Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Currys/PC World usually has quite a few different computers to look at. I'm fairly sure I've even seen Lenovo there. It's about the only place you can get your hands on computers, tablets etc. to any great degree. People often go there to handle the goods and see what they are like, then buy from elsewhere online. I hear criticisms of the company but personally, I've found them OK for buying from. Then again, I've never had any faulty goods to know how they are under that scenario. I also haven't bought a computer from them but some of my family has.

Price-wise, they can be pretty competitive with online sellers. My only grumble would be the way computers come bundled with software that wouldn't be my choice ..and you have to be firm about refusing extras being offered if you don't want them.

In the interest of mentioning all options, if you don't want Windows 10, have a look for companies that sell computers with a Linux OS installed. You won't see these at Currys PC World but some online places sell them. Quite a good OS these days but make sure there are good equivalent programs for those you currently use on Windows. Perhaps ask if anyone in your circle of friends uses one so you can give it a try.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Thanks Mart, I had a good look round Curry's yesterday when we visited Meadowhall. I can understand the RAM (typically 8 Gb) and the Hard Drive/Storage (between 256 Gb to 1T) but I seem to remember the speed was measured as a frequency in Hertz....Now the speed seems to be determined by the processor, Pentium something or other.....

I'm not sure about Linux though, the learning curve might be too excessive...

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

The processor is certainly a factor when buying a computer. It is possible to go in to figures as this site does but basically Intel processors come in a few forms, as can be read about on the page linked to.

Without getting bogged down in trying to understand what's best, what is often seen in specification of computers with Intel processors is: i3, i5 or i7. All that needs to be known is that an Intel i3 processor is not as good as an i5. An i5 processor is not as good as an i7. There's also an Intel processor with a standard called 'Celeron'. This doesn't have the processing power of other Intel processors.

There are also processors made by AMD. I've never had a computer with an AMD processor and haven't read up on them very much. Perhaps someone else might be able to give information on these.

Personally, the sort of specifications I'd be going for are something like:

An Intel i5 processor.
8 gigabytes of RAM.

Ideally, also a 240 gigabyte Solid State Drive but this seems to push the price up quite a bit in non-Desktop computers. A 120 gigabyte SSD is commonly offered and that might be good enough. However, you might find it necessary to store larger files on an external USB drive to free up space on the internal drive after a while. The Windows 10 operating system itself takes about 22 gigabytes of disk space.

I have a 240 gigabyte SSD in my computer and many photos are stored on it. There are also lots of music files and some fairly large image programs. Plus there's an office suite, games and much other stuff. Yet less than half of the 240 gigabytes has been used up. This might give an indication of the sort of size disk you need.

Alternatively, a 1 TB (1 terabyte) hard disk drive will give plenty of space to store everything but the computer's speed of operation won't be as fast as it would be with a Solid State Drive (SSD).

A lot of it depends on budget. Sometimes it's best to set a price and go up to it but don't get a poor specification computer for the sake of it costing a little more. It's something you probably only buy every five years or so and you might as well get the best one that can be afforded. Perhaps better to buy over specified than under I'd say.

Edit: Corrected my figures.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Brilliant Mart, thanks for that info.....
That probably explains why my existing computers aren't cutting the mustard anymore. My desktop runs with a Celeron and Vista O/S. It still manages to do most of what I ask of it, but google refuse to send updates to it, and I can't always conjure up my bank account on it, unless I clear my internet history files.

My netbook runs on Intel Atom, and is so slow these days, it takes forever to follow a link on the forum, and I can't run a piece of film off my dash cam without it buffering so much it's frustrating to watch. Now, to add to my problems I've bust off the on/off switch and it can only be turned on with a piece of wire.....

So the time is nigh Mart, and 8 gigs of ram sounds good, also the i5 sounds about right. As for SSB, 240 gigs will cope very nicely with my storage needs.
I didn't realise there was a difference between a Hard Drive and Solid State device. Would a Solid State device be similar to a memory stick/flash drive?

I spotted a couple of Lenovo's in Curry's that Bruce mentioned, and they looked quite decent, and a reasonable price too.
Thanks again for the advice Mart, and I'll keep you posted on progress.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Alarm bells ringing!

