So did you buy a new computer or laptop this season?

Topic

New Reply

What did you buy?  What brand did you buy and why?  What specs?  Hard drive, memory? Where did you buy it?  Several of my friends buy electronics at C
[See the full post at: So did you buy a new computer or laptop this season?]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

Reply | Quote

Replies

We bought a new desktop in October, went from Windows 7 to Windows 11 pro. We found a local computer shop and had it built to hubby’s specs. Thought we were getting the home version but as it turns out this is better because I can pause the windows updates. Love the SSD it is so fast!

Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700K @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎10/‎19/‎2022
OS build 22621.1702

Reply | Quote

What did we buy:

• HP Z2 Tower G9 Workstation
• Product number: 4Y0H6AV

Where did we buy it:

• HP

What Specs:

• Windows 10 Pro (available through downgrade rights from Windows 11 Pro),
• Intel® Core™ i7-12700 Processor (2.1 GHz, up to 4.9 GHz w/Boost, 25 MB cache, 12 core, 65W) ECC + Intel® UHD Graphics 770,
• 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-4800 UDIMM Memory,
• NVIDIA® T400 (4 GB GDDR6, 3 x Mini DisplayPort) Graphics (Mini DisplayPort 1.4 connectors) (RTX Series),
• Power 450 W,
• Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX211 + Bluetooth® 5.2,
• Hard drive 256 GB PCIe 4×4 2280 Value M.2, and
• HP Wolf Pro Security Edition app
  • An app that we removed shortly after setup because it was slowing down the system
  • Does anyone have experience using HP” Wolf Pro Security software?

Purchased separately:

• Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 (NewEgg),
• Adobe Acrobat Standard 2020 (Staples),
• Logitech 4K Pro Webcam (Logitech),
• HP P24h G4 FHD Monitors (HP),
• USRobotics USR5639 56K USB DIAL-UP External Softmodem (USRobotics),
• WD Blue 3.5″ PC Hard Drive – 2TB (Western Digital),
• WD 2TB Blue SSD (Western Digital),
• Other mapping and data analysis software installed as per license agreements,
• Various cables and adapters,
• HP LaserJet M209dwe Printer (HP)
  • Requires continuous access to the internet,
  • Is heading towards the recycle bin ASAP.
• Brother HL-L2350DW Monochrome Laser Printer to replace the HP LaserJet M209dwe (B&H Photo)

System was purchased to replace an aging computer that does not support Windows 11.

Purchasing and setting up this machine was an adventure and has resulted in ending our favored relationship with some vendors and we have found new vendors to replace them.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Sueska, pmcjr6142

Reply | Quote

Correction:

The USRobotics USR5639 56K USB DIAL-UP External Softmodemwas was purchased from B&H Photo.

Reply | Quote

Uh, Kathy, pardon the ignorance, but why the dial-up softmodem nowadays?

Still need a way to send and receive faxes without incurring the cost of an actual machine and the upkeep of the actual machine itself?

Or is it due to a requirement for the line of business you support?

Reply | Quote

Bob99 wrote:

I am guessing that use it for internet. Not everyone lives in places where there is fast cable or FIOS. This is why many people are still using old OS since have 56kB internet. Windows 10 forced updates makes it impossible to use internet when updates eat up bandwidth. But MS does not care about users like me since do not make money from us. My internet is 56kB but Verizon does not offer FIOS in my area so it classes dial up  as FIOS but without the speed of it. It would be great if Windows 10 updates were only 2MB or smaller or fit on a floppy drive of 1.44MB. But MS does not want to invest in figure to make things smaller and better. This would take actual brain power and MS is very very lacking that.

Reply | Quote

Bob99

The following is a short answer to your question.

Unlike e-mail, the USRobotics USR5639 56K USB DIAL-UP External Softmodem sends a faxed document over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) which ensures point-to-point transmission.

Unlike an e-mail, a fax does not pass through (and potentially stored on) third parties’ servers. Such third parties may include an internet service provider, e-mail host such as AOL, or a corporate or governmental server. If it is on someones server it can be hacked.

In addition, when a document is faxed it is converted into base64 binary code at its source, travels encrypted via the PSTN, and then is reassembled at on the recipient’s fax machine.

