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Sarge

Ok, so evidently the solid state drive in my refurbished Dell Latitude committed electronic suicide. Nice,  so much for reliability.

 

Settled on a new Dell Inspiron 5000 series with 17" screen. It's finally scheduled to get here today since it had to be built in "Asia" (I assume that means China). Ordered it 2/28....No one said it was a non-stock unit, ugh. Living with this tablet has raised my blood pressure to new levels to say the least.

 

Ok, enough rambling,  what should I study the most to learn this new OS?

I'm coming from Win7 pro 64 bit, new one is Win10 pro 64. My main thing is file management and want to avoid the common Winders habit of just loading files whimsically where ever it wants. I hate digging for things. Got several dvds worth of valuable manuals and parts lists I'll have to load and organize,  some of this stuff was saved from Win95 in the early pdf versions. Tons of old photos and videos as well. Is there a simplified way to force the OS to other than default settings when choosing file paths?

 

Is the built-in tutorial worth the time? I also need to keep in mind that down the road I want to have a separate external drive for doing backups instead of having to burn a ton of disks that could get lost or damaged. I still cannot find 2 dvds that have all of our early digital photos,  trying to avoid that problem ever happening again.

 

I will not use Windows Explorer as a browser  - I've hated it since day one. I use Firefox and never store passwords or cookies, hoping it will run smoothly on the new OS...? I prefer their platform and being less intrusive as a browser,  not to mention the great plugins available. Any insight from anyone that uses it ?

 

I hope my eyes clear up and start working correctly again,  had testing yesterday and the drops they used still burn and cause blurring. Not really happy about that and hopefully the new prescription works. Stupid glasses were almost $750, most of that being the lenses but the grind requires a higher level of lab work than most folks wear. Not looking forward to learning a new OS, but might as well make the move now since support for Win7 will end sooner or later.

 

Appreciate any advice on proper ways to run it for what I need, I'm sure there will be a learning curve.

 

Sarge

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pfrederi

Firefox works just fine within Windows 10.  10 is a quantum improvement over 8 but not as good a 7 was...It really likes to use swiping instead of keyboard mouse.  i don't have swippy computers and don't want them.  It is also very interested in tracking you and has this stupid Cotana assistant that wants to "help" you.  I set up my file structure fairly easily and haven't had problems with that.

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C-101plowerpower
4 hours ago, Sarge said:

. Stupid glasses were almost $750, most of that being the lenses

 

aah isnt it fun wearing glasses, mine were bout the same and i still cant wear safety glasses. also on the second frame in half a year, yay pigshed amonia:mellow:

 

anyway, on the windows 10 mallarky, havent had much trouble with it, no problems with tracking me and all that(must be the usa version:lol:)

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Daddy Don

I back up my files on a My Pass Port External Drive that I got from Staples It works great and easy to install. Check them out.  I also have Windows 10 once you use it you will be okay with it.  

Edited by Daddy Don

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formariz

We like what we are familiar with, and changing to a new operating system can be a little intimidating and frustrating. You will be fine with Win 10. Just have to get familiar with how to get to certain things which is a bit different. That is where Cortana comes in very handy. Just type what you are looking for( example settings) and it will bring it up for you immediately. It will help you greatly to get familiar with the system.

Firefox works well with it. Just keep in mind that PDF files are opened with the Edge browser as default unless you download some other app. Most likely it will not open them automatically it will download them and then you just have to go to top in downloaded files and open them.

You can set your file structure as you want to. It will always give you options on what and where to put them.

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BOB ELLISON

It would be a good idea to see the changes that were made by taking the tour.

I've gotten used to Windows 10 but I liked win7 better also. Windows 10 doesn't care what you want it does what it wants. It downloads updates and you have no choice about what you want loaded. 2 times it has upgraded window's 10 and both times something stopped working. First time my new video card drivers got deleted . Programs that I used where deleted . To me it's not a personal computer it's bill Gates computer. 

First off is that new computer a lap top?

If it's a desktop like mine get another hard drive and use it for storage. If not get a external hard drive. I have a solid state hard drive and I love it but when they go there gone. So I have a second seagate hard drive for all my storage. With the extra drive I have mine in

 D: Drive

 

Use file Explorer  and make folders on new hdd. 

