My computer just finally died, any suggestions for a new one?

[Bleach]

Oh it was a micro$#!t computer. I would have set it on fire as well.

[padgett]

Well wouldn't have to worry about job security if I wasn't retired. Had to fight one tower for several days getting it from Win 7 to 10-64 but is now docile and all of my apps (some from the last millennia)are working as intended. Quite docile now. Of course this one has an AMD processor.

[Dandy Dave]

What they need is to create a basic system that works for those of us that just want to look at a few websites like this one, post a few photos, Sell a little stuff on eBay, Craig's list and the like. 90 % plus of the crap in these machines I'll never use. Most of all make it easy to use. Especially in reducing the size of photo files. All most of us old dudes need is three buttons.   Old Cars, Porn, and Music.   And a big enough screen to see it on. LOL...I don't know how these kids see anything on these new fangled watch things as the screen is so small. Dandy Dave!  

Edited January 25, 2016 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

What they need is to create a basic system that works for those of us that just want to look at a few websites like this one, post a few photos, Sell a little stuff on eBay, Craig's list and the like. 90 % plus of the crap in these machines I'll never use. Most of all make it easy to use. Especially in reducing the size of photo files. All most of us old dudes need is three buttons.   Old Cars, Porn, and Music.   And a big enough screen to see it on. LOL...I don't know how these kids see anything on these new fangled watch things as the screen is so small. Dandy Dave!  

Here Here!

 Exactly what I'm looking for.  Well with that one request we might have to move it from the 6 cylinder dart to a 340 with 4 speed.  But still the same a good reliable basic machine with no extra crap.

[auburnseeker]

Dave, I wouldn't have smashed a computer because of it operating system. You should have tried Linux in it.  It would worked better than any Windows POS.

I have a problem with buying a brand new computer then having to go home and modify it because it has trouble performing even the basic tasks any one buying that type of machine will perform as soon as they get home. 

That's like buying a brand new car at the dealership and having it break down on the way home , then having to pay to get it towed back to the dealership where you will wait and pay to get the repair done. 

They should be able to perform the basic functions with no glitches or else they should still be in the testing phase and not released until they can.  This isn't 1936 with the new Cords Coming out.

[Dandy Dave]

Yep. We aint building Edsels no more either. Give me reliability and I'll keep coming back. Give me a lemon once and never have me as a customer again. 

[39BuickEight]

What they need is to create a basic system that works for those of us that just want to look at a few websites like this one, post a few photos, Sell a little stuff on eBay, Craig's list and the like. 90 % plus of the crap in these machines I'll never use. Most of all make it easy to use. Especially in reducing the size of photo files. All most of us old dudes need is three buttons.   Old Cars, Porn, and Music.   And a big enough screen to see it on. LOL...I don't know how these kids see anything on these new fangled watch things as the screen is so small. Dandy Dave!  

This is exactly why I use a local computer fix it shop for my computer needs.  They sell computers they build and refurbish cheaply and without the stuff you don't need, and give a lifetime warranty.  If they can't fix it, they just transfer your files andgive you a new one.

[Standard Eight]

What they need is to create a basic system that works for those of us that just want to look at a few websites like this one, post a few photos, Sell a little stuff on eBay, Craig's list and the like. 90 % plus of the crap in these machines I'll never use. Most of all make it easy to use. Especially in reducing the size of photo files.

 

If someone's use requirements for a device really are centered just around email, internet browsing, and easy photo management, then for a simple and reliable experience one should look at the new Apple iPad Pro.

 

The Apple iPads are not the equivalent to a full laptop device (be that MAC OSX or Windows) but the new iPad Pro is the closest Apple device I have tested/used that can/could be a laptop replacement for some users (those users with similar requirements as Dandy Dave lists).

 

The screen on the iPad Pro is now 13 inches.  If you have not seen an iPad Pro yet stop into an Apple store and take a look.  Compared to the older iPads the screen is huge and it is very crisp and clear.

 

Also with the new iPad Pro Apple is finally adding some features from the more traditional laptops.  You can now add an Apple integrated keyboard to the iPad Pro.  When not in used the keyboard folds flat to act as a cover to protect the iPad Pro screen.  Finally Apple has added an input device to the iPad with the Apple Pencil.  While Apple still won't support a mouse on the iPad line, the support of the new Apple Pencil works pretty well.  I think many users would still prefer a mouse, but once I got the hang of the new Pencil I find it works pretty well.  Also using a larger monitor is very easy using one of the Apple adapters.

