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Topic: Buying a new PC - advice please. (Read 1920 times)
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jillruss
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2920
Gt Gt Grandfather Shepherd from Aberdeen 1827-1910
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Great idea, Gobbo. Problem being, there isn't a John Lewis store anywhere near where I live!
I was wondering how that would affect their service (paid, of course) for a little man to come and set the whole thing up for you. On their website, it says that you can't organise a visit online and need to go into your nearest store to arrange it.
I'm hoping that a colleague of one of my brothers will do it for me, but otherwise I think I shall have to give JL in Sheffield a ring.
You make a valid point about the value of the JL guarantee and support - it's probably worth paying for just to get peace of mind, especially if, like me, you don't speak techno jargon!
If anyone can answer my question about the difference between Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium, and why I'd need the latter rather than the former, I'd be very grateful.
Jill
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See Surname Interests Table +
Major brickwalls:
John Frith mge to Fanny, Bucks? c 1798
Bathsheba Boothroyd bp W Yks c1802
John Bishop bp E Yks c1758
Joseph Symonds mg to Sarah, prob Berks c 1735-40
John Horwood mg to Martha, Berks c 1735-40
Sarah Sculler bp Berks area c 1675
Paul Phillips bp Berks/Bucks c 1720
William Newell bp Berks/Bucks/Oxon c 1765
Richard Troughton mg to Jane, Westmoreland c 1732
Mary Simon bp Shrops c.1795
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Nick29
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2871
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Jill, you may want to bide your time for a couple of months - Windows 7 (the successor to the much hated Vista) will be released in October, and there are some good discounts for pre-orders.
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Best Wishes, Nick. Research interests: Field - Luton & Islington Hole - Somerset, Suffolk & Surrey Farnish, Parker, Cattermole, Last, Wasp, Church - Suffolk Lewin/Lowin/Lowen - Hertfordhire Martin - Eltham & Greenwich, Kent (London) Stead - Greenwich, London (Kent) & Maidstone Wood - Hertfordshire Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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falcybe
RootsChat Member
Posts: 223
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hello again, for some reason the reply box started jumping around and I couldn't add to what I was writing 
Blu-ray is an optical disc format designed to display high definition video and store large amounts of data.
Blu-ray is the successor to DVD. The standard was developed collaboratively by Hitachi, LG, Matsush*ta (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson. It became the default optical disk standard for HD content and optical data storage after winning a format war with HD-DVD, the format promoted by Toshiba and NEC.
The format's name comes from the fact that a blue laser reads from and writes to the disc rather than the red laser of DVD players. The blue laser can focus more tightly than the red lasers used for writable DVD. As a consequence, a Blu-ray disc can store much more data in the same space. Like the rewritable DVD formats, Blu-ray enables repeated writing to the disc.
Blu-ray's standard storage capacity is enough to store a continuous backup copy of most people's hard drives on a single disc. Initially, the format had a 27 gigabyte (GB) single-sided capacity and 50 GB on dual-layer discs. Single-sided Blu-ray discs can store up to 13 hours of standard video data, compared to single-sided DVD's 133 minutes.
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Hayden Cowan Weir Jowett Barclay Howard Gooch Joiner Rayner Ash Travers Coltman Samuel Falconer Lacey Croton Clarke Robinson Alden Burroughs
Ford Lusty Jones Wice Wise Scorey Rayner Harding Bacon Chambers and lots more
Click on the globe to go to our site
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jc26red
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2760
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not sure where the Blu-ray bit comes into this thread but to answer falcybe...
Blu-ray isn't a problem I have a Blu-ray player installed in my pc and its great. Plays both Blu-ray AND HD discs as well as all other usual DVD formats - even ones burnt on other PCs. Many new PCs and laptops come standard with Blu-ray players now! Mine will also record all other formats other than Blu ray or HD which will work on other players with no problem! I have it connected to the TV in the living room via HDMI cable from the dining room where my PC lives about 10ft away from the TV, a wireless keyboard will even work the PC from the living room too! 
