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New Laptop, suggestions.

STINSAN3

By STINSAN3
in Hobbies, Tech & Outdoors

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02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

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Well went to my Moms yesterday and I got a new laptop, wasn't expecting that for Christmas.

So, I don't have to worry about buying one now! Even though I wanted a Macbook, they got me a Dell laptop that I like a lot. Even though it has Windows 8.1. Guess I can't be too picky, huh? haha

You could still put windows 7 on it.

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02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

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How?

Purchase the FULL version of it on the dvd - be sure to install the proper bit and just format the HDD and install it. You will have to boot into the bios and set it to boot from the disk drive. Then you simply install the disks that came WITH the laptop which are usually drivers. If the disks do not have drivers simply go into the devices page in settings and look up the model of the components and search online for drivers for the NIC, video card, sound card, and the input controls, then save them to a usb to install on the new os. It is very easy i have done it many times. Also you can do a partition like 50/50 so you can have both OS's and get a choice on which one you want to boot from every time you turn the system on.
Chris Senior Enthusiast

Chris

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Or brick your USB ports like kstruckcountry did

STINSAN3 Senior Enthusiast

STINSAN3

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Purchase the FULL version of it on the dvd - be sure to install the proper bit and just format the HDD and install it. You will have to boot into the bios and set it to boot from the disk drive. Then you simply install the disks that came WITH the laptop which are usually drivers. If the disks do not have drivers simply go into the devices page in settings and look up the model of the components and search online for drivers for the NIC, video card, sound card, and the input controls, then save them to a usb to install on the new os. It is very easy i have done it many times. Also you can do a partition like 50/50 so you can have both OS's and get a choice on which one you want to boot from every time you turn the system on.

Thank you, but I didn't get any discs that came with this unit. Just the laptop and the charging adapter.

 

Or brick your USB ports like kstruckcountry did

Whats that mean?

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

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Posted

If its an ssd be very careful. Make sure to disable auto defrag and dont format the ssd more than a couple times. It prematurely wears down sectors of the drive which hurt the drive and lower performance, this is because they were not designed to work that way. Slowly you will see it slow down and it will in your windows rating

Thank you, but I didn't get any discs that came with this unit. Just the laptop and the charging adapter.

 

Whats that mean?

I have no idea.... Maybe put the os on a usb

Chris Senior Enthusiast

Chris

Posted
Posted

He put win 7 on a computer and a driver rendered the USB ports useless

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

Posted
Posted

If its an ssd be very careful. Make sure to disable auto defrag and dont format the ssd more than a couple times. It prematurely wears down sectors of the drive which hurt the drive and lower performance, this is because they were not designed to work that way. Slowly you will see it slow down and it will in your windows rating

 

I have no idea.... Maybe put the os on a usb

Then go to the devices page and write down the name and info of the devices so you can download them online to a usb for the new os

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

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Posted

He put win 7 on a computer and a driver rendered the USB ports useless

Maybe he needs to roll back a driver or reflash the bios. Possible bad chipset driver also

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

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Posted

Alright thanks I'll check into it. My luck I'd screw everything up

Take it to a pc shop they could do it for a reasonable price.

kstruckcountry Senior Enthusiast

kstruckcountry

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Posted

If you have the slightest pc skills installing a new OS is easy. I did my gpa's new Inspiron tower because he hates 8 even more than I do. I'd go to Dell's site and at least get their network driver before you do the install.

 

What happened to me, was I downloaded ALL the drivers for the computer from dell. Then I installed what apparently was a bad usb 3.0 driver, which interfered with the mouse and keyboard, so I couldn't click or do anything after the computer booted. It took me a while to figure out how to access safe mode because the preboot has changed a little. So I booted to safe mode (disables the drivers) and deleted the bad driver.

 

What I'd do is just get the network driver on a flash drive and once you load 7 on, go to dell's site and use the detection thingy to find and install the rest of the drivers for you.

 

Installing an operating system isn't hard, if you google it tons of guides will come up. All you really have to do is access boot settings and tell it to boot from DVD, save the settings, stick in the OS disc, power on/off and click next a few times, then let it do its thing.

Daryl LBZ Senior Enthusiast

Daryl LBZ

Posted
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I've been using a Gateway since 2012, great laptop that works flawlessly. Only thing I've done to it was add 4GB of RAM for a total of 8GB. Bought it from Walmart.com for $308. Will never buy HP again. Wife's laptop died after barely two years, and my HP desktop has been plagued with multiple problems.

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Snowmobile New Member

Snowmobile

Posted
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I have spent so many years wasting my money on different types of affordable lap-tops. I can say without a doubt that my macbook is better than all of them combined. The system takes a little to get used to but overall its the best thing you can do for yourself. You don't have to ever worry about viruses or issues making your computer slow. plus if you buy a mac care package, your computer will be insured for 3 years. even if you sell your laptop(which has an amazing re-sale value) the care package will go with the laptop.

02suburbanZ71 Senior Enthusiast

02suburbanZ71

Posted
Posted

I have spent so many years wasting my money on different types of affordable lap-tops. I can say without a doubt that my macbook is better than all of them combined. The system takes a little to get used to but overall its the best thing you can do for yourself. You don't have to ever worry about viruses or issues making your computer slow. plus if you buy a mac care package, your computer will be insured for 3 years. even if you sell your laptop(which has an amazing re-sale value) the care package will go with the laptop.

Your mac book isn't as great as you make it out to be. The alienware is a very high end laptop made by dell that could easily outperform an apple. Also my desktop has an audio card thats at least 10 times more powerful than any APU that apple makes on computers, it even has swappable OP amps and a very nice amount of APU ram, it even uses real gold on the PCB board. You may like apple but the stuff is very cheaply made in mass production.

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