topic Re: All-in-One computer in SmorgasBoard

All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 05:11:56 GMT

Does anybody own one? I'm thinking about purchasing one.

I want an approximately 20" screen, but a lot of theme come in only 23" sizes which is fine I suppose; a tad too big.

Yes, I know desktop towers are an option. I did recently land a Lenovo desktop for $300 ($100 off coupon + sale), but its kindof noisy at night. I live on some land up on a hill back in the woods, and its QUIET at night (unless my crazzy Siamese cat is loudly meowing throughout the house). I can hear the processing and buzzing noises - think its driving me insane. I don't particularly like the prices of some of theme, but meh

Re: All-in-One computer

Shogun — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 05:13:38 GMT

I've wondered about them myself. The touchscreens look nice.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 07:39:19 GMT

Well, I decided to buy a notebook.

I custom ordered a Satellite L50. They don't sell theme at retailers / Best Buy, so I'm just going to take a chance. I did check out the C series at Best Buy and somewhat liked it, so I imagine the L50 should be just fine; nicer finish, nicer keyboard, better sound, much better processing power. I upgraded the processor, added Bluetooth, and went ahead and added 2x sticks of ram since it was only $10. Toshiba is giving a 16-inch carrying case for FREE with purchase.

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/L50/

Now for the 2 week wait (custom order).

Re: All-in-One computer

CS800 — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:58:55 GMT

Toshiba laptops are good. It was my first laptop and lasted me 7 years

Re: All-in-One computer

Shogun — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:07:00 GMT

@CS800 wrote:
Toshiba laptops are good. It was my first laptop and lasted me 7 years

My son is a freshman in college. I was looking to buy him a new laptop to help with schoolwork. I'm going to go look at Toshibas now. Thanks for the post!

Re: All-in-One computer

CS800 — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:31:06 GMT

I bought it in 2000 and the only reason why I bought another one is because of Win XP 64 bit which I needed and my toshiba couldn't handle the new software since the max memory was at 1GB.

I powered it up last December and it still booted fine still with Win 98 on. I bought a laptop for an EX g/f years ago (around 2004) and it was also a Toshiba, she still uses it.

I think people tend to go with Brand names like HP/Dell but nowadays there are some very good 'economy' laptops like ASUS, Lenovo which are good starter computers. But of course the kids today want macbooks

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 21:39:27 GMT

@CS800 wrote:
I bought it in 2000 and the only reason why I bought another one is because of Win XP 64 bit which I needed and my toshiba couldn't handle the new software since the max memory was at 1GB.

I powered it up last December and it still booted fine still with Win 98 on. I bought a laptop for an EX g/f years ago (around 2004) and it was also a Toshiba, she still uses it.

I think people tend to go with Brand names like HP/Dell but nowadays there are some very good 'economy' laptops like ASUS, Lenovo which are good starter computers. But of course the kids today want macbooks

Wow that is old lol.

I for one do not like Macs. Could be I am stuck in my ways but it is a whole new experience. Then again, I despise Windows 8.

Re: All-in-One computer

DaBears — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:12:16 GMT

Toshiba makes probably the best laptops on the market. Only reason I know this I am a computer guy

I would love to punch the whole design team @ Microsoft for developing Windows 8. Luckily my latop has Windows 7. My poor wife's laptop has windows 8. I told her if it was mine I would lay it on the train tracks behind our house LOL. It is a Toshiba tho

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:36:23 GMT

@DaBears wrote:
Toshiba makes probably the best laptops on the market. Only reason I know this I am a computer guy

@I would love to punch the whole design team @ Microsoft for developing Windows 8. Luckily my latop has Windows 7. My poor wife's laptop has windows 8. I told her if it was mine I would lay it on the train tracks behind our house LOL. It is a Toshiba tho

Toshiba's are OK, i wouldnt say the best. Also regarding the Windows 8, i totally agree that its a pain. There's a program named classic shell for windows 8 to give you the start menu and makes it look like windows 7. If you really hate it i would just downgrade to 7, one windows 7 license is like 150 bucks.

All in one computers are nice except when something goes wrong. We deployed a few at work for our executive team and once something happens its very difficult to repair (hardware) because there is no space.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 01:54:38 GMT

The only Windows 7 I have used was on my phone and didn't like that either.

