BEWARE OF SCAMMERS ASKING FOR ADMIN ACCESS. WE NEVER ASK FOR ACCESS.
MrsCW
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FAO Shaniannie: Re PC Advisor from your H2BHiya Ann.
I've finally got my head around doing this thread.
Right, I'm in need of advice and direction on a new lappy.
What I have at present is:-
ADVENT 7080
Spec
 Intel Pentium M 750 1.86GHZ
17" Widerscreen TFT (1440x900)
1034 MB DDR II RAM
Intel 915PM (Alviso)+ICH6-M
NVDIA GeForce Go 6800 graphics with 256MB external memory
Integrated Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
80GB HDD
DVD+/-RW
4xUSB 2.-, 1x IEEE1394
Express Card slot, 4 in 1 Card Reader, TV Out, VGA port
Line-one (for headphones)
7.1 channel surround sound compatible
Mic-in
Hotkeys
I got way more than I needed with this (cost me £1500ish) and don't want to make the mistake with the next one.
Out of the above, these are a must/preference for me:-
17" Widerscreen TFT (1440x900)
1034 MB DDR II RAM
NVDIA GeForce Go 6800 graphics with 256MB external memory
Integrated Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
DVD+/-RW
4xUSB 2.-, 1x IEEE1394
4 in 1 Card Reader
Hotkeys
I DON'T want ADVENT or a PC World model as they're a mare for parts etc.
Obviously need a very good processor (I do play PC games on the machine but not high graphics like a PS2 type of thing). And a very decent size HDD (I use a external HDD too).
I also use MS Office packages HEAPS.... I have a "ahem" version of Microsoft Enterprise, which includes:-
Access 2007
Communicator 2007
Excel 2007
Groove 2007
InfoPath 2007
OneNote 2007
Outlook 2007
PowerPoint 2007
Publisher 2007
Word 2007
The guy, when we bought hubby's new lappy last month, stated that any previous versions of MS Office would not work on Vista (my lappy is 3 years old btw) so hubby would have to buy the new version. We didn't btw. What's the score with this?
Anyway, any guidance or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you - in advance!
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shaniannie
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I'll get Paul to take a look at that list tonight and see what he has to say 
I know the first question he'll ask will be what's your budget 
TBH, from what I know, most lappys (other than the bottom of the range models) will be an upgrade from what you have. It's a 1.8gz cpu, 1mb ram and 80gb hdd that you've got, so I'm guessing to get a decent grahpics card in it, the other specs should be much higher...
So, do you want to buy another office package, or would you use the enterprise one you have if it still works?
By "ahem" do you mean it's ummm.... not legit? 
Well, I can say with 99% certainty that any programs should work with vista, provided they're installed properly. The only problem with Vista is that it's reasonably high security, especially with MS products, so if something were't legit it'd be hard to run it without microsoft finding out.
Anyway, like I said, I'll get him to take a look tonight (and tell him to come out of salesman mode - he's awful for that!)
ETA* Just to check, you are after a windows machine, and not a MAC, yeah?
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MrsCW
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| shaniannie wrote: | I'll get Paul to take a look at that list tonight and see what he has to say
I know the first question he'll ask will be what's your budget |
I don't wan to spend like I did before. I know I won't get one like hubby for £400 but he got a 12" one which is good for him. I def want to keep it until £1k and would be even better if I could keep it much lower but haven't actually got a budget tbh.
| shaniannie wrote: | TBH, from what I know, most lappys (other than the bottom of the range models) will be an upgrade from what you have. It's a 1.8gz cpu, 1mb ram and 80gb hdd that you've got, so I'm guessing to get a decent grahpics card in it, the other specs should be much higher...
So, do you want to buy another office package, or would you use the enterprise one you have if it still works? |
I want to use theEnterprise I've got. Hubby and I refuse to spend £400 on an MS Office Pakage (I don't use the basic versions of the software you see, so have to get the professional side of things).
| shaniannie wrote: | | By "ahem" do you mean it's ummm.... not legit? |
OF COURSE!
| shaniannie wrote: | | Well, I can say with 99% certainty that any programs should work with vista, provided they're installed properly. The only problem with Vista is that it's reasonably high security, especially with MS products, so if something were't legit it'd be hard to run it without microsoft finding out. |
Didn't they say that before with Windows 200+ though?
| shaniannie wrote: | | Anyway, like I said, I'll get him to take a look tonight (and tell him to come out of salesman mode - he's awful for that!) |
Thanks!!
| shaniannie wrote: | | ETA* Just to check, you are after a windows machine, and not a MAC, yeah? |
Def WINDOWS!
