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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: Deirdre784 on Monday 16 May 22 09:27 BST (UK)
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Hi, i’m looking to replace my iPad with a small laptop and would welcome some advice please. I have a desktop pc and 15’’ laptop, both of which are some years old but still working (if a bit slowly).
From browsing at Curry’s and then reviewing online i realise that the small laptops tend to have the intel celeron processor, and are described as entry level and for occasional use, so i’d welcome advice as to whether or not this is good enough for my needs (often researching for several hours a day, and every day!).
I would want to install my Family Historian software and would primarily use the laptop for my research. I would also want several websites (ancestry / find my past / GRO / freeBMD etc) open at the same time, and to be able to use WORD and EXCEL (rather than the app versions). Ideally i would like an SD (or multi) card slot. Hence the change from the iPad.
Is this unrealistic and would i really need to be looking at a bigger screen / more powerful processor.
Thanks for reading
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Hi
If you have a specific budget we could be a bit more helpful if it was known.
I would avoid a Celeron or Chrome or any non Windows laptop.
Processors vary but the specification will list the number of cores that it has ie 2 core, 4 core. Look at the number of cores and for each core a minimum of 2Gb RAM is a good starting point. So 4 core = 8 Gb RAM but the more RAM the better.
Screen resolution, full HD 1920x1080 as a minimum.
Internal hard drive, an SSD (solid state drive) will vary considerably but a minimum of 500Gb will be enough for programs and storage but 1Tb would be better.
Factor in for a portable USB hard drive of at least 1Tb and ideally 2Tb for backup of the internal drive and for duplicate storage of all your files.
I have had an Asus laptop for well over ten years and it has served my well and at the time it cost £700. As well as Asus, Acer, Lenovo and HP make pretty good laptops.
To meet my suggestions would mean spending £550+ on a laptop, I have visited the Curry’s website and filtered it to only show laptops with 500Gb+ hard drives.
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Thanks Biggles50, price wasn’t my main consideration, but the little laptops only appear to be celeron. Looking to go up from that, i ended up looking at an Acer Aspire 5 A514-54 14’’) with core i7 processor, currently around £600. 1TB SSD. But no card slot. And bigger than i would like (my iPad is less than 10’’).
Will look again on the basis of your specs, thanks for that, but it looks like it will be a bigger laptop than i was hoping for, or a new iPad.
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To address the laptop size issue, better processors than Celeron are on not restricted to larger laptops.
Plenty of 14 & 15 inch ones around with i3, i5 and i7's. I've only bought a larger size when i needed the extended keyboard with it's own numeric pad
I'd widen your research beyond Curry's, I've used Laptop Direct, Scan and CCL in the past. Their websites have a wide variety.
I'd also make sure that it either comes with Windows 11 or is compatible to upgrade as support for Windows 10 will cease at some point.
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Thanks, i only started at Currys so i could actually see some options before researching online. The option for Windows 11 seems to be available on most of them but good to bear in mind. Will obviously need a re-think 😀
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SD card readers that plug into a USB slot are readily available like a Belkin for £5 off Amazon hence it should not cause a problem if the laptop does not have one.
An advantage of a larger laptop like a 15” is that you would have more real estate on the screen and thus enable multiple Windows to be open at the same time.
Multiple windows I find very useful especially when working on my Family Tree as I can switch easily from one to the other and see them both at the same time.
Throwing a curveball, you are well used to your iPad, have you considered a Mac laptop? A 13” Macbook Air £1250, fast 512Gb SSD storage, downside is you would need other software, we have Reunion and Roots Magic on our iMac and despite it being old it is blistering fast compared to the Windows PC and the graphics resolution of a Macbook is vastly superior to any Windows laptop.
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Thanks, another thing to add to my list to look at. In case you haven’t guessed, i’m not very techy, but use a computer all day in work and then at home too 😀
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What about an external CD/DVD drive?
Used for loading software on disc/saving info to disc.
Brian
CCL computers are local to me and offer a good service.