PICTURES       

WHEELHORSE HORSE

BILLS PAID 

MISCELLANEOUS 

So on and so forth

This is easiest way I've found to get all the info easy access.

 

 

 

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Sarge

Great info guys - seriously appreciate it .

 

First things I did -

Installed the second 8gb ram chip (16gb total)

Set up the finger print reader, as well as pin (fingers are disposable at times, lol)

Deleted McAfee

Wiped off at least half the bloatware that was safe to remove

Installed my preferred anti-virus

Installed Firefox and got it set up

Pre-set all the folders I need, running full duplicates to both the hybrid drives (ssd & hdd)

 

I had a Win8 phone at one time when Microsoft bought out Nokia - another good example of a huge corporation destroying something great, it was an N8 that worked awesome up until that point....ugh. Not totally unfamiliar with the whole app systems , but hate the fact that most of what MS has is crap - and basically no one uses it . Seriously considering seeing if Dell will consider re-loading this thing with Win7, now that I found out it was indeed available in a Pro64 version, grrrr...why do they always push the worst systems ?

I have found some shortcuts to forcing Win10 to let me choose everything but auto downloads, you're pretty much stuck with that since they as well as Dell have it embedded into the OS partition. Nice, not...

 

If I'm stuck with this OS, I will try to find an app that doesn't require Exploder Deluxe (Edge) to open pdf files, but I refuse to pay Adobe for something that is otherwise free, that profiteering is getting out of hand in this modern world.

 

This is a laptop, Inspiron 5770/500gb sdd/1TB hdd/16gb DDR2400/17" display/bluetooth/NON-touchscreen. I hate touch screens, don't even get along with my Android phone due to metal in my hands, a lot of it - you should see the x-rays, lol.

 

Eyeglasses have gotten to be the biggest ripoff of us consumers that are half blind. What used to be considered standard things are now "extra" such as lens coatings, UV protection, anti-scratch, and Lord help you - Transitions shading. This lab did agree to set the bifocal at the height I want - not what they think is appropriate instead. I need it higher for welding and trying to get these clowns to understand that is about impossible - this place "gets it" as they work with a lot of us in the Trades, thankfully. Exam went fairly well, other than the rotten dye drops that are still causing some blurring issues - if I could see well enough to drive someone would get throat punched for that one. If it doesn't fully clear up by tomorrow morning, someone is getting a rotten phone call and I'll go see an ophthalmologist again. I don't have a problem with glaucoma testing, but that's downright wrong. Had this once before with another place - it turned out to be an off brand of dye and I suspect this is the same stuff, again.

 

Anyway, back to beating this thing up - thought I'd check in real quick and see what hints you guys came up with , thanks for that .

 

Sarge

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r356c

My Windows 10 laptop hard drive decided to slowly fail, so I took the opportunity to 'upgrade'  to Win 7 with a new hard drive for the laptop.

Four months after the Win 7 'upgrade' and everything is still solid even without Win 7 support by the laptop manufacturer. 

It took two days of internet device driver scavenger hunting from various component manufacturers used in the laptop to get it up and running!

I can recommend PCDestination.com  as an inexpensive, if somewhat slow download of a Win 7 OS with legit license.

 

Firefox browser of course.

 

Most of the 'interesting' stuff to be found from the universities and mega tech corporations uses the Linux OS.  Ubuntu Linux to be specific, but that is a different story.

 

The Win 7 'upgrade' would not have been possible without an external USB hard drive similar to this to shuffle files between computers.

 

These days, full system backups to an external hard drive without using any 'cloud' resources is my new routine after the hard drive failure.

 

 

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Sarge

I think the whole problem with the old unit was it being a "refurbished" Latitude - it was a high-end business model with a lot of features, most of which didn't work . Going to work with the service dept. today and see if switching it to Win7 is possible, this new 10 is a joke at best. Our dsl here is far too slow to handle a download of Win7, that would take days and probably result in a ton of errors, but I'll keep that in mind as an alternative - got a buddy with a T1 available if necessary. To my knowledge, Microsoft has locked out any chance of using an existing version of Win7 on another drive if it goes bad, is that true ? I might be able to pull the serial off the old one, but not sure it would work on a clean install on this one.

