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Yapette
Tangentistan
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March 9, 2010 - 1:01 am
Member Since: April 10, 2009
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My two year old Dell XPS 1530 (bargain refurb) notebook continues to serve me well for browsing & casual games & more demanding gamery if I so choose but don't often as I haven't strayed far from a desktop. Not a single complaint, runs like a top (shouldn't that be "spins"?). The trouble is OS=Vista which I still haven't bothered to learn. Oh, I've tuned services according to blackviper & turned off the nagging aspects but otherwise I know less than nothing.

Back in June '09 I preordered a Win7 upgrade (50% off deal) so I could wipe out 32-bit Vista & install 64-bit Win7. Which I promised myself I'd learn. But readers? Here it is five months post-release & I'm reduced to writing this plea for strength.

You know how finicky notebooks can be with proprietary drivers & fussy setups. Plus Dell refuses to support Win7 on this model & that means user-beware, you're f*'n on your own. Plus+, 32-bit->64-bit means wiping the HDD clean, a really & truly fresh install.

Help! Please, convince me that this is what I should do (in April, post Vietnam). I try to follow the golden rule: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But readers, I don't want to learn Vista & I really should oughta start learning this new fangled Win7. [Image Can Not Be Found]  [Image Can Not Be Found] [Image Can Not Be Found]

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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March 9, 2010 - 8:48 am
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I like Win7 a lot and have had no problems whatsoever with the 64-bit version on either my gaming desktop or my "work" laptop. Driver support has been very good - an old scanner of mine won't work, but I got drivers for everything else. And I find its interface slick and easy to use. It's not enormously different from Vista, except that it works and isn't obnoxious.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Toger
Somewhere, out there...
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March 9, 2010 - 11:23 am
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You definitely don't want my opinion. I'm always the last to upgrade - my rig is 4(?) years old with its original 128mb vid card and XP. I know I need to reformat as it's suddenly decided to take forever to load Windoze but I hate having to mess with it. It's not really broken.. just slow.

[Image Can Not Be Found]

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Spike
Memphis
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March 9, 2010 - 2:27 pm
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1.  2 year old Dell.  Does that mean it is out of warranty?  Or did you buy an extended one?  If it's out of warranty Dell wouldn't offer any support anyway, so you really wouldn't be losing anything if you go ahead with the upgrade.  There are other places to get any support you might need - like here, from the oh-so-tech-savvy TRers.  [Image Can Not Be Found]

2.  How big is the HD on the laptop?  Is it big enough to partition so that you can continue to use your current OS on one side and install Win7 on the other and mess with it until you feel comfortable?  Of course I don't know if you can have 32bit on one partition and 64bit on another.  In theory I can't think why not.

3.  You might not need to do a wipe/totally fresh install with a partition.

4.  How soon do you think you'd be replacing that laptop?  Within the next year?  In that case, why bother to upgrade at all if there isn't some functional reason to do so?  Yes, you've paid for Win7, but that doesn't mean you have to install it if you don't feel comfortable doing so.

5.  My attitude is that if everything is working the way it should, and if I can do what I want to do and use all the software (games!) I want to, then I'll not rock the boat. 

But you gotta take into account that I have, at best, a like/hate relationship with anything Microsoft, so I'm probably not the best one to take advice from.

"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."

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Yapette
Tangentistan
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March 9, 2010 - 3:27 pm
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I….pick….Spike's #4: length of notebook's future with Yap. A thought I hadn't thunk.

HD only 100 gb, not big enough for a decent partition. Besides which, dual boots & partitions are mysteries that I'm too lazy to learn. And I think going 32-bit to 64-bit means total wipe as the formats are different.

Extended Warranty on a "refurb" (actually brand new) from the Outlet Shop? Not bloodly likely. I do have bookmarks (including drivers) of stories, both smooth & rocky, after users have gone Vista->Win7 on this model.  It's the sometimes critical battery, heat & fan issues that give me pause to recall the "not broke, don't fix" rule. [Image Can Not Be Found]

Thanks all for your thoughts. I'm still thinking.

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geggis
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March 9, 2010 - 3:39 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2009
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Toger said:

You definitely don't want my opinion. I'm always the last to upgrade – my rig is 4(?) years old with its original 128mb vid card and XP. I know I need to reformat as it's suddenly decided to take forever to load Windoze but I hate having to mess with it. It's not really broken.. just slow.

[Image Can Not Be Found]

Same here. My rig is about 5-6 years old now but somehow it's still going strong. Strong as in, not broken yet. I'm not upgrading anything now, my next move will be a new system altogether so Spike's advice sounds good.

