Need advice on getting a computer

[StormFeather]

Didn't want to hijack J-WO's thread, and it's possibly slightly different.

I have been lucky enough to work in a job where I've been provided with laptops of various makes and models for the last five years. All the software, and security etc has already been installed, and when things go wrong, I have a support team to call on.

I've never had the need to go out and get my own computer, and therefore, whilst in someways I'm fairly computer literate, in others I'm a complete novice.

Now it looks like my employment is going to come to an end over the next few months, I need to get myself a computer, and the right kind of software to both support and protect myself.

I'm looking to start up a business, so I need to ensure my safety on the web, and I want to be able to watch movies and possibly play the odd game.

Any suggestions?

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

For a laptop, to watch movies you'll want high battery life and for both movies and games, you will want a good amount of RAM. Depending on how many games and what kind, a large hard drive is optional.


For security, that's something I can't help too much with. Avast! is usually pretty good even at the free level, and I would suggest you stay away from Norton as much as possible. I'm sorry I can't give any more advice than this, but there's others on here who could help a lot more than I could.

 

[StormFeather]

Thanks Karn - any advice is much appreciated!

 

[The Judge]

Can't help with any of the computer thing-y stuff, as I am a techno-idiot, but I just wanted to come on and wish you well for the future. Losing a job is a scary thing, even when it's one's own decision; much more so when it isn't. Good luck with the new business.

 

[StormFeather]

Thank you Judge!

It's more a case of jumping before I'm pushed. Working in a local council, we were told yesterday that salary budgets are being cut by at least 25%, maybe more if we can't get some of our standing contracts reduced.

That, and the persistant problems I've been having with my manager, mean that I actually can't wait to leave.

But I will miss the tech support! I've gone through 3 laptops in the last 8 months - through various problems which include parent/child error (wasn't watching daughter closely enough and ended up with a badly damaged motherboard!)

I also haven't had to think about anything like software, or security as it's all done for me.

Always willing to learn though!

 

[Ursa major]

There's something else about which you may also need to be careful: backing up your data.



It may be that you stored all your work-related data on your laptops' hard drive rather than on the council's server, so this advise may not be appropriate.

On the other hand, there's never a wrong time to shout: "ALWAYS BACK-UP YOUR DATA!"

 

[Lenny]

First question is do you want to be able to take the computer around with you (in which case you want a laptop), or are you happy for it to sit in one place and you work around it (desktop)?

Desktops are generally more powerful and less prone to some of the problems that afflict laptops - overheating and incredible battery degradation are two that come to mind. Obviously they're not portable (unless you have a team of strong men and a generator to hand), but for, say, £700, the desktop you could buy would out-spec a £700 laptop.

Budget is a key thing to think about here - good desktops generally start at around £500, and go up to maybe £2000 for the super-beast (building one yourself can take the price down to ~£300). A decent laptop is between £400 and £700, I think, and good netbooks set you back between £200 and £300.

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Software won't be an issue - there are multiple programs for each aspect of security. I, for example, use AVG as my virus protection, Comodo as my firewall, and MalwareByte, CCleaner and Spybot for the rest. I've got a public Dropbox folder with various free programs in it that I can link you to closer to the time, if you want.

 

[goldhawk]

Any suggestions?

Take one of the support team out to lunch and pick his/her brains.

 

[StormFeather]

Take one of the support team out to lunch and pick his/her brains.

Thanks for the responses.

I'd want to stay with non-desktops, as I'm used the flexibility now and would be loath to give that up.

But, can someone explain, please, what is the difference between a laptop and a netbook

 

[goldhawk]

But, can someone explain, please, what is the difference between a laptop and a netbook

A laptop has a DVD/CD drive, a netbook does not. Note that there is a lot of variation between manufacturers.

 

[Lenny]

A laptop has a DVD/CD drive, a netbook does not. Note that there is a lot of variation between manufacturers.

Whilst technically correct, it's not as cut and dry as that.

Netbooks, as the name implies, are notebooks designed for surfing the Internet. Whilst the design starts to blur with ultra-small and ultra-portable laptops at the higher end, a netbook generally has a screen of up to about 11" and little oomph. The processors are specially designed mobile processors (Intel's Atom is the main weapon of choice, though you'll see some with ARM CPU's) that might hit 2ghz if you're lucky and the RAM is generally limited to 4gb. Storage is often an SSD, ranging from a paltry 20gb to maybe 250gb.

The result, dictated by the design, is a tiny laptop with little power (thus allowing incredible battery life - in the realm of seven or eight hours) that allows you to surf the Internet on the go. You can use applications like MS Word on it, but it can't handle many without suffering significant slow down. You find that a lot of students take them to lectures to make notes, but none use them as their main machine (at least, I don't know of any CompSci's who do - try programming on a 1280x720 screen! ).

Laptops don't need explanation, obviously.

In short, netbooks are a subset of laptops, designed for on-the-go browsing and small amounts of work.

Personally, I detest the things, but then, I hold no love for full-featured laptops either.

 

[Tinsel]

1. Get a new laptop with Windows 7.
2. Create an administrators login which usually is walked through when you first start up your machine.
3. Create a new user account with non administrator privileges, just an ordinary user account and log into the user account when you do everything except installing primary software (log into the administrator account when you install software).

If your user account fails you can create a new one, but it is safer than using the administrator account because something like a virus will be able to access system files if you are logged in as administrator all of the time.

 

[mosaix]

Thank you Judge!

