In the market for a new computer....

I hope I can post this here.  Anyway my old Dell has just about had it so I'm looking to buy a new computer.  I do want Windows 7.  This is my first Dell, never had any other computer so I would like some suggestions on buying a new.

Thanks.

It depends on what you're in the market for. Desktop vs. laptop, pre-built vs custom, glorified Facebook machine, or gaming system, etc. The only thing I can tell you for sure is you will have one heck of a time finding Windows 7. Once Microsoft moves on to a new operating system they discontinue the old one. You may have better luck with a custom built than trying to find a pre-built with Win 7.

Acer:

Always a good choice, for laptops and pre-built.  

Wide Range of products

Excellent support

Wide range of prices

But Lots of pre-loaded garbage software

Cases can be a bit cheaper made

HP:  

Personal preference, I would not use HP for either desktops or laptops

wide range of products, but cheaply made

Cheaper prices but terrible support.

laptops specifically: replacing a power cord or screen can get very costly as HP products are proprietary.

Toshiba:

Expensive, really, that's about it. You can get the same thing in an Acer for a better price.

Laptop replacement parts are proprietary and extremely expensive.

Mac:

Not all software is Mac compatible

Not all computer repair shops can work on Mac's, check with you local repair facility to confirm before you buy

Proprietary Garbage. 

Laptops can be handy for sure, but always remember if you not technically inclined you will live or die by the warranty. If certain pieces on laptops fail out of warranty it will instantly mean new laptop. Whereas a desktop, yes, you are bound to a desk, but all the parts inside are replaceable (within a certain time frame)

I'm a strong advocate for custom builds, mostly because you receive warranty per part instead of 1 year total warranty. But then you need to be slightly more experienced or have a tech that you trust. because it is picking parts. 

But it's really on what you’re going to be using it for? Really, you don't need to buy a Ferrari if you’re only going to drive 5km/hr. Same is true for computers. You don't need a 1000$ computer if its only for forums, email and Facebook.

I'm sure some with disagree and if you notice I left Dell off. This is really personal opinions and what's convenient, I dislike the proprietary requirement, and dell is bad for that. Why should you have to pay $$$ for a new power adapter from dell (because only dell makes that power plug) when you can go to best buy and get a universal for $60?

My first computer was a Dell desktop. From there, I went to Mac's and never came back! I love them.. so easy to use...

Good Luck!

I favour custom desktop builds as well, but I have a checklist of needs.

I would never recommend a Mac. They are, as @twinkles21 said, obnoxiously proprietary and not to mention absurdly expensive. You're paying for a brand and not much else. The programs I've had to use on Macs have been unstable and they heat quickly. I used to work in Apple customer support and had a few friends in tech support in the room next door and the troubles they dealt with were painfully stupid and little problems would blow up into massive "buy more AppleCare so we can spend two weeks remoting your computer to escalate it to someone else".

My brothers and I have gotten my parents an HP and a Toshiba laptop. I think the HP was second-hand from my brother, but the Toshiba was new. They primarily use it for watching movies, email, Facebook, Skype, and a bit of web browsing so really any computer would have worked for them. We haven't had any issues with them, though the HP's monitor burnt out after a few (4 or 5?) years. My boyfriend got a cheap Acer several years back that we use infrequently when we have work to do when we're gone for a weekend or something. They've all run my programs fine too, which are a bit more intense.

If your computer needs aren't very demanding and unless you have some specs to meet, if you can find a good deal for something that can run or comes with Windows 7, scoop it up.

+1 for custom built (order parts from a place like Newegg, TigerDirect, etc, and then put them together). You do need some knowledge of putting them together (or someone to do it for you), but I like the level of control and knowing that you only get what you need.

I still like my Mac...Just my opinion

Artiemom said:

 
I still like my Mac...Just my opinion

Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to make my post sound like it was directed at you - I was going off of the post above it comparing a bunch of brands. I know some happy Mac users, but again, it really depends on what kind of use the machine is going to have.

