Laptop Recommendations

Looks like I'll be upgrading to Windows 10 (or Linux) in the near future, and I would like some recommendations for a new laptop. All I do is meat & taters browsing, business, and communication, so I don't need gaming capabilities.

I was leaning towards Dell, but my budget is limited to $300 for the moment.

I could upgrade my Dell desktop, but I desire to keep Windows 7 intact for now.

 

Does it have to be a mobile device? $300 is a pretty tight budget and when talking about notebooks, you are also paying for the monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers which means even less of that $300 budget is going towards the actual computer (motherboard, CPU, RAM, drive, and graphics solution) itself. You might be better off looking at refurbished - such as that offered by Walmart.

As for wanting to stick with W7, not a good idea. While it surely was a great OS, perhaps the best Microsoft ever produced, the 10 year old OS needs to go away. Mainstream support ended over 4 years ago and extended support ends in less than a year. It's time to put the ol' girl down.

 

My Toshiba laptop is falling apart, and I may need to replace it so I can have a decent mobile device when traveling.

Ya, $300 ain't much, but I might be able to add to that as time goes on.

Another option would be a new Windows 10 tower without the mouse, keyboard, and monitor, and use a KVM switch.

And finally, I could possibly switch to Linux, but I hear that is a steep learning curve for someone used to Windows.

I have legacy software that is Windows dependent, and I am concerned running such software on Windows 10 may be problematic.

Speaking of Windows 10, have any of you given much thought to disabling its built-in telemetry software? I know the OS is designed to harvest as much information about the end-user as possible, and resell the data for a profit. That seems to to be their mode of operation now-a-days.

Even previous versions have fell victim to telemetry eavesdropping....

https://superuser.com/questions/972...ring-telemetry-data-from-windows-7-8-and-8-1/

 

How can a new tower be an option when you just said you need a mobile device when traveling? You really need to decide what you want, and stick with it.

Then I say wait until you have truly set your budget. Even $200 more will give you many more and much better options.

Irrelevant! If the software developer has refused to upgrade their program for W10, you need to find another program that is current. The problem is, or soon will become the same as it was with XP. The problem is not that XP is unsafe (though it is unsafe). The problem is a compromised computer becomes a threat to the rest of us! So it is irresponsible and extremely selfish to connect to the Internet today with an XP system. It will soon be the same with W7. If you want to continue to use W7 once extended support ends, don't connect to a network that has Internet access.

Oh, this is really sad. And clearly not true.

You need to do your homework and learn and understand the difference between security and privacy. They are NOT the same thing. Yes, Windows 10 collects some telemetry - but it is anonymous and does not personally identify you. And it is NOTHING compared to what Google or Facebook is collecting on you (even if you don't use Facebook or Google).

Microsoft is NOT trying to learn your real name, street address, billing information, passwords, contacts, or email content. In fact, W10 does a superior job at protecting that information than any previous version of Windows. And for that matter, with the latest versions of W10, we have much greater control over what telemetry data is being sent to Microsoft.

You need to be MUCH MORE concerned with your ISP - especially since Congress has given ISPs permission to collect, use and sell our personal data. Microsoft does not have that permission. And note your ISP has your real name, street address, and billing information. They know your surfing data and habits and more. But worse, they can tie that information to your real name! Microsoft cannot do that even if they wanted to! And you are complaining about Microsoft?

And if you think your ISP is bad, your cell phone carrier is MUCH MUCH WORSE!!!!! They also know your real name, street address and billing information. But they also know who you called, emailed, and texted. They know what you did on the Internet too. But WORSE yet, they know where you have been, where you are currently standing to within a few feet - including which aisle of the store you are standing in! And they know the direction you are heading and how fast you are moving! And you are complaining about Microsoft?

If your computer connects to your home network via Ethernet, the closest Microsoft knows of your physical location (if you still have Location enabled) is the physical location of your "PoP" (point of presence). This is the physical location where your ISP connects you to the Internet backbone. In my case, that is 10 miles away in the next town over!

Microsoft should be the least of your worries - especially with Windows 10 which is the most secure Windows yet right out of the box.

It is not that bad. The functions are all basically the same. They just use different terminology and slightly different steps to get there. And of course, once you learn it, it becomes intuitive, just as it did when you switched from XP to W7.

 

I'm weighing ALL (cost-effective) options here.

 

Then how are they making their money?

Microsoft switched to the invasive telemetry format in Windows 10 as a new source of income. That's the reason the OS is being pushed so hard, and the reason it has been free for so long. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

The links I posted above show they have been pushing this on unsuspecting 7 & 8 user too.

With the above said, I'll do more research on the subject and consider your points, but I still remain somewhat skeptical.

 

I don't care if you're skeptical. That's fine in fact. "Trust but verify" is one of my mottos too. What I care about is you spewing misinformation about what data is collected and what happens to it after that.

Did you even read what I posted about your ISP and your cell phone carrier?

