Who's Our Best Home Computer Nerds here on FABO? - It's Time for a New One

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PROSTOCKTOM

PROSTOCKTOM

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Looking for a little guidance on the purchase of a new home computer.

I specced out, and bought my HP Pavilion with an i7, 2.8 GHz new in 2010 and it still works great.

However, since I am running Windows 7 I can no longer use my Fusion 360 CAD program and now I can no longer view Amazon Prime videos because the system is obsolete to them.

I have no intention to upgrade this unit to a newer operating system as I love Windows 7 and despise Windows 10 & 11. So I'll just setup a 2nd system and have two computers running.

So I need a full size tower with a higher quality graphics card than my current AMD Radeon card provides. I don't game and have no intentions of gaming, but I watch YouTube and draw CAD a lot.


I absolutely don't care for the newer Windows, but I am now forced to modernize if I want to use certain programs.

What's your advise???

Thanks,
Tom
 
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I felt the same way as you, with my thinking about Windows 7 in my computers.
But during the past few months i upgraded them to Windows 10.
Finding out there is no damm thing wrong with Windows 10.
A few different things to get used to, from 7 to 10, but no big deal at all.
I think if you upgrade, without buying new, you will find out it's ok.
Can't give you a recommendation on a new unit, as my old Gateway's and ACER machines are still working to my satisfaction with the Windows 10 upgrade in them.
 
hemi71x said:
Then Windows 11, can't be much different from 10?
Click to expand...

Wife's laptop has Windows 11, but my personal laptop and work laptop are both 10. I don't ever use her laptop so not really sure how similar they are. That's why I am aware of EoL for Windows 10, I have one that can't be updated and will be unsupported at some point in the future.
 
Don't get windows 11 "s" version unless you want to sign up with Microsoft to download drivers or programs.
 
@PROSTOCKTOM , I used to love win7 as well, but was forced to upgrade also. I agree with @hemi71x , upgrading your current system to win10 would be the easiest way to go, and once you start using the new OS, you will be frustrated at first(everyone is), but you will quickly get used to it and find out its not so bad. Depending on your RAM requirements, now would be a good time to upgrade that as well if you are going to upgrade your video card, RAM is pretty reasonably priced, video cards are a different story :(
If you choose to do so, my advice is to make a backup of everything you consider important before doing the upgrade, you dont want to lose cherished family pictures or important documents by mistake, and it can happen, ask me how I know :) Buy an external drive and copy/paste whatever you want to it, or if you have reliable cloud storage with enough space that will work too.
If you dont feel comfortable doing the upgrade yourself, then I highly recommend going to a pro for help.
 

I have twin 500GB hard drives in the current computer with 8GB of Ram.

However, I am very reluctant to do any changing around in this computer because I have a full version of Mastercam X10 installed and I am in no way interested in losing it.

So, I guess I need a new tower with Windows 11-12, or whatever they have now.

Tom
 
You dont necessarily need to go full size desktop computer, you can always get a laptop that meets the specs you need, and run a hub off of it to hook your monitor/keyboard/etc into it, having the best of both worlds, space savings and full size monitor and keyboard mouse. Thats what I do
 
I use Linux Mint version 19.3 on my main Dell Inpiron Laptop. Does not spy on you, set to no auto updates. Will not update unless you give it permission to.

Fast with 4 gb ram on up, and using a 250 gb solid state drive > no moving parts and runs cool.

Desktop layout is like Windows.

Set it up as a Dual Boot. Boots up into Linux, but will boot up into Windows 7 if I so choose. Linux is Not compatible with Windows Programs.

No anti-virus needed as the code is a different language.

Will be using long after Windows hits End Of Life.

20241210_165847.jpg


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Dual Boot solid state drive, 2 operating systems on the same drive. Handy when you need to run a windows program, then back onto Linux with the Firefox browser.

20241210_181430.jpg


Newer versions Linux are heavy, and are doggin, and video playback is poor.

Kind of like Windows, where the earlier versions are the faster better ones.