 

Sarge

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pfrederi

I prefer Win7 to Win 10....but then i liked XP better than 7.   But you have to face reality.  XP is essentially gone and yes you can still get 7 ...but for how long??/  sooner or later you have to move on.  I decided I had better learn the new one while some brain cells were still functioning.:P

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r356c
12 hours ago, Sarge said:

To my knowledge, Microsoft has locked out any chance of using an existing version of Win7 on another drive if it goes bad, is that true ? I might be able to pull the serial off the old one, but not sure it would work on a clean install on this one.

 

Unless the dvd was a plain vanilla Win7 OS disk, the cruft and machine specific device drivers that all the manufacturers add to their recovery disks would make it unlikely to transfer well to another computer.

If it is for the same computer with a replaced hard drive of the same or larger data capacity, the factory recovery disks should work.

 

I will put in another plug for Ubuntu Linux. If you do not have a need to run programs that are Windows-only , Ubuntu Linux is a very good free alternative to Windows.

Rock solid performance. The user interface reminds me of XT/Win7.  Word processors, spreadsheets, photo viewing, and Firefox are available for free as well.

Windows is better for watching dvd's and multimedia out of the box. It does usually take some fiddling around with Ubuntu to get multimedia running at it's best.

 

I installed Ubuntu on my wife's laptop after Win10 got a virus and started freezing all the time. After a day or two, she could not tell the difference. She just web surfs with her computer.

If you have a functional older computer or laptop that could use a complete disk wipe and new OS reinstall to clear years of accumulated system slowing 'junk', Ubuntu Linux is a good candidate.

 

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Sarge

Ok...

Dell won't do a switch, just have the 30-day return option to return the Inspiron as a whole for a refund or exchange. There are some Lattitude models that have the Win7Pro version available, but they are fairly slower processors well below this 8770 chipset . No 17" class options, they are 15" class models only. I'm easily getting used to the 17" and it's larger keyboard with my bashed-up hands and appreciate the separate numeric pad on the right side. On the smaller 14" Lattitude I had, at times I ran a separate keyboard to input part numbers off the computer desk's slide-out drawer, which helped. One thing I'm not real fond of with this Inspiron is the extra depth of the palm rest - it sticks out 5" past the keys for whatever reason, not sure why they did that.

 

That download option of Win7Pro 64 is awful tempting - might try to download and force install it into the old Lattitude just to see if it will boot or do something. For the $39, it would be worth the effort . From reading the Dell forums , seems like installing Win7 versions on their newer units that were loaded with Win10 is a real no-no , something about drivers and recovery partitions installed by Dell on the drives that makes it a bad idea. It was a bummer to read that, I was about ready to install it on this machine. This Inspiron has already had issues with booting Windows, did it again this morning right off and wanted to push the whole re-load option. Not a good idea nor a good way to start off with a new computer - give me a break ! Dell's response is the same as everyone else - get with Microsoft's support and let them deal with it , it's their problem. So far, it's been 4 times now that it couldn't boot up Windows - not too impressed with that.

 

The Lattitude went down on 25th February, just finally got this thing 12th March - ordered 02/28. That period of having to use the 8" tablet was not fun but looks as though it may come to that once again. For now, I gave up trying to load any heavy files - feels like a waste of time despite having a new machine. Not keen on keeping it , but not sure at this point what to replace it with, either...?

 

Sarge

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Sarge

On the subject of the WD My Passport - with the known issues of Win10, just how hard is it to reload your files? I see it's software has some options for automatic saves of different files/types - how well does that actually work? I do not trust these modern computers - seems things in some ways are getting worse than the early days of blue screen death instead of better.

 

I did look at other options from other builders including Asus - I like their stuff but most if not all are driven to run Win10. I know, we're basically stuck with it unless you want to deal with a Linux system since Win7 in any form is doomed. No reason to build something into a time bomb that within a few years is dead, just to start over once again and play this game of expensive replacements. I don't have enough backround on computers to be able to go to the advanced route of trying to run an OS that you have to figure out what drivers are compatible with your hardware - I just want something that will run reliably and last. Sort of the WH of electronics, if that even exists.