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shaniannie
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| MrsCW wrote: | | shaniannie wrote: | I'll get Paul to take a look at that list tonight and see what he has to say
I know the first question he'll ask will be what's your budget |
I don't wan to spend like I did before. I know I won't get one like hubby for £400 but he got a 12" one which is good for him. I def want to keep it until £1k and would be even better if I could keep it much lower but haven't actually got a budget tbh.
| shaniannie wrote: | TBH, from what I know, most lappys (other than the bottom of the range models) will be an upgrade from what you have. It's a 1.8gz cpu, 1mb ram and 80gb hdd that you've got, so I'm guessing to get a decent grahpics card in it, the other specs should be much higher...
So, do you want to buy another office package, or would you use the enterprise one you have if it still works? |
I want to use theEnterprise I've got. Hubby and I refuse to spend £400 on an MS Office Pakage (I don't use the basic versions of the software you see, so have to get the professional side of things).
| shaniannie wrote: | | By "ahem" do you mean it's ummm.... not legit? |
OF COURSE!
| shaniannie wrote: | | Well, I can say with 99% certainty that any programs should work with vista, provided they're installed properly. The only problem with Vista is that it's reasonably high security, especially with MS products, so if something were't legit it'd be hard to run it without microsoft finding out. |
Didn't they say that before with Windows 200+ though?
| shaniannie wrote: | | Anyway, like I said, I'll get him to take a look tonight (and tell him to come out of salesman mode - he's awful for that!) |
Thanks!!
| shaniannie wrote: | | ETA* Just to check, you are after a windows machine, and not a MAC, yeah? |
Def WINDOWS! |
Right, so you want the best lappy you can get, to at least equal, or preferably better the graphics card in the one you have, with a MAX budget of £1k, but the lower the better?
I know we have semi-legit versions of office. I have 2003 on my machine and Paul has 2007. I say semi-legit because he got them through work somehow, and the product keys are legit. I would put 2007 on mine but there's no Welsh spell check in that one (YET!) but there is on 2003.
Basically, practically everything is backwards compatible on Windows. IE you can put older programs on newer computer, as long as they're installed properly.
We both have Vista machines, and do have a couple of programs that are cracked (FTP, HTML editing etc) but Paul's weary of installing MS cracked products on Vista. You would not be able to update your programs, I know that for sure, but I'll ask Paul about the ins-and-outs of it all, to see if it's possible. The security, for sure, on Vista is much higher than any other OS.
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MrsCW
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[quote="shaniannie"] | MrsCW wrote: | | shaniannie wrote: | I'll get Paul to take a look at that list tonight and see what he has to say
I know the first question he'll ask will be what's your budget |
I don't wan to spend like I did before. I know I won't get one like hubby for £400 but he got a 12" one which is good for him. I def want to keep it until £1k and would be even better if I could keep it much lower but haven't actually got a budget tbh.
| shaniannie wrote: | TBH, from what I know, most lappys (other than the bottom of the range models) will be an upgrade from what you have. It's a 1.8gz cpu, 1mb ram and 80gb hdd that you've got, so I'm guessing to get a decent grahpics card in it, the other specs should be much higher...
So, do you want to buy another office package, or would you use the enterprise one you have if it still works? |
I want to use theEnterprise I've got. Hubby and I refuse to spend £400 on an MS Office Pakage (I don't use the basic versions of the software you see, so have to get the professional side of things).
| shaniannie wrote: | | By "ahem" do you mean it's ummm.... not legit? |
OF COURSE!
| shaniannie wrote: | | Well, I can say with 99% certainty that any programs should work with vista, provided they're installed properly. The only problem with Vista is that it's reasonably high security, especially with MS products, so if something were't legit it'd be hard to run it without microsoft finding out. |
Didn't they say that before with Windows 200+ though?