PSTN faxing is much less susceptible to hacking than e-mail because the telephone lines would require direct manual access vs. hacking a server to gain access to the encrypted document. It is difficult to hack a fax machine.

And even if intercepted, due to the base64 binary encryption, the fax file would appear to be simply noise and thus unreadable.

Reply | Quote

Kathy Stevens wrote:

In addition, when a document is faxed it is converted into base64 binary code at its source, travels encrypted via the PSTN, and then is reassembled at on the recipient’s fax machine.

PSTN faxing is much less susceptible to hacking than e-mail because the telephone lines would require direct manual access vs. hacking a server to gain access to the encrypted document. It is difficult to hack a fax machine.

And even if intercepted, due to the base64 binary encryption, the fax file would appear to be simply noise and thus unreadable.

Base 64 encoding is not encryption.

Hackers have targeted fax machines for decades, and the technology is still insecure in basic ways. For example, fax data is sent with no cryptographic protections; anyone who can tap a phone line can instantly intercept all data transmitted across it. “Fax is perceived as a secure method of data transmission,” says Balmas. “That’s a huge misconception—it’s absolutely not secure.”
Fax Machines Are Still Everywhere, and Wildly Insecure

No security
“Fax has no security measures built in – absolutely nothing,” security researcher Yaniv Balmas, from Check Point software, told the BBC.
…
“The protocols we use for fax were standardised in the 1980s and have not been changed since,” Mr Balmas said.
Malicious faxes leave firms ‘open’ to cyber-attack

Interception — It’s true that while on a fax machine, your data is secure. Why? Because a digital hacker cannot get the data from the machine as they would with an email portal. However, once that data is sent, it becomes vulnerable. Fax machines do not encrypt information; they are old-fashioned machines that don’t possess the ability to scramble and unscramble messages. That means the data is transmitted without any protection. Because it is sent using analogue lines, it’s not as easy to get hold of. But if a hacker were to intentionally infiltrate the line, they could access the data sent without any problems
What Hacking Threats Are Fax Machines Vulnerable To? — The eFax Blog

But, it’s easy to see why someone would think an analog document is more secure if they are under the impression it’s never connected to a computer.
If you’re still using a fax machine for ‘security’ think again

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.1778 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

Reply | Quote

b

A faxed document (excluding Virtual Fax) flows like a stream [the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or wires] from beginning to end. It is not stored in transit like e-mail on a server.

As such, the data thief would have to physically connect (using a wire) to the phone lines to capture the data feed. Then they would have to know what phone line the document is traveling over and the exact instant that the targeted fax was passing buy. Then they would have to separate the faxed document from other commingled traffic in order to capture it.

Think about it as a molecule of natural gas moving through a pipeline. Then think about how difficult it would be to capture a specific molecule of gas as it passes by any single point on its 1,000-mile journey to its destination.

In order to increase the probability of capturing a faxed document in transit the predator would need to physically connect to the PSTN at the document’s point of origin or destination. A significant effort if the sender only transmits a limited number of faxes and/or the predator is based in Russia, North Korea, etc.

It all comes down to risk/reward. Target internet or PSTN traffic?  When was the last time that you heard of a hijacker capturing a fax while it was in transit? Or a fax machine being held for ransom?

1 user thanked author for this post.

bbearren

Reply | Quote

Kathy Stevens wrote:

It all comes down to risk/reward. Target internet or PSTN traffic. When was the last time that you heard of a hijacker capturing a fax while it was in transit? Or a fax machine being held for ransom?

It would require a wiretap to intercept a PSTN fax.  If you’re using an all-in-one machine connected to your LAN and your LAN is well protected, then your “fax machine” is also well protected on the internet side of things as well.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do to our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I picked up a new-to-me laptop in November: Lenovo Thinkpad P15s i7 win 11 capable though I run only win10. I used to dual boot to Mint but discovered that if grub was shot I essentially had to re-install Mint and lose all my work, so dropped that. Very happy camper! WuMgr.

- Thinkpad P15s Gen1 20T4-002KUS, i7-10510U, UEFI/GPT, 16GB, Sammy 500GB M.2.
others...
- Mint Cinnamon 21 current, Win 10 22H2. WuMgr. HP laserjets M254dw & P1606dn, Epson 2480 scanner.