 

I know this much - this keyboard throws ergonomics out the window unless the thing is truly sitting in your lap, it does not work on a desk at all. Got it sitting at 35* and that's not nearly enough - wrists are landing right on the bad tendons from the type of work I've done for so many years.

 

Sarge

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r356c

I have only owned only two sorts of computers. Solid and flaky. The OS type or version does not matter near as much as consistency.

 

Not booting each time, every time is a flaky computer.

I can think of at least six things that could be the cause. A new computer should not need troubleshooting.

If it were me, and the exchange/refund period was still in effect, I would swap it out or get a refund in a heartbeat.
Getting a clean boot up is a hardware manufacturer issue after the first successful boot up of an OS in my opinion.

 

For system recovery, I have successfully used the Western Digital Passport external USB hard drive to re-write the entire contents of a failing hard drive to a replacement hard drive in a laptop.

The built-in Windows 'system image backup' , 'system image restore' utility programs worked well. (If you have a good full image backup on hand before the drive fails.)

Don't forget to burn a Windows system recovery bootable dvd beforehand as well. This minimum DOS environment contains the recovery utility.

Also, looking up how to make the dvd the first drive to check for a bootable image for your computer in the  bios options is a good search term to Google for as well.

 

Seagate also makes usb external backup hard drives. I would expect both brands to work as advertised.

Edited by r356c

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Sarge

Those are the core things I needed to know about the Passport, thanks for that. I know how to make the recovery disks, or at least did with versions prior to Win7 because they were necessary. The core drivers are what I suspect is the issue with many new machines, not to mention using potentially incompatible hardware from the cheapest bidder, as so many of these companies do.  The Inspiron is well within it's 30-day return window from the order date - going to give it a bit of time and see if there are any further issues. Ran several stress tests yesterday - passed them all. Just not impressed with Win10 overall - it's user interface purposely hides settings and every error to date have been within the Win32 base, doesn't sound like a well designed OS from the start but look at what happened with Win8 and other versions. The boot issues all show Win32 as the source of the errors, seems to be fixed now once I ran some diagnostic repairs from the utility - we'll see how that goes but starting out with problems is not a very good sign.

 

I looked through other Dell models as well as Asus and others, they all seem to be using this same inset keyboard layout - almost like the thing was set far too close to the monitor. They call it a palm rest, but it hits you about 1-1/2" past your wrist on the forearm, why would they do that? Unless your elbows are far above the keyboard, it's quite uncomfortable to type or navigate the keys - not too ergonomic in my opinion. I did try just for fun to see if it would pair up with our tv for video streaming - no go on that one as it couldn't seem to find a driver. Funny, the Android phone had no issue with it at all. So much for it's connectivity which is highly dependent on driver research on their part, I find that odd. Another truly weird thing about the machine's layout is a lack of much of anything to get the lid open - just a very small indentation to wedge your fingers between the base and lid at the center, you have to really hang onto the whole thing tightly to get it open. The larger widescreen this one has since it's a 17" class does help to make reading easier, but it also causes you to turn your head back and forth like watching a tennis match - would probably prefer a 15" instead because of that.

 

One thing I don't understand - why doesn't Intel's 8th generation processors run with older versions like Win7? They claim it's not supported at all and incompatible, how could that be? Dell's business class Lattitude models will run Win7 but they are at best quad-core i-5 units, seems a bit odd but I will say those were very stable. I've spent far too much time trying to read reviews and get an idea of what to buy, opinions vary wildly and so many are trying to earn a buck off making reviews through web traffic - it's all become very polluted, even the so-called magazines. Trying to keep the cost down and sort of get the most bang for the buck without getting too many core trade-offs, not easy in the current market. So far, I like the hybrid drive system - the SSD has the speed to prevent any lag in writing and leaves the D drive for heavy file storage. I do wonder though, what happens when there is an issue with the solid state drive like the Lattitude had?

 

I appreciate the input, haven't kept up with the newer machines and a lot of the new stuff is like Greek to me. I used to build my own desktop units, never had any stability issues other than older operating systems creating too many errors. The last one ran fine for years on XP - I still have the DVD and license for it here, really wish I'd bought a full copy of Win7 when I had the chance.