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Thanks Brian, my list is growing 😀
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If you plan to keep using Family Historian and are "not very techy" (your phrase), I'm not sure I'd recommend going for a Mac.
FH is designed for Windows, and while it can be run on a Mac (see the Family Historian User Group for advice and forum discussions), it always comes across as being rather fiddly, and there often seem to be a few features that don't work properly.
I have to admit that I've never tried it myself, but that's my reading of things on FHUG - and I'd consider myself to be moderately techy.
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Will your current software run on Windows 10/11?
Brian
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Will your current software run on Windows 10/11?
Brian
Yes, Family Historian runs on windows 10 (my laptop and desktop are both w10 home), and plenty have upgraded / moved to w11. No app version though so not on my iPad or iPhone. My laptop has started coming up with a message to say it’s not compatible with w11, but it’s its size (more like a second desktop) that has prompted my search for a new small, lightweight device. Sadly though i am coming to the conclusion that i won’t find what i want so it’s a larger than desired laptop or a new iPad. Or stick with what i have 🤔
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If you plan to keep using Family Historian and are "not very techy" (your phrase), I'm not sure I'd recommend going for a Mac.
FH is designed for Windows, and while it can be run on a Mac (see the Family Historian User Group for advice and forum discussions), it always comes across as being rather fiddly, and there often seem to be a few features that don't work properly.
I have to admit that I've never tried it myself, but that's my reading of things on FHUG - and I'd consider myself to be moderately techy.
Thanks arthurk, not really looking to move to an apple Mac despite my iPad and iPhone, as i have been using windows for years, plus microsoft etc. so back to the drawing board.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions, much appreciated.
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I've just been given a smallish Lenovo laptop bought from Currys a couple of years ago. Our main laptop is Lenovo & excellent. This 'new' one is VERY slow, freezes, I've given up using it. It had all been cleared by an IT professional before I got it. Then I saw it has a Celeron processor and only 4GB Ram. No wonder..... :-\
Pat
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Cheers Pat, looks like a bigger / better laptop is winning (and i can keep the iPad for using on my lap!)
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All Windows operating systems HOG resources and slow everything down. Just take a look at Task Manager / Services and see the million and one things running and using Memory, most of which are unnecessary and many can be switched off but it will take you some research to know which ones you can STOP or DISABLE.
I gave up on the bloated updates to Windows 10 and downloaded Peppermint 10, a free open source Linux distro and after a brief learning curve have successfully converted away from Windows dependency.
I have an old ipad I use solely for Garageband.
I have a Lenovo Ideapad small laptop / notepad which has Windows 10 ( Repaired and Restored and Reduced) but it still takes up 24 Gb of my available 28 Gb. and thus prevents me from downloading the other programs and apps which I want to use.... So
Today it is getting ZAPPED and Windows will be trashed and minced. I'm installing Puppy Linux and it will take up less than 2 Gb for a complete operating system and it will run at high speed.
Windows no more ...!
cheers, Ian
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Thanks Ian, i have seen the millions of things running in task manager, most of which i have never heard of, but am not techy enough to disable them or move away from Windows (also use daily in work). Good luck with your non Windows endeavours.
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There is a bare bones Windows operating system called Windows PE although I have never used it because I never buy new computers.
It is pre-installed on new computers to just do the very basics and allow the full version of Windows to be installed, then I suppose it melts into the background but I have read that it has been hijacked by developers and can be installed and run on old hardware. You may have to use TOR ( anonymous) Browser and sail blindly into the DARK WEB to find a copy for downloading .... are you feeling adventurous enough ?
cheers, Ian
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wrong about the dark web bit .... I was letting my imagination run free .... here's the microsoft link
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/winpe-intro
cheers, Ian
seems it's set to stop you using it as a normal operating system .... maybe that's why it has been hacked ... however
there is also Windows Embedded CE
I'll have another try
cheers, Ian
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What about an external CD/DVD drive?
Used for loading software on disc/saving info to disc.
Brian
CCL computers are local to me and offer a good service.
