W8 is OK with a tablet, but a steep learning curve for desktop. I would advise you to get W7. You can always install W8 as a 2nd boot option. The software costs less than U$50 from the MS website.

But why do you need a desktop? I dumped all the desktops in the house and went for laptops for everyone. After every two or three years those laptops still fetch a decent amount 2nd hand on eBay. The desktops were worth nothing in comparison.

With my eyes I find a desktop easier to use, I do have a phone that I use for the net like reading the news etc. I plan on buying a tablet also in the next few month.

I got 2 desktops with one laptop. I like the desktop better. Both have 27'' monitors. Easier to read and of course great for looking at the Victoria's Secret models etc.

Did you see the Victoria Secret Fashion Show last week??? Rhianna and Bruno Mars were great. I dont remember anything else.

XP is dead. It has no support even from microsoft. Getting the servicepacks is no longer straightforward upgrade process.

I am happy to see you missed Vista. That was a crippled OS and never got its sealegs.

Windows 7 is a different beast from XP so your learning curve in tweaking it will take some time. It is robust, quirky with the organization of its file system but it works.

Windows 8 is a paradigm shift. The start buttons no longer exist ( third party add on' are coming. It is essentially a tablet OS masquerading as a desktop OS. It is where everything seem to be going since you will see it on your microwave oven and as the interface for your Phones and TV.

I would advise a laptop. You automatically get the ability to use dual monitors and it is impossible to do computing without two monitors.Monitors are cheap. A super HI rez ( 1920X1080 ) 30inch screen is around 200.

The only reason to get a desktop is if you will work with more than two monitors or if you are an avid gamer as I am.  I have two, one running XP because I work on a Darknet and they are slow to shift infrastructure since it costs a lot.

The other I use to play games because I get the most powerful video cards available for smooth rendering of a game environment.You also get to add lots of RAM cheaply plus you have the slots for your DVD burners and legacy card readers.

You can get one of the I7 alienware laptops if you are a gamer but they are costly. I have an M17X and I like it since I can play any of the current games  easily. It is however a bulky beast and I occasionally get people laughing at me at airports thinking I am behind the times when I actual am carrying one of the most powerful computing beasts.

As I said I would get at least an I5 laptop ( largest screen possible in the budget). It will come with windows 8. Seven is no longer being sent to the stores except in refurbs.

Thanks Stormy,gotta digest this

Costs $140 bucks to replace the motherboard...

you need at least 4 GB ram to run Win7 properly. If you buy the Win7 get a USB stick with at least 2 or 4 GB ram and use it as readyboost, which will supplement your inbuilt ram.

Wife said it would be bad for my heart. I tried to convice her that if Neilsen calls for a survey, I would know what I am talking about. She didn't buy it.

I still watched it though. Got a little bit in the shit house; was worth it.

Costco has a ZT desktop with 16G RAM, 2TB Hard drive, I7-3770 processor for $900 that frequently goes on sale for $800. Was thinking of getting one to run GNS3 but petitioned for and got a server at work instead. 

computers are cheap. I do not know if a microcenter is near him but he can get a powerful computer from them for less than 500. Laptops at that price levels are I5s. I7 begin at about 600 and these are from brand names like dell and HP. Sony of course are for the design conscious and they are very expensive.

Seeing we are on this topic. I need some help.

I recently came upon the marvel of the USB(Stick as it is sometimes called).

Before, I would put Word information of a disc for storage.

Now, I want to store it on the USB. That way, i doan have to walk around with my computer and doan have to configure another computer for a print out.

Future Shop wants me to pay $150.00 to join a club for the answer.

So, please fellas walk me through it. I know it must be simple to do.

Expand on this for me Sunil

All dis talk bout Ramming and Stick and Boost getting me excited.

hey bai tonight is the final for RC and the gang

OK Bhai. Thanks for reminding me. I will certainly take a look. I hope RC wears something to my liking. Will she be like Sharon Stone???

 A USB stick is just another name for a solid state disk drive that plugs into a USB port. Just imagine it to be as a floppy drive in the old days except you can attach it when you chose.