 

Sarge

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r356c

Windows and Intel have had a stranglehold on personal computers for a looong time.

The designed-in incompatibility issues look to be a marketing driven approach to force commercial users into Win10.

Microsoft says Win10 is it's last release. The Windows OS is now a service rather than product to them.

I think Microsoft and Intel are letting all of the hardware vendors off the hook with the 'incompatibility' story. Of course newer hardware can run older versions of Windows.

The older Windows OS versions just won't be required to get updates by the hardware vendors, namely, Intel.

Vendors won't have to spend on maintaining code and providing updates for older releases and Microsoft gets to force everyone into Win10.

 

Sorta makes me glad I slogged through learning Linux.

Microsoft sent me a cease and desist letter when I installed XP (on a second machine) over the super-crappy Windows ME 17 years ago.  That got me mad enough to learn Linux.

 

 

Edited by r356c

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Sarge

I could see the writing on the wall when they added the OneDrive cloud system - forcing files by default to be stored there, then limiting storage space and charging for more space was a marketing tactic that showed their hand at what is coming next. Chromebooks are a great example, not really a computer per say, nor a decent storage place. Runs entirely off the internet, why would anyone want one? I wish I had learned Linux years ago and gotten away from Microsoft as others have, maybe we need a grass-roots effort to do that?

 

Let me ask this - if I got a newer machine with decent hardware and installed a full version of Win7 on it, could it run reliably enough to avoid their radar? One thing that led me to this machine was the ability to have it custom built to spec - especially to include a DVD-RW optical drive, which most do not include now. I can live without it and run one of the USB 3.? versions if necessary - evidently that's the only option on many machines now if you want to burn any files to a physical disk versus using a separate external hard drive.  I'm quite leery of any offers of Win7 w/license at a cheap price - if something happens to the company that offered it, what happens with that registration key in the future if there's an issue? What I really want is a personal edition of Win7 with a key - the physical install disk itself, but without the driver support now, how is that even going to work??

 

Sarge

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r356c

Win7 has not seen any functional upgrades for years. Critical security patches will only be available for another 18 months or so like you said above.

 

My push to get Win7 installed on my laptop felt like a last hurrah. Nostalgia mostly. It certainly reports in to the Microsoft mothership every time I download a security update.

My laptop is 3 years old and with luck, I'll get another two or three out of it.

 

When the time comes for my next computer, it will be like replacing the word "Miami" with "Windows 10" on this poster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miami.jpg

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Sarge

Win10 has to go, anyone that says they like it never works much with files or does anything of any substance beyond social media junk or light web surfing. Honestly, it can barely handle those two things. Win7 is a last hurrah, but I wonder with so many OEM builders installing it in their "business line" models if something else isn't afoot here - what happens in a few years with those folks?

The more I read about Linux and how it works - the more I'm leaning toward doing a clean install and learning it, should have done that years ago. I think the comments above about Win7 being the last decent thing MS did is about spot-on, seems all downhill from here. Maybe OS systems based off Linux like Ubuntu and others have given Microsoft a reason not to go forward, after all - starting with Win8 they went the wrong direction and maybe that was just a mistake on their part. Or, it was a marketing choice designed for systems more like Chrome, where it's all cloud-based and can be a source of future income for storage. One Drive is the first step, who knows what's next?

 

I plan to call into customer service and see if I'll get hammered with a refund/exchange charge on this one - 15% is what their fine print states. A pretty good chunk of change considering what this thing cost in the first place. Win7 can be had on the business class model Lattitude laptops, but of course, those will have the annoying Win10 "free upgrade"  pushing the user to make the dreaded switch. I'll have to read up on it further, but a clean install with Linux could be done later from a backup drive such as a Passport or a boot disk, very interested in that option. Since I already use Firefox, it can't be that hard to learn a new OS that's away from Windows - this old dog can still learn a few new tricks. For what little I do with a computer, perhaps it's the best choice from the start. Just basic file organization, some web browsing for research and mostly just file storage of photos and manuals. I never use Office, no need for it here. Not even concerned with email, it's always available on my phone. As long as I can plug the phone into the machine, offload pictures/video and store other files - I'm good to go as I really don't need anything else. A video player would be a bonus, but honestly, that can even be streamed off the phone directly to our tv anyway - and it actually works amazingly well.