Reply | Quote

This wasn’t for the Holidays, but when my NUC11 little PC had an SSD failure just before a Zoom meeting, I decided I needed a backup computer.

I went to our local Micro Center and bought a Powerspec B685 tower:

Key Features

1. Intel Core i5 12th Gen 12400 2.5GHz Processor.
2. 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM.
3. 500GB Solid State Drive.
4. Intel UHD Graphics 730.
5. Microsoft Windows 11 Pro.
6. 10/100/1000 Network.
7. 802.11ac Wireless.
8. Bluetooth 4.1.

I later added faster USB Ports and a second internal SSD. I also run Linux off an external SSD in an enclosure, with a USB connection. One internal drive runs Linux, the other runs Windows 11.

My SSDs are WD Blue and Samsung EVO models. One Micro Center Inland SSD.

I’ve also upgraded the NUC11 with its own Thunderbolt-3 connected SSD in an enclosure (data only) plus a second USB connected SSD in its own enclosure (also data only).

For Zoom meetings I got a new silent keyboard, the Redragon Karura 2 502. This is lighted, but it only does solid colors and their built-in nonsense patterns (not zoning) without software which is Windows only. I also got a new web cam for Zoom meetings, the Logitech C 615.

Unfortunately, Logitech does not have updated drivers for Windows 11, so I can’t enable Protected Memory and other Core Isolation features in Microsoft Defender.

It also bummed me out that I will have to start paying for Macrium Reflect in 2023, as they are going over to a subscription based model, with no further improvements in the free edition. I also pay for MiniTool to get their complete product, but I use the disk/partition managers from Aomei and Easeus in their free editions. (Aomei seems to be about to go over to a subscription model in 2023.) Windows 11 hides the GUI for the disk manager, but it’s still available if I want to use that. I also use Clonezilla Live and gParted, mostly for Linux.

I run a lot of free Windows software, including LibreOffice and Irfanview, as well as numerous special-purpose utilities, some of them recommended by Older Geeks. VLC Player is my media player. I even sometimes use some of the Microsoft Store Apps. I scan with Malwarebytes free, but it never finds anything. Let’s not forget that Chrome and Firefox are still free. I use KC Softwares SUMo free edition to track my software updates. SUMo also made a nice spreadsheet-compatible .csv file of all my installed software from the NUC, so that I could populate the Powerspec faster and not miss anything important. CCleaner and Glary Utilities help keep the whole thing cleaned, along wiht the built-in Windows 11 Storage Manager functions.

All in all, I use Linux about 80% of the time and Windows 15% of the time (most often for Zoom meetings). (I also have an Android phone and a Chromebook, which will need to be converted to Linux full-time next year when its updates stop.) My list of Linux software is long, and would probably be mostly unfamiliar to Windows and Mac users.

Other than the Logitech driver issues, I am happy with Windows 11 on this PC. But I did make a few interface changes using Windows 11 settings. I am also happy with the behavior of Windows 11 in a dual-boot arrangement with Ubuntu-Unity Linux on this PC. The new TPM 2 security is weird though, and it makes using bootable USB media much more complicated. Ventoy helps a lot with this. So does the Macrium Reflect WinRE bootablle USB environment. Some portable Windows programs can run from within that environment, including a few virus scanners.

-- rc primak

2 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, Sueska

Reply | Quote

rc primak wrote:

Windows 11 hides the GUI for the disk manager, but it’s still available if I want to use that.

Not to hijack this thread, but is “diskmgmt.msc” no longer located in the \Windows\system32 directory in Windows 11?

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

It is there on my Win 11 Pro PC.

--Joe

2 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, Bob99

Reply | Quote

rc primak wrote:

Windows 11 hides the GUI for the disk manager, but it’s still available if I want to use that.

Or just type diskmgmt.msc, when it shows up right-click and select “Run as administrator”.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do to our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

rc primak wrote:

Windows 11 hides the GUI for the disk manager,

Disk Management is available at Start, All apps, Windows Tools, Computer Management.

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.1778 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

So, its still in the same place as on Windows 10. Good to know.

