Reply to: Is is worth upgrading from XP to Window 7?

[Sysman]

But I agree with whoever said Windows machines can get full of unwanted shit if you aren't careful. I've learned to be careful.

I did a wipe and reinstall of a mate's HP laptop the other week after it got compromised. In terms of minutes spent sitting in front of the keyboard doing things, it took me more time to identify and remove all the extra crap than it did to set the thing up in the first place.

[Sysman]

A lot of "home" users buy a cheap laptop with not enough memory, it quickly becomes slow, gets a few viruses, ends up being unusable and is replaced in 12-24 months. It's a sin and Billy Boy Gates should be ashamed of himself. Compared to most consumer electronics, I don't think that a laptop with windows is "fit for purpose" for the majority of users. So I always advise "home" users to get a Mac or iPad. Even though I don't use one myself

My brief encounter with Windows 7 Home Premium left me thinking "not fit for purpose", and I really feel sorry for anyone who gets lumbered with one of the lesser versions. A grouse which goes back to the nineties was MS not recommending enough RAM. We all know that the minimum recommended values are usually inadequate, but the bean counters latch onto that figure and think it's enough. I found 12 MB to be a sweet spot for Windows 3.11 & 95, but rarely did I come across any clientco systems with more than the standard 4 MB, maybe 8 MB if you were lucky.

As to longevity, I retired my 2002 iBook last year - at 9.5 years old it was defeated by too much Flash and heavy Javascript web pages. It was still fine for email and viewing simple stuff though. It cost maybe 30% more than a colleague's Compaq which he got with a healthy staff discount, but that thing didn't last 3 years.

[Doggy Styles]

Just reading through this thread, I seriously think, PC folks have spent more cash on HW/SW over the years.

Despite all the 'Mac is expensive' hype my £1600 spent on my 2006 iMac, no upgrades since expect for the latest OS still going strong. I use it everyday for business.

That's 6 years people, how many versions of Windaz has there been in that time? How much did you pay for it and all the other software office?

I'd like to see a true lifecycle cost comparison of Mac Versus PC.

I spend about 450 quid each on new laptops in 2005 (XP) and 2010 (Windows 7). I spent 200 quid on Windows 2007, and 8 (eight) quid on full Office 2010. That's about 1108 quid all told since about 2002.

But I agree with whoever said Windows machines can get full of unwanted shit if you aren't careful. I've learned to be careful.

[scooterscot]

All correct here but... somehow it pishes me off that you Apple guys, the apologists of the most secretive, deceptive, proprietary and antilibertarian hw/sw company in the world, end up looking like champions of freedom and choice.

Nothing against you Scooty but you get the point (or the pint).

This is the default position of the PC protagonist.

I wonder what freedom of choice it is that one technology company snatched away from all others? Not everyone wants to build a computer, they just want to use one. Tablet computing is leaping away with itself at the minute, what more evidence do you need? Only one company had the balls to makes this market with a whole lot of copycats in pursuit, who now look likely to descend into oblivion.

Personally I like having a set configuration, 6 years later and everything still, well, just works.

[Platypus]

If this is your main machine you use everyday that's awesome value for money

Yes, used every day!

but I'm not certain this is the experience for the majority of users.

A lot of "home" users buy a cheap laptop with not enough memory, it quickly becomes slow, gets a few viruses, ends up being unusable and is replaced in 12-24 months. It's a sin and Billy Boy Gates should be ashamed of himself. Compared to most consumer electronics, I don't think that a laptop with windows is "fit for purpose" for the majority of users. So I always advise "home" users to get a Mac or iPad. Even though I don't use one myself.

OK, I'll get of my soap box now

[petergriffin]

Just reading through this thread, I seriously think, PC folks have spent more cash on HW/SW over the years...

All correct here but... somehow it pishes me off that you Apple guys, the apologists of the most secretive, deceptive, proprietary and antilibertarian hw/sw company in the world, end up looking like champions of freedom and choice.

Nothing against you Scooty but you get the point (or the pint).

[scooterscot]

The PC I recently replaced was bought in mid/late 2003. A 2.8GHz Pentium. I've re-installed XP a couple of times and upgraded the RAM from the original 512Mb to 2Gb. It's been a marvel and great value for money. IIRC it came from PC world for less than £500! Still working, just a bit sluggish these days.

I'm not saying "ner ner" to Mac users, just saying that PC's can be reliable workhorses and good value too.

If this is your main machine you use everyday that's awesome value for money. And I agree bargains can be had but I'm not certain this is the experience for the majority of users.

[Platypus]

Just reading through this thread, I seriously think, PC folks have spent more cash on HW/SW over the years.

Despite all the 'Mac is expensive' hype my £1600 spent on my 2006 iMac, no upgrades since expect for the latest OS still going strong. I use it everyday for business.

That's 6 years people, how many versions of Windaz has there been in that time? How much did you pay for it and all the other software office?

I'd like to see a true lifecycle cost comparison of Mac Versus PC.

The PC I recently replaced was bought in mid/late 2003. A 2.8GHz Pentium. I've re-installed XP a couple of times and upgraded the RAM from the original 512Mb to 2Gb. It's been a marvel and great value for money. IIRC it came from PC world for less than £500! Still working, just a bit sluggish these days.

I'm not saying "ner ner" to Mac users, just saying that PC's can be reliable workhorses and good value too.

[scooterscot]

Just reading through this thread, I seriously think, PC folks have spent more cash on HW/SW over the years.

Despite all the 'Mac is expensive' hype my £1600 spent on my 2006 iMac, no upgrades since expect for the latest OS still going strong. I use it everyday for business.

That's 6 years people, how many versions of Windaz has there been in that time? How much did you pay for it and all the other software office?

I'd like to see a true lifecycle cost comparison of Mac Versus PC.

[Sysman]

just checking out the prospect of extra RAm now that I'll be runnign 64 bit OS... 16Gb of RAM (2 x 8Gb) at around £125 !! ouch.

Count yourself lucky. For the PC I bought 2 years ago, I was looking at twice that price to upgrade from 2 GB to 8 GB. I settled for an upgrade to 4 GB instead, which only came to 30 quid.

I remember AtW cringing at the time about the cost of 8GB cards, if you could find 'em.

[Churchill]

WHS

PCs are well cheap in a post-PC world

EMS memory addressing was

Makes one appreciate proper 64-bit mode

In my new role I get the latest hardware for free from Intel...

[AtW]

16 MB, luxury lad etc...
I paid £99 for a 1 MB upgrade board for my IBM PS/2, that was a serious upgrade then too

WHS

PCs are well cheap in a post-PC world

EMS memory addressing was

Makes one appreciate proper 64-bit mode

[Goatfell]

Cheap price, I remember time when 16 MB was worth more than that ...

16 MB, luxury lad etc...
I paid £99 for a 1 MB upgrade board for my IBM PS/2, that was a serious upgrade then too

[ChimpMaster]

What do you mean "ouch"?

yeah good point, it's only a few day's work.

[ChimpMaster]

Damnit just realised my motherboard will only hold 4 x 1Gb RAM! (according to the Crucial scanner)... might need to get a new motherboard methinks

EDIT: was wrong, it'll hold 4 x 2Gb, so it'll be OK................................