While it is great for storage of data it is small and easily lost. I suggest you sign up for a hotmail account and use their 25G of free skydrive storage to store your data or use Dropbox. There are also other free  and for pay cloud storage options where all your data is always with you as long as you have net access. I use skydrive because I can use it to share large files.

USB is cheap around .60 cents per gig. The largest one available ( since I last check) was 126G. I bought a couple online for 109 dollars US each. I use one to clone my recovery drive and I use the other as cache  and space to save my game files on my game machine

Ready boost is a feature of Vista and Windows 7 that uses the very fast solid state devices as SD cards and USB flash drives as disk cash. It does offer a significant improvement in performance especially if the drive in the computer is slow or low of disk space.

To activate the Ready Boost feature:-

• Right-click the device ( SD card or USB stick) in Windows Explorer,
• click Properties
• click the Ready Boost tab

• Configure space to reserved for the cache; it must be at  least 256 M . It is limited to around 4G on fat 32 and 32 G with NTFS file system. The larger the cash the more benefit in performance

Amral, I think you should pin this thread to the top. Perhaps the techs in the GNI community can keep posting their tips for those of us who are not so techy (referring to myself)

Piggy-backing on Storm's response about dropbox, I don't think it is entirely free. However, if Seig decides to invite his friends to try dropbox, he will get bonus storage space.

That's a good one Amral.  But to Mr.T's point, why don't you get laptop and add a docking station, keyboard and large flat screen for desk-top usage.  You can un-dock and travel as you wish.

Amral, Football delaying my Boo BOo RC. I am waiting to see her tonight, I am so excited, I hope she dont have too much on.

Well guys I ended up buying this one online Christmas Eve night online when Best Buy started their Boxing Day sale early.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/pr...9d9cf43bb43ce931en02

Brand new, paid $399.99 reg it was $499.99. I should get delivery hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

Ok I got my new computer yesterday, having fun with Win8, I got the hang of it, not bad.

Looks good. The integrated wifi is a major plus and USB 3 support.

I tried to disable the prompt from the logon password but it did not work for me.

http://www.forumswindows8.com/...in-password-6037.htm

that's a steal!

Good.  Stormy's advice was solid.  I too have issues with eyes and have hung on to my old 17" laptop that originally came with Vista.  I had upgraded it to Win 7, but then went back down to XP and it flies!  I haven't had to reload this baby since the downgrade over two and half years ago!

On the issue of readyboost, I'd simply make sure I have excess onboard RAM - at least 6GB.  If you like, when I come to Canada I can downgrade it to XP.  While indeed it is no longer supported, at SP3 it is a solid OS, and you can easily get drivers.  In fact, I have a version with the latest drivers integrated, making for an easy installation.

Actually I do not mind Win 8, I am getting use to it. I have 2 quirks though I want to get rid of, (a) The login password screen every time it starts up and

(b) Numlock on keyboard always turns off when the computer restarts.

Yeah I just got part B fixed now GR,, I will check on part A now

http://www.pcworld.com/article...password-screen.html

nah the login this did not work. Which name do I highlight and when I have to type in the password what do I type, a new one or the current one that I am using now

Simply uncheck "users must enter a password to use this computer", with the amralkhan account highlighted.  I don't think it would ask for a password after then.

However, if you are resetting your password then you'd have to enter the old one.

Ok, I think I understand now what you're asking.  Here's a better walk through: http://xtendedview.com/compute...in-in-windows-8/645/

Sorry, but I don't have Win8 on my comp to do screen shots.

I saw that site before, I give up now, nothing works for me lol  thanks for trying

Sorry, bro.  I have to load 8 on my wife's comp, and if you're still having trouble then I should be able to help you.

I got my desktop set up now the way I want, I do not have to always go into the metro thingamajig

lol, I'd have done the same thing, bro.  But Netscape?  You're ageing yourself, bro  Get Chrome or Firefox

I use Netscape as mail only, I tend to like it.