Input on choosing a laptop

[Tommy Vercetti]

I am looking for a replacement laptop since my old one died recently. I have been looking at several possible replacements


I just want to avoid Windows 8, I do not like the new interface.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230831

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7450880&CatId=4937

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+...rive/6248927.p?id=1218721371395&skuId=6248927

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7371365&csid=_61

If any of you find one that is a better deal for under 500 would be nice, preferably under 400. Just don't bother recommending anything with crappy Windows 8.

 

[Zelig]

You should probably take the time to get familiar with Windows 8, it doesn't do anything worse than Windows 7.

For under $500, it hardly matters what you get, any computer at that price is going to be pretty bad. Your best odds would be getting something used, if you're in the United States, check out the Lenovo Outlet.

Currently out of stock, but they've got the following for $500, which stomps anything new you can get for the price:

Refurbished Thinkpad T420
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 processor i5-2520M (2.50GHz base; 3.2GHz Max Turbo, 3MB Cache)( )
Operating system: Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Display: 14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlight w/720p HD Camera"
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Memory: 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
Hard Drive: 128GB SATA 1.8" Solid State Drive
Optical Drive: DVD Recordable Serial ATA

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

You should probably take the time to get familiar with Windows 8, it doesn't do anything worse than Windows 7.

For under $500, it hardly matters what you get, any computer at that price is going to be pretty bad. Your best odds would be getting something used, if you're in the United States, check out the Lenovo Outlet.

Currently out of stock, but they've got the following for $500, which stomps anything new you can get for the price:

Refurbished Thinkpad T420
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 processor i5-2520M (2.50GHz base; 3.2GHz Max Turbo, 3MB Cache)( )
Operating system: Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Display: 14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlight w/720p HD Camera"
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Memory: 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
Hard Drive: 128GB SATA 1.8" Solid State Drive
Optical Drive: DVD Recordable Serial ATA

I hate the new UI for Windows 8. I refuse to support that new direction. I don't like change at all.

As for what I need my computer for

I would like to play some games, nothing too demanding though and for internet surfing.

A few games I would likely play

Civ 3

Darkest Hour from Paradox Interactive

Some of the old school C&C games from the First Decade.

The most demanding game I might try to play is C&C 3.


Darkest Hour system requirements


CPU/Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2100+
Video Card Required: Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 4550 (or equivalent)
Minimum RAM (Memory): 1 GB
Hard Drive Space Required: 2 GB
DirectX Version Needed: 9

C&C 3 requirements
Intel P4 2.2 GHz / AMD Athlon 2200+
1 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100+ / ATI Radeon 9500+ video card
(Note: At the time of release, Windows Vista is not compatible with ATI-based video cards with Radeon 9250 chipsets and below, in addition to NVIDIA-based video cards with GeForce 5000 series chipsets and below. ATI Radeon 9200 and 9250 PCI and NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX cards not supported. By extension, the game is not compatible with these chipsets on Windows Vista machines.)
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
(Note: For Creative Sound Blaster Audigy cards running under Windows Vista, Intel P4 2.6 GHz CPU or equivalent, or multi-core CPU, required)
8X or faster DVD-ROM drive
6 GB of free hard drive space


If I can get a reasonably priced laptop with Windows 7 that can run this stuff that would be great. An acctual graphics card would be great too, not integrated graphics, less strain on the motherboard.

 

[Zack]

Those games are old enough that you can play those games on basically any computer at any price released in the last few years.

I'd recommend posting your request here, or at the very least filling out the form and pasting it here.

Some general advice:

• Get the highest resolution you can in your budget.
• Get an Intel processor.
• Get at the absolute minimum 4GB of RAM.
• SSD is nice, but impractical in your price range.

 

[sophie]

You really aren't going to find anything new on pc that doesn't have Windows 8 installed on it at this point.

 

[TomYo689]

Do you guys know if windows xp is available on new computer hardware

 

[Zelig]

Do you guys know if windows xp is available on new computer hardware

It's not, it doesn't even run on new computer hardware, modern graphics cards require 64-bit systems.

 

[dutchfire]

Guys, do you think I can still buy a modern laptop with Windows 3.1?

 

[sophie]

Do you guys know if windows xp is available on new computer hardware

Why would you even want xp at this point?