 

When I have friends or relatives ask about a device they can just turn on and use for email and browsing I had previously suggested an iPad.  But now with an integrated keyboard and pen I suggest an iPad Pro.  The caveat is if they need to be able to do more "advanced tasks" which require a more full traditional operating system I suggest they look at the new MicroSoft Surface Pro 4s., or something similar.

 

The good thing about technology....and the bad thing about technology, is there a literally hundreds of choices for devices that a user can look at to meet their needs.  And if you don't like your "new" device just wait a few months and it will have been replaced by the "newer" model. - Bob

Edited January 25, 2016 by Butler Old Stone House (see edit history)

[padgett]

Or if you don't want to pay that much, a Chromebook may be just what you need. It does not do much but does that well and is easy to upgrade.

[auburnseeker]

I went to best buy and ended up with an ASUS Q503UA-BHI5T16  Which is only a 15 inch machine but it seems well built and performed well at the store.  I did Look at Macs but they were about 1000 plus I would have to buy  a 150.00  monitor to get me up to the 17 inch monitor. Theirs were I think 13 or smaller.  No extra services with this but it came wit h a year of free antivirus. 

  I did meet a very good sales associate though that hopefully will email me.  If this one doesn't work out,  he'll build me what I need on the side.   He said they have the best rating with Mac being number one.  Very few returned as opposed to the HP which has a much lower customer satisfaction rate.

 Wish me luck.  I've got to empty this one so I can send it back with the wife this afternoon.

[Guest AlCapone]

Good luck, I wish you had bought the Mac. I spent the extra dollars and could not be happier . 500 extra over 5 years is only 25 cents a day for the best on the market! Wayne

[Bleach]

A tablet may be a far better and more cost effective option for basic needs. Here's where I'm not partial to Apple products. I've some really good tablets for about a $200 and less that run on an Android OS. I even bought one from Amazon called a Fire for $50 delivered. I'm still playing around with it so I don't have a complete opinion on it yet.

[60FlatTop]

Ever look at the list of cars owned by these contributors looking to simplify their lives?

 

Kinda makes one wonder. Makes me think about the stranger at the car show:

"Hi, I have a car just like yours."

"Oh, is it here?"

"No, it's apart in the garage, I'm working on it."

Oh, just the one?"

"No, I have five."

"Any here?"

No. Not done yet."

"Got a computer?"

"Ya, one."

"How's it work?"

"It's a POS."

"What do you use it for?"

"Nuthin technical; I just surf around looking for another car to buy."

"Oh"

Bernie

[auburnseeker]

If I don't like it.  I'll return it and have the kid that showed it to me,  build one on the side.  I gave him my business card and told him to email me.  I would probably need his help.   He was looking to start his own computer business and seemed beyond knowledgeable about the product.

We'll see.  I'm not the first guy to buy a Vega as evident by the sales numbers.

[Guest AlCapone]

If you have the kid build you a set you are held hostage to one person. What happens when he goes on vacation or moves? If you go Apple you have the advantage of massive resources available to you. Because your business depends on your computer don't let a few hundred dollars adversely affect you. Wayne

[auburnseeker]

One problem with buying these big companies computers.  They could really care less about the individual customer as evidence by offering a crappy product in the first place.

The new one isn't working out so well yet either.  I pugged it in at 8:00 PM.  It came on after what seemed like a few minutes probably atleast 5.  Asked me a couple questions then updated itself which took until 9:45.  Now that that's through I have ben downloading the free antivirus which was doing pretty good according to the estimated times it kept flashing.  The times stopped at 9 minutes 42 seconds ago.  Still displayed on the screen and hasn't done a damn thing for atleast the last 15 minutes other than a little internal running/ growling noise.  Screen looks froze to me. 

Looks like I bought an Edsel then upgraded to a Vega.  What's next a Chevette or early 80's AMC?   

This is why I'm ready to go with some lone wolf who actually builds you what you need and tries it out long enough that it atleast starts and runs properly when you get home. 

[Standard Eight]

I sent you a PM.

[auburnseeker]

It's up and running all be it the slowest machine I have used in quite some time. I think my 15 year old Dell with Dial up in a small mountain town at the infancy of internet was faster.  Hopefully it's just learning my habits before it shifts into OD (yeah I'm not holding my breath on that one)

[auburnseeker]

Average time to open a page is 15 seconds.  OK I wanted 6 cylinder dart reliability not performance.

[auburnseeker]

Ok it's the slowest most terrible piece of crap I have had the displeasure to use.  I can't even log into ebay it's been trying to log in for 5 minutes.  It takes an insane amount of time to even access a simple page.  My wife's crappy 5 year old HP is running circles around it.  I even restarted it and it took 5 minutes or more to restart.  The backlit keyboard is also non op at the moment. 