| shaniannie wrote: | | Anyway, like I said, I'll get him to take a look tonight (and tell him to come out of salesman mode - he's awful for that!) |
Thanks!!
| shaniannie wrote: | | ETA* Just to check, you are after a windows machine, and not a MAC, yeah? |
Def WINDOWS! |
Right, so you want the best lappy you can get, to at least equal, or preferably better the graphics card in the one you have, with a MAX budget of £1k, but the lower the better? [quote="shaniannie"]Kinda yes. TBH I know on the spec I listed of what the lappy has, I dont use a great deal. I don't use ANY of the entertainment bits which is a BIG waste.
| shaniannie wrote: | I know we have semi-legit versions of office. I have 2003 on my machine and Paul has 2007. I say semi-legit because he got them through work somehow, and the product keys are legit. I would put 2007 on mine but there's no Welsh spell check in that one (YET!) but there is on 2003.
Basically, practically everything is backwards compatible on Windows. IE you can put older programs on newer computer, as long as they're installed properly. |
This was always my understanding too. But I'm sure you know what I mean when I say some of the staff in PC World don't have a smidge on what they are talking about!
| shaniannie wrote: | | We both have Vista machines, and do have a couple of programs that are cracked (FTP, HTML editing etc) but Paul's weary of installing MS cracked products on Vista. You would not be able to update your programs, I know that for sure, but I'll ask Paul about the ins-and-outs of it all, to see if it's possible. The security, for sure, on Vista is much higher than any other OS. |
I don't really update the programs anyway, so that's not a problemo
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shaniannie
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Stacey, can I ask a favour? Once this thread's done, can you delete it? Paul's worried that someone from work (he's so paranoid!) may see it and he'll get a bollocking lol
I had to almost argue with him to get him out of salesman mode 
Anyway, you have office 2007. There are NO compatibility issues with 2007 and Vista. When Vista first came out there were issues with some versions of office 2003.
Was the advice you were given from someone at PC World? (what you've been told is apparently what they're told to tell people!)
Also, "they" all tell people that they see about 6 people a week coming in with their computers locked by Microsoft, after using cracked programs. In reality, Paul's said he's seen 4 or 5 people coming in since Vista has been launched. What Microsoft does is lock your computer so you can basically only visit MS sites. If you load your prog onto a new lappy there *IS* a risk that you'll be found out. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk, but there will be no compatibility issues.
Are you planning to buy from PC World? He said, if you are, to ask them how much of a discount they'll give you if you take out PCP (pc performance) which is the cover for the lappy. That way it'll cost you less as you get a discount from them, and then about a week or so later phone them up and cancel (it's a month-by-month installment thing, you'll pay the first month installment, then cancel it easily over the phone, no contract at all).
Right, he's pointed out 2 laptops.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/.../184067#productInformationSection
This is the cheapest of the 2, at 699. Given the choice, he'd go for this one as it has blu ray. You'd be tripling your RAM and HDD size, and it has a core 2 duo processor, so much better than the one you have.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/...s&page=Product&sku=642901
The 2nd. A HP. Basically, a "nice" laptop. It's nice to use and looks good. Specs are about the same as the one above, but is £50 more expensive, because it's a HP, and it looks a little nicer.
He doesn't know off the top of his head the graphics performance on them, but they are better than what you have now.
If you did want to push the boat out, this would be the one he'd go for (you could see his eyes smiling at this one lol) :
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/...&sku=354080&category_oid=
Any questions, just fire away
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shaniannie
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He's just pointed out another one,
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/...&sku=956235&category_oid=
It's not as high spec as the other 2, but is £500. It's again, at least doubling everything you already have. His comment was "that's a REALLY nice looking machine, and Toshibas are good"
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MrsRaggle
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Putting in Mike's thoughts, if you have a £1k budget and don't mind not having blu ray he'd suggest a Dell XPS: http://configure.euro.dell.com/de...7X7101&rbc=N07X7101&s=dhs
Oh and you can use previous versions of office on Vista. You can't register a fake version of Windows, but there's no issue with Office.