Scout
Portland, Oregon
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March 10, 2010 - 12:24 am
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I upgraded from xp to win7 on my homemade desktop and love, love, love it. But I still have xp on my Vaio laptop and probably will till I buy a new laptop. I just don't want to mess with all the proprietary Sony stuff.  So, yeah, another vote for Spike Option #4.

I don't game on the laptop though. I have Win7 64 and it is seamless, never a problem (knock on wood).

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xtal
planet
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March 10, 2010 - 12:30 pm
Member Since: April 19, 2009
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I can also vouch for Win7 64-bit being a sound option. I've had no problems.

But unlike most people I honestly never had problems with Vista either, and I had it on a Dell Dimension 9200 (I think?) for two years before I bought my current 64-bit Cyberpower machine.

Win7 is just Vista, but less buggy/more efficient and with the Mac-inspired "icon dock" replacing the program/start bar. The latter is the only bit that takes some getting used to, which you do.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Yapette
Tangentistan
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March 10, 2010 - 1:18 pm
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Hmm, based on viewpoints it seems that maybe, perhaps, for my intents & purposes* Win7 is really Vista dressed in a fancy hat & heels?

If so, cosmetics alone may not be worth the potential hours of grief trying to rebuilt this notebook's original functions - a "media notebook" with a teeny remote inside a side-slot & a magic button that turns on XP media without actually booting the entire machine. Not that I've ever tried it, as best I can it's disabled. But forums of users had conniptions because they missed this function, Dell's proprietary software won't work, magic buttons are dead, and so on, and so on.

Thanks, all. This thread has helped me sit on it. Save my Win7 for the next desktop, which may be this summer. But this time I am seriously considering my first pre-built, with CyberPower. Hello, calling xtal....have you been pleased?

* I don't really care what's under the hood unless it improves performance on this machine. Bells & whistles are not necessary for casual gaming & browsing.

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xtal
planet
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March 10, 2010 - 6:20 pm
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Yapette said:

I am seriously considering my first pre-built, with CyberPower. Hello, calling xtal....have you been pleased?


I have. I forget how long it has been now... August 2009 I think I got it? I haven't asked it to jump through hoops of fire or anything crazy...yet. But what I have thrown at it has been handled well. I haven't installed Crysis on it ... the game bored me when I played initially and I think I'm beyond caring if this system can run it.

The best thing I can say about my Cyberpower PC is that it runs Mass Effect at a ridiculous frames per second rate, and while Mass Effect was never touted as some graphical beast, I think due to the sloppiness with which it was made, if a computer can handle it, then said computer can handle most anything.

In other words, if you were to buy anything from them remotely resembling a contemporary machine I think you would be well set for years to come.

One warning though: you may find there are not a lot of case options to go with; whatever you do, for the love of [insert deity], do not choose one with a green window light. I live in a quasi-one-bedroom loft that is basically one giant room; from anywhere in my place if the computer is turned on at night I constantly have to check to make sure there are no aliens under my computer desk.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Yapette
Tangentistan
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March 10, 2010 - 10:02 pm
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That right there, xtal, in a glorious nutshell, is my concern about buying prebuilt: inability to keep my hands out of the case.

I have a case with glowing green lights – bought on sale with a hefty rebate. As I knew what I was buying, it wasn't a surprise so I left the case empty till I needed to replace my husband's computer with another. [Image Can Not Be Found] Then I managed to disable the door lights but the inside continues to glow through the side window. Which is ok as no one sleeps in his computer room.

Knowing that I would go f'ning nuts having the lights on in my computer room while I play, never mind sleeping with them, months ago I started studying case options at CyberPower. As I recall, there was only one without lights – and boy howdy, that'd be the one I'd buy.

I think the longest I've gone without replacing (read: upgrading) parts is a year. Usually by twenty-four months the original morphs into another pc with major changes. Not too stupid to notice a pattern, I may be someone who can't stand to pay what it costs to buy cutting edge & be satisfied long enough to justify the price. Seems I may be forevermore playing on an upper-middlin' machine that allows me to constantly yearn for & rationalize upgrades. [Image Can Not Be Found]

Glad you like your machine – mixed experiences of CyberPower customers is what worries me. But just this once, wouldn't it be grand? To rip open a box, plug the thing in & boot up all within five minutes? Pure bliss, with drivers included.

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xtal
planet
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March 11, 2010 - 1:17 am
Member Since: April 19, 2009
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I built my own computers for years. The last two, bought pre-built, have been my most hassle free so far.

I will gladly exchange a bit of extra money if it saves me the one thing we all need most: time.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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