New laptop needed- must run Windows!

[MalcolmInN]

Just seemed like a dig at the NHS and the A&E problems they've currently got

Oi! It was not I that raised the matter of us being glad that you should be using it on 999, it was your line !

Anyway, shall we go on stage as a double act, LOL! Either way we might get someone else to try Linux, and one more user into the fold would be no bad thing

[PLD]

While we all have our preferences (and are entitled to have them), why does every simple request for computer help have to descend into yet another MS v MAC v Lynux war

The OP clearly stated his desire for Windows - it's in the title of the thread - so all the arguments are achieving is to highlight your disrespect for his preference...

[Bealman]

Absolutely correct. Please address OP. 

[NinOz]

Starting to get confused with the latest offerings on the Laptop front. Everything new seems to run Windows 8.1, I am used to XP .I have certain software that is XP based, which is why I want advice please.
The  laptop must have USB, for interface cables to read certain sensors, also it must work with my HP printer which I know works with Windows 7
The reason I want to buy new is the faster speeds, Bigger HDD,
better screen and an operating system that will last for a good few years yet.

Not (up/down/side)graded to 8.1 but using 7.  Have a similar situation of having legacy programs and hardware that only run on XP.
Solved by using Oracle's VM virtualbox to run XP under win7.  It is free!
Maybe an option to get you a new machine and keep the old stuff.
USB should not be a problem.  Can check printer compatibility online.

Good luck!

CFJ

[Oldman]

  If I had known this would open the operating system war I would not have bothered asking.
Simple thing is I need a new laptop/tablet combo to use where I may not have power. I want it simple, don't want the hassle of having to install extra software just to run some software that I already have, I have discovered my printer will work and only have one piece of software I am still waiting for an answer about compatability.
I do NOT want to have to invest in replacing  the existing software with other versions that work on windows because that would cost more than a new Macbook Air.

Mods please lock if this thread continues to go off my original post theme.

[Agrippa]

Just go to Currys/pc world ,tell them what you want, hand over the dosh and away you go!

Another topic ending in a Toytown riot......

[MikeDunn]

Just go to Currys/pc world ,tell them what you want, hand over the dosh and away you go!

Oh god, avoid those jokers !!!

OldMan, I'm another one who can recommend NovaTech; you can buy on-line from them, or call across to their store (I think they just have the one now); it's not that far from you I think ?  I've used them for a few years now, and am looking at them for some upgrades I currently want.

You can also discuss on the phone your requirements with them ... nice people, with decent prices & good support.

Mike

[NinOz]

Simple thing is I need a new laptop/tablet combo to use where I may not have power. I want it simple, don't want the hassle of having to install extra software just to run some software that I already have, I have discovered my printer will work and only have one piece of software I am still waiting for an answer about compatability.
I do NOT want to have to invest in replacing  the existing software with other versions that work on windows because that would cost more than a new Macbook Air.

Riiiiiigthhh.
Sometimes you don't get what you want but you get what you need.

CFJ

[Anorak]

Hookay time to re-rail this train wreak while the flightless birds are feasting on fruit on the window sill.

Oldman, what size screen laptop do you prefer? 
The 13 inch which is light and portable, but the screen can be a little small at times or the 15 inch which generally comes with a decent screen and same keyboards as the 13 inch but they tend to be much heavier.

Do you have a preference for gloss/matt plastic or aluminium finish?

Also what was the capacity of the current laptops hard drive?

[Oldman]

Currently using a 7" android tablet. Not fussy about finish or colour plastic is fine.
My laptop that died had a 250gig HD, 1gig of ram and a 10" display

[Anorak]

This might be a little broad & long but I hope this all makes sense...

250GB drive in the older laptop is the most useful thing to know, because it eliminates a surprising number of laptops currently available.  The big decider for hardware is CPU and RAM.  Currently a laptop with an I5 in it is a good place to be but if budget doesn't permit an I3 is not the end of the world.  As for RAM 4GB for Windows 7 is fine, Windows 8 might benefit more from 8GB in two years time.

Now onto the common brands available.  Firstly I always suggest avoiding the lowest budget laptops by brand these are:
Acer TravelMate
Toshiba Satellite
HP Celeron, HP250
Dell Insperon

The price is brought down so by heavily compromised hardware, usually its the wireless and bluetooth that is particularly bad with poor range or stops working altogether after a few hours until the laptop is restarted (This is rare though) and with larger wireless networks its incapable of roaming.  The HP Celeron laptops use a Celeron CPU which is a low power spin off of the Intel I3 so it lacks the same performance as well and these suffer the same issues as above.  All of them will have budget low resolution screens as well.

Next price break up is:
Acer Aspire
Toshiba Satellite Pro
Lenovo (Most lenovo laptops seem to be around here)
HP Probook
Asus Transformer (and other Asus touch laptops)

These are still hit and miss, but your chances of a hit are much much better than a miss now, they are for the most part pretty much the same except for Asus which offer touchscreens at the expense of performance and battery life.  Looking around there is not much love for the Satellite Pro offerings also.  It seems regardless weather its an I3, I5 or I7 they all come with 4GB ram which as before is fine currently, but I would be thinking about 8GB of ram, the catch there is potentially moving up to the next price bracket.  These laptops also have  the same screens as the cheaper laptops.
Lenovo L430 Is worth a look.

Next tier down and is personally as high as I would go:

Asus Zenbook
Dell XPS
HP EliteBook
Toshiba Tecra
Lenovo
Also getting into Macbook territory

Premium stuff now, aluminium bodies, high resolution screens, warranties manufactures might actually honor.  Toshiba Tecra is an interesting one, Tecra is Toshiba's long running business line so they tend to be chunky and use older styling (Lenovo business laptops look just like they did 20 years ago!) but they have a 3 year warranty which is rare.  Dell XPS is very seasonal previous XPS looked good, the current one not so fantastic. Of all the options ZenBook looks very attractive currently, high resolution screen good hardware for the price, I even saw one with a 1TB HDD in it.  But you would certainly pay quite a bit for it.  I don't know so much about HP EliteBook, they don't seem to have anything that particularly stands out though.

Hopefully this slims down the choice to about 10 options, I haven't even mentioned all of what is available too.  I tried to keep it a little broad since availability and price varies between regions and a good deal for me might be horrific elsewhere.

[Malc]

This might be a little broad & long but I hope this all makes sense...

While I agree entirely with the above comments, a quick question. Does any 32bit processor address more than 4G of RAM?

[austinbob]

This might be a little broad & long but I hope this all makes sense...

While I agree entirely with the above comments, a quick question. Does any 32bit processor address more than 4G of RAM?

In theory a 32bit processor can only address 4GB of RAM and you can't use all of that for applications anyway. Typically I think you have around 3.5GB available. You can access more memory than 4GB by paging memory in or out, I believe its usually 2GB at a time. This is obviously going to be slower than if you access the memory directly.

If you google on this topic there is loads of stuff out there to bore you.

[Geoff]

This might be a little broad & long but I hope this all makes sense...

While I agree entirely with the above comments, a quick question. Does any 32bit processor address more than 4G of RAM?

I think you will find that 32bit windows systems will only see 3GB Ram even if you put 4GB into the machine.

[zwilnik]

This might be a little broad & long but I hope this all makes sense...

While I agree entirely with the above comments, a quick question. Does any 32bit processor address more than 4G of RAM?

Yup all the non Windows based ones. It appears to be a limit with Windows 7 and below.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_GB_barrier