what irritates you most about using older pc's/laptops?

[PineyCreek]

I tried installing Linux on my 13 year old laptop, but it wouldn't go since the laptop didn't have a 64-bit CPU :P.  Might have to grab Lubuntu if they still do it.

 

Edit: 15 year old laptop.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, PineyCreek said:

I tried installing Linux on my 13 year old laptop, but it wouldn't go since the laptop didn't have a 64-bit CPU :P.  Might have to grab Lubuntu if they still do it.

yup. just checked. Lubuntu has a 32-bit version. 

[Stefan Payne]

5 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

I tried installing Linux on my 13 year old laptop, but it wouldn't go since the laptop didn't have a 64-bit CPU :P.  Might have to grab Lubuntu if they still do it.

If that is a Pentium M, you are pretty f*d...

Because you need to start Linux with the PAE Boot Option because that's bugged...

As for the latest, useful Windows, that would be 7 as well...

 

Though you should have 2GiB Memory...

 

 

As for Linux:
I'd try Linuxmint with XFCE Desktop first. 

For that you'd also can put all versions on one Stick, all you need is YUMI.

Though you absolutely should try the Cinnamon version...

As Cinamon is a bit better than XFCE...

The MATE version is a waste though, if that doesn't work go straight to XFCE...

 

SuSe doesn't have a 32bit Version no more...

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, Stefan Payne said:

If that is a Pentium M, you are pretty f*d...

Because you need to start Linux with the PAE Boot Option because that's bugged...

As for the latest, useful Windows, that would be 7 as well...

 

Though you should have 2GiB Memory...

oh yeah 2005... that's before the intel core era isn't it?

[PineyCreek]

5 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

oh yeah 2005... that's before the intel core era isn't it?

Supposedly it was a Pentium 4 or mobile version thereof.  I never cared enough to turn the system on again and find out.  It came with Windows XP.  Definitely before the Core era.  I was actually inaccurate earlier....I bought it in 2003, not 2005.

[Stefan Payne]

7 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

oh yeah 2005... that's before the intel core era isn't it?

Yeah, end of Pentium M, Core Area.

 

If it is a Core Duo and the Notebook has NOT an i940GML shitset (don't ask, I have such POS in an Acer 3690) but at least the i943 (I think), he could replace the CPU with a Core 2 Duo CPU like the T5200, and T5300.

Both have "only" "533" Bus Speed as the Celeron M has as well...

 

Supposedly it was a Pentium 4 or mobile version thereof.  I never cared enough to turn the system on again and find out.  It came with Windows XP.  Definitely before the Core era.  I was actually inaccurate earlier....I bought it in 2003, not 2005.

You see that when the Notebook POSTs.

But My guess would be a Pentium-M.

 

If its a Pentium 4, well that sucks...

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, PineyCreek said:

Supposedly it was a Pentium 4 or mobile version thereof.  I never cared enough to turn the system on again and find out.  It came with Windows XP.  Definitely before the Core era.

Lubuntu should run ok on that.. i've ran Lubuntu on an old netbook i have that has an atom n450 and 2gb of ram... and that ran fine. Lubuntu uses about 200mb of ram with nothing open so... 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

2 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Even new laptops, its the damn hard drives.

 

I'm sure people would buy a 128GB SSD machine over a 1TB HDD machine if they knew how much snappier the SSD machine would be.

 

I work at a PC repair shop and I sell so many SSDs after I show the customer what their PC can really do, its insane.

 

Having to work on a laptop that takes 5 minutes to do anything is just so frustrating

yup. it's kinda sad. people waste so much money buying new laptops when their old one gets slow when all they need to do is put an ssd in their current laptop and then it'll run fine again. 

[PineyCreek]

8 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

yup. it's kinda sad. people waste so much money buying new laptops when their old one gets slow when all they need to do is put an ssd in their current laptop and then it'll run fine again. 

Show me where I can buy a PATA SSD that will fit in my laptop please if that's the case.