I have never used a MAC I mainly don't like the price.  I guess Windows 8 mimicks a MAC for casual users like myself.  I haven't even tried to get used to Windows 8 I just keep it on the desktop so for me it's like Windows 7.

I have 4 computers, 2 desktop towers and 2 laptops. All of them are HP computers. I've owned HP computers since 2005. I've never had a problem with them and all of them came with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium. When I ordered them way back in 2010, I had them built to my specifications. I won't go into detail what is in them hardware wise since it would be a very long post, but they're very powerful. I've never had any problem with them. I have copies of the Windows 7 iso's (with SP 1) so I have plenty of copies of the operating system (without all the bloatware which originally came on these computers). I actually prefer HP computers and I don't work for HP either. I do help out at a computer shop and HP is the one computer which we don't see to which need repairing as much as we do for Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and other name brand computers.

My wife uses one of the laptops and I use the second laptop for traveling. Both she and I use a mouse instead of using our fingers with the touchpad. I must say though, I prefer a desktop tower. During the last 3 years, I've learned how to build a desktop tower computer from scratch. I just buy the component parts (motherboard, hard drives, DVD drives, memory, power supply, processor, fans, etc) and put them together.

Remember when I said I was a desktop tower user. I put an second hard drive in each tower and put a 64 bit linux distro (second operating system) on it named Linux Mint and I dual boot between Linux Mint 17 and Windows 7.

When buying a computer from HP, Dell, Apple, etc, spend the money to get what you want and make it as powerful as you want. All the computers I own today, were purchased in 2010 and most of them are more powerful and faster than what most people buy today in 2015. I liked Windows 7 and knew I was going to keep using it until Microsoft will no longer supports it in January of 2020.

Also, a good place to buy a good used computer running Windows 7 is eBay.

I like hps. My old hp laptop is ten years old. Its slow and glitchy but still works if you're patient despite being dropped, rained on, frozen, over heated, and literally dragged around the world and theough jungles.

My 'new' hp is getting on towards six and has had minimal problems despite being frozen/overheates. In fact the only real issue is that it doesnt work properly when thw twmp is over 40 degrees.... but then again what does?

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.  I use my computer mainly for email, surfing, pictures.  I don't watch movies on it or even subscribe to FB or Twitter.  One of the things I really must have is Excel. 

I didn't realize HP was as good as you mentioned, I have always had HP printers and love them but never a computer.  I will look further into that when I shop for my new computer.

"I liked Windows 7 and knew I was going to keep using it until Microsoft will no longer supports it in January of 2020."   This is news to me and I, like you want Win. 7.  I'm afraid of Win. 8 or 8.1

no problem... 

LaRussa said:

I use my computer mainly for email, surfing, pictures. One of the things I really must have is Excel. 


"I liked Windows 7 and knew I was going to keep using it until Microsoft will no longer supports it in January of 2020."   This is news to me and I, like you want Win. 7.  I'm afraid of Win. 8 or 8.1

Click to expand...

If you must have Excel, have you looked into Office Online which is "free" if you have a Microsoft account? Office Online is cloud based and Excel is included in this free version although it is missing a few features of the paid version of Windows Office which includes Excel. I have a few email accounts and one of them is a Hotmail email account so I can access Windows Online by using my Hotmail username and password. If you have a Microsoft account, you might want to check it out. The link to free Windows Online is below.

https://office.live.com/start/default.aspx

I don't care for Windows 8/8.1 either since I used both versions for 3 weeks each. I've been playing around with the pre-release beta of Windows 10 Pro and while it's better (in my opinion) than Windows 8/8.1, I still prefer Windows 7 over the beta Windows 10. The Start Menu in Windows 10 is a hybrid of Windows 7 and Windows 8 "combined". Not to my liking. I had to download a free program, which brings back the classic Windows 7 Start Menu, named "Classic Shell beta 4.2.0" to suit me when running Windows 10. The link for Classic Shell 4.1.0 is below and this works on Windows (8/8.1).

http://www.classicshell.net/

For the operating system, don't rule out GNU/Linux. It includes free equivalents to most applications provided on Windows or Mac. Email, surfing, pictures is no problem. OpenOffice or LibreOffice are free software equivalents to MS Office, and include a spreadsheet application, Calc, that's basically the same as Excel.

