New Computer Advice

[Arne]

My computer is about 7 years old. I'm getting more blue screens than before and a message that says I have a RAM problem.

So, it is time to start thinking about getting something new. I've had 3 dell computers since 1995.

Is Dell still a good brand?

I have an external h/d and do a back up every week or so... use Acronis to do it. But that is mainly to restore this computer if I have a problem.

One thing that has kept me from updating sooner is how do I get what I want onto the new computer from the old one? I have a lot of programs like Lotus, Mailwasher, etc. that I would like to move to my new computer.

Do I have to reinstall everything, or can I move programs from one to the other without reinstalling?

[rainjer]

You will need to reinstall all of your programs.

Jeremy

[Arne]

That's what I was afraid of.. what a chore that will be..

[Shadow Catcher]

When was the last time you reformatted the HD? You may only need to clean out the detritus and re install. I do a total reformat about every 12 months.
All programs settings etc are on a detachable hard drive so a re do is time consuming but not particularly difficult.

[ssrjim]

Do yourself a favor and visit an Apple store. See how you are treated. I'm not saying buy a Mac but do look.

[caseydog]

I second the thought on checking out Apple. It's worth taking a look, even if you decide to stay with a PC in the end.

BTW, I just moved up from one mac to a new one, which I do every three to four years, and to get all my software and settings from the old to the new was a matter of one firewire cable. The "get started" software on all macs will move anything or everything from the old one to the new one, even if they are on different versions of the Mac OS.

I believe they have a similar program to move files and settings (lie browser bookmarks, etc) from PC to Mac. Obviously, your Windows programs would not move.

Anyway, like ssrjim said, it's worth a look.

CD

[eamarquardt]

My brother also loves his Mac!

I got an Acer Aspire One netbook. I love it. It runs over 4 hours on battery power. I've gotten used to the small keyboard and now make only occasional typos due to the small size. I can take it and all the accesories anywhere in a small camera case I got at a garage sale. With the 6 cell battery it will run for over 4 hours.

I use DeLorme Street Atlas (a full featured GPS program that uses a USB GPS reciever, available on EBay for CHEAP). It does more than my wife's expeinsive Garmin GPS. I also have h/w and s/w to interface with my car's OBD2 so I can see what they are and are not doing.

It has built in wireless and when I stray from home it's easy to find a restaurant with an unsecured network, sign on, and get what I'm looking for online.

It has enough processing power for what I need. The display isn't full size resolution but is "good enough" for most everything. I got my wife one off of Woot for $300 and it has an LED LCD dispay and came with a wireless mouse and external DVD drive.

As far as Dell computers go, some of their stuff is proprietary. My brother's power supply failed and a std power supply couldn't be used as the pin outs are different and you'd toast it by using a non Dell supply which translates into higher repair costs (if you ever need service).

I, too, have solved a lot of problems on PCs with a HD format and reinstalling the OS and operating S/W. Takes a bit of time but most of the time it fixes whatever has gotten into the machine.

You have lots of options depending on how much time and or money you want to invest.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[goramsey]

For the ultimate in simple, just do yourself a favor – buy a Mac. Mac sells refurbished with the same guarantee as the new ones (that is the way I would suggest). Or you could buy a PC with Microsoft OS and good luck.

I just bought a refurbished Airport Extreme for my Mac from Apple. Saved money and the set up is way to simple. Works just fine on a PC as well.

[mikeschn]

FWIW,

I do all my email and the forum stuff on a Mac. I design on a PC, but only because the design software is not available for the Mac.

Yes, it's a paradigm shift in your thinking if all you have ever used is a PC, but once you embrace the Mac, it works really well.

Mike...

[parnold]

I'm a die hard PC fan, but I highly recommend that you look at both macs, and new pc's with win 7. Let your needs determine what you get, not someone elses recommendations.

BTW.. Drink Pepsi, it's way better than Coke!

[starleen2]

Yep - I'm a PC person too! I had a Mac - and won't go back. The way I see it - a new computer is best for upgrading to newer technologies (faster CPU's, huge Ram capacity, larger hard drives, etc) - mainly a hardware issue. From what I have gleaned about your request seems to be hardware related - you like the old programs and want them to still work for you. You could still run windows 3.1 on a new machine with a little tweaking (but really who would want to?) You could probably keep your Old OS and reinstall on a bare bones system and be just fine and have super speed and upgraded hardware to boot.

[asianflava]

I'm not necessarily saying that one is better than the other, because I don't care which one it is, go with what you're used to. If you're comfortable with a Mac go with a Mac, if you're comfortable with a PC go with a PC.

After using PCs at work for years we decided to go to Macs. The management tried to sell them to us saying that they were faster, but they were comparing them to the 5yr old machines that they were replacing. In the end, some of the manufacturing systems didn't work correctly and they went back to PCs.

Of course you have a different situation, but I don't really see a need to switch if you don't have to (unless you want to). The Mac heads are pretty evangelical about their machines, which kind of bugs me. I own several Apple products and they are fine, but I refuse to get a Mac just to spite my Mac friends, and so they can't say "I told you".

Oh and my iPad still doesn't do flash, wassup with that.

[toypusher]

couple things to keep in mind

If you go MAC, you most likely will have to buy all new programs (any that do not come with the MAC to start with)

Also, if you get a PC with win7, some (or even all of) you current programs may have to be updated (read repurchased).

Just something to thing about. As mentioned above you could buy a new PC and put you current OS and programs on it.

[Jason and Amanda]

Purchasing a computer can be very daunting. I would recommend coming up with a written list of requirements that you need for your computer to do for starters.

List of programs you need, list of your favorite things to do, etc...

That's the best place to start. You may find out that staying with XP is a better option for you than upgrading your operating system. New hardware can be bought any many many places.

Personally I recommend a laptop, be it a Mac or a PC. you can still use your keyboard, mouse, and monitor at home without any issues, and you can take the whole computer on the road when you want to.

[hiker chick]

Took me several months to decide on what to buy to replace a 6 year old laptop "desktop replacement" (17" beast -- a Satellite Toshiba that did very well for years).

There are so many more options now -- all along the spectrum of need, capability, size and price.

I went with a MacBook Pro (13") a couple months ago and am delighted. I don't even miss the 17" screen, which surprised me.

Nice to know I can just run to the Apple Store if something goes wrong. And their customer support available by phone is in Texas rather than India.

Good luck.

P.S. My first laptop, circa 2000, was a Dell. It was troublesome from the get-go, a PITA to service and has been off my consideration list ever since.