Yes. That’s my feeling as well. The price for a new laptop is obscene. I do like to window shop online. I think our local PC retailer is still closed because of the pandemic.
Over the years I’ve had good luck buying used PCs, laptops from ebay. I’ve only had one laptop that wouldn’t POST( the seller refunded me quickly when I sent him a picture of the black screen failure to boot-up). If I do buy I will likely buy used and save 50% on the sticker shock. For now the T420 will suffice.
When I had the store I sold an awful lot of rebuilt Lenovos. Outfit in Richmond would call and email daily with what was coming.
Cleaned out the shed and computer room and guess what I found, A Lenovo T420, hoping it will charge up enough to boot. Also found two T500s one someone gave me cuz it mysteriously shut down - turned one was in decent shape, now rebuilt with the battery and charger off the other and an upgrade from Vista to Win10 pro. It was more or less the last Vista they made, core2duo with 500GB and 4GB ram already in it. Had the code for pro from one I junked a few days ago.
- Interesting problem, as soon as 1909 did updates, lost all the icons, the system tray and programs. SHFT-Rt-click, MOVE from the taskbar got them onscreen where I noticed TWO montiors & displays. So I just set the BIOS to intergrated only and fixed it after a day long goose chase.
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WTF there really is no hope for mankind. No wonder Trump is in office and you still run into morons who say Covid isn’t real it’s all a conspiracy. The world is full of people who are BONE STUPID. All the way to their bones, stupid to the marrow.
Three people today, all I know for a fact got their first computers in the days of Win95/98 don;t know what the desktop is, don’t know where there files “go” or even what files are, don’t HAVE a start button. can’t find My Computer or This PC, don’t know what a right click is or does. And TWO of them trying to do college courses!
One plugged in a USB stick and it didn’t DO anything! Imagine that, eh? Plus in a USB stick and just stare at your computer drooling, waiting for the program to install.
Or getting a USB device not recognized warning when you plugged your Apple keyboard and mouse into the $50 PC you bought. But they used to work fine! … on their 12 year old iMac… so they tried to fix it by reinstalling windows… now my homework is gone baawwww (implying it’s your fault because you sold them a rebuilt computer a couple years ago for $50 because you knew they were broke ass, so you should fis it)
Or the college accounting student who has no idea about file handling and calls every 3 days because she lost her work. The computer did it. Windows did it. It’s all Bill Gates fault. Perhaps the teacher who didn’t check they needed a clue how to use a computer and insists homework be “faxed” to her office and has online classes using any fucking program BUT Zoom or Skype, and insists PowerPoint presentations must be converted to some movie format no one has every heard of (typical of most school boards) to be used. Clicking Show Desktop is just too difficult…
This week I’ve had to show people how to 3 finger tap their iPhones, how to print off them, set up their security camera they got from China over Amazon (no you don’t just attach it to the wall and it shows up on your phone…) and tell someone for the fourth time their TV reception won’t get better unless they BUY A NEW ANTENNA and get rid of the 50 year old 1/2 ton VHF one pointed at the mountain where the transmitter burned down in 1972 and replace the flat antenna wire that was obsolete when I took Electronics 9 in the mid 1960s. The guy you had to go to his house and SHOW him you need to turn both the decoder box AND the TV set on to watch it and listen to him grumble…
I wish I lived where you do and could leave my phone at home, row the dinghy out in the harbour, drop in a crab trap and read a book and be left alone until the tide changed…
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So I needed another Windows license because I installed Windows 10 on the T420. I used my old Windows 7 Pro activation key to activate the installation. I was thinking that I needed to buy another Windows key. Google is your friend, I didn’t know you could use an old legal product key to activate new Windows 10 software. That was cool.
P.S. I thoroughly enjoyed your rant, herbie!
Any Win7,8 or 8.1 key will work. If you use the USB stick, put it in in at the start and it will figure out which version (home, pro) to install.
Latest Windows 10 version (v 2004) set to release May 28
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Very cool. Will be updating my units when that drops.
Set up a company’s brand new laptop today, came with 1903 meaning it was built before November last year. OK though 10th gen i5, 500GB SSD and 12GB RAM… warned them it would update itself soon.
Learned a new trick updating older systems. Used crystal disk to see how much faster my SSD was than the old TB spinner. It wasn’t! Checked BIOS and SATA was set to IDE. Change it to AHCI it wouldn’t boot! So I put it back…
- advanced startup, reboot. Then set BIOS to AHCI and continue. Pick Safe Mode. Once it starts, reboot.
I’d previously done whole Windows reinstalls
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BTW the SSD reads over 40% faster now.
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Upgraded the old T420 to version 2004. It took awhile, this unit has an i5 2.4 GHz CPU and 8 GB RAM. The Dell Lattitude should be faster.
I reverted the T420 back to Linux. 8 GB RAM on the unit made it painful to run Windows 10. I’m shopping for a new or used laptop. Minimum specs: Windows 10 Pro, SSD, an i7 CPU, and 16 GB RAM. I’m not too hung up on the brand although I do like Dell. Thinkpads are nice, but, pricey.
I went to The Source in the Rupert Square Mall and I wanted to see what they have. The sales associate said he didn’t have any laptops out on display because 100s of people will touch them. So we have a store that sells laptops, but, they don’t want you to touch them. He suggested that I go online to buy one. You can’t make this shit up. I’ll go later and check out our Walmart. I’ll also continue shopping on ebay and Amazon.
I gassed up at Costco in PG yesterday, they had FOUR extra staff that wiped down pump handles and keypads after every customer… I think a computer store could spare 30 seconds and a saniwipe as they’d make a hell of a lot more than $2 per sale.
Just sayin’
I agree completely, herbie. To me it is mystifying why they would turn away customers; that’s the oddest business model I’ve ever encountered. I will end up buying a laptop online, but, it won’t be at The Source. I went to our Walmart and they had over priced, under powered, old garbage for sale. Amazon.ca has substandard units listed. So I will be shopping at ebay or maybe buying new.
The 420 I have doesn’t seem painfully slow w Win10. Might be the customers I deal with rubbing off on me… LOL
Me who wouldn’t consider anything without NVME for myself.
My Raspberry Pi4 with full Ubuntu install - THAT’S painfully slow. Absolutely glacial…
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Heh. For me the deciding factor for moving the T420 back to Slackware64-current and XFCE was when I updated the unit from 1909 to 2004. Even with the SSD the upgrade took quite a while. I’m not that patient it seems. I bought a used Dell Lattitude online yesterday, I should get it in a week or two. It has decent specs: Win 10 Pro, an i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM , a 500 GB SSD.
Just did the 2004 upgrade on my old X2-255 tower. knew enough to take the dog for a walk while it ran. Nothing worth waiting for it seems. I’ll wait until my i5 laptop decides to do it by itself.
Put off ordering a new Ryzen 3400G, 450 board and NVME drive again. Realized after this lockdown thing it would be a day’s interest then I’d be staring at it wondering WTF to do just like the X2
or my laptop
or my iPad
or my iPhone
or the sat TV
or Neflix
went and bought a new vacuum in PG the other day - just for an excuse to get the hell out…
My used Dell Lattitude arrived yesterday in good condition. An i7 CPU, 500 GB SSD, and 16 GB RAM. Updated the unit to 2004, that went well. And a bonus feature it came with Win 10 Enterprise.
What’s the difference between Win 10 Pro and Enterprise?
Not much difference to the average user… just need a special serial number to activate it.
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Thanks for the explanation. Is there any benefit to using Enterprise for IT professionals like you and herbie?
None at all for me. I don’t even use Pro on any of my own stuff. What for?
…
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