This one didn't even get out of the dealership parking lot before the wheels fell off , the hood popped open and the steam came rolling out. 

I better go to bed before senility takes over.

Edited January 26, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[Standard Eight]

 it's the slowest

 

You laptop could be slow at the moment because it is attempting to download and then install any Windows 10 updates which need applied.  Within the last 2-3 weeks Windows just released TH2 (Thershold 2) for the Win 10 OS.  This is a very large service level update with many updates and features.  Even though your Asus is new the Win 10 image that Asus applied to the laptop is most likely several months old, thus creating a big task and bottleneck on your laptop in the beginning as it tries to download and apply the updates in the background as you use your laptop.

 

When I setup any new device I always use a wired connection to setup a device and apply all the updates as the wired connection is far more capable of handling that initial large volume of data.  Once I have everything setup using a wired connection I then just switch the device over to WiFi.

 

Another place to explore related to the slowness is your wireless router.  Your Asus laptop is using the latest WiFi connection standards ( it has an "AC" WiFi adapter) which is great.  But if your wireless router is more than a few years old it probably does not support the latest AC standard.  So the WiFi adapter on your Asus is most likely backward compatible with the previous standards and then makes a connection to your wireless router using one of the old WiFi standards.  I have seen instances even though a new laptop connected to an older wireless router the two devices did not play well together with the result being a very slow WiFi connection.  At the least an older WiFi router will definitely prevent your new laptop from connecting at it's maximum WiFi throughput.

 

If you can, connect your laptop to your network with a cable, let(force) all of the Windows 10 updates apply (I would do this before you try and setup any other software, browsers, websites, etc.), and then check your throughput speed. - Bob

[Dandy Dave]

Yep, They walk among us. LOL Burnie. I have one on the fire and about 10 parts vehicles, does that count? Dandy Dave! 

 

Ever look at the list of cars owned by these contributors looking to simplify their lives?

 

Kinda makes one wonder. Makes me think about the stranger at the car show:

"Hi, I have a car just like yours."

"Oh, is it here?"

"No, it's apart in the garage, I'm working on it."

Oh, just the one?"

"No, I have five."

"Any here?"

No. Not done yet."

"Got a computer?"

"Ya, one."

"How's it work?"

"It's a POS."

"What do you use it for?"

"Nuthin technical; I just surf around looking for another car to buy."

"Oh"

Bernie

[auburnseeker]

I did as you suggested Bob and just wired it up to life support. 

My modem is 1 year old.   I'm using cable for an internet provider and can stream videos on my wife's 5 year old HP with who knows what free antivirus while this new machine tries to open a page on this forum.   

Hopefully it will fix it but I'm not overconfident. 

If I was in the computer business of selling them. I don't think I would let a novice customer who told you they know jack about computers,  out of the store without making sure the machine was up and running and ready to use.

I go back to my original car analogy. It's like buying your new car at the dealership all covered with the static tape, the hubcaps and other items in the trunk and maybe even no oil in the engine while the sales associate tells you it's ready to go,  not having checked a thing. 

Lets cross our fingers.  It's pretty heavy freezing rain here today so I'm not taking the 30 mile drive each way down the interstate back to the store to return it.

[Standard Eight]

Your router only being a year old should be OK.  Let me know the make and model and I can check the specs and notes for that model. - Bob

[auburnseeker]

The router is an Arris TG862

[60FlatTop]

Did you ever check the CPU temperatures on the old machine? I'm running 2 gig of background right now on Windows 7. XP ran around .5 That's a lot of cooking going on and an easy check.

When I bought this machine 7 years ago I was surprised at the base usage. When it started acting up I had to look in unobvious places to fix it.

Bernie

[Standard Eight]

The router is an Arris TG862

 

That is a commercial grade ISP supplied modem/router.  Specs look fine.  WiFi on that modem/router is using the "n" standard, which is one version behind your ASUS at "AC" standard, but that should not be an issue with that modem/router.

 

The ISP's who provide modem/routers don't like their customers to reboot their devices but many times when I am having unusual performance issues I reboot my all my devices in this order:

 

1. Power down all laptops, desktops, modems, routers, access points (pull each device power cord for 20-30 seconds).

2. Reboot the devices in the following order

a. ISP modem/router : wait until it is fully booted and on online before moving to next step

b. router (if using a router not supplied by your ISP) : wait until it is fully booted and on online before moving to next step

c. WiFi Access Points : wait until it is fully booted and on online before moving to next step

d. Laptops and Desktop

 

Sometimes it takes the re-initialization of all your devices to get your local network devices to all get back in sync.  This may not solve your issues but it is a good housekeeping thing to do for your local hone network in general. - Bob

[Guest Xeon]

Alright, I'll try again.

