Help me understand my computers, and what to update!

Thanee · Dec 6, 2009

A good monitor has a lot of appeal for sure. A 22" TFT doesn't even cost much.

Bye
Thanee

ssampier · Dec 7, 2009

Very good advice so far.

There is a common saying that upgrading a PC isn't worth it. You can buy new and get faster, better components.

I don't necessarily believe that. At some point, the upgrades can easily equal a new PC, however.

It's pretty clear that you need more hard drive space for your notebook. I'd recommend a USB2 external hard drive. You can pick up a 1 TB external hard drive for $100 or so

For your desktop, I'd probably wait and get a new PC at some point.

You can always get a large monitor now and use it with your new PC. Prices and sizes vary, but a well regarded 20 inch LCD Samsung is around $200.

Newegg LCD monitors

Mustrum_Ridcully · Dec 7, 2009

Nellisir said:
I've got two "primary" computers and one significantly older one.

I'm trying to understand what my best courses of action are for updating and upgrading the computers.

No computer games on any of them.

My primary computer is a 1-year old HP Pavilion dv9700 laptop which I use for school. Common programs are AutoCAD, Photoshop, Sketchup, & illustrator (plus Word & Firefox & etc). I don't have graphic card info to hand right now; it would be whatever was installed at the factory. It works well but occasionally chokes on large files in Illustrator & sketchup.
Intel Core 2Duo CPU T5750 @2.00 GHz
4 GB RAM
64 Bit
Windows Vista
300 GB hard drive (mostly full; need to transfer stuff out)

Adding a second hard drive should be not too difficult. If most of the space on your drive is used for data storage, you can transfer most of that to the other drive. If it's applications, make sure you install them on the new drive. For security reasons though it would be better to ensure they still land in the Program Files folder. If you want to upgrade to Windows 7 anyway, you could simply install it on the new drive instead of the old one.

I wouldn't ugprade much on your computer. More RAM is not necessary. I suspect a new graphics card might be one of your best options, I hope I am under no illusion when I think that graphics-intensive programs like AutoCad know how to use the graphics card.

I would recommend Windows 7, definitely.

Oh, and I am blind. Considering that it's a notebook, a better graphics card and a second hard drive might be hard or impossible.

The desktop is a Black Friday special from 2 (?) years ago.
Compaq Presario.
AMD Athlon 64 processor
3700+
1.79 Ghz
960 MB RAM
WinXP + updates.
hard drive around 250 GB

That could use more work, focusing on RAM (2 GB should be enough unless you want games and 3D modelling maybe) and a second hard disk.
Of course, consider whether you really need a second desktop if your wife prefers doing bills and facebook on the notebook anyway, and if a new notebook wouldn't be better.
If I could read...

Er. Okay, 4 GB, Windows 7, and a second hard drive with the notes I made regarding the notebook might be a good choice. Check the Graphics Card, too.

I personally never manage to keep up-to-date on the details of Graphics Cards (or processors), so I can't recommend anything specific in that area.

There's also a 6-year old Toshiba laptop that needs to be reformatted, but otherwise has run flawlessly for 6 years. Wondering if it can be made into a netbook or something at some point. Runs Win XP with updates.

Well, what do you mean by "made into a netbook"? A netbook is basically a lightweight (literally and figuratively) notebook with a small display and typically with cheap components, but with networking (Wireless LAN specifically). All this ensures it is small, can be easily transported is and cheap. It won't allow you to do fancy stuff, but it gets you online.
In a way, your notebook is already a netbook.

(Except it might be too big?)

Upgrading notebooks is not always easy, since they are built really tight. Younger notebooks allow easy access to hard drive and RAM, making it possible to upgrade those parts easily. More RAM and a bigger hard drive won't hurt. I am not sure upgrading to Windows 7 will do much. I haven't checked the benchmarks if it can outdo Windows XP in regards to energy efficiency, though it might. The Aspire 1420P I got on the PDC seems to run pretty well and long.

If your laptop does not have a dual core processor, I would seriously consider just getting a new one. It doesn't have to be a high end machine, it doesn't need to be a netbook either.

Nellisir · Dec 7, 2009

Mustrum_Ridcully said:
Oh, and I am blind. Considering that it's a notebook, a better graphics card and a second hard drive might be hard or impossible.

I'm going to look into a graphics card, regardless. Couldn't hurt!

Okay, 4 GB, Windows 7, and a second hard drive with the notes I made regarding the notebook might be a good choice. Check the Graphics Card, too.