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

Hello@rc primac. Not sure if you are still monitoring this post since it is an older post. As fate would have it, my husband just presented me with the same model you purchased from microcenter and suggested I purchase it. Was wondering if you had any more to report? The specs seem adequate for my needs. I would like to add “SATA Removable Hard Drive Bay” for using other sata drives for storage and hopefully for running alternate OSs. You mentioned that you are running Linux off an external SSD in an enclosure and that you have another internal SSD. Do you have a boot menu to select which drive to boot from? When I buy a computer, I usually try to run it for as long as possible. My husband suggests I get 32G right away, do you agree? Thank you in advance for your feedback or any advice.

Reply | Quote

My main box only has 16GB and happily plays games and runs VMs. Currently only using 38%.

You can run alternate OSes in a VM, or boot from a USB3 external disk, but external boot can be tricky with safe boot on – I add a boot certificate if I need to do that.

If you want to be able to boot multiple OSes (read only) from an external disk, try Ventoy.

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sueska

Reply | Quote

Susan Bradley wrote:

One thing that I’m sad to see in the marketplace is that while you can find Chromebooks, the market for Linux based laptops and desktops is moved back to niche brands and a bit more expensive business machines and not affordable (i.e. cheap) home versions.

I haven’t seen any OEM Linux machines that were not in one of those two categories (niche brands or higher-end business machines). Which ones were these?

You can, of course, grab nearly any PC and put Linux on it if that is your wish, and for all but one of my Linux machines, that is just what I have done. The one exception is mentioned prominently (first one listed) in the linked article… the Dell XPS 13 “Developer Edition.” That is the one I bought.

The article states:

If you are a developer and tend to travel a lot, give it a try to “XPS 13 Developer Edition” powered by Ubuntu Linux.

I am not a developer, and I don’t travel a lot, though I do bring my XPS with me when I am out and about around town quite often. You don’t have to be a developer to buy or use the Developer Edition! It’s just straight Ubuntu on there… nothing particularly developer-y about it.

My most recent purchase is part of the season insofar that it is covered by Amazon’s holiday returns policy, so I will consider it as such.

It is the Adata XPG Xenia 14 laptop that is in my .sig currently. I bought it not for any practical reason… I have way more PCs than I need as it is. In this room alone, I have nine of them (and the Xenia 14 makes ten)! It’s just that it appeared to be the exact laptop I was looking for when I bought my Dell XPS 13 (9310) a year and a half ago. It was an indulgence.

The XPS is a really good laptop, but it missed a few of the things I look for in a new laptop. It has soldered RAM, and the unit has no HDMI or USB type A ports, which I use constantly (requiring a dongle on the XPS). There is also a characteristic of the display on these that gives it a fringe of brightness around the screen perimeter that drives me nuts. All three XPS 13 displays (the FHD ones) I have seen have had this, so I can’t simply swap in another display.

The Xenia 14 has an Intel i7-1165G7 CPU, and came with 16GB of RAM (one SoDIMM, sadly), 500GB of NVMe SSD (PCIE 4) storage, and a 1920×1200 IPS non-touch display. I added another 16GB SoDIMM and swapped the SSD to a 2TB NVMe SK Hynix.

The Xenia came with Windows 10. It now uses Linux.

I like the Xenia as a “use at home from the easy chair” PC. It is light, fast, and does not get very hot on its bottom cover, which my lap appreciates. The large air intakes on the bottom allow air to be drawn in even when on the lap… I have to be careful about that with the XPS, which has much smaller vents.

Unfortunately, the Xenia 14 has disappointed me with its battery power consumption. The XPS, despite having very similar hardware (including battery capacity), completely outclasses the Xenia (in Linux) in power draw in idle, simulated web browsing, looped video playback and sleep. The battery run time in each of those ranges from half of the XPS’ run time to about two thirds. I have tried everything I can think of to get it to stop gobbling up the watts, to no avail.

In Windows 10, all but the sleep time are much improved, being pretty much on par with the XPS. The sleep time, though, is still half as good as the XPS, even in Windows.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

1 user thanked author for this post.

Steve

Reply | Quote

Yes, I once bought an Asus Laptop with Ubuntu

Amazon.com: ASUS 1015E-DS03 10.1-Inch Laptop, Ubuntu OS (OLD VERSION) : Electronics

It was back when vendors were shipping netbooks.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

2 users thanked author for this post.

Steve, Ascaris

Reply | Quote

krism wrote:

I used to dual boot to Mint but discovered that if grub was shot I essentially had to re-install Mint and lose all my work, so dropped that.

