Currently have a 4gb ram, 2.20ghrtz 64 bit system running my beloved Windows 7 with word and outlook 2003.
Looking for something as big, perhaps a little lighter and certainly faster, that has a disc drive, and ports for my trackball.
I refuse to consider Dell.
Yes I know, Applehead, they are wonderful but no thanks.
Any recommendations?
I like Asus, well designed and economical, but the only one I had worked one minute shut down and never started again. It was only 3 years old. I usually buy Dells from the outlet. You can get a high end configured one that has been fully re-certified by a US tech. Usually they have been returned and they are under full warranty.
I just bought a Lenovo Ideadpad flex 14 because it I wanted powerful, light, and compact. They have some really nice larger laptops.
If you are one of many customers still on dial up internet service, on a system like Hughes net out of necessity, or often use your cell providers Data Plan and tether, then WINDERS 8 is a horror story in managing and limiting usage.
Their "CLOUD" program has to talk to everyone which drastically slows browsing even with the Metered Connections turned to the off position which is supposed to stop unnecessary OS use of your bandwidth. I got to use maybe 15 MB bandwidth in 24 hours time. WINDERS 8 several days used nearly 100MB talking to all the corporate friends. Closing functions in Task Manager can not stop it nor can selective start up.
ALL SYSTEM SETTINGS should be found in the Control Panel. Nope on W-8 half of them require going to the bottom right corner of the screen where suddenly another group of options pop up. Like Videos? The W-8 default Video Payer is X-Box. After you've watched the video try and close the program. WHERE's THE "X" Closure at Microsoft GEEKS? Oh yea they forgot. You can search for a way to close. You can use Task Manager or after an extensive search go to the upper left screen where you can then left chick close. W-8 is loaded with these type of issues.
W-8 is strictly a Tablet Program which the Cheapskates at MS Corp put out as a desktop/Laptop OS with no regard as to how dysfunctional it is on a laptop or desktop. W-8 is a very significant Desktop and Laptop OS downgrade with primary focus on selling desktop and laptop users MS Tablet and Phone Aps. That seems to be the driving force behind it all. Oh Their default EMail Client stinks also. I understand GatesCorp will Rent to you Outlook in the office package for a yearly fee.
It is not fun or exciting to get a new machine and have to spend days configuring it or rather wading through the childish idiotic layout the so called great minds at Microsoft put on a desktop for reasons that defy any common sense whatsoever.
WINDOWS 8 Stinks. No amount of updates can fix it and the patches and updates already twice exceed the total MB's of XP patches and SP upgrades in it's lifetime.
WARNING about the METRO Screen. Be very careful customizing the Horrid METRO screen. One wrong click on the Metro screen and the program is gone as in deleted. I would say something positive about WINDERS 8 if I could even one positive aspect of it that isn't a royal PITA.
Seriously I will not ever purchase another Microsoft OS if this is the best they can do. I'll go to Linux instead and learn their OS which is FREE. XP was great and likely MS best achievement. W-7 was close enough to XP people could adapt quickly without frustration. WINDERS 8 Looks like someone went real far out of their way to make a system so dysfunctional it would frustrate anyone over 16 years old and all non Tablet and Windows phone users.
Classic Shell helps just a little but still it doesn't help you find needed system configuration settings. The Stupid Goobers at MS need to get a clue. Perhaps when people stop buying their poorly designed dysfunctional crap they might learn? Their next OS should be closer to a XP or traditional WINDOWS layout and be called Windows Apology.
One last thing I've noticed. IE 8 was as far as you could go on XP. A couple years ago they fixed a highly annoying bug that caused typed text you were in the process of typing to be typed over. In other words while tying you were deleting your work. This was usually happening when you were correcting something. In IE 11 that annoying bug has returned.
Acer makes a great laptop...
had mine for 4 years now
Look at Lenovo and Asus. I work at Microsoft. The employees get to pick their laptop from a large range of options, and those two are the top brands that are picked.
If you want, I can see what the current “power user” laptop on our internal site is.
If you are expecting a radical difference....no.
If it is slow, do a malware and virus scan
I’ve had remarkably good service from two Toshibas which I use as desktops and also for business trips. They are priced right too.
I got the first one in Oct. 2008. I use it in my bedroom while watching TV every night. The other one is in my home office. They both run nearly constantly because I do day trading of currencies and am watching the market all the time.
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I just bought an Acer Inspire with windows 7! I love it!
Everyone kept saying to go for a Toshiba. It turns out that the old Toshibas were great. The new models are not getting good reviews.
I did my homework. Acer Inspire got great customer reviews. I bought it at Walmart online. I paid $699 with free shipping. All of my techie kids said it has unbelievable specs for the money and they now want one!
Very thin, very light, quiet as a mouse (SSD) and fast. It might be a bit pricey but there are deals to be had.