I did some research last night; I've got a Compaq Presario Media Center SR2039x (there's a slight chance I'm wrong about the "20"), which seems fairly decent and upgradable. I've actually got 1 GB of memory right now, with two slots open, so I can jump up to 2 or 3 GB without pulling anything.

I do have a 500-GB and a 100-GB external drives; the 100-GB I carry around and use for "extra" daily backups (everything I've done to date in the semester, on top of my assorted file backups on my flash drive); the 500-GB primarily receives sporadic full system backups. The biggest thing hogging space on my laptop right now is a nearly-100GB-pile of materials that's been handed around the studio and includes...a lot of stuff it shouldn't.

Most of that will go on the 500 GB when I get a chance.

Well, what do you mean by "made into a netbook"? A netbook is basically a lightweight (literally and figuratively) notebook with a small display and typically with cheap components, but with networking (Wireless LAN specifically). All this ensures it is small, can be easily transported is and cheap. It won't allow you to do fancy stuff, but it gets you online.
In a way, your notebook is already a netbook. (Except it might be too big?)

Basically I was thinking it would be fun to play with Google Chrome, except it probably wouldn't be. Easier to just stick with Win XP. Except for security. <sigh>

<quote.Upgrading notebooks is not always easy, since they are built really tight. Younger notebooks allow easy access to hard drive and RAM, making it possible to upgrade those parts easily. More RAM and a bigger hard drive won't hurt. I am not sure upgrading to Windows 7 will do much. I haven't checked the benchmarks if it can outdo Windows XP in regards to energy efficiency, though it might. The Aspire 1420P I got on the PDC seems to run pretty well and long.</quote>
Accessing my current laptop seems to be pretty simple; there are 3 little plates on the underside to get into it. I think I'm maxed on RAM, but upgrading graphics & HD are things I should look into.

If your laptop does not have a dual core processor, I would seriously consider just getting a new one. It doesn't have to be a high end machine, it doesn't need to be a netbook either.

I'd love to just get my wife a new notebook, but considering she hasn't even opened the MP3 player I got her 6 months ago (after putting it off for 2 or 3 years...).

falcarrion · Dec 7, 2009

to see what you need to upgrade to Windows 7 you can down load the following

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

ssampier · Dec 7, 2009

Google Chrome has a lot of way to go still. For your old notebook, how about Linux?

Even if you don't like it, you're not out much, other than your time. If your type of person who likes to tinker, it could be right up your alley.

It will not run any of your applications, but the open source world has many equivalents.

Plus it can run faster and efficiently than Windows on old hardware.

Nellisir · Dec 7, 2009

ssampier said:
Google Chrome has a lot of way to go still. For your old notebook, how about Linux?

Yeah, I was overcome by temporary insanity.

Even if you don't like it, you're not out much, other than your time. If your type of person who likes to tinker, it could be right up your alley.

In concept, I love to tinker. In reality, not so much. Like I said, temporary insanity.

It will not run any of your applications, but the open source world has many equivalents.

Which I wholeheartedly support in concept. In practice, maybe not so much.

Plus it can run faster and efficiently than Windows on old hardware.

And there's the carrot!

Mustrum_Ridcully · Dec 7, 2009

I don't think Windows XP is bad off in regards to security. Service Pack 2 and 3 added fundamental improvements. Of course Windows 7 will be better.

In the end, often the security hole is not the Operating System, but common browser and especially browser plugins (Adobe Flash). But if you manage to keep your system up to date, use a firewall and an antivirus scanner, you're fine.

The safest system is useless if you can't get your everyday drivers and applications for it. (So before upgrading or changing in any direction, Win7, Linux, Google Chrome, check that you can get everything you need.)

Merkuri · Dec 8, 2009

Nellisir said:
I've actually got 1 GB of memory right now, with two slots open, so I can jump up to 2 or 3 GB without pulling anything.

Just because you have open slots doesn't necessarily mean you can use them. Depending on how old your PC is it may only be able to use a certain amount of memory. Make sure you see how much memory your machine can handle.

And I've heard that machines run better with equal memory sticks in all of the slots, but I don't know if that's still true.

Nellisir · Dec 8, 2009

Merkuri said:
Just because you have open slots doesn't necessarily mean you can use them. Depending on how old your PC is it may only be able to use a certain amount of memory. Make sure you see how much memory your machine can handle.

And I've heard that machines run better with equal memory sticks in all of the slots, but I don't know if that's still true.

From what I could dig up, and advice here, more than 2 GB is pointless without Win 7, but should work with Win 7. The "what sort of memory do I have" sites all gave the same result, and seemed to think it was OK to have different memory, but pairs were the best arrangement, so 2 512 MB + 2 1 GB would be OK.