Spyware Warrior

thunder77 · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:38 pm Post subject: Windows Vista

hi there,

i am in the market for a new laptop, but i have concerns about purchasing one that has Vista for an OS.
i know that Vista has had its issue's, but i've heard rumors that many of the issue's have been fixed. is this true? do you have any advice? i've also noticed that, at least on the Dell web site, laptops offering Windows XP only seem to be more expensive than those with Vista.

any advice will be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

thunder

roger_m · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject:

Vista isn't as bad an many people will tell you, however it still has some problems and the forthcoming Windows 7 is a lot better in my opinion. Many people will tell you that lots of programs will not run in Vista, however this is simply not true - I have found it to be very rare when a program which ran on XP does not also run on Vista.

You will find it hard to get an notebook with XP these days unfortunately.

I would stay clear of Dell or any other big name notebooks, for the simply reason that their low end machines are cheap and nasty. If you want a quality notebook rather than a poor quality one with a brand name on it the following are the best:

ASUS www.asus.com
Sager/Clevo www.sagernotebook.com
Comapl www.powernotebooks.com / www.agearnotebooks.com (They sell laptops from all of the brands I've listed).

If you are unsure about not buing a big brand name the following links make for interesting reading: http://www.powernotebooks.com/articles/index.php?action=fullnews&id=17
http://www.agearnotebooks.com/asusnotebook.html

Not all brand name notebooks are garbage, but I still perfer the brands I've listed as they make good quality notebooks across thier entire range, rather than for just the more expensive models.

If you are getting Vista makes sure you have 2 gigabytes of RAM to get the best performance, or a gigabyte for XP. Without enough RAM your computer will run slowly.

A good option is to buy a "barebones" laptop from one of the manufacturers I've listed. These come from the manufacturer without any CPU, RAM or harddrive - these are installed by the retailer. They also don't come with an operating system. This means you can buy the operation system of your choice and install it yourself, or get someone to install it for you. This is an excellent option as it means you have the orignal XP or Vista installation CD/DVD, versus a highly limited "recovery cd/dvd". An original operating system CD/DVD enable you to do a repair/upgrade install if Windows is playing up, and many cases this will fix it.

However with a "recovery cd/dvd" you can't do that!

Also with an originial install CD/DVD you intall only Windows itself not all the extra garbage which comes installed with machines which come preinstalled with an operating system.

thunder77 · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:45 am Post subject:

thanks. i will check those options.

Daveski17 · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject:

I have Vista (6.0.6. service pack 1) & it seems OK to me, the only problem is that some things are not quite Vista compatible. If you are looking for a decent laptop the Belnea O.books are quite good & have a lot of extras for the money (Bluetooth, Webcam, RealTek audio manager etc).
_________________
Cry, 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war.

~ Shakespeare Julius Caesar

roger_m · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:20 pm Post subject:

Daveski17 · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, but can you get all those & a duo core Centrino processor for under £350?
_________________
Cry, 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war.

~ Shakespeare Julius Caesar

roger_m · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:42 pm Post subject:

Daveski17 · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject:

The o.book 3 I have seems very robust, the keyboard has a much better action than many I have seen. I think they were originally developed for schools & colleges so they were expected to be used somewhat. There again I got a deal on mine.
_________________
Cry, 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war.

~ Shakespeare Julius Caesar

roger_m · Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:29 am Post subject:

I don't think you can get them outside of Europe.

Daveski17 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

Probably not. I thought they were starting to make inroads into the US market. They have done very well in the UK. I still think Sony & Toshiba are popular here though. Sonys are nice but I always thought that Toshiba keyboards were a bit delicate (I have big hands & tend to break things easily).
_________________
Cry, 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war.

~ Shakespeare Julius Caesar