Want to Buy a New PC

[savedbygrace]

So, I want to buy a new PC. I have a 4 year old Asus laptop and the screen has a lot of bad pixels. And I do not want to install Win7 again, but Start and Shutdown are both taking a long time, so I know I should re-install if I keep it.

So, my options are to buy a laptop with Win8, or a combo laptop/touch-screen with Win8. I will not buy a desktop PC.

What are the advantages of each, and which models would you recommend? I want as much RAM as possible, maybe 8GB, and the fastest processor I can afford. I want to keep it under $800, or not much more than that.

Note that I will not buy anything from Toshiba.

Go.

[skinkinthegrass]

well.. they sold/were convicted (for illegal sale) prop. milling machine
technology to the Soviets in the early 80s for their nuclear submarines.

[Greysard]

I wouldn't recommend you to buy Win8 until you have worked with it for a couple of days and verified that all your software is supported. I'm finding that backward compatibility is not that great. I have Win8 on one laptop and Win8.1 on another (in a business setting) and I am disappointed. It does power up and down faster, but that's hardly important if you cannot work in it just as fast as in Win7. IMO, Win7 is the best release of Windows, and if you want a reliable system that works you should stick to it. On the other hand, if you want to jump into a completely different GUI paradigm, at your own risk, then you want Win8. If you want Win8 + 3rd party Win7 menu utilities, just get the real thing (Win7.)

I would buy a cheap laptop and install the version of Windows that I want. Win7 is still sold at many places, like TigerDirect. I wouldn't be focusing on hardware because it wears down and breaks eventually anyhow. Do not buy an overly expensive laptop - it's a mobile thing, and it can be damaged easily. Buy a disposable one, as long as you are happy with its performance and like the keyboard. Some latest Lenovo laptops have an awful touchpad, for example (there are no mouse buttons; the entire touchpad tilts. This is amazingly bad.)

[Revel]

If you do keep it then google for a new display for Asus model number XXXX(whatever it is)

You might be surprised as it may not cost as much if you are not buying directly from Asus. Then find someone to install it as it is not usually hard if you know how. You very well might even find a How To video on Youtube.

[oh8eleven]

Advanced System Care
Have used it for years. Preferred v3.x, but have used v6 (7?) for many months now.

[frog in a pot]

Thanks for raising the question!

[ThomasThomas]

many companies sell lease returns at good price. Most of these come with win 7 on them. I have been told Wall-Mary on line sells used laptops. with a one year warranty at addition charge is still a great deal.

[GeronL]

I want to buy a new PC too.

My budget is about $7.21

:p

[Sans-Culotte]

I was about to do a clean wipe of my HDD on my desktop, which was taking several minutes to shut down, and had audio glitches/stuttering, random BSODs, etc. I even bought a Blu-ray burner to use for backing up stuff before doing the clean sweep. Before doing so, I installed Malwarebytes malware removal software. It seeks out all sorts of crap that secretly installs along with other programs. Stuff like search toolbars you don't need. It even saw my CD ripping software as a potential threat. Once I nuked all that crap, my PC (Windows 7) is running perfectly and I no longer feel the need to reformat. Shuts down in about 10 seconds and no more BSODs.

As to the dead pixels on your screen: my wife dropped her laptop and ruined the screen. I ordered her another screen and installed it within days for less than $100. And I'm no computer whiz. There were Youtube videos that showed exactly how to replace the screen. I eventually replaced her keyboard as well. Just thought I'd throw that out there as an alternative to buying a new one.

[GeronL]

Toshiba is fine as long as you don’t like batteries....

[catnipman]

Buy a biz class Dell Latitude E5x30, E5x40, E6x30, or E6x40 refurb with Windows 7 x64 Pro from:

http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/latitude-laptops.aspx?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&~ck=mn

If you go the E5xxx route, spend the extra $70.00 for the extra two years of warranty (E6xxx already has built-in 3-yr warranty, but they are more expensive.)

4-6 GB RAM

320 or bigger 7400 rpm HD (avoid SSD)

intel i5 processor (or i7 if real horsepower needed, which most people don’t usually need)

webcam if you need one and can find a refurb with it.

Avoid Windows 8.x like the plague. It’s a gawdawful OS and is basically a dead operating system at this point for all practical purposes given its collapsing adoption rate in comparison with Windows 7.

[GeronL]

my niece has partly ruined her screen, should we sent it to SONY since its under warranty? or let you fix it?

//sarcasm

was it really that easy??

[Revolting cat!]

Toshiba has just announced a Chromebook and ASUS will have one soon. Load it with Linux and you’re in bidnyz!

[dhs12345]

Hey, I am a Windows guy too. But I am running Linux too and it is great! Plus it is free. Can’t beat that.

What the heck is up with the latest version of IE. It seems to get sick after a while, slows down, crashes, locks up.

Windows 7 seems to be solid. I have only seen 8 and it seems clunky but it seems to be following its predecessors — vista, ME — as a beta OS for following versions.

[dhs12345]

Good advice.

[Revolting cat!]

Stay away from even numbered Windows releases. And the ones after those too.

[Disambiguator]

I hear Ethan Krupp uses a Mac.

Rush Limbaugh likes Apple products, too.

[Sans-Culotte]

was it really that easy??

All I did was google my wife's Asus laptop model and added the words replace screen. I found a very easy-to-follow Youtube video that showed exactly how to remove and replace the screen. I watched the video a few times while looking at her laptop. I decided I could probably handle the job and ordered the screen. Once it came in, I think it took all of half an hour to get it installed and running. Ditto the keyboard. Before doing it, I didn't even know those things could be repaired.

[GeronL]

Toshiba’s are built to be very hard to open up and fix.

[Roses0508]

I have a desktop - Windows 7; a regular laptop - Windows 7 - and a combination laptop/tablet - Windows 8. I used the combo with Windows 8 as shipped for three months and then spent $3.00 on “StartIsBack” menu. That has been a very satisfactory solution for the combo machine. I’m happy with the combo, don’t use the laptop or desktop unless I need the real estate on the monitor.

[Moonman62]

Microsoft has always been evil, but for general purpose home computing Windows is the best deal. For a live CD rescue disk, or for some specialized machines Linux can work. Macs are for Pajama Guy.