My new PC, laptop or desktop?

[awa355]

Awa.....first questions really are:
a) What are you going to be doing on the computer? i.e. What tasks and particular apps are you looking to run on it
b) Are you short of physical space?
c) Do you require portability?

Stick with Windows or if you're a bit flush, a Mac. Linux is great for servers but I've never yet found a desktop version that at some point, hasn't required a bit of geek knowledge. Win 7 is very stable and if properly setup is very unlikely to get a virus. Even if you do, it's not rocket science to use system imaging software to recover it in a matter of minut

Thanks for your imput. Nice to know that the English language is still around. I appreciate all posts but the indepth techno from some are way over my head.

All I want to do, is download my video clips, cut out the bits I dont want, maybe add songs from my music folder and sit back and bore the wife to tears while re-living my rides. Not worried about flashy intros,titles, credits etc. Have posted a couple of short clips on U tube but thats not my end intention.

Windows Movie Maker has done all I want, but the original installation has thrown a wobbly. Also, the camera records in MOV format which WMM wont open so I have to convert to another format first. eg AVI, WAV, MEG4 etc. Converting will reduce a file from 770mb mov to 180mb avi.

My new Contours bike camera records in HD, ( various sizes ). This laptop ( compaq presario c700) wont play the HD clips without a lot of stop/start playback. I'm currently recording in SD and this format plays okay.

Storage room is no problem. I dont need portability, as this laptop never moves from the table, and I have my HP mini netbook, if I need to take a pc.

Put simply, I want to utilise the HD capability of the contours and playback on a pc in a nice smooth motion.

[Akzle]

So....does the mint flavoured penguin run MSE and Outlook Express? Gotta keep the emails comin nice and clean.

no why would you run BS like outlook or MSE??
debian base packs like buntu and mint have their own email client (empathy? can't remember - i integrate it all in my awesome awesome opera web browser.) MSE.... that POS hydra that rapes your resources. no, no linux runs microsoft BS, for the simple reason is that the people who make the linux, also hack the windows. and thus write better code.

...No need to hunt around for rare parts or chase up the manufacturer who will insist on charging double just because it's proprietary.

Fuck I love industry standards. You wouldn't put up with a bike that only uses special tyres that have to be imported from Italy directly from the factory where the bike was built, would you?

yes this is true, particularly the horizontal boxes. as my first post, get an ATX tower, mid or mini if you prefer, full size is probably unnecessary. and speaking of shit italian bikes, you ever get that electrical fault found?

For example, I've never run Linux but I have a 10yr HP (business) laptop which still runs fine on XP but slow. Skype eats the processor. After reading the above posts I'm tempted to try Linux on it: hadn't thought of that previously because Mandrake etc appeared to be slow and difficult.

mandrake was awesome! unfortunately it got taken over by "mandriva" which i think still exists in some form, but has mainly all been raped by red hat enterprise....(which is actually also v. cool)

Many modern versions of Linux are actually quite resource intensive as there has been a real push in recent years to make Linux more user friendly...
...I have been using DSL (damn small Linux) of late, although I'm unsure of the version, but I do know it uses the 2.4 kernel. That is so light that it runs fine on a VM with 64MB of RAM! It's a bit light on features, however and lacks the smooth GUI refinement you'd expect from a modern GNOME, MATE or KDE environment.

yeah, personally i don't like big buttons and don't care about shadows, wobbly windows, transparency etc, but linux can do all of this as well as (read: better than) windows.
other options for small linux distros are jolly cloud (netbook distro) feather linux etc etc. just google "which linux is best for me?"
and same as windows: once you turn all the effects off, it runs faster.

...Avoid Acer consumer stuff (Aspire). Avoid HP consumer suff (Compaq, Presario, PAvillion, DV6). At all costs avoid the HP all on ones.....many seem to last about 2 years then .....
Acer Timeline stuff is OK. HP Corporate stuff is also ok (Probook, Elitebook) but I hate dealing with their warranty support.....complete @#$cking morons.

Traditional desktops (a.k.a. tower) do have advantages of cheap to replace/upgrade parts but to be honest, most consumers don't bother. Plus laptops and nettops generally have better resale value. My advice....get a machine just a wee bit better than you need at the moment, sell it for reasonable money after 3 or 4 years.......get another one.

i'll back compaq as i have an old presario (win 98se was an upgrade for it) that still runs... no overheating, i think 1.5GB IDE HDD... but the rest. no.

