« on: Friday 19 January 18 14:17 GMT (UK) »
I should have known that my success with increasing the RAM on my old workhorse was too good to last (see earlier post just before Xmas).
I think the HDD has now failed (oh the irony - I considered replacing it with an SSD when I did the RAM and decided I couldn't justify the cost). Thankfully if I can't recover the data I'll only have lost about 3 weeks of updates as I did a full backup to external HDD on 1st Jan and when it started acting a bit strangely yesterday I copied the year's downloads to date to a USB stick.
Currently going through a system restore from DVD which I imagine might take most of the day but I think I'll have to take the plunge and enter the strange world of Windows 10 and a new computer.
I want a desktop and space isn't an issue. I prefer a slimline tower unit but having seen how inaccessible all the internal components are I wonder whether I ought to go back to a full size one. I don't need wifi but it seems this is quite commonplace so may end up with it regardless.
Existing computer is an Acer and it's been reliable over the 7 or so years I've owned it. It has USB ports to spare and four of them readily accessible on the front. I suspect I might struggle to match this.
HP seem to be popular but my past experience of the brand hasn't been good - not my own computer but my father had two in succession because it was a brand he'd heard of and they sold them in his favourite never knowingly undersold department store. The first one failed apparently without warning when it wasn't all that old, the second one struggles on but seems desperately underpowered (I suppose it could be because it IS underpowered, and it's older than mine so perhaps they're not so bad after all).
Before the Acer I had a Dell and replaced it after about 5 years I think when it got a bit cranky. It still fires up OK but doesn't go online because it's XP and probably quite vulnerable. It's useful when I need to use ancient software that won't run on a 64 bit machine.
Anyway, given that I do a LOT of multitasking (see the pre-Xmas post for the sort of things I expect it to do) and I don't have the courage to go for a Mac because that would involve finding too much replacement software, if I'm looking for a Win10 machine is it just a case of going for the highest spec at a price I feel is reasonable, or are there brands I should avoid at all costs? And does anyone have any objective info on processors - my gut says stay with intel because the various alternatives used to run hot and fail, but is this still the case?
This post typed on a desperately underpowered netbook running Linux because it ground to a halt with Win7.
Jane :-)
ALLEN
BARR, BARRATT, BERRY, BRADLEY,BRAMLEY,BRISTOW,BROWN,BUGBIRD,BUTLER
CAIN,CARR,CHAPMAN,CHARLES,CH*LTON,CHESTER,COCKETT
COLLASON,COLLYER,CORKERY
DARLING, DENYER,DICKERSON,DOLLING,DURBAN
FARMER,FURNELL
GIBSON,GILES,GROOMBRIDGE
HALL,HAMBIDGE,HARMES,HART,HICKS,HILL,HOLLOWAY
JACKSON
K*AT*S
LANCASTER,LINTON
MCDONALD,MCFADEN,MEARS,MILLARD
NICOLAS,NOAK,NORTH
PARFIT,PORTER
RIPPINGALE,ROBINS
SEARLE,SPENCER,STEDHAM
TYLER,TILLY,TUCKWELL
WADE,WAGER,WALKER,WATSON,WEBB,WITHRINGTON,WOOD