Cheap Laptops

[Parson]

I am not a fan or the "rental' system either, but from a producers point of view it's a no-brainer. You keep a steady flow of cash coming in. You get to make updates and tweeks, so that some flashy new product from a competitor doesn't look "way better." And you can keep up with the latest in cyber security. --- Before when people were buying new computers and upgrading their software every year or two it didn't seem so necessary from a cash flow perspective. --- You can see the reason on this thread; making do with things 5-10+ years old is not a good business model.

 

[soulsinging]

The pitfall with renting is, the longer you use it, the less economical it becomes because there comes a time where it's simply cheaper to buy than continue renting.

That assumes an option to buy continues to exist, which it won't for long. It's already getting hard to find actual dvd's and blurays for sale on Amazon... they want you to "buy" their digital version, which you're really only renting, so they can control your access, track it and sell info about it to advertisers. Everything is moving this direction. Even toothbrushes and razors are moving towards "systems" where you're subscribing to regular shipments of brush heads or razor blades. The only surprise is how long it took microsoft to get there.

 

[RJM Corbet]

I believe that 'shafted' is the correct word that may apply, lol?

EDIT
And so? What are we going to do about it?

 

[Foxbat]

I believe that 'shafted' is the correct word that may apply, lol?

EDIT
And so? What are we going to do about it?

Well, I know what I'm doing about it. I neither rent nor subscribe and never intend to. It's my intention to do without instead because the vast majority of these products are just not that important. Does it matter to me that I can't get the latest Photoshop? Absolutely not. How much of the new added features does the ordinary user actually use? Not that much I discovered - which is why I moved to the cheaper cut-down Elements.

Of course, it's up to every individual to make their own choice but the policies of companies will be dictated by whether they can keep or lose customers because of their business model. As they say in dragon's Den. When it comes to this new model, I'm out.

 

[Dave]

Does it matter to me that I can't get the latest Photoshop? Absolutely not. How much of the new added features does the ordinary user actually use? Not that much I discovered - which is why I moved to the cheaper cut-down Elements.

While that's true for you, and for Photoshop, it may not be true for everyone. I had to buy Access because my college told me that's what they are using and I had no choice. There are plenty of database management alternatives. Some people will need the same product at home that they use at work. Some people will buy the most expensive software anyway because they simply have too much money. Other people will not be aware that there are alternative options, so a thread like this is educational. Some, however, may have so much previous work invested in a particular brand of software and its add-ons, as templates and such, that it is just not worth the savings to start over from scratch. That will be particularly true with image and database software, and less with something like Word than can be opened by a wide range of competitors software. I agree with the person who says that Word hasn't really changed that much in the last 20 years and is not particularly good, but it is still the market leader.

 

[Elckerlyc]

While that's true for you, and for Photoshop, it may not be true for everyone. I had to buy Access because my college told me that's what they are using and I had no choice. There are plenty of database management alternatives. Some people will need the same product at home that they use at work. Some people will buy the most expensive software anyway because they simply have too much money. Other people will not be aware that there are alternative options, so a thread like this is educational. Some, however, may have so much previous work invested in a particular brand of software and its add-ons, as templates and such, that it is just not worth the savings to start over from scratch. That will be particularly true with image and database software, and less with something like Word than can be opened by a wide range of competitors software. I agree with the person who says that Word hasn't really changed that much in the last 20 years and is not particularly good, but it is still the market leader.

Yep, Microsoft has the market in a stranglehold. Companies use it because all their relations use it and they must be able to use the *.docs, *.xls and *.acc you send them. Personnel is trained to work with it and because of that are loathe to try anything else.
I have worked with Excel for ages and would call myself an VBA-expert. Now I am retired and work at home with LibreOffice Calc. It is a struggle. It is a good product, certainly where 80% op the people only use 20% of its options. It is freeware and works on several platforms.
It also has to do with brand recognition and reputation. Everyone has heard of Microsoft, Adobe, Apple etc. People buy the newest product the moment it is available, thinking it will be better, faster, stronger. Hmmm. yeah perhaps the problem is people who simply have too much money!

 

[Foxbat]

There's another aspect to renting/subscribing that I think should be of concern to some because I think there's a tendency in some folk to subscribe to a plethora of stuff and simply not to keep track of where there the money is going - to the extent that they continue to subscribe long after they've stopped using or no longer require that product's fancy features that warranted the subscription in the first place. The streaming market is an example of an industry banking on people taking out multiple subscriptions, and many will do just that because of the low subscription costs. Costs don't become so low when these become multiple products and, because of their number, become individually little used subscriptions.