The one thing you have to look out for is that your PC graphics card has DVI-I or HDMI output for HD viewing and you connect to a HD screen/TV, if not, the output will only ever be in standard AVG! Work around is to install a new HD graphics card as well...and buy a HD TV or HD monitor if necessary  getting expensive now! oh, and as you've gone so far improving your system, why not install HD sound too... don't we get suckered by all the advertising hype. You will now be in plastic meltdown heaven 
Now a player isn't a problem, they are quite reasonable (see Amazon, Novatech, Ebuyer etc., NOT that PC retailer on the high street!) and easy to set up but a Blu-ray recorder is a different kettle of fish, due to the price of blank Blu-ray discs, non rewritables are around £6+ and the rewritables £8+ EACH, the recorder itself is also more expensive.
I would also check out to see what films are available in Blu-ray format too, see if they are to your liking and purse. Lots online but not much of a selection in the shops to buy or rent.
After the first few months of playing with our new toy, we've gone back to ordinary DVD format for purchasing because of the price of the newer Blu-ray films....unless of course the film is outstanding  My kids also like to take films to their friends houses to watch, which of course they can't do with a Blu-ray film, unless their friend also has Blu-ray.
Don't be fooled into thinking ordinary DVD format will disappear, I think it will take some serious changes in price before that happens, the present economic downturn has done a lot of damage to this market!
~~~~
If you are just looking for a backup device which handles your whole drive, then you are better off getting a second HD drive, they are very reasonably priced now. External ones are USB plug and play and couldn't be easier and will transport to another pc/laptop quite happily! see the above online outlets for prices.
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Nick29
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2871
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still jumping after a while!?
So if you are bitten by the idea of blue ray, take a couple of cd's and dvd's to the shop and see if they play on their machine, and see if you can live with not being able to use discs you burn on other machines.
Note, I don't know when the article I got this info from was written so advances may have been made and it may be worthwhile checking about being able to play what you burn elsewhere.
Anyone out there with expert knowledge on this format?
I'm nervous about using the word expert, because the world appears to be full of them, but I have some experience with Blu-Ray. You can currently get a unit that will fit in a standard PC drive bay which will read and write to/from the usual range of CD and DVD formats, and it will also read from (but not write to) Blu-Ray disks. They are easy to fit, and the cost in the UK (from places like Ebuyer) is £79. This is for an LG model GGC-H20L.
To be able to read and write to/from Blu-Ray disks requires a more suitable unit, and one such unit is the LG GGW-H20L, which sells at Ebuyer for about £137.
If you are considering a foray into Blu-Ray, you need to read the small print very carefully, because many units only have read capability on Blu-Ray, and not writing.
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Best Wishes, Nick. Research interests: Field - Luton & Islington Hole - Somerset, Suffolk & Surrey Farnish, Parker, Cattermole, Last, Wasp, Church - Suffolk Lewin/Lowin/Lowen - Hertfordhire Martin - Eltham & Greenwich, Kent (London) Stead - Greenwich, London (Kent) & Maidstone Wood - Hertfordshire Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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jillruss
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2920
Gt Gt Grandfather Shepherd from Aberdeen 1827-1910
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Thanks for the link to the comparison, jc26red. I'm a bit wiser now! Think I'll stick to the Premium, as everyone seems to think it's worth it.
Nick, I've heard all sorts of tales about how awful Vista is, so it might be worth hanging on for the new one - Windows 7. Though you really shouldn't be encouraging me to procrastinate again.  I'll never get the bloomin thing ordered!
I think I mentioned Blue ray as it was included in one of the Dell packages I'd looked at - but rather expensive and I really don't think I need it, as long as I can read my FH CDs and do a bit of 'burning' (never ever done that so really looking forward to trying it!). Thanks for all the info about it - at least I now know what it is.
I don't watch many films: I have Sky but almost never get a film on Box Office, and I also have a DVD player which I think I've used about 5 times - and most of that was to watch a DVD on Family History!!
Nick - what is a pre order? Well - I mean of course I know what it implies, but do you mean I'd get a discount on a new PC with Windows 7 or just a discount on the operating system itself?
