Nerdy help needed please

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Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 7:59 pm

I am going to be looking for a new laptop shortly and as it's a while since I got a new one, I'm not particularly up to speed on what's out there and what's going to be a good deal. I will be using it for work but also for my personal use.

I don't understand too much about technical aspects of computers, so please don't blind me with jargon. I'd just like to know which makes and models are currently well-regarded and what is likely to be best avoided.

I have weighed up the pros and cons of MacBook versus Windows and as I already have an iPhone and iPad, I'm not sure I really want to sell my soul to Apple completely. :gigglesnshit: Also, some of the genealogy software that I use is for Windows, and I don't really want to have to replace all that with Mac versions.

Thanks in advance. :wubbers:
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Bella » Sun May 27, 2018 8:10 pm

Well, I love my apple mac but it has cost a fortune to repair but well worth it :smilin:
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:12 pm

Bella wrote:Well, I love my apple mac but it has cost a fortune to repair but well worth it :smilin:


Mr D has a MacBook Pro and he likes it a lot... but I think I want to stick to a Windows based operating system for now. :smilin:
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby McAz » Sun May 27, 2018 8:16 pm

I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:25 pm

McAz wrote:I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13


No USB ports? :ooer:
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby McAz » Sun May 27, 2018 8:29 pm

Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13


No USB ports? :ooer:

It has Type C (Thunderbolt) ports - even better. If you have some old USB devices small adopters are as cheap as chips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ailun-Adapter-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01MYPX7Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527453035&sr=8-3&keywords=type+c+to+usb
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:33 pm

McAz wrote:
Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13


No USB ports? :ooer:

It has Type C (Thunderbolt) ports - even better. If you have some old USB devices small adopters are as cheap as chips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ailun-Adapter-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01MYPX7Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527453035&sr=8-3&keywords=type+c+to+usb


Never heard of them. :gigglesnshit:

It seems like a bit of an unnecessary step to remove USB ports.

Why would you recommend this particular laptop then?
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby McAz » Sun May 27, 2018 8:38 pm

Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:
Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13


No USB ports? :ooer:

It has Type C (Thunderbolt) ports - even better. If you have some old USB devices small adopters are as cheap as chips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ailun-Adapter-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01MYPX7Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527453035&sr=8-3&keywords=type+c+to+usb


Never heard of them. :gigglesnshit:

It seems like a bit of an unnecessary step to remove USB ports.

Why would you recommend this particular laptop then?


USB ports are old and very much slower - and are now unnecessary.

I bought my XPS because I wanted something powerful (mine is an i7), very light and small. I produce music and graphics and I wanted to do that without changing machines. Plus it blows away a Macbook but at much less cost component for component.
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Stooo » Sun May 27, 2018 8:41 pm

i7 processor, SSD hard drive and a touch screen.
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby McAz » Sun May 27, 2018 8:43 pm

Stooo wrote:i7 processor, SSD hard drive and a touch screen.

Yes. Though I have 2nd (external) SSD for storage.
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:44 pm

McAz wrote:
Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:
Dimples wrote:
McAz wrote:I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13


No USB ports? :ooer:

It has Type C (Thunderbolt) ports - even better. If you have some old USB devices small adopters are as cheap as chips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ailun-Adapter-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01MYPX7Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527453035&sr=8-3&keywords=type+c+to+usb


Never heard of them. :gigglesnshit:

It seems like a bit of an unnecessary step to remove USB ports.

Why would you recommend this particular laptop then?


USB ports are old and very much slower - and are now unnecessary.

I bought my XPS because I wanted something powerful (mine is an i7), very light and small. I produce music and graphics and I wanted to do that without changing machines. Plus it blows away a Macbook but at much less cost component for component.


Is the one you have, shown here on this page I was looking at earlier?

https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electr ... bdZ1z13ua0
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:45 pm

Stooo wrote:i7 processor, SSD hard drive and a touch screen.


What about them? :paranoid:
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby McAz » Sun May 27, 2018 8:51 pm

Dimples wrote:Is the one you have, shown here on this page I was looking at earlier?

https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electr ... bdZ1z13ua0


Mine is the first one on that page but with the specs of the second one - in other word, a 9360 (the latest is 9370) but with Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - I paid around £1400 3 or 4 months ago.
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Trapper John » Sun May 27, 2018 8:53 pm

If money isn't an object, not that they need to be any more expensive than branded lines, get one made to your own specs by https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk.

You can pick everything yourself or they'd be happy to advise you on everything, just tell them what you want it for and they'll do the rest. If I had the time and inclination I build my own, it's not that hard but I prefer to have them do it because they test it before release and I've got comeback if anything goes wrong.

I've had a gaming PC made by them in the past, a desk top and a laptop and they've all been brilliant. Don't be put off by their nerdy looking website, they deal with everyone from novices to top spec gamers and graphic designers.

One bit of advice I will give you if you go the high street way is don't be swayed by huge capacity hard drives, some offer terabytes of storage and you don't need it. No-one should be storing huge amounts of data on their daily use computer hard drive it's unsafe both in terms of data protection and hard drive crashes.

250 gigabytes maximum is more than you'll ever need to run a machine at opitimum, store everything you want to keep on a seperate drive. Also when you want to scrub your machine thoroughly, which everyone should do at least once a month, it takes far less time.
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Re: Nerdy help needed please

Postby Dimples » Sun May 27, 2018 8:55 pm

McAz wrote:
Dimples wrote:Is the one you have, shown here on this page I was looking at earlier?

https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electr ... bdZ1z13ua0


Mine is the first one but with the specs of the second one - in other word, a 9360 (the latest is 9370) but with Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - I paid around £1400 3 or 4 months ago.


Aha! Mine is going to be paid for by someone else - as it's going to be used for work - but I am to choose what I want. I don't want to go too mad! :ooer:

Thing is, they won't set me a budget... and I don't want to ask for something which is too expensive. :oops:

I'm just a bit out of touch about prices, as my current laptop is about 5 years old, I think.
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