Cheap Laptops

[Vince Massi]

Okay, should you buy a laptop for high-tech gaming?

Yunior, the 16 gigs of RAM you bought for your laptop can now be bought for $100 in a desktop. Of course you can play games in a gaming laptop--you pay more for less, get a smaller screen, and it doesn't last as long. It is harder to upgrade, and a new operating system is more difficult to get running right. But, yes, it can be done. A lot of bad ideas can be done.

Trouble, you post that you did a hard drive upgrade in a gaming laptop recently. Why didn't you just install another hard drive? Because it won't fit in a laptop. How much more did the upgraded hard drive cost than it would have in a desktop? Of course it can be done. It's just a bad idea.

 

[Trouble]

The upgrade was just to replace a perfectly good 5400 RPM spinner with an SSD.
That's what the guy wanted so that's what I did.

 

[yunior]

bro
the more i try the less i understand you SORRY!!!
but cpuid ¿¿¿??? i know what it does in fact i think most people who have a little knowledge about computer know what it is for.

the point is that i think you should know that a cpu 6700 it is 6th generation wich is top of the line so far
did u know that¿¿¿???

 

[Vince Massi]

Someone wrote in that he had set a hard drive password and couldn't remember it. I thought that he was confused about a Windows Start-up password, but I researched it, and there really is such a thing. You have to go into BIOS to set it, and if you forget it, you CANNOT get in, and no one can get you in. Sometimes, certain companies can erase your hard drive and let you start over.

 

[Vince Massi]

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 1

As of today, May 16, 2016, there are no laptops or desktops built from the ground up for Windows 10. Even the new ones are designed for 8.1.

I need to explain the background. When Vista first came out, it ran poorly on most machines, because most machines had been designed for XP. Then an off-brand company put out a dual-core laptop with half a gig of RAM and it ran Vista great. How? XP machines often met the specs, but they had different types of hardware. This cheap laptop had all the right types of everything, including a dual-core processor (which was unusual at the time).

When 8 first came out, it ran well on machines designed for 7. But when people bought Windows 8 machines and downgraded to 7, they had major problems. 8 machines had a superior internal architecture than 7 machines, and 7 had a hard time operating those machines.

So if you buy a cheap laptop (or any other computer) with 10 installed at the factory, remember that you are buying a Windows 8.1 machine.

 

[Tim Locke]

Someone wrote in that he had set a hard drive password and couldn't remember it. I thought that he was confused about a Windows Start-up password, but I researched it, and there really is such a thing. You have to go into BIOS to set it, and if you forget it, you CANNOT get in, and no one can get you in. Sometimes, certain companies can erase your hard drive and let you start over.

If you forget the Bios password ( if you are crazy enough to set one) I think that removing the mobo battery for a few minutes will fix that....not on all motherboards tho'. Some motherboards have a reset jumper as well for such occurrences

 

[Vince Massi]

Good Heavens, Tim, you're right! I had written that post as the last one in a three year old series on Cheap Laptops on another forum. SOMETIMES, if you remove the BIOS battery for 25 minutes, the entire BIOS memory will drain, and it will forget its password. A difficult task that should only be done by a skilled technician, it will not remove other memory or the BIOS programming.

 

[Vince Massi]

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 2

Since all new laptops are built for Windows 8.1, there is no such thing as a computer designed specifically for Windows 10. So let's see what we've got.

I have three laptops that we let kids from the church and orphanage use. Unfortunately, two were ruined last week when a terrific thunderstorm blew in enough rain to drench them.

1) The Acer Aspire E1 has two gigs of RAM. It ran great, playing games from the Windows Store and streaming cartoons and videos, and allowing the kids to get onto Facebook. Built for 8, I upgraded it to 8.1 and then to 10 with no problems at all. Incidentally, the fact that a rig is built from the ground up for a specific OS does not mean that it can't run other OSes. Its dula-core CPU is 1.4 gigahertz.