 

So, it seems like really you want to buy from Bestbuy/Walmart?

 

Do you not really care about a touchscreen, don't want a touchscreen or want a touchcreen?

 

I wouldn't normally recommend Acer Aspires, but you're not going to be putting it under much load, so if you want touchscreen. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-aspire-r14-2-in-1-14-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-256gb-solid-state-drive-black/4503300.p?id=1219755698811&skuId=4503300But it's not the best quality, which is leaning me away from recommending it. It would be Fast, but from the reviews online it has it's share of problems.

 

EDIT: I've been looking for the past hour and I'm not finding anything! Bestbuy doesn't have a huge selection, and most of it is overpriced. If you really want a fast laptop, look for one with a primarily SSD storage. It will be MANY times faster than a 5400 RPM HDD. And look for an 5th or 6th gen i5. No need for an i7 really.

 

 

For $1000 that should be easy. $1000 buys a Gaming laptop with an Nvidia GTX 960m, you should be able to get an SSD and no GPU...

[padgett]

Well the specs look good:

15.6-inch convertible laptop with Windows 10 Home, an Intel Core i5-6200U 2.3GHz processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 520 graphics, a touchscreen, and a 1TB hard drive.

I am playing with an Acer R14 at the moment that has very similar specs (with i5 and 8GB am pretty sure that is Windows Home 10-64) but you have to dump all of the "bloatware" that keeps trying to access the network.

First thing is to create a recovery flash drive (need a 16GD drive for Win10) and then pull a backup system image. That way you can always get back to here. Mfrs do not include recovery DVDs any more)

One issue is the automagic updates but you can control when it looks for them (3 am is good.) and dump anything in Task Manager (right click on tray and select) > Startup. If you know you do not need then can go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and remove anything you do not need (for Antivirus/Antispam/Anti malware I just use Windows Defender and Microsoft EMET set "paranoid" & remove any other third party suites).

All I can say is that none of my Win 10 devices (7 at moment in various formats) seem at all slow or sluggish but then are not exactly stock. My cars are the same way.

ps now spend $150-$170 on a decent 24-27" monitor and you'll really be cooking

pps like with my cars I look for an active and useful user's forum first. With a homebuilt you would not get that.

ppps Unless you have Build 10586 (msinfo32.exe) you may have a giant Update download going on.

Edited January 26, 2016 by padgett (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

Ok i's up and running.  Maybe a tad better.  I hardwired it to the router and let it do all  the updates.  Took over an hour.  It's now been restarted.  I have been able to finally access ebay and pay al be it very slow after a few tries.  It seems to be working slow here but not nearly as bad.

[Guest Xeon]

But see, It shouldn't be running slow at all. It should whoop any laptop you've owned. It's all modern components, most of which are the newest and best performing out there in mid grade laptops.

 

The only problem with it, and at that price it shouldn't have, is a 5400RPM HDD and no SSD storage. 5400 RPM is a very slow drive. It's normal for low-mid grade laptops, but at $800 I would think it should have some SSD storage or atleast a 7200RPM drive.

 

 

Oh and turn on task manager(alt+ctrl+del) when "nothing" is happening and see what the CPU/Memory usage is.

 

And sometime download a program called CPUID HWMonitor or Speccy. They'll tell you the internal temps.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Xeon (see edit history)

[DrData]

It sounds like the major issue is connecting to the internet and loading pages fro sites in a timely fashion.  One of the issues which can cause this to happen is the installation (wittingly or unwittingly) of various "toolbars", those little lines of "helpful" links that run below the bookmark s and above the browser window itself.  The more toolbars you have, the slower the response time is since all of them must load first, before you actually get to the site you seek.  Yahoo, Adobe, Microsoft, and some large game sites love to drop toolbars into your browser since they tend to tie you to the site and the advertising on the site.  Also, if you have messenger programs running, in the background, they also tend to hog bandwidth and slow load times.

 

One way to test for this is to install another browser and try it.  I would download either Google Chrome or Opera and see if your response time is faster.  Both are typically quicker than a clean Firefox or Microsoft browser and much, much quicker than a browser with toolbars installed.

 

Another major issue, especially with Windows, is the anti-viral, protection software you are using.  These can be devastating to load times and internet response. Unless you tend to visit "sketchy" sites, you are generally okay using the protection that is built into Windows.