You don’t have to do that. The easiest thing to do would be to restore from a backup (which hopefully you have regardless of OS). You can also use something like the Super GRUB 2 “disc” (really a USB drive these days) to boot into Linux without using the GRUB that is broken and you can reinstall GRUB from there.

Even if you did reinstall Mint, you don’t have to lose any data. If you put the /home subdirectory on its own partition, you can just restore the root partition and not lose any of your work. I always set up my Linux like that (and Windows too, to the extent possible).

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

Reply | Quote

I tried super grub 2. Didn’t work for me, and if it had, I wouldn’t know how to re-create/install/build grub.

Also, if you separate root and home, you save data, but you lose the support for added apps for that data because that was put in root. it would all have to be figured out what was missing and added/installed again.

I guess bottom line at the moment is that since I lack for nothing with win10 I will sit here for now…

- Thinkpad P15s Gen1 20T4-002KUS, i7-10510U, UEFI/GPT, 16GB, Sammy 500GB M.2.
others...
- Mint Cinnamon 21 current, Win 10 22H2. WuMgr. HP laserjets M254dw & P1606dn, Epson 2480 scanner.

Reply | Quote

Ah, sorry to hear that Super Grub 2 didn’t work. If it had, you could use ‘sudo grub-install /dev/sda’ (or whatever the drive name is). That will usually work… I have used it a bunch of times.

If Super GRUB 2 fails, you can boot to a live session from your install USB drive, then bind the necessary directories to the disk with the Linux installation, then use the grub-install command.

It is also possible to work from the minimal BASH shell or the GRUB> prompts. I’ve gotten into Linux that way too. I don’t remember the commands offhand, but I know enough to be able to find them when needed!

It’s still better to have a backup, though, even if you only use Windows. If you still had a dual boot, you could use your Windows backup program to image and restore Linux Ext4 partitions too… before I found Veeam, I used Macrium Reflect for Windows to do my Linux backups. I restored them a bunch of times, and Linux worked fine.

You save the data if you separate /home and root if you reinstall, but any applications installed as root do have to be reinstalled. That’s usually quite simple, as most of the things you need are in the repo, so all you have to do is tick the boxes and have it reinstall them. Those that use your home folder for configuration will pick that up as soon as they are reinstalled, and they will be ready to go. But that’s if you need to reinstall… which you really won’t need to do if you have backups.

For this, an imaging backup like Veeam or Reflect is the gold standard, but for most stuff, I just use Timeshift, which is part of the Mint installation. You can restore to an unbootable Linux setup by using a live session, then pointing Timeshift in that session to the backup files. It will usually work to get you working again.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

Reply | Quote

rc primak wrote:

All in all, I use Linux about 80% of the time and Windows 15% of the time (most often for Zoom meetings).

Zoom has a Linux client. Is that insufficient for your needs?

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

Reply | Quote

Personally, I can’t justify purchasing a new computer!

Currently I have 3 machines and my wife has a Laptop which we’ll leave out of the discussion.

1. Dell 8920 – i7-7700, 32 Gb Ram, Samsung 960 Evo NVME (250 GB) boot drive, 2 Samsung 850 Pro (256 GB) data drives (2.5″), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 Gb VRam.
2. Dell 8700 – i7-4770, 12 Gb Ram, SanDisk 240 Gb 2.5″ SSD Boot, Sandisk Ultra II 960 Gb 2.5″ Data, Same Monitor setup on Switch. AMD Radeon HD 7500 1 Gb VRam.
3. Dell Inspiron 7348 Laptop, i5-5200U, 8 Gb Ram, Samsung 850 Evo 240 Gb SSD, Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500.

The two desktops share a Logitech G710+ keyboard, Perixx Vertical Mouse, and Dual Samsung 27″ Monitors FHD via a TESmart switch.

All machines running Windows 10 Pro fully updated!

Of course, I’ve been looking at new laptops but I can’t justify it for the small amount of time I travel with the current laptop.

I’ve also been looking at the MiniForm small form factor PCs. However, I can’t see where I’ll get all that much more bang for the buck for my computing workload which is mostly PowerShell, MS Office w/heavy VBA programming, Surfing the Web and Email.
I do do some light picture & video editing but again nothing the current machines can’t handle w/o breaking a sweat.

