Buying a new laptop

[buksida]

Yep - Steam is a gaming marketplace - more for higher end stuff than the ones that come with Windows - I've moved the rest of the gaming discussion to the gamers thread: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7419&start=23

[Big Boy]

Well, the new beast arrived yesterday.

Initial reaction was mega disappointment. One of the freebies offered as an incentive to wait for the excessive lead time was a free RAM upgrade to 16Gb. Yes, I received the upgrade, but it was still in the box . I'll get that sorted later today.

Generally, it feels just like my old laptop, but without the sticky keyboard keys. However, it does have some bullshit features that I doubt I'll ever use:

• Fingerprint recognition - I've never even bothered with a password (except for work machines), so a bit OTT for my needs.

• It has an Alexa type feature. I can just ask questions, or dictate rather than type. I might give it a try, but unlikely. I'm not sure she'll understand Janner.

• A backlit keyboard. That might be a useful feature when I'm sat in the armchair. Pointless if I'm sat at a table though because I touch type.

Freebies included:

• Mouse Mat - I guess I'll use that at some point.

• Headphones - could be useful when watching TV.

• The quirkiest mouse in the world. Apart from looking like a chameleon, changing its appearance constantly, it has stupid buttons everywhere that they shouldn't be. I don't actually see me using this stupid mouse once I've personalised the machine because accidentally touching the buttons does the stupidest of things. I guess such buttons might have gamers salivating, but not me.

• 32Gb Flash Drive - always useful.

• Cleaning Kit - no idea what that's for .

• Steam Wallet - don't seem to have received that. That upset me

• A few other things, but I'm getting bored listing them.

So, it's off to Mr Don to get my upgrade fitted and a few extra bits done this morning. Then I'll be able to switch to using the new machine in anger. I'm sure it is a lot faster, but my old machine was always fast enough, and as an old git, I'm never going to be able to match that extra speed. So I guess that extra bit of oomph will be sat in reserve should it ever be needed.

Yes, I'm generally happy, and I suppose I've got somebody to talk to if I ever upset Mrs BB. However, if I start getting sensible answers, that might be confusing.

[buksida]

Most new brand-name laptops come with a lot of 'bloatware' - which is software from the manufacturer that most people don't really need. Ask Mr D. to remove all this for an additional speed boost as a lot of it is designed to launch on startup and run in the background all the time.

[Big Boy]

Good thinking. I'll add that to my list of things to be done. I've noticed a few things aleady. I would generally remove them as I come across them, but yes, he'll do it quicker.

One thing it doesn't have, that I use a lot, and according to Google is no longer available is Movie Maker. Any ideas for a freebie replacement please?

[buksida]

Yeah, M$ discontinued the version that worked well and replaced it with a crappy version that you have to pay extra to get it to do anything creative.

This may work for the old version: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedi ... aker.shtml

[Big Boy]

Thank you - I'll give it a go.

[handdrummer]

The steam wallet is the most recent treatment for shrinking the prostate gland and at the same time launders your money.

[hhinner]

BB you could spend 15 minutes watching this video on free video editing software. This guy always presents with clarity and knows what he's talking about. In this video he gives his opinions as to the top 8 video editing software most of which are available for Windows.

[Lost]

BB you could spend 15 minutes watching this video on free video editing software. This guy always presents with clarity and knows what he's talking about. In this video he gives his opinions as to the top 8 video editing software most of which are available for Windows.

Davinci Resolve (free version) is the best out there for free. Edit: I'd guess it's far more technical than movie maker, mind.

[Big Boy]

Thanks guys. Mr Don says he is sorting the movie stuff for me. If I dont like what he does, I'll certainly take your advice.

[Big Boy]

OMG, I'm just transferring 'essential data' to the new machine, I'm deliberately working off battery power to run it down. I've been here for a couple of hours, and did a check to see how much battery is left - 10 hours 50 minutes. That is just amazing. Long may it last.

[Big Boy]

Here's a big compliment to the new machine. I had to fire up the old laptop this morning, and became very frustrated at the time it was taking to come on. In just a few days, inside my head, I've become adept to expecting 'flick of a switch' timescales when switching on.

However, the new machine has to go back to Mr Don this morning. I'm not sure what he's done, but I am having trouble installing anything. I had trouble a couple of days ago installing uTorrent, and the reason I had to fire up the old machine is it won't let me install the software to connect to my printer. I'm guessing he's switched something off to stop me breaking it . These are tasks well within my ability, and things I've done without problem many times.

[buksida]

Make sure you're logged in as the Administrator account. It sounds like whatever account you have on Windows does not have the privileges to install stuff.

[Big Boy]

People often talk about the administrator account. I only ever set up one account, so I assume that must be the administrator. Is there a whole new world on this laptop that I'm not aware of please?

The problem was down to my virus software. Even though I stood and watched Mr Don disable it, exactly the same way as I did, uTorrent and the printer software downloaded as it should have

[buksida]

Windows 10 has a pretty solid a/v suite built in so you don't really need any third-party antivirus software anymore as most threats are now social engineering based.