If that's what you call brand new Asus motherboards, first one cost $309 and the other around $380 which were normal prices when the boards came out, then I'm guilty.

asus mobo FTW

Also, the camera records in MOV format which WMM wont open so I have to convert to another format first. eg AVI, WAV, MEG4 etc. Converting will reduce a file from 770mb mov to 180mb avi.

My new Contours bike camera records in HD, ( various sizes ). This laptop ( compaq presario c700) wont play the HD clips without a lot of stop/start playback. I'm currently recording in SD and this format plays okay.

Storage room is no problem. I dont need portability, as this laptop never moves from the table, and I have my HP mini netbook, if I need to take a pc.

Put simply, I want to utilise the HD capability of the contours and playback on a pc in a nice smooth motion.

get a tower.
also, there is better software than (Winblows movie maker?), did your camera not come with some proprietary?

[scracha]

All I want to do, is download my video clips, cut out the bits I dont want, maybe add songs from my music folder and sit back and bore the wife to tears while re-living my rides. Not worried about flashy intros,titles, credits etc. Have posted a couple of short clips on U tube but thats not my end intention

Older Core 2 Duo bargain or i3 will do that nicely. Make sure you get "64 bit" and spend extra on upgrading RAM to 8GB (adds about $50). Wouldn't waste it on more ram.

Windows Movie Maker has done all I want, but the original installation has thrown a wobbly. Also, the camera records in MOV format which WMM wont open so I have to convert to another format first. eg AVI, WAV, MEG4 etc. Converting will reduce a file from 770mb mov to 180mb avi.

Replaced now with Windows "live" movie maker. It's pretty good for simple use as you describe. It's not like you need final cut or Adobe. AFAIK it sitll doesn't handle MOV format but as you say, loads of freeware converters out there that do it. There's freeby movie editors that can handle MOV without converting such as http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AviDemux but they're perhaps a little bit more technical. Obviously a Mac running iMovie will handle Apple's MOV format without hassle.

Storage room is no problem. I dont need portability, as this laptop never moves from the table, and I have my HP mini netbook, if I need to take a pc.

Then get a "normal" box with a huge screen and spend the change on a USB 3 backup drive. Spend a bit more (or get a mate to hack it) on "pro" and then you can take control of the powerful box from your less powerful notebook. Eg. Sat on the couch.


The sort of crap you're reading on the forums is the reason why Linux isn't on most desktops...it's too fragmented.

[Brian d marge]

The sort of crap you're reading on the forums is the reason why Linux isn't on most desktops...it's too fragmented.

oh thats a sweeping statement

Stephen

[jonbuoy]

Older Core 2 Duo bargain or i3 will do that nicely. Make sure you get "64 bit" and spend extra on upgrading RAM to 8GB (adds about $50). Wouldn't waste it on more ram.




Replaced now with Windows "live" movie maker. It's pretty good for simple use as you describe. It's not like you need final cut or Adobe. AFAIK it sitll doesn't handle MOV format but as you say, loads of freeware converters out there that do it. There's freeby movie editors that can handle MOV without converting such as http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AviDemux but they're perhaps a little bit more technical. Obviously a Mac running iMovie will handle Apple's MOV format without hassle.


Then get a "normal" box with a huge screen and spend the change on a USB 3 backup drive. Spend a bit more (or get a mate to hack it) on "pro" and then you can take control of the powerful box from your less powerful notebook. Eg. Sat on the couch.


The sort of crap you're reading on the forums is the reason why Linux isn't on most desktops...it's too fragmented.

I thought that was because open office was shit?

[SMOKEU]

I thought that was because open office was shit?

It's pretty good actually, as is Libre Office. There is the odd MS Office compatibility issue, however.

[sil3nt]

In no way is open office good.

Having tried to do my assignments with it I gave up and grabbed Microsoft Office from home. You can format a document easier in notepad than you can with open office.

[SMOKEU]

In no way is open office good.

Having tried to do my assignments with it I gave up and grabbed Microsoft Office from home. You can format a document easier in notepad than you can with open office.