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

Ok some of you are just trolling. I am not the only person who hates Windows 8, they changed too much. A lot of people are sticking with Windows 7, there are still PCs shipping with Windows 7. It looks like the same thing that happened with Vista might happen with Windows 8, PC sales for Windows 8 machines will fall and most stores will keep Windows 7 PCs.

 

[Zelig]

Ok some of you are just trolling. I am not the only person who hates Windows 8, they changed too much. A lot of people are sticking with Windows 7, there are still PCs shipping with Windows 7. It looks like the same thing that happened with Vista might happen with Windows 8, PC sales for Windows 8 machines will fall and most stores will keep Windows 7 PCs.

Yeah, lots of people who have never tried Windows 8 and have no idea what they're talking about seem to hate Windows 8 for some reason.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

Yeah, lots of people who have never tried Windows 8 and have no idea what they're talking about seem to hate Windows 8 for some reason.

All you have to do is look at the interface to know its utter crap. That UI is the reason Windows 8 is failing. Its sales are lower then even the dreaded Windows Vista was at this point in its lifespan.


http://www.dailytech.com/Windows+8+Usage+Sinks+Below+Vista+Levels/article29546.htm


http://blog.laptopmag.com/windows-8-adoption-rate-worse-than-vista

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/windows-8-adoption-rate-reportedly-worse-vista-1C7800805


Can't argue with that

 

[Zack]

All you have to do is look at the interface to know its utter crap. That UI is the reason Windows 8 is failing. Its sales are lower then even the dreaded Windows Vista was at this point in its lifespan.


http://www.dailytech.com/Windows+8+Usage+Sinks+Below+Vista+Levels/article29546.htm


http://blog.laptopmag.com/windows-8-adoption-rate-worse-than-vista

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/windows-8-adoption-rate-reportedly-worse-vista-1C7800805


Can't argue with that

That's because people aren't buying as many PCs anymore. The amount of people who purchase an OS upgrade is a tiny fraction of consumers, and they generally compulsively upgrade to the newest option regardless.

 

[Zelig]

I don't need to argue with usage stats, they're not relevant to OS quality. Windows has roughly 10x the marketshare of Mac OS, but they're roughly equivalent in quality.

Name something that Windows 8 does worse than Windows 7.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

That's because people aren't buying as many PCs anymore. The amount of people who purchase an OS upgrade is a tiny fraction of consumers, and they generally compulsively upgrade to the newest option regardless.

I am having to go out of my way to avoid Windows 8. I have seen Windows 7 machines sell out, both new and refurbished online. A lot of people are like me and hate that new UI and don't want to ever have to deal with it AT ALL on there computers.

 

[Zelig]

I am having to go out of my way to avoid Windows 8. I have seen Windows 7 machines sell out, both new and refurbished online. A lot of people are like me and hate that new UI and don't want to ever have to deal with it AT ALL on there computers.

None of those people have seriously used Windows 8.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

None of those people have seriously used Windows 8.

None of them need to. Windows 8 sucks and sucks badly. You can compare Steve Ballmer to Roberto Goizueta with the directions they took for there companies more well known products. New Coke failed and Windows 8 with its crappy Metro UI will fail. People generally don't like change.

 

[Zelig]

None of them need to. Windows 8 sucks and sucks badly. You can compare Steve Ballmer to Roberto Goizueta with the directions they took for there companies more well known products. New Coke failed and Windows 8 with its crappy Metro UI will fail. People generally don't like change.

You still haven't been able to provide a single thing that Windows 7 does better than Windows 8.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you really want, you can just buy a retail version of 7 and clean-install it, which might be a better option than trying to argue with everyone.

This might be cheaper than expected, at least in my area they are selling retail Windows 7 rather cheaply, don't know if they're trying to clear out the stock or if it's just a weird sale though.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

If you really want, you can just buy a retail version of 7 and clean-install it, which might be a better option than trying to argue with everyone.

This might be cheaper than expected, at least in my area they are selling retail Windows 7 rather cheaply, don't know if they're trying to clear out the stock or if it's just a weird sale though.

I don't want to support the sales of Windows 8 if I can help it. I hate that awkward unwieldy UI. I want it to FAIL so Microsoft will get rid of it when they release Windows 9.