I perfer Vista but you can't buy a PC with that on it anymore.

It isn't so much the start and desktop that are issues. Internet explorer has Java and other things imbedded and they just do not work. It's a known problem but not fixable. I had to download Firefox which I like better and no issues.

I'm a computer/network person also but I disagree that Toshiba is best.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 07:43:41 GMT

The way I see it, technically almost none of the computer companies make the hardware, so reliability comes down to plain luck. I think AMD, Intel, ASUS, ASRock, Foxconn, etc... are the big players? Their software can very from adequate to a complete hack job *cough*Samsung*cough, but I usually do a fresh install anyway. What the computer companies do bring are build quality, and style; I simply love Toshiba for the fact that they look clean and have a CAPS LOCK indicator light on the keyboard, so I don't accidentaly lock myself out of a website for "too many password errors" - didn't realize my CAPS LOCK was on

After what Microsoft did with the Office Suit licensing*, I was almost READY to move over to Apple... but I just couldn't justify the price tag.

Windows 8 is actually a pretty decent OS, except for one big stupid mess. You guessed it, the start screen. With the newer version coming out latter this month (Windows 8.1), it will at least allow you to boot to the desktop, and adds a start button. There is also another option called Start 8.

*originally Microsoft decided to restrict the Office 2013 license to ONE computer FOR EVER, but following a wave of criticism over the terms Microsoft lifted the restriction.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:01:26 GMT

The one good thing about a Mac/Apple is the OS is Unix. Not nearly as susceptible to virus and hackers. But I hated working with Unix.

Re: All-in-One computer

ianl33t — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:54:36 GMT

@Shogun wrote:
@CS800 wrote:
Toshiba laptops are good. It was my first laptop and lasted me 7 years
My son is a freshman in college. I was looking to buy him a new laptop to help with schoolwork. I'm going to go look at Toshibas now. Thanks for the post!

Toshibas are okay...I personally prefer Asus, Samsung, and HP. (In that order)

I say this having worked at Geek Squad for 3 1/2 years and seeing what fails more than others and been involved in the PC tech industry for 10+ years in general. (Though I'm not saying Geek Squad is super great or anything)

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:42:41 GMT

I have a feeling I regret purchasing this Toshiba

I swapped out the HDD with my SSD (I can never go back to HDD for boot), and started to install programes / update Windows. Then I hit a roadblock. . . the AMD graphics. AMD's auto detect program I downloaded from their website, gives me a message about being "incompatible". I search around and find this:

"The AMD Mobility Radeon™ graphics driver supplied by the notebook manufacturer is customized for the built-in display and the features and functions specific to the notebook. It is recommended to use the drivers provided by the notebook manufacturer."

Well what in the world is that all about; fine I thought, and went to Toshiba's website to download the AMD display driver. The installation says it installed successfully, I restart the computer for good measure luck, and. . . it just doesn't work. My Windows Experience Index score is 2.0 due to the lowest score (graphics), and I'm lost. Toshiba's support stinks, and their forum isn't active so I don't know if I will ever get any help.

Granted I'm not "good with computers", but I managed and I've never had any troubleshooting / driver installation issue with my last three notebooks - and thinking about it, those where Intel powered.

Its not that I regret buying Toshiba (they are all the same underneath), but rather I decided to go with AMD. MISTAKE MISTAKE, I should have went with an Intel processor.

Man AMD... two strikes and you're out, Intel will be my next choice.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:51:48 GMT

What OS is on it?

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:54:02 GMT

Windows 8 64/bit

Satelite L50

AMD A8-5545M

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:58:17 GMT

I kinda of figured that. I have a fix but it is for Windows 7/Vista.

Re: All-in-One computer

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 16:36:12 GMT

If you have a fairly open budget, higher end HP laptops are nice. I saved up and bought one when I started college for 900 dollars, it was an HP Dv7 on sale. This thing... Is a beast. It is relatively big and heavy, but has 1.5TB hardrive (technically two 750GB HDs) and 8GB of Memory. It has a dual graphics card and is a pleasure to use. One of the best investments I've made with my money, as it works great and runs strong about 4 years later, probably with many years to come. Expensive, but long lasting.