In this order: (1) Microsoft Office products, (2) Server products and tools (3) Xbox systems and then (4) Windows. (Source)

And I told you, and you even quoted it - they collect anonymous information. Once again, they do NOT know your real name. They do NOT know your street address. They do NOT know your billing information, birth date, phone number or your Social Security number. But your ISP and cell phone carrier sure do. And they can easily tie that information to EVERYTHING you do on their networks and they surely can sell it too. In fact, our wonderful elected representatives in Washington recently passed a bill to let ISPs sell your data, without your consent!

But not Microsoft! Nope. Only the ISPs.

Yes, Microsoft knows your IP address, but so does WindowsBBS and every other site you visit.

Windows 10 is NOT free. So this is more misinformation you are spewing. And they are pushing W10 so hard because they no longer sell W7 and W8 but those two OSs still cost them $millions to support with $0.00 in return on those investments. It is just plain good, common business sense for a company to want to concentrate all its resources on one product in each class. That is W10 and not W7. Office 2019 and not Office 2010.

With very few exceptions, if you buy or build a new computer, you need a new Windows license. They are not free! It costs money as seen here and here.

Have you read the Microsoft privacy policy? Apparently not. Even if Microsoft sells or shares the data to one of its partners, nobody knows it belongs to you!

Do you use any 3rd party apps? Do you seriously think they are not tracking you and collecting and selling your data?

Good. And when doing so, don't go on some link to a poster on some forum from 4 years ago. Because if you keep spreading these falsehoods, you are part of the problem.

And if you truly do your due diligence and properly research this issue and you still believe Microsoft is trying to steal your passwords, learn your real name, your contact's email addresses, your physical location, and billing information then my advice to you is to stop using all Microsoft products and switch to Linux.

 

Bill, I never said MS was harvesting passwords, but there is a lot of info on the web about how invasive Windows 10 is compared to its predecessors. As for them knowing my name and address, I really don't care since they probably already know that anyway from my previous Office purchase. My main concern was my daily computing business.

As for Android phones (can't speak for the others), yes, it is astounding how invasive app permissions can be - including Google. Most folks install apps without even looking at the fine print. I started using F-Droid as an alternative to Play Store as many F-Droid apps are created by individuals with little or no permissions.

Is it possible for Google to see anyone's banking information via a given bank's secure app? Or encrypted email from an app like Proton Mail?

 

Yes there is. But the point is, just because it is on the web, that does NOT mean it is true, or as it applies here, in the proper perspective.

What you see on the web about Windows 10 has been blown WAY WAY out of proportion by all the Microsoft haters including many bloggers and wannabe journalists in the IT press seeking attention with sensationalized (and often totally fabricated) headlines - inaccurate articles and blogs that are then repeated over and over by those who blindly believe what they read - in part due to their own biases against MS.

Yes, Microsoft has intentionally done much in the past to earn our ire and distrust! But collecting and exploiting our sensitive, personal information to sell or share for financial gain or leverage has never been one of those offenses or their objective. In fact, W10 is, by far, the best Windows yet to protect that data from the badguys!

BUT not only that, Microsoft actually listened and heard all the complaints and concerns about telemetry from its users when W10 came out! Today's W10 is much different from the W10 that came out in July 2015. Much less information is collected by default and users have much greater control (without having to dig into the Registry and group permissions) over what information is sent to MS.

But again, Microsoft could care less where you go or what you do as part of your daily computing business. What they care about is if Windows 10 is letting you (or your computer actually) do your business in the most efficient way.

But Windows 10 cannot tie that to you personally unless (and this is a maybe) you log into W10 with your Microsoft account (not a local account) and you purposely registered your Office using the same email address as your Microsoft account.

No since all that would be encrypted. But your ISP (or cell carrier) would know you (by real name) connected to your bank.

Yes, phone apps can be scary too. But again, your cell phone carrier is much scarier. The problem is not so much their intentions. I believe our ISPs and cell carriers intend to keep our personal information private and secure. I just don't trust their competence to do so. When you have major data collection companies like Equifax, Yahoo, Time Warner, banks, etc. getting hacked almost on a daily basis, they can't be trusted.

That's why Microsoft is the least of your problems because again, they don't know your real name, your street address, birth date banking/credit card information, Social Security or Insurance numbers, etc. If they don't know it, they can't be hacked, stolen, sold, or shared.

Frankly, if you have a "valued customer" card for your local grocery store, you need to be more worried about them than Microsoft because they know your phone number, the brand deodorant and toilet paper you use, and how much and what brand beer you buy. And they know (and keep track of!) the store location you most often visit and what time of day you typically go shopping.

 

I agree on the part where you said you had 300 to spend but it would be later. Not going to get much for 300. Maybe by later you will have some more to add to it and then we could give you a good recommendation.

 

Good thread.

Thanks much!

 

Even a Refurb. laptop that is halfway decent is going to be more than 300 bucks.