I need some guidance ....

[Thumper]

My old laptop is showing signs of giving up the ghost. It's been a real workhorse for the past 6-7 years, so it's due to crap out I suppose. It's getting REAL slow. It'll do ok for a while with a re-boot, but it degrades rapidly, so I'm re-booting every day or two. (I normally leave it on 24/7) Last week I got that dreaded "blue screen" a couple of times, but after a re-boot, it was business as usual. I know the end is near and I need to pull the trigger on a new one before this thing gives up the ghost and leaves me no way to conduct business other than my iPhone!

I'm entertaining the thought of an Apple this time around. While in California a few years ago, I used Lynn's brother's Apple (EVERY California/left coast yuppie uses Apple .. just watch ANY movie or tv program). I have to admit, I got a little frustrated because it didn't work the way I'm accustomed to doing things, but I've worked with nothing but MS since my first PC in the mid-90's ('94/'95 I think). I'm sure there will be a learning curve, but I can't imagine it would be all that difficult and will just take some getting used to.

I'm sure this will be a Ford/Chevy type argument ... but I've been thinking the Apple may be more like a Ford/Chevy/Toyota argument lately.

I'm open for any pros & cons. Is there any compatibility problems with peripheral compatibilities, etc? I'm on Windows 7 Home Premium and have avoided updating to Win. 10 as it seems like a moot point right now.

[Captain]

You know what I'm gonna say...

[BarryBobPosthole]

Get yourself an iMac and it'll last a long long time. You'll pay a grand more at least but its worth every penny.

BKB

[Captain]

Get yourself an iMac and it'll last a long long time. You'll pay a grand more at least but its worth every penny. BKB

A the hell men....

[BarryBobPosthole]

Andcthat grand is an exaggeration. I just looked atsome prices. you can get ijto a good one for $1700.

Canyou believe they all come with a terabyte of disk drive? Holy silicaslice Batman!

BKB

[Thumper]

YEOW! I think that would be a bit rich for my blood, but then again, it's been a LONG time since I've priced new computers.

[Thumper]

I might note, I don't watch movies or store a lot of digital data. The closest I come is watching YouTube videos occassionally and I never store them. I don't even store a lot of personal photos and don't do video games, if that helps any. I know Cappy is an Apple guy these days.

[BarryBobPosthole]

My favorite thing about Apple is the reliability. And security is so much better.

BKB

[Captain]

I don't do much storage either. But the rock solid dependability is the seller. It is a little aggravating to start with if all you have ever had is a PC. But once you learn the different way to get the same results it actually is easier. Now (for me) a PC is harder to run. Seems like things flow easier with the Apple. We have not cut our Mac off or restarted it in several years.

[Thumper]

I'm leaning heavily toward Apple. I hate thinking about the learning curve getting used to the new OS, but I'm sure that will probably be minor. It's just going through that change after only using MS for the past 20 years. I guess I'm looking for negatives although I can't ever recall hearing any, other than a bit higher initial price maybe.

[Captain]

Ah, sell a couple more razors and go to the Apple Store.

[No-till Boss]

What would you do that you can't do on a iPad ?

[Thumper]

Yeah, I suppose I should start pricing. It's something I really shouldn't put off as I'm sure the "end" is near. Everything is still working fine, but I sure have noticed the difference lately. I did a major clean-up a month or so ago, but it really hasn't helped much that I can tell. I may just retire this one while it's still working and keep it to take when we're out of town on the weekends.

[Thumper]

What would you do that you can't do on a iPad ?

As far as that goes, I suppose there's not much I can't do on my iPhone! I just like a bit of size and was actually planning on getting another P/C for my office and just use my laptop for our frequent out of town trips. Now that my laptop is starting to crap out, I'm not sure where my priorities are. I do a LOT of work in my office and would really like another P/C with a big-assed screen (I already have a monitor). Heck, now that I think about it, I don't even know if the monitors are interchangable between MS and Apple P/C's. I have a bit of studying to do it appears.

[No-till Boss]

Buy you a iPad and get a bluetooth keypad and be done with it. You'll never look back ......

[BarryBobPosthole]

You need the retina display. Its so good you'll be able to spot those adams apples quicker!

BKB

[Nandy]

The question is what do you do with the computer. Do you do video editing? do you play online video games like Halo or final fantasy? do you build maps, use CAD or any other processor intensive activity?

I bet most of you do is browse the net, maybe watch some youtubes, read the news, ebay and maybe netflix. Every know and them save some pictures from your camera to your hd.... If the later is the correct one then just go to Best Buy, get a hard drive there that is compatible with your pc and let the colored hair, ear gauged teens install it on your laptop and have them move your data. I bet that is not $300 all together and your pc will be working back again. heck, I bet you $100 all you have is a full lineup of TSR that you dont use loaded on your memory and a very fragmented HD which can all be fixed with software that you already have and some tinkering. Not sure Best Buy would do that for you but a small shop might just fix the TSR issue and hd fragmentation. My pc and laptops are way older than your and they are all running fine. I bet all your hardware is fine... Heck, if you had a backup machine I would do the darn thing for you myself if you send it to me with all I would need but I think it would be more cost and time efficient to get to a local store.
Capisce?

Now, if you want to go around spending thousand of dollars in a computer you wont use it to all it capacities and will be obsolete in 6 months go for it, but I fail to see the point.