Jill
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Logged
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See Surname Interests Table +
Major brickwalls:
John Frith mge to Fanny, Bucks? c 1798
Bathsheba Boothroyd bp W Yks c1802
John Bishop bp E Yks c1758
Joseph Symonds mg to Sarah, prob Berks c 1735-40
John Horwood mg to Martha, Berks c 1735-40
Sarah Sculler bp Berks area c 1675
Paul Phillips bp Berks/Bucks c 1720
William Newell bp Berks/Bucks/Oxon c 1765
Richard Troughton mg to Jane, Westmoreland c 1732
Mary Simon bp Shrops c.1795
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jc26red
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2760
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well that sounds like a good excuse for a nice birthday present to self if you can't persuade anyone else to buy you a new pc
Personally, I don't know anything about Windows 7 apart from the advertising blurb. I think Nick is your man for that. May take on anything new software wise, is wait for a week or two and then check online what the public are saying about it. I know its a safe option but thats just me, not much of a gambler.
good luck with whatever you decide on! I'm sure you won't regret the upgrade and will wonder why you didn't do it earlier!
Jenny
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Nick29
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2871
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I've installed the trial version of Windows 7 which you can download from Microsoft and use until March 2010. It looks quite like Vista. I've really not had a lot of time to play with it yet.
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Best Wishes, Nick. Research interests: Field - Luton & Islington Hole - Somerset, Suffolk & Surrey Farnish, Parker, Cattermole, Last, Wasp, Church - Suffolk Lewin/Lowin/Lowen - Hertfordhire Martin - Eltham & Greenwich, Kent (London) Stead - Greenwich, London (Kent) & Maidstone Wood - Hertfordshire Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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pjbuk007
RootsChat Veteran
Posts: 579
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Nick, I know what you suggest about Windows 7 makes sense for computer fundis such as yourself, but I do not think that is what the jillruss needs.
ANY new operating system has glitches and a steep learning curve and "non-experts" should never (IMHO) go for a new OS for at least 6/12 - in my case, with Vista, I left it for a year and have no problems with it.
So, if jillruss really wants to wait for Windows 7, I would say she should wait until at least next May.
Is this what you want?
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BENNET(T); NRY- Brotton, CON BURTON; NRY- Saltburn, Guisborough, Marske, Stokesley Judge Newark Lincoln BURTON , USA DALES; NRY- Brotton, LIN - Orby DAVIES GEORGE: GLA - Oystermouth & Penarth, CON LINCOLN. Middlesbrough, NRY, Durham PERRETT Gloucestershire QUESTED London. Assisting with One-name Study. TRASK; GLA - Cardiff, Barry etc, SOM - South Petherton WESTED Census information is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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jillruss
RootsChat Aristocrat
Posts: 2920
Gt Gt Grandfather Shepherd from Aberdeen 1827-1910
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Nick, I know what you suggest about Windows 7 makes sense for computer fundis such as yourself, but I do not think that is what the jillruss needs.
ANY new operating system has glitches and a steep learning curve and "non-experts" should never (IMHO) go for a new OS for at least 6/12 - in my case, with Vista, I left it for a year and have no problems with it.
So, if jillruss really wants to wait for Windows 7, I would say she should wait until at least next May.
Is this what you want?
I think you've got me in the proverbial nutshell, Jenny!
No - I've waited too long as it is and, as you rightly point out, I can't cope with glitches!!
I shall get the ball rolling next week with the Acer. Take a deep breath, and jump in whilst the water's not too cold!! 
Jill
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Logged
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See Surname Interests Table +
Major brickwalls:
John Frith mge to Fanny, Bucks? c 1798
Bathsheba Boothroyd bp W Yks c1802
John Bishop bp E Yks c1758
Joseph Symonds mg to Sarah, prob Berks c 1735-40
John Horwood mg to Martha, Berks c 1735-40
Sarah Sculler bp Berks area c 1675
Paul Phillips bp Berks/Bucks c 1720
William Newell bp Berks/Bucks/Oxon c 1765
Richard Troughton mg to Jane, Westmoreland c 1732
Mary Simon bp Shrops c.1795
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