TBH CD/DVD drives are no longer necessary and most small laptops would not even have one as they are far too thin. It's definitely not worth carrying an external drive DVD drive around with you either.
A high capacity USB SSD drive is far better and more reliable anyway.
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Forget Curry's entirely and browse somewhere like https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/
Not necesarrily to purchase from (although I do like them), but at least to look at the range available.
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You may have to use TOR ( anonymous) Browser and sail blindly into the DARK WEB to find a copy for downloading .... are you feeling adventurous enough ?
cheers, Ian
Um no 😀 thanks though
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Forget Curry's entirely and browse somewhere like https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/
Not necesarrily to purchase from (although I do like them), but at least to look at the range available.
Thanks, not planning to buy from Currys but local shop and wanted to actually see the options before looking online.
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Thanks everyone for all the advice. Winner looking like an Acer Aspire 5 14’’ screen, intel i7 processor, 1TB SSD, 8GB RAM, full HD 1920 x 1080p resolution, upgrade to W11 (and a USB card reader!). Will keep the iPad for casual use too.
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There is a bare bones Windows operating system called Windows PE although I have never used it because I never buy new computers.
The PE stands for Pre-installation Environment. It is intended to provide minimal drivers to enable the Setup things to run. It's what you see when you install Microsoft Windows from XP onwards.
It can be used for other things; for example there is a Hirens Boot Disk which uses it to launch various repair tools.
However is is not intended for end users. You need a fair bit of knowledge to set it up.
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In case anyone is following this. The laptop arrived last Friday and was great. But on Saturday it started with the blue screen message.....'your device ran into a problem and needs to re-start....' This happened a few times before it went through recovery / diagnosing / automatic repair modes which failed. Turned off and tried again, this time it started ok but couldn't connect to the internet. Sorted that and all was ok for the next few days, but the same thing happened again this morning. Rang Currys and it's apparently a problem with the ACER drivers when upgraded to W11 (I didn't do this, it was already loaded). So I'm having a refund, and the hunt starts again (but not an ACER).
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I bought the Computer ACTIVE magazine ( issue 630 ) and it featured several ways to Install and re-install Windows etc!
It also gave step by step instructions to download and install Zorin OperatingSystem and Tails ( see E. Snowden) the anonymous Op System combined with TOR anonymous browser. (The Onion Router ).
My troublesome Windows 10 installed on my wee Lenovo Ideapad was hogging 24 Gb of the available 28 Gb so was having to go.
I installed Zorin OS ( FREE Lite version) and it flies along without any issues at all. Pages on Websites flick over immediately and GIMP features when Restoring pix just buzz through.
I also have a version on a USB Memory Stick so I can use ANY computer and have a copy of TAILS on another Stick. Before BLOWING WINDOWS 10 away I copied all my files to the 3rd USB Memory Stick in the TESCO pack of 3.
If you have bought the USB stix anyway - why not give it a go with ZORIN - it will only cost you some time.
It comes preloaded with Mozilla Firefox Browser, Thunderbird email client, GIMP for Art & Photo work and you choose whichever Search Engine you prefer. I defaulted to GOOGLE for now.
Cheers, Ian
www.snipca.com/41509 for Zorin CORE Lite
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Thanks Ian, i’ll have a look at that 😀
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If you decide to do it I can give you step-by-step instructions or copy and paste snippets from the magazine but the Zorin website has all the details - quite straightforward.
You have an option ( as with most small linux distros ) to run them from the USB stick or to load them alongside your Windows and choose at every startup which you are going to use. That way you can get used to the new one before you dump the old one.
cheers, Ian
PS. I'm also using my main desktop pc of 12 years vintage but still high spec and am using Peppermint 10 Operating System instead of Win 10. Another FREE Linux distro - they now do a even lighter-weight version to run from a USB without having to install it on your hard disk - in fact, your computer doesn't even need a Hard Disk to operate, just some RAM, at least 4Gb is recommended.
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Thanks Ian but i've no-one to hand if anything technical goes wrong so i've decided to buy a new - non ACER - laptop.