 

Sarge

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formariz
2 hours ago, Sarge said:

Win10 has to go, anyone that says they like it never works much with files or does anything of any substance beyond social media junk or light web surfing

 

Honestly I have to disagree with you. I also was reluctant to change from my favorite of all time XP, but I had no choice.I then went to Windows 8 which came with the new unit .I liked it but it had the Windows 10 free upgrade in it that had a mind of its own and eventually no matter how hard I tried to avoid it , took over and loaded itself. Been living with it for almost two years now and I really have no real problems with it. As for doing stuff with files, I am a records freak, and save everything.Believe it or not I have pay stubs from 30 years ago still saved in it. Crazy I know. All my 'paperwork" is scanned and stored in my PC, thousands, and thousands of photos. I deal with numerous financial institutions all on line. All my taxes records and filings,payments, transfers with computer, many with overseas institutions. All with windows 10. Took me a while to get used to it, but for me it works well.Granted there are things I don't like in it. I don't like the fact that I have to now pay for an Office subscription so I have my 2007 version loaded in it. I use it all the time, get my mails from 3 different accounts with Outlook, use Excel for my business estimates, worksheets, spreadsheets, material takeoffs, cutting lists,etc,etc.As for Social media the only one I am in is RedSquare. And I do not store anything outside of my residence. No Cloud anything for me.Everything is in PC, duplicated in another offline PC's hard drive, and another copy is automatically saved continuously in two additional external hard drives. I alternate between the two external hard drives, by removing one every 3 months and placing it in my bank's safe deposit box. Even if the house were to catch fire and everything was destroyed I still would have all my records.

 

I may be wrong but you may just have to give it a little time. In any case after saying all of the above, if I have to change my system again, it is definitely going to be a Mac.

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pfrederi

I have to agree my faults with Win 10 do not involve file management.  It seems to be pretty straight forward.  I have several hundred videos, a few hundred WH, Farmall, Case tractor and Military vehicle manuals and lots of pictures.   When I can't find something it is usually because I miss filed it or didn't clearly name it.

Edited by pfrederi

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Sarge

My biggest beef with 10 is all the default settings and how they have buried and hidden all of the file customization options. Took 2 days just to figure out how to make a few changes in how it handled downloads. Default always forces it to toss everything into the downloads folder with no option to choose,  WHY? Never did find any settings to change that. This creates more steps in moving files to where they belong and in a short time puts a lot of unnecessary storage in a folder I have zero use for. Just in general navigation the layout made it look like it was designed by a novice. I did like XP, other than the blue screen of death and 7 fixed all of that.

 

I really didn't like the Inspiron model. Being the larger 17" model it changes the chassis layout and made the keyboard much closer to the screen. This creates a problem for typing since the palm rest ends up well above your wrist,  very uncomfortable unless it's literally in your lap. I use the thing mostly at a desk, it's display, despite being a non-glare FHD had a lot of glare regardless of what angle it was set at. Don't get me wrong,  it was blindingly fast, but overall that model felt very cheap compared to the old Lattitude. Just trying to open the lid was a pain, the way it was designed there is little to get a hold of on the lid to open it.

 

Monday,  it was sent back to Dell. Refund was completed this morning already. Expected date for the Lattitude 5580CTO model is April 10th. The business models can be loaded with Win7 Pro64, no problem. This model is a quad-core 6th generation processor,  6mb cache and 8mb ram installed. 500gb hard disk,  15.6" non-touch display. Chassis layout puts the keyboard much closer to the user with a smaller touchpad. I already have another 8mb 2400hz DDR4 ram chip to add to the installed 8mb in the machine. One option not available is an internal optical drive,  everyone is moving away from them. So, I'll have to find a good quality dvd/rw drive  - any recommendations?