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shaniannie
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No offence Raggle, but I wouldn't touch Dell with a barge pole  They're cheaper than their competitors for a reason Their customer service is pretty much non existant, and a foreigner at the end of the phone with a script
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MrsCW
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| shaniannie wrote: | | Stacy, can I ask a favour? Once this thread's done, can you delete it? Paul's worried that someone from work (he's so paranoid!) may see it and he'll get a bollocking lol |
Sure can!!!
| shaniannie wrote: | I had to almost argue with him to get him out of salesman mode
Anyway, you have office 2007. There are NO compatibility issues with 2007 and Vista. When Vista first came out there were issues with some versions of office 2003.
Was the advice you were given from someone at PC World? (what you've been told is apparently what they're told to tell people!) |
Yes, it was both of the salesmen who I must say, didn't know jack shit! They hadn't even heard of Microsoft Enterprise!!! Which I know to most people that wouldn't be a surprise BUT to someone who works in a PC shop....!!!
| shaniannie wrote: | | Also, "they" all tell people that they see about 6 people a week coming in with their computers locked by Microsoft, after using cracked programs. In reality, Paul's said he's seen 4 or 5 people coming in since Vista has been launched. What Microsoft does is lock your computer so you can basically only visit MS sites. If you load your prog onto a new lappy there *IS* a risk that you'll be found out. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk, but there will be no compatibility issues. |
Worth the risk tbh. Thanks for the warning tho.
| shaniannie wrote: |
Are you planning to buy from PC World? He said, if you are, to ask them how much of a discount they'll give you if you take out PCP (pc performance) which is the cover for the lappy. That way it'll cost you less as you get a discount from them, and then about a week or so later phone them up and cancel (it's a month-by-month installment thing, you'll pay the first month installment, then cancel it easily over the phone, no contract at all). |
That's the plan purely down to easiness. Brilliant advice there too!
| shaniannie wrote: | Right, he's pointed out 2 laptops.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/.../184067#productInformationSection
This is the cheapest of the 2, at 699. Given the choice, he'd go for this one as it has blu ray. You'd be tripling your RAM and HDD size, and it has a core 2 duo processor, so much better than the one you have.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/...s&page=Product&sku=642901
The 2nd. A HP. Basically, a "nice" laptop. It's nice to use and looks good. Specs are about the same as the one above, but is £50 more expensive, because it's a HP, and it looks a little nicer.
He doesn't know off the top of his head the graphics performance on them, but they are better than what you have now.
If you did want to push the boat out, this would be the one he'd go for (you could see his eyes smiling at this one lol) :
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/...&sku=354080&category_oid=
Any questions, just fire away |
Great suggestions and hard decisions.
I'm tempted by the last one BUT it would mean getting a new case (I bought a really good one before) as the screen is bigger.
I think I'll go into PC World and try the keyboards (I'm finicky) on the Asus and the HP.
Out of the both, which would he choose personally irrelevant to which is more costly?
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MrsG-L
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Annie and Raggle, I am looking for a new laptop after christmas but it has to have a SD slot, is there a techincal word for 'SD Card Slot' ?
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shaniannie
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Nope! 4 in 1 card reader (or 5 in 1 or whatever) reads SD cards, as they are the most common. As long as it's got a "card reader" then it'll be fine (you'll prob find most come wih them as standard these days)
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shaniannie
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| MrsCW wrote: | | [Out of the both, which would he choose personally irrelevant to which is more costly? |
They're both pretty equal, but he said the HP wins purely on looks. It's quite shiny though - could be a fingerprint magnet. Def your best bet is to go in and try them out and see how they feel.
If you like, I'll ask him to check them out in work for you? You get a Vista score, and he can run this prog to tell you how good the graphics are in each (fps rate or something).... so you're armed with a bit more info when you go in???
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MrsCW
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| shaniannie wrote: | | MrsCW wrote: | | [Out of the both, which would he choose personally irrelevant to which is more costly? |
They're both pretty equal, but he said the HP wins purely on looks. It's quite shiny though - could be a fingerprint magnet. Def your best bet is to go in and try them out and see how they feel.
If you like, I'll ask him to check them out in work for you? You get a Vista score, and he can run this prog to tell you how good the graphics are in each (fps rate or something).... so you're armed with a bit more info when you go in??? |
That woud be great if he can check them out. Any help would be fantastico!
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