[Inversion]

I think that the worst thing about older PCs is how it's often the storage that holds them back. I've seen this with quite a few computers recently and I have to admit that I hate how many laptops still ship with just a 1TB hard drive. I know that some people have a lot of photos, music and videos but those don't all need to be stored on your computer. IMO, every computer should have at least an SSD boot drive. SATA SSDs are not even that expensive anymore. You can get a 250GB drive for about £40, the cost of a 120GB SSD 4 years ago.

RAM is less of an issue because there are few tasks will fully saturate a computer unless it has very little RAM (with the exception of tab hoarding on google chrome. 4GB while not ideal is not system crippling.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, PineyCreek said:

Show me where I can buy a PATA SSD please if that's the case.

very funny  

 

i meant a system that cpu/gpu/ram wise is still capable of performing the tasks the user wants to do, and the bottleneck is the slow hdd. 

[PineyCreek]

2 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

very funny  

 

i meant a system that cpu/gpu/ram wise is still capable of performing the tasks the user wants to do, and the bottleneck is the slow hdd. 

Once again, the flaming dumpster fire that is my 15 year old 'desktop replacement' (HP's branding, not mine) laptop is left out.  I swear, the thing would overheat its tiny dedicated GPU chip by running Minecraft.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

9 minutes ago, Inversion said:

RAM is less of an issue because there are few tasks will fully saturate a computer unless it has very little RAM (with the exception of tab hoarding on google chrome. 4GB while not ideal is not system crippling.

i disagree. 4GB of ram is not enough for me. and so many old systems can take more than 4 it's just not an option for me anymore. 

like i have core 2 quad machines that are already like 10 years old and those take 8GB of ram easily. 

 

i even have a dual socket opteron board from i believe 2004 (it's DDR ram so it's old) but that has 8 ram slots. it currently has 4 1gb sticks in it but theoretically i could put 8gb in it. and that machine if i have the year correct is 14 years old... 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

3 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

Once again, the flaming dumpster fire that is my 15 year old 'desktop replacement' (HP's branding, not mine) laptop is left out.  I swear, the thing would overheat its tiny dedicated GPU chip by running Minecraft.

i have a HP EliteBook Folio 9470M that manages to hit 70+ degrees celsius  if i hit it with a 100% cpu load for too long. and that's with new thermal paste and no load on the gpu. 

[Inversion]

2 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

i disagree. 4GB of ram is not enough for me. and so many old systems can take more than 4 it's just not an option for me anymore. 

like i have core 2 quad machines that are already like 10 years old and those take 8GB of ram easily. 

 

i even have a dual socket opteron board from i believe 2004 (it's DDR ram so it's old) but that has 8 ram slots. it currently has 4 1gb sticks in ti but theoretically i could put 8gb in it. and that machine if i have the year correct is 14 years old... 

I did say it isn't ideal but it depends what you're doing on it. My desktop that I use for gaming, content creation and excessive web browsing with many tabs open (especially on this forum and on Amazon), has 16GB of RAM but my laptop that gets used for Netflix, YouTube and school work only has 4 and it isn't maxed out on RAM yet with 13 tabs open in chrome and ripping a DVD. You can get a lot done with 4GB as long as you aren't gaming or content creating. Now my laptop isn't old. Only about 8 months but my point is that 4GB of RAM is useable and and slow storage is waaayy more annoying

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

@Inversion yeah i guess. but for school work it depends what you study. some assignments require me to have 2 virtual machines, about 20 tabs in chrome, word, and my usual background tasks like spotify all open at the same time if i want to work efficiently and comfortable.. so i could never have 4gb in a system i use for school. 

[JoostinOnline]

On 8/24/2018 at 4:45 AM, EG! said:

It takes my old laptop 15 mins

Do a fresh install of Windows. Whatever version it came with. Definitely not Windows 10.

[Inversion]

6 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

@Inversion yeah i guess. but for school work it depends what you study. some assignments require me to have 2 virtual machines, about 20 tabs in chrome, word, and my usual background tasks like spotify all open at the same time if i want to work efficiently and comfortable.. so i could never have 4gb in a system i use for school. 