So IMHO I’ll wait for Windows 12 and then go all the way with DDR5, PCIe 5 w/lots of lanes, USB 5.0, 2.5 or 5.0 Gb Internet, etc. So I figure around 2025 I’ll be seriously in the market.

Here’s hoping all my AskWoody friends have a Happy Holiday Season and a Very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and Virus Free 2023!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

You can  order, direct from HP, desktops and laptops that can be configured with Linux including, but not limited to, the:

• HP Z2 Mini G9 Workstation starting at $946 less $215 when configured Ubuntu Linux 20.04 and
• HP ZBook Studio G9 Mobile Workstation (laptop) starting at $2853 less $215 when configured Ubuntu Linux 20.04.

No rest for the weary here due to the need to monitor the disruptions occurring within the North American energy markets due to the bitter cold and impact of the winter storm.  Nice to have AskWoody around to keep me company.

Reply | Quote

I’ve bought three PC’s in my personal computing experience; a Texas Instruments TI99/4A, a Packard Bell (don’t remember the model; it had a “Pentium 75”) in the ’90’s, a Dell Inspiron 580 in 2011 (after a house fire destroyed two DIY machines).

I’ve bought two laptops; a Dell Latitude D800 in 2003 and a Dell Latitude E5420 in 2011, both of which are still in good working order.  I’ve built a few PC’s and upgraded the hardware/software over the years.  I much prefer DIY for the flexibility in component choices.

I’ve tried a number of Linux distros over the years, I’m comfortable with Linux and I’ve programmed in C with Linux, but I still prefer Windows.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do to our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I bought a 14-inch Lenovo T480 for my wife to use as a picture frame. It was the least expensive Windows PC I could find running Windows 11. I don’t need performance only to run the slideshow screensaver to randomly go through the tens of thousands of pictures she has saved. It will be taken to our place in Florida so we don’t need to duplicate and transport memorabilia.

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Bought a new HP Pavilion 15-eg2078nr running win 11 home. Intel i7, 16 gb ram, 512 gb ssd and wifi 6.

Replaced a 8 yr old Toshiba satellite running very stable dependable win 8.1 with older i7 and 8gb ram but not upgradable to win 11 and didnt have wifi 6 so couldnt use Spectrum’s 300 mbs to full advantage.

No problems with Win 11 – was easier than anticipated to move to and use.

 

Reply | Quote

There were no new computer toys this season. (I did receive a sheep-on-skies tree ornament.)

Carpe Diem {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1778 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox114.0b8 MicrosoftDefender

Reply | Quote

I purchased a Dell XPS-8950 desktop PC with an Intel Core i7 12700 processor and 16 GB of RAM and a 500 GB motherboard resident SSD and a Killer Wi-Fi adapter chip and no physical hard drive (no spinning hard disk), because I have an external self-powered independently housed USB 3.0 connected 3 TB external hard drive for data. It came with Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 (2022). I purchased it directly from Dell Computers online because I have had excellent experiences with computers purchased directly from Dell in the past, even though I don’t like all their “bloatware” that is included. I put up with it for a year until the machine is no longer covered by their warranty, and then I uninstall and delete it permanently. I have speakers and a 27 inch Dell flat panel display from previous purchases that I attached to the new PC, which came with a keyboard and mouse (both USB wired). I was disappointed that the PC did not have a HDMI port when I took it out of the packaging, which was advertised online as present (the packaging even had a label attached to the box exterior saying HDMI port available inside), but I purchased a short HDMI converter cable to attach to the PC’s standard Intel graphics (motherboard) connector on the back ($12 USD plus tax at Walmart) so as to connect my Dell 27 inch FPD to the PC. The 4th generation Dell XPS-4700 Intel Core i7 4770 desktop PC the new one replaces is now connected to my Panasonic Viera 32 inch flat panel TV via HDMI to use mainly to play recorded video and DVD’s copied to its 1 TB hard disk. It’s nine years old and I didn’t want to go through the trouble of opening it up to install a SSD so that it could reliably handle Windows 10 (it runs Windows 7 Home Premium x64 sp1). I generally only use it two days a week anyway. The new Windows 11 PC is extremely fast and so far hasn’t produced any BSOD screens or otherwise failed in any respect. It is taking a while to “settle down” in terms of the Event Viewer errors, and still occasionally has an app crash now and then. Most of the errors and warnings seem to be related to the fact that I have it set to never sleep, hibernate, or use rapid boot, and that means it can’t connect to the internet instantly or as quickly as it expects to be able to when it boots up. It’s a wireless connection. FirmwareTPM.exe seems to be the only application that regularly, about once a week, crashes; but I suspect that the Dell software installed (Dell Support Assistant and others) has something to do with that. The only other curious thing that it does is that every time it is booted up, about an hour or less after boot up, it generates 48 entries in the Activity Monitor as information that 48 applications or services (mostly auxiliary or ancillary services and applications like ones that were added or installed after the first original setup) have been “successful application reconfigerations.” But this PC is running all my applications, even really old ones like Microsoft Works 9 and Microsoft Money Sunset Edition, flawlessly and without problems. I also use the Chrome browser and never use any Office or XBox or any other recent Microsoft applications or software or any gaming software or Adobe, etc.