I haven't had any issues with OO, it's been great for me. The only reason I use MS Office is because at the course I'm doing the teachers all use MS Office and I have had a few compatibility issues, mainly with text formatting. It's not a good look if I hand in an assignment and the paragraphs are all messed up etc.

[sil3nt]

I haven't had any issues with OO, it's been great for me. The only reason I use MS Office is because at the course I'm doing the teachers all use MS Office and I have had a few compatibility issues, mainly with text formatting. It's not a good look if I hand in an assignment and the paragraphs are all messed up etc.

Exactly. It is useless.

[Akzle]

Exactly. It is useless.

In no way is open office good.
Having tried to do my assignments with it I gave up and grabbed Microsoft Office from home. You can format a document easier in notepad than you can with open office.

I thought that was because open office was shit?

open office will kick M$ arse. daily. the new .docx was interesting, but open office has wayy more features to make use of. and the only hiccup i've found (in years of using OO) was exchange tables for spreadsheets...
and have i mentioned how FREE all this shit is. what's M$? a couple hundred buck every few years?

sounds like if you bit a bit more time into learning the software rather than blamming it and running back to M$ you could do quite well with it.

[SMOKEU]

open office will kick M$ arse. daily. the new .docx was interesting, but open office has wayy more features to make use of. and the only hiccup i've found (in years of using OO) was exchange tables for spreadsheets...
and have i mentioned how FREE all this shit is. what's M$? a couple hundred buck every few years?

sounds like if you bit a bit more time into learning the software rather than blamming it and running back to M$ you could do quite well with it.

MS Office is free with the KMS activator.

[jonbuoy]

open office will kick M$ arse. daily. the new .docx was interesting, but open office has wayy more features to make use of. and the only hiccup i've found (in years of using OO) was exchange tables for spreadsheets...
and have i mentioned how FREE all this shit is. what's M$? a couple hundred buck every few years?

sounds like if you bit a bit more time into learning the software rather than blamming it and running back to M$ you could do quite well with it.

Its not 100% compatible so useless if your swapping or using interactive documents/spreadsheets in the business world. If all you want to do is print a letter at home then its OK or you convert everything into PDF´s first. Why do you feel the need to buy a new version of MS office every two years?? For the average user office 2007 is still fine. Why are you advising earlier that he needs to run Windows 7 Ultimate not the Home edition? The menu system is shit in OO. I don´t have an issue with paying for software.

[SMOKEU]

The (computing) world will be a better place if fewer people were so obsessed with Microsoft (and Apple), and moved onto open source software instead. It's just a shame that most people don't know any different.

[jonbuoy]

The (computing) world will be a better place if fewer people were so obsessed with Microsoft (and Apple), and moved onto open source software instead. It's just a shame that most people don't know any different.

Maybe it will happen but when a company developing a product on a part-time/voluntary basis is up against billion dollar players its not hard to see why they can´t compete yet. Lot of the Linux distributions are incredible when you think its a community of people developing in their spare time but they aren´t hassel free. Majority of people want something that works out of the box with no tweaking required which is why Apple have done so well and probably why they are so restrictive with their apps to the point of being control freaks example - an iPad would make a fantastic diagnostics tool for wireless network scanning/fault finding but Apple have clamped down and stopped all wifi scanning apps, no reasonable explanation given. The mighty Apple have decided that we don´t want that function

[Akzle]

Maybe it will happen but when a company developing a product on a part-time/voluntary basis is up against billion dollar players its not hard to see why they can´t compete yet. Lot of the Linux distributions are incredible when you think its a community of people developing in their spare time but they aren´t hassel free. Majority of people want something that works out of the box with no tweaking required which is why Apple have done so well and probably why they are so restrictive with their apps to the point of being control freaks example - an iPad would make a fantastic diagnostics tool for wireless network scanning/fault finding but Apple have clamped down and stopped all wifi scanning apps, no reasonable explanation given. The mighty Apple have decided that we don´t want that function

several distro's are run by companies (and you pay for) many server or enterprise editions - but yeah the rest is just fanboys (very clever ones)
and i daresay that with 95% of hardware you will find buntu or fedora will run out of the box.
if you want to do restricted shit with apple shit: install linux.