 

[Foxbat]

While that's true for you, and for Photoshop, it may not be true for everyone. I had to buy Access because my college told me that's what they are using and I had no choice. There are plenty of database management alternatives. Some people will need the same product at home that they use at work. Some people will buy the most expensive software anyway because they simply have too much money. Other people will not be aware that there are alternative options, so a thread like this is educational. Some, however, may have so much previous work invested in a particular brand of software and its add-ons, as templates and such, that it is just not worth the savings to start over from scratch. That will be particularly true with image and database software, and less with something like Word than can be opened by a wide range of competitors software. I agree with the person who says that Word hasn't really changed that much in the last 20 years and is not particularly good, but it is still the market leader.

Perhaps they no longer do it but Microsoft (used to) offer student packages of their Office products at significant discounts. If they still do this, I would like to think your college made you aware of the fact.

They also did deals with companies who purchased large amounts of user licences. About three or four years ago at my last place of work, we had a special offer where we could download our own full copy of Microsoft Office for (if I recall less than £50). I didn't take advantage because I was still using Office 2000 then (and I'm still using it now).

 

[CupofJoe]

The Academic Institution I work at sets up all students with Office365 for free and you can download the bits of Office you want to work offline or keep it all online with O365. The issue is when you graduate and lose access to your university account, you lose access to Office 365, the offline apps and all the work held on the cloud. You can get it back but they don't make it simple, but there are a lot of messages beforehand so you shouldn't be caught out.
For us Drones, they are trying to link it all together through Office365 to Teams and Sharepoint so we hold no data locally and it is all on the cloud. This will make us more secure [probably true I admit] and more nimble [which is management speak for Hot-desking].

 

[Parson]

I used WordPerfect exclusively between 1989 and (maybe) 2005. But since then I've had to have Word because so many of my correspondents could not seem to be bothered to use a pdf of the like. I stopped updating WordPerfect in about 2012 and now have a copy of M$ Word all of my own. I still think it doesn't do as much as my older versions of WP, but M$ made it so that WP didn't play well with Windows and so the die was cast.

My take is this: In general a techy person can still (and probable for a long time to come) be able to find nearly as good much cheaper alternatives. But for the vast majority of "ordinary" users the power producers, M$ and App$e, will still rule the world.

 

[Overread]

I've used Open Office and whilst it "is compatible" it can throw up all kinds of oddities. For example its a right nightmare if you have images in your open office document as unless you do something specific with them you won't be able to see them even if you save it as a word document and then open it in word. I forget exactly, but it was a frustrating annoyance. Yes you can work around it but sometimes you just have to break down and go with the flow as that's so many times easier.

 

[althea]

I am looking for a laptop since my HP Pavilion All in one computer died yesterday.
I have have never had a problem with it,then it just went dead. Up until then it was a great little machine.
I want a new laptop with 8g RAM,2TB storage, SSD and to be at least 16 inches wide.They are a bit pricey,but I'm looking through the Black Friday deals at present. I used to have a lovely Sony vaio laptop but it was running Vista and wasn't modern enough to take Windows 10.
Up until now I hadn't heard of Windows 10 S,so thanks for the heads up.

 

[mosaix]

I am looking for a laptop since my HP Pavilion All in one computer died yesterday.
I have have never had a problem with it,then it just went dead. Up until then it was a great little machine.
I want a new laptop with 8g RAM,2TB storage, SSD and to be at least 16 inches wide.They are a bit pricey,but I'm looking through the Black Friday deals at present. I used to have a lovely Sony vaio laptop but it was running Vista and wasn't modern enough to take Windows 10.
Up until now I hadn't heard of Windows 10 S,so thanks for the heads up.

Not sure where you're based, Althea, but for that kind of spec (which is very similar to my laptop) it may be worth considering UK based PC Specialist:

PCSPECIALIST - Top Spec Custom PCs & Laptops Built to Order

Manufacturer of performance custom computers and laptops. Customise your ideal gaming PC or laptop using our advanced configurator.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

I've checked with them and none of the machines they supply run in S Mode.

Edit: Stupid of me. I now see you are in Wales.

 

[althea]

I have ordered the 17.3 inch Acer Aspire 3,it is coming tomorrow.I hope it's as good as it looks.Fingers crossed.