 

I will pick up a Passport or similar for major file storage. Once it gets here I do plan to install Ubuntu 16.4 on the Lattitude alongside Win7. That will give me time to learn Linux before Microslob drops support for Win7. Those that like Win10 - no offense, but you can have it. I have several IT friends that have been running Linux for years and have tried to get me to switch,  it's long overdue. I think on the long term MS will go to only cloud computing systems like Chrome machines. Internet infrastructure in this country outside of city areas is going to be a real problem. It's already bad enough,  best I can get here is a 15mb connection. Rural areas are being badly ignored and that needs to change.

 

Another thing that comes to mind - how well do USB hubs work? With the storage drive, dvd burner and mouse dongle all but one port is left. Need to have more ports for the Samsung phone and an SD card reader/writer when I move pictures around or copy music for use in the truck and boom box. I think there is a hub that will run the USB3.0/2.0 standards and not create a lot of lag time? Any recommendations on that?

 

I really appreciate the information,  folks. It's nice to see various opinions and options from real users, its better than retailer's descriptions when they are usually so vague and give no insight as to how well a product actually works. In the meantime,  back on the tablet,  not sure how long I'll tolerate this thing.

 

Sarge

 

Sarge

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RubyCon1
1 hour ago, Sarge said:

My biggest beef with 10 is all the default settings and how they have buried and hidden all of the file customization options. Took 2 days just to figure out how to make a few changes in how it handled downloads. Default always forces it to toss everything into the downloads folder with no option to choose,  WHY?
 

If you are downloading files thru the Firefox browser, check Tools > Options > General > Files and Applications.

 

There are options to create a default download location or an option to "always ask" where to place the file.

 

Also options on what programs to use to open the files you download ....

Edited by RubyCon1

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RandyLittrell

My Son has a new Dell that has had nothing but problems. Everytime it updates it messes up drivers and he has to go in and fix them, Pain in the arse!

 

I have had very little time on a win10 and do not really like it either, but I assume as with many things, if you start with a fresh mindset and learn how to use it, you can make it do what you want. 

 

The reason there is so much room on the wrist rest is for the large track pad. The rest of my family has switched to using the track pad, but I am not giving up my mouse!

 

I like the idea of the built in 10 key on the new computers, but it throws off the rest of the keyboard in relation to the screen. It messes me up constantly!!

 

I bought a nice Acer chrome book last year and really like it. It looks just like a Mac airbook, aluminum skin and its thin and light. But like you said, no optical drive! We have a external drive we use in the house since my wife and daughter both have Macs from school. It works just fine. All I do is social media and store manuals, pictures and such. I do need to get all off the cloud and backed up to a hard drive but the cloud deal is pretty nice. I can log in to my google account from any computer and its all there! 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy

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Sarge

Be careful with Google,  they store a scary amount of data on you - I've spent hours going through all the settings to turn off tracking and delete search saves, it's crazy.

 

No fan of cloud services,  pc or otherwise. It gives them too many data mining rights to what you store with them,  not to mention the question of security. The public needs to be educated about this stuff, I can pick a photo off the net and find out so much information about the owner it's insane. Folks don't get how all that data mining can hurt them and put their security at risk,  you need to be aware of what they're doing with your information.

 

Win10 in my opinion is Microslob's last effort at an operating system. I'd bet money anything new will be cloud based to make sure of further income by data storage. They want to be move f imrom a hard product to just a pay to play service,  which I will not tolerate. I'd go back to a tin can and string before giving them one red cent.I'm at the point of wanting to just completely disconnect from the digital world,  it's become far too intrusive.

 

That leads me to the hunt for a good dvd/rw usb drive. I'd prefer the usb 3.0 standard,  120v powered type that has solid read and write speeds. I hate lag and bottlenecks,  lot of cheap, imported junk out there and search engine results default to that first. Can't find an honest review list anymore either without getting nothing but sponsored results. The search engines are gone,  completely owned by sponsored content and corporate control. Shopping for anything or trying to research products won't produce results unless someone wants you to see it. Even duckduckgo is polluted now. Unless someone here has firsthand experience and can recommend a drive, guess I'll jump in the truck and go for a ride.

 

I want to store data on a hard, physical disk that I can hold in my hands. I burn a ton of music and files,  not trusting them to a chip that can be destroyed by EMT or magnetic fields,  already done that a few times.

Any recommendations for a good external drive?

 

Sarge

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