☆☆☆☆☆
 
I usually hate something everytime Windows changes. Probably late 90s, I bought a high dollar ($1100+) HP scanner that came with Adobe Photoshop. I could do all sorts of things with it. When Windows upgraded, I had to order new software for the scanner. It Did Not come with Adobe Photoshop. I could spend several hundred dollars more to replace that but I just said screw it. Windows 7 worked very well for what I used it for. One example was music that I purchased from amazon music app (which also changed so I no longer buy music. Amazon wants me to subscribe to Prime). I could easily move my music back and forth from Windows Media player to my phone. Now I can upload to my computer directly into media player, but I have to find songs in files to move it the other way. When I plug in my Galaxy Android phone now, Windows 11 automatically downloads any new pictures on my phone to my computer. It doesn't ask. My latest HP Omen is nice. I bought it mainly to run DCS flight simulator with Oculus virtual reality. It was pretty nice. Then I was notified that Oculus was owned by Facebook and I needed a Facebook/Meta account to continue using Oculus. Screw that too. So now I only use my $2700 computer system to play Freecell which use to be free on older computers but now you can pay Microsoft for add free or watch a 30 second ad before each game.
 
@George Jets , I was going to suggest that @PROSTOCKTOM run a single machine with dual boot also, but I dont know the extent of his computer knowledge, and I didnt want to confuse the issue. But yes, he could run a dual boot win7 and win 10 or 11 that would let him do all that he needs and not have to run a second machine.
 
70SwingerGuy said:
You dont necessarily need to go full size desktop computer, you can always get a laptop that meets the specs you need, and run a hub off of it to hook your monitor/keyboard/etc into it, having the best of both worlds, space savings and full size monitor and keyboard mouse. Thats what I do
Click to expand...

I can't get the level of video card I want in a laptop, so I'll stay with a full tower, so I can upgrade that down the line.

Running twin 27" Viewsonic monitors currently

Tom
 
PROSTOCKTOM said:
I can't get the level of video card I want in a laptop, so I'll stay with a full tower, so I can upgrade that down the line.

Running twin 27" Viewsonic monitors currently

Tom
Click to expand...
Have you considered the dual boot setup? A SSD drive dedicated strictly to your two OS's would be inexpensive, and you would still have your two 500g drives for storage and backup, and any hardware upgrades you make would work for both OS.
 
Everyone hates change.

Fact, Win10 will be EOL (just like Win7 is) and will stop receiving updates. As much as people seem to hate updates, they do serve a purpose which is nominally to install security related patches at a minimum, as well as bug fixes (queue the jokes, lol).

Fact, there is a UEFI exploit in the wild that effects Both windows and Linux systems via dual boot. They share a portion of the file system and code so when either boots, the issue follows.

There are so many reasons to update your OS it's not funny. Eventually software stops working, hardware dies and things go bye bye.

Anecdotal item: Back when I worked in Higher Ed, the last university I was at, a professor refuses to allow me to update his system. Claimed he was worried about stability etc. 8 weeks into the course he was teaching, he calls me to look at his server. Turns out someone had used a well know, but recently fixed, vulnerability to get into his system as root and bugger things up. I give him so much crap for that.

I've been a heavy Linux user since before most people knew what it was (1994) and for literally over two decades would not run windows (didn't need to honestly) but when I started messing with CNC routers etc I needed software that didn't run in Linux so I finally installed WindBlows and here I am. I still use Linux at home and professionally but there are limitations that can't be ignored due to lack of buy in from big companies like Autodesk and other big names.

My advice, buy another computer that will or already runs Windows 11, get used to it, it's not going anywhere. Then disconnect you windows 7 machine from any network when possible and treat it like a baby. There are a lot of vulnerabilities that will wipe it out in a heartbeat.
 
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I find the newer versions of Windows very stable (last 10 years or more). Get 16 GB of ram. That is the minimum in my opinion.
 
I was a Windows 7 fan too. I had to upgrade to 10 and then 11, neither was a big deal to get used to.
 
Cold Day....

Screenshot_20241212-044824_Weather.jpg


Good day for setting up another Laptop with the lastest Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon Operating System.

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OS install file on easy access USB flash drive.

Screenshot_20241212-081536_Gallery.jpg


Best to install on a Solid State Drive for best performance, and the more memory the better, (this example is running on 3 GB memory).

Linux OS is a free download, open source. Comes with a multitude of free software available through the "Software Manager"

Screenshot_20241212-084940_Gallery.jpg


Screenshot_20241212-073538_Gallery.jpg


Plug and Play Printer Software Drivers onboard.
Wifi hardware drivers onboard too.

Screenshot_20241212-080009_Gallery.jpg


Get yourself a clean Solid State Drive, and start learning the system.

Updates only by you, and only by your permission.


☆☆☆☆☆
 
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