hard reset to factory settings. The key thing is to avoid doing some kind of cloud-clone of the device because this will simply restore itself afterwards.

In general on the subject of device longevity - I've got a 2012 base spec Macbook Air with a laughable 64gb SSD that is still trundling along. It can even still edit video (although it can't stream high than 1080p). Keep thinking about replacing it but there's something so stoic about the way it chews through final cut pro.  ;D

SA Chris

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#40 Re: New laptop advice
June 28, 2022, 09:46:24 am
You can see this in Settings > General > iPad Storage and the usual culprit tends to be images/photos. In which case you could consider offloading those to cloud storage (e.g. iCloud or Google photos)

This. And cookies. And we pages / other things it automatically downloaded when you were just looking at them. And if you delete them, remember to clear them from your bin too.

andy_e

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#41 Re: New laptop advice
August 13, 2023, 12:07:36 pm
I'm thinking about a new laptop, as I've spent the past two days waiting for my 9 year old Lenovo Z51-70 to update, but I think it's getting a bit old now.

I'm after something with a large screen that cna handle video editing (my old one was OK for this but struggles with 1080p). I'd like a large internal HDD, but would be tempted to swap out any hard drive with the (upgraded c. 2 years ago) 2TB SSD I currently have in my old laptop.

Price wise, I'm looking at something relatively budget. It doesn't need to be the highest spec machine, and I'd like to spend something well south of a grand. I like Lenovo but am not tied to the. Definitely windows though!

SamT

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#42 Re: New laptop advice
August 13, 2023, 02:22:22 pm
Look at the dell refurbished outlet.. always had good deals from there for work laptops.

 

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