2) The pawnshop had a Gateway laptop on sale for $60 US. Two gigs of RAM and a Celeron chip, but with a strong video card and a large screen. Same as above, it ran great on 8.1 and 10.

3) Laptops in Mexico cost about double what they do on the US. When Walmart reduced a $1200 laptop (that would have cost $600 in the US) to $400, I couldn't resist. 4 gigs of RAM with an i3 chip, it was designed for 8.1 and runs 10 easily. It's the only one that survived the thunderstorm.

How many gigs of RAM do you need for 10? If you don't do anything more complicated than Windows Store games, 2 gigs is sufficient.

Can a cheap laptop designed for one operating system successfully run another operating system? Yes

 

[Norton]

Vince Remember when Bill Gates said "64K of memory is good enough for anyone". LOL
I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 Intel Pentium T4200 / 2 GHz 3 GB Ram. works fine with the Win 10 Home upgrade.
However I prefer using my Dell OptiPlex desktop, Laptop is a good as a backup PC.

 

[Vince Massi]

I want to take a moment to thank the readers for the courtesy and friendliness we have on this forum. I am not the first poster to note the nastiness that another Windows 19 forum has. I don't mind people disagreeing with me, but the rudeness and hatred you see on the other forum is inexcusable.

 

[Vince Massi]

Windows 19? Anyway...

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 3

Okay, you've decided to buy a cheap laptop. Where do you start?

As with any computer purchase, decide what you want to do. If you want to play high-tech games, get a desktop. Technically, a Chromebook isn't a laptop, but it does everything that a cheap laptop does except use the Windows Store. If you're sure that you will only do things online, don't eliminate Chromebooks.

I had two cheap laptops, with inferior chips and 2 gigs of RAM that went online, streamed movies and cartoons, and played Windows Store games with no problems. However, you will have a hard time finding a Windows 10 laptop with less than 4 gigs of RAM. In light of future upgrades, that's probably a good idea.

CNET rated their best budget laptops and came out to around $250 US. I noted that neither of my two cheap laptops met their standards and yet ran fine.

If you find one you like, write down the specs and price and GO HOME! On the web, the manufacturer will give you a glowing review, so try to find reviews from someone else. Check the operating system at the store and on the web. The machine is probably designed for 8.1. If it is designed for 8, remember that I upgraded two cheap 8 laptops to 8.1 and then 10 with no problems. It's okay if they installed 10 at the factory--just remember that it is still an 8.1 machine.

 

[Vince Massi]

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 4

Some of your choices will include a Celeron chip as the CPU. Built like an Intel chip, a Celeron has a much smaller cache (which allows the CPU to locate information much more quickly) and sends out much smaller amounts of information than a Pentium chip running at the same speed.

Decades ago, the phrase "Celeron chip" meant "This computer is built with cheap parts in order to slightly lower the price while greatly lowering the quality." Knocking $40 off the price of a $1,000 laptop was a really bad way to save money. (The difference today is about $50).

But today, the best Celeron chips are better than the middle-of-the-road Intel chips of 18 months ago. And we successfully ran cartoons, movie, and Windows Store aps on a laptop with a Celeron chip. The laptop was made by a company that cobbled together left-over unsold parts to make a rugged budget rig that ran well.

$50 does make a difference on a $250 low-end laptop. Go home and research before you buy, but a Celeron chip is not cause for an automatic reject of a budget laptop.

 

[Vince Massi]

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 5

Should you consider a Chromebook? Besides not having Windows 10, a budget Chromebook has no offline abilities. (The more expensive ones can function offline). Loosely speaking, you might be talking two gigs of RAM with a quad-core processor. You're also talking about $50 US less than a Win 10 laptop. Depending on how you use the term, many people do not regard a Chromebook as a laptop.

But you're also talking about a bigger, brighter screen. You're talking about faster boot-up, no malware problems, and automatic upgrades in the cloud, rather than on your machine.