[TerryB]

Had similar troubles with one of our laptops. Took it back and it worked fine at the store. Tech said to take it home and try doing a restart of our wifi box with the computer on. That fixed it! Might work for your problem too.

Note- restart of wifi was simply unplugging power to it, wait about a minute, and reapply power.

Terry

Edited January 26, 2016 by TerryB (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I just finished loading google chrome and it seems to be running much better.  Not perfect but much better.  I had google chrome before and it performed well.

[auburnseeker]

Went on line and found out how to boost the speed a bit.  Did that.  Now I'm trying to do my ebay listings and I can't get the photo loader to open.  Starts to open the small screen and just gives me the never ending green death spiral.  

What a piece of crap.  This is starting to make the Vega and Chevette look like a V16 Cadillac in comparison to this piece of crap.  I need to eliminate some crap that it's trying to run I know but I should atleast beable to load a darn photo.  How can somebody build and sell such crap? to the unknowing public.  If the store  wasn't 45 minutes away they would have already had it sitting on their return desk. 

[Guest AlCapone]

Time is money! Take the crap back and buy quality. But remember quality comes with a price !

If you want good clean oats they cost a premium price.....if you want oats that went thru the horse one time they come a little cheaper! Wayne

Edited January 27, 2016 by AlCapone (see edit history)

[padgett]

Sounds like you either need a Apple or a bigger pipe. Am running Win10-64 right now at 2% cpu with bursts to 20% 2.5GHz CPU running at 1.3 and 22% (1.6GB) memory with a 6-year-old motherboard and removable drives. Windows Defender and EMET set "paranoid". IE11 (do not care for Edge)

ps on a wired Ethernet with 80 MB/s down/11 up. Makes a big difference over WiFi.

pps if the photo viewer is failing there should be something in the Event Viewer (Control Panel> Administrative tools) to say why.

Edited January 27, 2016 by padgett (see edit history)

[vermontboy]

I wish I could understand all this talk about speed, temperatures, cpu usage, ethernet, administrator, HDD, SDD, etc. but I don't have a clue.

 

I spent from 1995 to 2997 or so traveling all over the country with various laptops and using them for my job. I was never happy with any of the ones purchased at a big box store. The last two I purchased at a little local independent - they were basic dell business computers - he stripped all the junk that came with them out - they were under $500 apiece.

 

The first one was destroyed by one of the popular anti-virus programs that I installed after purchase - every time it updated things slowed to a crawl. One time it got slower and slower until the dreaded blank screen came up.

 

The second one I installed Security Essentials on (free from Microsoft).  It runs in the background - no slowdowns, no viruses after 5 years. I set the laptop up on 4 prescription bottle caps to keep it cool.

 

Meanwhile my wife's 15 year old Apple desktop just keeps humming away without a care in the world with absolutely no attention  needed. For what you use your computer for a bare bones business laptop is really all you need. Unfortunately I don't think you can find them at the big box stores and if you do they will be loaded with bloatware which I have not a clue as to how to get rid of. The other choice is an apple computer - higher up front costs and a learning curve of sorts but it should outlast several pc's.

 

Just my  two cents from someone who doesn't know anything about the technical end of things, just about how to use them. From a use standpoint you want to make sure whatever you buy has all of the correct ports for whatever you might want to hook it up to (includind a TV), as well as a CD/DVD player and burner. And if it was me I would get it with Windows 7, not Windows 10. And yes, you can sstill do that, but not at a big box store.

 

Good luck.

Edited January 27, 2016 by vermontboy (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I figured out the picture loading problem.  I had to dump the cookies off the new computer to get it to load the photos.  Pretty crazy it could have enough cookies to stop the photo upload on a machine that had only visited 3 sites that I use all the time.  

  It's still not lightning and definitely not as fast as my old machine but getting better.  Every time I take it back and spend a day with a new machine and how much frustration that's costing me as well.  The problem with apple is I kind of have a problem spending 2000 for a machine to get a 15 inch screen.   Then some people on't like apple as well.  Who's to say I'm going to like it.  I didn't see any local computer shops around here.  I think they have all been run out by the big box. 

[auburnseeker]

I would also think that 800.00  should buy you enough quality to get a machine that will handle the most basic internet tasks.  I visit about 8 sites total, do my email,  load photos to email, craigslist, and ebay.  They are very low pixel photos.  I would think any machine right down to the 150.00 special deals should atleast handle that task at least as fast as a cheap 5 year old machine would that's running some unknown old version of antivirus. 

I shouldn't need a 12" diameter supply line to load 1/4 inch peas.