Lifehack: how to get a fast laptop for cheap

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Lifehack: how to get a fast laptop for cheap

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#1259569 15-Mar-2015 09:53

joker97: Not free though

Whilst Win10 Preview is free when it is released it will not be although it will be a free upgrade for Win7 and 8 legally licensed users, what will you do then ?

Consider L/X/Ubuntu

Batman

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#1259583 15-Mar-2015 10:01

xlinknz:
joker97: Not free though

Whilst Win10 Preview is free when it is released it will not be although it will be a free upgrade for Win7 and 8 legally licensed users, what will you do then ?

Consider L/X/Ubuntu

not sure actually ... any suggestions?
will it just give annoying messages or will it actually just won't boot.
i didn't suggest a daily driver, the hack was for a dirt cheap yet fast laptop for now :D

ech3lon

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#1259587 15-Mar-2015 10:19

xlinknz:
joker97: Not free though

Whilst Win10 Preview is free when it is released it will not be although it will be a free upgrade for Win7 and 8 legally licensed users, what will you do then ?

Consider L/X/Ubuntu

Another vote to consider using Linux.
They've come a long way, installing is a breeze and will take very little time to get used to it.

Wade

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#1259595 15-Mar-2015 10:49

I see people trawling TM asking on cheap PC's if OS comes with W7 key, I assume they are interested in the hardware just to bank the OS for a later free W10 update when the time comes

1101

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#1260207 16-Mar-2015 13:03

xlinknz:
joker97: Not free though

Whilst Win10 Preview is free when it is released it will not be although it will be a free upgrade for Win7 and 8 legally licensed users, what will you do then ?

huh ??? that make no sense

win10 WILL BE a free upgrade when released. (for a while)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2873214/windows-10-will-be-a-free-upgrade-for-windows-7-and-8-users.html

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#1260217 16-Mar-2015 13:20

he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

Stu

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#1260293 16-Mar-2015 14:27

Just a tip: Unless you like trying to fix nightmares, perhaps think twice before trying this on an old HP with Intel/ati switchable graphics! Still issues (have been since Windows 8) as soon as the ati driver loads resulting in forced reboots. Have an old dv6 that just doesn't want to play nice. Haven't given up just yet.

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#1260297 16-Mar-2015 14:35

joker97: he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

ALso most of these older laptops will have either windows xp or vista installed, which don't qualify for the free windows 10 upgrade. Although I suspect windows may have a cheap option, to get people off those older OS's. IMO Vista users did get a bit of a rough deal with vista, as they didn't get a free upgrade to windows 7 or 8, even though windows 7 was really a fixed version of vista, like windows 10 will be the fixed version of windows 8. I got windows vista ultimate which was supposed to get a whole lot of future updates and features, but they killed that off pretty quickly.

ubergeeknz

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#1260301 16-Mar-2015 14:41

Looking forward to the free win 10 upgrade, have recently acquired a couple of C2D machines with W7 licenses :) C2D is still plenty fast for most things.

Edit: another option until then is the Windows 8.1 Enterprise Edition Eval

Jaxson

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#1260360 16-Mar-2015 15:44

joker97: he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

Was going to ask this...

Is there a clear expiry date up front?

groynk

234 posts

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#1260376 16-Mar-2015 16:01

joker97: get any old cheap laptop, core2duo and above

replace with cheap SSD (mine is a very fast 1st gen - OCZ vertex 2 120 gb that cost me $900 at that time)

install Windows 10 Technical Preview [free]

= very very very fast laptop

yee ha

I know I could google this, but for those of us less experienced in hardware tinkering, can you provide some quick (localised) tips on good value drives, and the ins and outs of connections?

nathan

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#1260397 16-Mar-2015 16:29

Jaxson:
joker97: he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

Was going to ask this...

Is there a clear expiry date up front?

Yes

Build 9926 expires
October 1, 2015

Batman

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#1260495 16-Mar-2015 18:24

What happens then?

mattwnz

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#1260502 16-Mar-2015 18:56

nathan:
Jaxson:
joker97: he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

Was going to ask this...

Is there a clear expiry date up front?

Yes

Build 9926 expires
October 1, 2015

There will be a new updated build before then won't there? Or will windows 8 full version be released by then.

I actually don't find windows 10 particularly good as a tablet OS, comparing it to windows 8. I think this is because it is more reliant on the desktop like taskbar. I wonder if it is going to be improved much

nathan

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#1260584 16-Mar-2015 20:09

mattwnz:
nathan:
Jaxson:
joker97: he meant win 10 preview is free on its own wthout needing a 7/8 licence, but this freebie has an expiry date

Was going to ask this...

Is there a clear expiry date up front?

Yes

Build 9926 expires
October 1, 2015

There will be a new updated build before then won't there? Or will windows 8 full version be released by then.

I actually don't find windows 10 particularly good as a tablet OS, comparing it to windows 8. I think this is because it is more reliant on the desktop like taskbar. I wonder if it is going to be improved much

Windows 10 is still well on track to release mid year

on touch - from the "Before you install" Windows 10 Technical Preview FAQ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/preview-faq?woldogcb=0

If you have a touch PC

Technical Preview works with touch, but some things will be rough and unfinished. More touch-friendly improvements are on the way. In the meantime, let us know what it’s like to interact with Windows and apps in the preview.

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