Reply | Quote

 

 

Once windows started forcing updates and those updates kept destroying computers, I

said Its over for me. I will keep my ten year old HP Pavilion g6 till it dies. I’ll get it

serviced as needed or go to a pawn shop an purchase a computer. Only if I had to

would I purchase a new computer. Win 10 or 11 are so full of it the whites of its eyes

are brown.

Reply | Quote

Anton wrote:

I will keep my ten year old HP Pavilion g6 till it dies. I’ll get it serviced as needed or go to a pawn shop an purchase a computer. Only if I had to would I purchase a new computer.

Sticking with an older computer so that you can keep using an older version of Windows has been a viable choice, but if you want to remain up to date with the security updates, the clock is running on that strategy.

Official support for Windows 7 has ended, and will be ending shortly for 8.1 too. Zeropatch has pledged two more years’ support for 7, so using that service is an option (assuming it works as planned), but then you face the same kind of issue that I did when I used Waterfox Classic (essentially a third party security patched Firefox 56). The world moves on, but you’re stuck in time, and even with the security issues fixed, eventually you find that your old bit of software doesn’t do what you need (like running up to date versions of your applications, especially the browser) anymore.

This was why I left Windows behind back in 2015, when Microsoft’s vision for what Windows would be going forward solidified in my mind. Even though I still had seven more years before Windows 8.1 (the last version I used as a daily-driver OS) would go out of support, I knew it was coming, and waiting would just kick the can down the road. I knew there was no way I could stomach Windows 10, and that it was extremely unlikely they would fix it to my standards in the future (a prediction that was proven correct in time). I would still have to deal with the problem, only in 2023 rather than 2015.

When you can see where you’re heading, and it’s a place you don’t want to go, you might as well get off the train bound for that location sooner rather than later. In this case, that means either getting on board with the versions of Windows that you don’t like, or leaving the Windows platform.

 

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/16GB & GTX1660ti, KDE Neon

1 user thanked author for this post.

NaNoNyMouse

Reply | Quote

It may be the time to buy that new hardware you are looking for.

According to Reuters, “Global personal computer shipments are expected to rise starting late 2023, with a new cycle of system upgrades likely to accelerate growth next year, according to research firms IDC and Canalys.”

Follow the link to the article.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/global-pc-market-seen-recover-late-2023-reports-2023-01-11/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Technology-Roundup&utm_term=011123

If hardware sales increase, prices are likely to follow.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

PC sales slump to pre-pandemic level in Q4. ‘Boom’ is over, says IDC

According to IDC, 67.2 million traditional computers were shipped in calendar Q4, down 28.1 percent on the prior year, on a par with the number of boxes sold to resellers and retailers in the final quarter of 2018 when the sector was constrained by Intel’s CPU shortages..

Still, for those in need, now might be a good time to buy a PC. “Average selling prices across many channels also fell as excess channel inventory over the course of the past few months triggered discounting in an effort to spur demand,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at IDC…

All of the major vendors experienced declines: market leader Lenovo was down 28.5 percent to 15.5 million units, HP fell 29 percent to 13.2 million, Dell dropped 37.2 percent to 10.8 million, and ASUS was down 20.9 percent. Apple was also down 2.1 percent to 7.5 million…

Reply | Quote