It's more a case of jumping before I'm pushed.

StormFeather, I take it you have studied the monetary differences between resigning and being made redundant? Not only in terms of redundancy pay but also unemployment benefit / jobseekers allowance etc?

Take a lot of advice before deciding.

 

[goldhawk]

1. Get a new laptop with Windows 7.
2. Create an administrators login which usually is walked through when you first start up your machine.
3. Create a new user account with non administrator privileges, just an ordinary user account and log into the user account when you do everything except installing primary software (log into the administrator account when you install software).

If your user account fails you can create a new one, but it is safer than using the administrator account because something like a virus will be able to access system files if you are logged in as administrator all of the time.

Make sure the passwords for the accounts are not the same.

Also, you should keep a maintenance notebook on everything you do in the administrator's account, software you install, software you delete, what hardware you add and how you got it working. That way, if something bad happens, you know how to re-create your system.

 

[Erin99]

Well, as a long-time laptop user of various makes and models, I can safely say I LOVE Toshibas. They are whisper quiet and are more reliable than the Acer (motherboard packed in and the machine was NOISEY), Sony (screen died), and other ones I've tried.

As for software, do stay away from the mega companies such as Norton Symantec and Mcaffee, because when Bad People code viruses, they make sure their worm/trojan/malware can get around the top anti-virus programs first (since more people use them). What would be the point in creating a virus that got killed by the first anti-virus program it encountered?

So, by that reasoning, smaller anti-virus companies are best. Me and mine use Comodo, who do all-in-one virus and firewall protection.

 

[Lenny]

What I've learnt from experience (knowing people with laptops and fixing the laptops), and a recent study

The most reliable laptop you can buy is an Asus laptop. They don't come cheaply, and they're a brand few people will have heard of for laptops (they used to be quite a geeky brand - people who built computers would know about them, for example. I swear by my Asus motherboard!) but one most people should know for their Eee PC line of netbooks. Their products are generally quite expensive, but the build quality is superb - I've never had someone come to me with an Asus laptop that needed fixing.

In the study, Asus came top for laptop reliability with Toshiba a close second. Whilst not fantastically pretty, they're decent laptops - Toshiba is about the only manufacturer I know who seems to have a habit of squeezing full-sized keyboards into their laptops (Dell do it on some of their bigger ones, too). Whilst I've never know someone with a Toshiba laptop to have major problems, I do get a lot of people asking me why theirs bluescreens regularly. Toshiba's have a habit of overheating if they're in a bad environment. Easily fixed with a couple of things lifting the back of the laptop off a flat surface (so it's at an angle). Even better is to buy laptop fans - a little unit that sits under the battery blowing cool air around. They quite often come with USB hubs built in.

At the other end of the scale... well, I'll simply say NEVER get an HP (HP also do Compaq laptops, which you shouldn't buy either) or Acer laptop. Whilst some people have no problems, those laptops are like gold dust. Everyone I know with Acer and HP/Compaq laptops have had problems - eight times out of ten their HDD has died a slow, painful death (in which case they end up shelling out £80 for a new one, and however much they fancy on pints of Coke for me when I retrieve their data... a process which I find takes from a few hours if the HDD is empty or only somewhat dead, to nearly a week if the HDD was full or properly broken). The other two out of ten cases are bad batteries - the laptop simply won't work with the battery. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the laptop or simply the batteries Acer and HP supply, but the owner has to buy a new battery or sacrifice the portable part of their portable computer.

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The short of it:

Asus are brilliant.
Toshiba is a good, cheaper option.

Never even contemplate thinking about going to the shop to look at an Acer or HP/Compaq.

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Laptop-Reliability Study Highlights the Most Sturdy Laptop Makers

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EDIT: I'll throw my hat in beside Ursa's and repeat - ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA.

External hard drives can be bought for pennies, and save so much hassle should your laptop die. £80 can net you a Western Digital or Seagate 1TB external.

 

[Erin99]

Ahem. As a long-time user of Toshiba, I can safely say I have had no overheating and I cannot even recall the last bluescreen I had.

Here's another one who says no to HP/Compaq!

And my Toshibe - the P200 - has a numeric keypad and full-sized keyboard! (And dedicated graphics card for games, if I play any - which I don't, not any more).

Toshiba Satellite P200 Images - Laptop & Notebook computers

Oh, and certain Toshiba laptops have BEAUTIFUL sound quality, too - something other makes lack, with their tinny sound and speakers located on the front of the laptop rather than the top. If you want to play music, look for a laptop that says "high quality sound". Mine has Harman/Kardon HD speakers built in.

 

[Lenny]

Well, the newer ones seem to - most of the laptops I'm asked to look at are from students who have bought them over the last two years (for Uni, or whilst they've been at Uni).

Students being students, they have their laptop wrapped in their duvet as they use it, or surrounded by junk on a desk.

 

[Sephiroth]

Oh, and certain Toshiba laptops have BEAUTIFUL sound quality, too - something other makes lack, with their tinny sound and speakers located on the front of the laptop rather than the top. If you want to play music, look for a laptop that says "high quality sound". Mine has Harman/Kardon HD speakers built in.

...which is ironic, since the reason I didn't get a Toshiba TV was poor sound quality. But that isn't really relevant to the topic at hand, so I shall slink off again.

 

[Erin99]

But, then again, my dad's (cheap) Toshiba laptop has poor sound - but a 9-hour battery life. So again, it's whichever model you go for. Make sure the laptop you buy has all the requirements you need.