Curry's and PC World are no doubt a useful place to visit if your intention is only to look at the products. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than actually buy from them and, yes, I have had personal experiences of them.

As others have said, you won't find anyone selling computers with anything other than Windows 10 these days and, as you have said yourself, going down the Crapple route will cost you an arm and a leg.

Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't offer much advice regarding which model to buy.

What I can say is that I use a laptop (with a 17" screen) and a smartphone. Many people prefer a tablet, but to me that is just a half-way house between the other two options. Marge has a tablet (10 or 11") but she admits to not having used it for a long time. It is either her laptop for typing, watching videos, etc; or the smartphone usually when outdoors.

Which of these options you prefer is, of course, down to your own personal preference.

Oh, and there are other outlets where you can examine these things. We look in John Lewis, usually. I did that for my new smartphone for which they were charging over £500 (SIM free), and then bought it from Amazon for almost £100 less!

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Similar in as much as there are no moving parts and both store data using gates. There's a page here that gives more detail.

Currys PC World? It's only possible to read reviews of people's experiences. I have read some bad ones and JBR has had an experience that obviously wasn't good.

My own experience of buying goods there hasn't been so bad. Two of my family have bought laptop computers and had no trouble with them. Another has bought white goods with no trouble. I've bought a couple of soundbars and a TV from there and had no trouble.

As said in another thread, I try to support local jobs where I can. So far so good for me as regards Currys PC World but I can't say that would be the same for everyone. Read read read is the thing to do I think.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Thanks for your replies and advice JB and Mart, I purchased my desktop computer from PC World in May 2009, and although have had no problems with it, I do recall them being a bit 'Pushy' offering all kinds of insurance and extras, needless to say, I declined their generous offer, which would have been a complete waste of money in retrospect.

I hadn't thought of John Lewis JB, and even as I write this, Mrs Fox and me are planning a visit to the Sheffield branch this week, taking the train and tram...For free using our passes obviously....

The link you supplied for the processors was excellent Mart, and I've jotted down some of the specifications I will look for when choosing a machine. My desktop computer has a 1gb ram with a 160gb hard drive of which is less than half full (61gb used space) despite a large collection of photographs and text files.
So apart from some clips of video from my dash cam, I can't see my requirements being much more.....So although my desktop is connected via an ethernet cable (more secure) and I do all of my banking on it, I may retire that also if the laptop I decide on can handle all of my work. I do enjoy making electronics drawings though, and the loss of the larger screen on my desktop might be a bitter pill to swallow....We'll see.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Mart!.....
I've just been studying the link you supplied concerning flash drives/SSD Very interesting, from that, would I be right in assuming that the SSD card is superior to the flash drive both in speed and memory quality....This throws a whole new light on the way I back up my files.....Thanks...

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

Oh no. It was worse than that. 'Pushy' I can handle.

A few months ago, Marge and I were looking for a new laptop for t'mother-in-law and saw one at just the right price advertised online by PC World/Curry's in Rochdale. I telephoned the branch to make sure it was available and as advertised, and was assured that it was.

So we travelled to the opposite side of Manchester to buy it, and were presented with a cosmetically damaged laptop which looked anything but new. I challenged the store manager who had the temerity to tell me that it would 'clean up' and that I could have (something like) £5 off.

You can imagine my response, and to make a long story short, I refused his 'kind' offer and wrote a letter of complaint to his superiors.

Re: I'm having to retire my old Netbook....

1 gigabyte of RAM sounds to be one reason why the Desktop computer would run slow. You could add more RAM to that but 9 years is quite a good age for a computer and it's maybe not worth it. You could add a bit more RAM and use it as a computer for playing around with Linux on.

As regard the larger monitor, if buying a laptop computer, depending on connections, it should be possible to plug your larger monitor into that and so keep using it. Most modern laptops computers would have an HDMI socket for that.

I don't think it would be necessary to change the way files are backed up. If you are using external USB sticks or drives for back-up or storage, then that's fine. The data with those drives isn't being constantly written to the way it is with an SSD drive inside a computer that has the operating system and programs installed on it. Much as is said in the page linked to, solid state drives are a somewhat different in design to pure storage flash drives in order to cope with that. Both serve the purposes they are designed for very well.