You'll get a lot less aps than you'll find in the Windows Store, but there are enough free ones to do everything except play high-end games.

A surprising thing is that Chromebooks are far more popular than the numbers tell. I've been listing numbers on Windows operating systems and on browsers, but these don't include Chromebooks. For the first quarter of 2016, they outsold Macs for the first time. Some sources believe that Chrome, not Mac, is the most popular operating system after Windows.

But of course--if you can't get onto the web, a Chromebook is nothing but a paperweight.

 

[Jake B]

Chromebooks are being used more and more in our schools.

 

[Trouble]

The Verge did an article on this yesterday.,
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outsold-macs-us-idc-figures
A case of apples and oranges as far as I'm concerned. Comparing what is probably one of the cheapest devices to something that is likely one of the most expensive devices you can buy, hardly warrants a comparison at all.
Still..... an interesting tidbit of information, regarding the sales figures.
Over the past few years there has been a number of initiatives to make ultra low priced computers available to emerging markets where cost is the primary concern. Looks like Google's persistence in that market is paying off.

 

[Vince Massi]

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 6

Touchscreen? We don't need no stinkin' touchscreen!

A touchscreen adds to the cost of a laptop. So if it includes a touchscreen, the rest of the cheap laptop was cheapened up to keep the price down. The touchscreen software is part of the Windows OS, so if the touchscreen doesn't work, the manufacturer will tell you that it is Microsoft's fault. MS will tell you to re-install Windows, and if it doesn't work, it is the manufacturer's fault.

Three years ago, a touchscreen added $200 to the price of a laptop. If you had two $800 laptops, and one had a touchscreen, it was a $600 laptop with a device you didn't need. And when I was a tech writer for Acer, we had many complaints from laptop owners who finally gave up on their touchscreens.

Buying a $250 Windows 10 laptop? If it has a touchscreen, you're getting a much cheaper computer than what you're paying for.

 

[Vince Massi]

Okay, you've got your budget Windows 8.1 laptop, with Windows 10 installed at the factory.

Give your new laptop a chance to get its act together. Don't go piling on screen savers and themes until you've had time to see that everything is working right. If things are working right after a few hours, set a Restore Point.

There are some reports that MS waits two days before sending upgrades to a new Win 10. If you start locking up, go to Settings--Updates and Security, and see if you have updates waiting. Send them through while you do not use your rig, and that should give them a chance.

A powerful rig can often blast its way through a problem, but a budget laptop isn't a powerful rig. Use Defender as your anti-virus because it won't clash with your OS. Other than the free Malwarebytes Anti-virus, you need no other security as long as you keep credit card numbers, etc., off your machine.

Try to limit yourself to apps from the Microsoft Store, or least software with the MS brand. This will give you less clashes.

Sometimes your new laptop needs extra time to get a program running. You might just need to walk away and let it work things out.

Keep your emotions under control. Life is too important for the stress, grief, rage, and hysteria that some people practice.

And that's it! I've successfully used budget laptops for years, and they are worth the price.

 

[Norton]

@ Vince-Massi
I agree with what you are saying 100%
I honestly believe that most of the problems with Windows 10 are self inflicted by user tweaking and modifying the OS, files and directories. All MS updates at this time are critical. How can Windows 10 updates possibly download and install correctly when the OS has been user modified. I have just installed Win 10 on a fourth machine all are working as designed. No Wi-Fi, email, user accounts, passwords and 3 browsers that work perfectly, NO problems whatsoever.
MS are still dealing with unforeseen issues, many may be resolved in the final release.
Install Win 10 folks, enjoy and "Let it Be"

 

[Vince Massi]

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/dont-buy-a-touch-screen-laptop

Interesting article on why you should not buy a laptop with a touchscreen. You get a higher price with a poorer appearance, lower battery life, and more weight.

Touchscreen? We don't need no stinkin' touchscreen! On a cheap; laptop, anyway.

 

[Norton]

We don't need them in automobiles either. LOL