You can take the money you save on software and spend it on your cats.

twinkles21 said:

 
It depends on what you're in the market for. Desktop vs. laptop, pre-built vs custom, glorified Facebook machine, or gaming system, etc. The only thing I can tell you for sure is you will have one heck of a time finding Windows 7. Once Microsoft moves on to a new operating system they discontinue the old one. You may have better luck with a custom built than trying to find a pre-built with Win 7.

Acer:

Always a good choice, for laptops and pre-built. 

Wide Range of products

Excellent support

Wide range of prices

But Lots of pre-loaded garbage software

Cases can be a bit cheaper made

HP: 

Personal preference, I would not use HP for either desktops or laptops

wide range of products, but cheaply made

Cheaper prices but terrible support.

laptops specifically: replacing a power cord or screen can get very costly as HP products are proprietary.

Toshiba:

Expensive, really, that's about it. You can get the same thing in an Acer for a better price.

Laptop replacement parts are proprietary and extremely expensive.

Mac:

Not all software is Mac compatible

Not all computer repair shops can work on Mac's, check with you local repair facility to confirm before you buy

Proprietary Garbage. 

Laptops can be handy for sure, but always remember if you not technically inclined you will live or die by the warranty. If certain pieces on laptops fail out of warranty it will instantly mean new laptop. Whereas a desktop, yes, you are bound to a desk, but all the parts inside are replaceable (within a certain time frame)

I'm a strong advocate for custom builds, mostly because you receive warranty per part instead of 1 year total warranty. But then you need to be slightly more experienced or have a tech that you trust. because it is picking parts. 

But it's really on what you’re going to be using it for? Really, you don't need to buy a Ferrari if you’re only going to drive 5km/hr. Same is true for computers. You don't need a 1000$ computer if its only for forums, email and Facebook.

I'm sure some with disagree and if you notice I left Dell off. This is really personal opinions and what's convenient, I dislike the proprietary requirement, and dell is bad for that. Why should you have to pay $$$ for a new power adapter from dell (because only dell makes that power plug) when you can go to best buy and get a universal for $60?

Click to expand...

I bought my daughter her first laptop last year and it was an Acer, unfortunately it has Windows 8 (which I hate) it has been a great computer and I am planning on getting me one as soon as I can. I love the Acer and it has held up with a teenage girl downloading all the stuff they download.

I've had an eMachine desktop and it was a really good computer but for my preference I would choose Acer over anything else.

Denice said:

 
I have never used a MAC I mainly don't like the price.  I guess Windows 8 mimicks a MAC for casual users like myself.  I haven't even tried to get used to Windows 8 I just keep it on the desktop so for me it's like Windows 7.

Click to expand...

I never thought about Windows 8 mimicking the MAC, but they are similar in a lot of ways. I have used MAC but I wouldn't spend my money on them.

When I am shopping for a computer for me I want Windows 7, IMO I think that is the best they have made and they need to leave it alone.

If you know what you want your best bet would be custom built, that is what I'm looking into for my next desktop. I will probably stick to the Acer for my laptop since it won't be used as much unless I go out somewhere with wifi.

We use Windows 7 Pro at work and I like it, too. My desktop and my laptop use Windows 8.1. Rick's desktop is still running Vista. So I'm fairly comfortable with an assortment of OSs. 

I've only had Dells for my desktops, so I can't say much about other brands. My laptop is a 17-inch Toshiba and I can honestly say that I really like it. Rick's union local has a 15-inch Toshiba laptop with 8.1 and one of my GFs went from a Dell XP system to a 15-inch Toshiba laptop with 8.1, too. Since I'm using all of the laptops at one time or another, I'm getting used to 8.1 now. 