Depends on the course I suppose. I'm doing physics but if I ever needed to run that many tasks at once I would definitely be using my desktop.

[PineyCreek]

I have an Amstraad PPC 512 I keep around...not as a conversation piece, but because I'm a hoarder...and I fondly remember when I upgraded it from DOS 3.3 to DOS 5.0.  Doesn't have enough memory to load any OS beyond that though.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 hour ago, Inversion said:

Depends on the course I suppose. I'm doing physics but if I ever needed to run that many tasks at once I would definitely be using my desktop.

yeah... your desktop would be quite nice for that... when i built my system i almost built a ryzen machine, but then came the ram options.... 

 

from a simple google search 32gb of average ddr4 is €378 here. 

 

the cpu's, motherboard and ram in my current system together cost only €185... so... i decided on this build. adding another 8gb to the 24 i have now would cost me about €25.. used parts are so cheap  

 

but yeah if ram was reasonable i would have gone with ryzen. amd really made a big comeback. 

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, PineyCreek said:

Show me where I can buy a PATA SSD that will fit in my laptop please if that's the case.

 

Any questions? ;-)

 

The best thing would probably be this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SINTECH-M-2-NGFF-B-M-Key-SATA-SSD-to-44pin-2-5-IDE-adapter-card-with-case-/321532216470

 

As 44pin to S-ATA Adaptors are quite hard for laptops, you have to go for m.2 instead.

 

Most of the other Adaptors I've found from "reputable Vendors" are mSATA. And since that isn't EOL and Samsung makes the 860 EVO in mSATA for the same price as the others, its also an Option.

 

https://www.amazon.de/Delock-62495-Konverter-mSATA-Rahmen/dp/B00ELC8GFO

[alicskysareblue]

for me the constant desire to upgrade even though my system runs perfectly fine in every way.

I havent built a pc in 5 years and I really want to build something,

 

On topic, compatibility, general performance and the fact that most people should just ditch there ten year old computer unless they plan on using something like puppy linux

[Razor Blade]

Quote

what irritates you most about using older pc's/laptops?

Compatibility issues with new hardware and/or software.

 

The majority of the time the cost to buy and upgrade an old PC or laptop would exceed the cost of buying something a generation newer. The cost to upgrade that newer generation would exceed the cost of buying another generation newer... on and on until you reach the newest generation. So finding the balance of budget, bang for buck, and not throwing good money after bad can be a delicate (and sometimes frustrating) process.

[Inversion]

6 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

yeah... your desktop would be quite nice for that... when i built my system i almost built a ryzen machine, but then came the ram options.... 

 

from a simple google search 32gb of average ddr4 is €378 here. 

 

the cpu's, motherboard and ram in my current system together cost only €185... so... i decided on this build. adding another 8gb to the 24 i have now would cost me about €25.. used parts are so cheap  

 

but yeah if ram was reasonable i would have gone with ryzen. amd really made a big comeback. 

Yeah. I have to say i don't regret Ryzen one bit. Only thing I wish I'd done was checked properly that my RAM was on the QVL. I thought it was but apparently not so I can only get up to 2933 MHz rather than the rated 3200. My 16GB RAM Kit cost me about £200. There were cheaper options but I love the look of TridentZ RGB and I don't mind the slight extra cost.

[Indus Monk]

Pentiums, celerons, Semprons, slow drives and Bloat. That's just for PC's

Faulty batteries, small touchpads, mobile i3 are still bearable. And then there's laptops powered by mobile Pentium chips booting into Windows 10 from a HDD (I could finish some simple troubleshooting, whilst the owner of the laptop has already seen half of the The Godfather)

 

A girl once bought her laptop over. It had a mobile pentium with 4 GB RAM running win10. What was actually a 10 minute job, took about 2 hours to finish. For reference, That's enough time to buy and make popcorn and then watch Get Out from start to finish. Or play 4 5v5 CSGO matches lasting 30 minutes each