[Thumper]

As I stated earlier ... I just do the basics ... surf, work on eBay and just general stuff ... nothing heavy. What would be ideal is to do what I'd originally planned, buy a new P/C for my office and use my laptop when we travel. I'd love to be able to simply "clean up" the laptop (basically go back to default in a way) and get a few more years out of it. I'm basically computer illiterate and my previous computers have either been toast (h/d failure) or so outdated, the o/s was antiquated. I have no clue what TSR is. I've done the "defragmentation thing" but that hasn't really helped that I can tell. Is there something more detailed that a shop would do? Would I simply take it to a shop and say, "Here, make it like new again?" I have all sorts of personal data on this thing, bank accounts, credit card info, that sort of stuff. Is that a problem if I hand it over to a shop? I normally pull the hard drive out of my computers and dump 'em in the trash when they crap out, then use the hard drives for target practice.

[Nandy]

Sorry, tsr is simply explained by saying that these are programs that you dont know they are running but get loaded in your memory (ram) so when you call the main program it starts faster. I have seen pc's come from a crawl to full sprint by telling the os not to load those programs but if you are computer illiterate then you better leave that to someone that knows because each one of those will appear in a list and they have to be researched. The defrag in Windblows 7 might not be powerful enough. I dont use the one from MS but I cant even remember the name and since it is in my person pc I cant tell you right away. As far as bank info and such I only keep that fully encrypted in a non plain named file and any website that I dont want anyone to get into from my pc has the password saved. They are supposed to be professionals and not be perusing on your stuff but who can guarantee that?
If the defrag and TSR removal dont work, the other way to make your computer new is to start from scratch with a new hd so you can keep your old one handy and be able to swap HD if something happens. Man wish you lived closer, we could get that taken care of doing a few steps at a time in a few days. If you were to take it to a shop I would not leave anything in plain data and tell them the machine has slow down and you think there is too much stuff on RAM and your hd might be fragmented. IF the shop is a good one they have software to do the defrag and know how to us msconfig to get them tsr out of your memory.

[Thumper]

I think you've just reminded me of why I simply buy new comptuters when they start acting like this. All I do when I check my bank account or pay a bill is go to the website and it's there. I suppose they're password protected, but I always click "remember me" so I don't have to look up elebenty-bazillion passwords for every site. Some require 7 characters, some require more, some require a number and some a capial letter, etc etc etc. I have a legal pad with all my different passwords written down! I suppose I could go to each one and un-check "remember me". I guess I'm more of a buy it, plug it in and turn it on type of guy. It would be nice to simply hand this one over to somebody, ask him to "fix it", then pay him a couple hundred $$$ and have him hand me a "like new" computer in return. Is that basically how it works?

[Thumper]

WHOA!!! I think I'll step away from the Apple idea! I've been doing a little bit of pricing and they're mighty dang proud of their stuff! Sheeesh, I'd have to have Cappy's money to justify that kind of price difference! And the high-priced stuff I looked at doesn't even come with a DVD/CD drive. I've been with HP for 20 years, I guess a few more won't hurt.

[Captain]

You get what you pay for Thumper. I know you know the concept cause you can buy a lot cheaper transportation than a Toyota but you spend a little more for the quality and dependability. Same here.

[Thumper]

So, why do you drive a Chevy?

[Captain]

Cause they are a real truck not a yuppie want to be truck.

[jb]

I'd go with what Nandy said, just buy a good lap top with Microsoft, pretty much the standard out there.
Right now I'd stay away from Windows 10 and stick with 7.
You can find these lap tops on sale, me, I like HP.

[Nandy]

Believe me, apple has nothing on MS if all you are doing is what you describe. Heck, i could buy a pc every 2 to 3 years and be more up to date and work as good.
You can turn in the pc and tell the guy what are your problems that it is slow and they should be able to fix it IF they are not driven to sell a new machine. Your computer hardware does not "degrade" it works or it dies. IF i is degrading is software. Im telling you, I had use computers as long as 10 years and most of the time I had to change because I wanted some new hardware that was not compatible with the pc I had. Finding someone to work on your pc is like having someone to work on your car, once you find that person stick with it.
What laptop you have? Brand and model?
Look for the icon that says "My computer" right click on it, select properties, make that property screen as large as it will go, press the "print screen" button. That will print your screen to the clipboard. Open "ms paint" by selecting it if you now where it is if not select the Start button, then click run and type mspaint. once the program is up hit the paste button, save the image and post it here or email it to me. I will tell you if your harware is worth saving or not. If this is all greek then call me. If you dont have my number I will pm it to you.

[Nandy]

oh, and text me before you call me. I dont answer unknown numbers and I might be on a call with some poor technician that just realized I am his last resort and he is SOOL...

[Thumper]

Well, I've been out all day and stopped by Best Buy on the way home. It's "No Tax Week" here for the back to school shoppers, so I popped for a new desk top. Heck, all I needed was the tower as I already have a monitor, printer, etc. I left it there for set-up and will pick it up in the morning. While there, I talked to the Geeks about the laptop and they said the best thing to do is buy the 1-year service plan with the new tower ($99) and the service will cover as many computers as I have. (they said technically, it covers up to 3 computers, but they don't keep track) They told me to drop off my laptop and they'll clear it out and return it to factory default. So, basically, for $99, I'll have a new laptop (plus the service plan). The tower I bought comes with Windows 8.1 and they said they'd upgrade it to 10, but I told them to hold off and I'll upgrade once all the bugs are worked out. BTW ... I don't do games, videos, etc. ... so I don't need much. I picked up the Asus 12GB memory and 3.5" 2TB Up to 3TB Hard Drive ... out the door for under $500. I could almost have bought 3 of them for what they wanted for the iMac. This should serve my purposes just fine.

[Captain]

But now you won't get to see this symbol of class...
image-4206017300.jpg


 Captain

[Thumper]

I have it on the back of my phone ... that'll work for now.