I have used a Mac as one of my GFs has one and she needed some help, but would never buy one. But that's just IMO. Hers, too, though, as she went from a Mac back to a Windows-based OS with her next computer. She is using 8.1 on her computer.

My question is: Does it matter what OS you buy at this time, if the Windows Updates are going to upgrade you to Win 10 anyway? My understanding (and there's a thread here somewhere) is that one fine day, we'll do our Windows Updates and poof, we'll be running Win 10 when the update is finished. True? 

Winchester said:

My question is: Does it matter what OS you buy at this time, if the Windows Updates are going to upgrade you to Win 10 anyway? My understanding (and there's a thread here somewhere) is that one fine day, we'll do our Windows Updates and poof, we'll be running Win 10 when the update is finished. True? 

Click to expand...

I really hope that's not the case. It's going to make a lot of people unhappy. Last time they tried shoving a product into users' face (Internet Explorer), they got sued. If businesses running Win7 all of a sudden gets Win10 when they come to work on Monday, can you imagine the productivity loss as everyone scrambles to get used to the new OS? IT departments will never allow that. Most IT departments won't even auto-update Windows, because it is crucial that any new patches issued by MS be tested in a test environment before being deployed to all machines. And these are just patches -- something most of us home users would just set to auto-update and let it do its thing.

Hence, migration to a new platform, even something as "simple" as antivirus software, let alone entire operating systems, is a delicate task that requires a lot of planning. In my school, when we migrated the computers from McAfee to MSE, it took us 3 months over the summer to fully migrate every computer -- at a time when the network would be impacted the least. You'd think it's something as simple as uninstalling McAfee and installing MSE, but no. 

If that was the case, users who don't want to auto-upgrade might even completely abandon their current Win7/8 and go for Linux distros or Macs. MS's attempts would backfire.

I'd be interested to see that thread, Pam, but I'm really hoping that's not what they will do.

FhiCat said:

 
I really hope that's not the case. It's going to make a lot of people unhappy. Last time they tried shoving a product into users' face (Internet Explorer), they got sued. If businesses running Win7 all of a sudden gets Win10 when they come to work on Monday, can you imagine the productivity loss as everyone scrambles to get used to the new OS? IT departments will never allow that. Most IT departments won't even auto-update Windows, because it is crucial that any new patches issued by MS be tested in a test environment before being deployed to all machines. And these are just patches -- something most of us home users would just set to auto-update and let it do its thing.

Hence, migration to a new platform, even something as "simple" as antivirus software, let alone entire operating systems, is a delicate task that requires a lot of planning. In my school, when we migrated the computers from McAfee to MSE, it took us 3 months over the summer to fully migrate every computer -- at a time when the network would be impacted the least. You'd think it's something as simple as uninstalling McAfee and installing MSE, but no. 

If that was the case, users who don't want to auto-upgrade might even completely abandon their current Win7/8 and go for Linux distros or Macs. MS's attempts would backfire.

I'd be interested to see that thread, Pam, but I'm really hoping that's not what they will do.

Click to expand...

I can't imagine MS would do that. It's all about Residual income. Release a new product, they would expect you to pay for it. They may offer an 'upgrade' disc at a reduced price but it would still have a cost associated to it. Can't pay your developers if you give product away for free, right?

kntrygrl256 said:

If you know what you want your best bet would be custom built, that is what I'm looking into for my next desktop. I will probably stick to the Acer for my laptop since it won't be used as much unless I go out somewhere with wifi.

Click to expand...

Custom built, is that when you go shopping with a list of what you want in your new computer and just tell them what you want?  I pretty much have a list of exactly what I want, I may look into that if it doesn't cost a fortune.  My first choice would be Dell since I'm used to them.  I will look into HP also, no matter what, I want Win. 7.  I also realized that I will need besides Excel the Word program.  I have both now.