[Charioteer]

Originally Posted by procrj

Slightly OT but couldn't find another thread for the same. Looking to replace a 6 year old desktop with a desktop or an AIO. While the desktop options are clear in my head I am exploring AIOs and hence writing to ask if anyone here owns one and what is upside/downside of shifting to an AIO?

Use: Will be for basic home use i.e browsing, watching videos, music and some very basic office use - excel/outlook etc.

I have been using an HP All-in- One ( HP Omni) at home since the last about three years. It has excellent display and comes about as a compact unit, esp with wireless mouse and keyboard.

Pretty hassle free ownership till a few months ago. Then, one fine day, some horizontal lines started appearing on rhe screen. Was concerned, but soon realised that a typical "tap, and shake" would make them disappear. We attributed them to some UPS malfunctioning, etc. But they kept coming regularly.

When they became prominent, we referred to HP service who said that they have received such complaints and that being in guarantee period, the screen will be repaired free of cost. But we will be without the AIO for 3-4 weeks!!

That was not possible at that point of time, so we continued, tapping and slapping the screen and using it -delaying the replacement to the end of the warranty period, because it was unthinkable to be without the AIO for a month then!

And one day, the lcd screen cracked..!!

We thought that for a few thousand bucks I may be able to get the replacement done locally, thereby avoiding the AIO being taken away for repairs for a month by HP.

But, not a single local repair centre (mind you, in MUMBAI) knew hoe to repair the AIO!!. I covered the length and breadth of Lamington road, that is the hub for such shops, since it was urgently required to be put back in operation, but to no avail.

Finally, I called the HP service engineer home and he said that the final crack is due to YOUR mishandling, notwithstanding the earlier problem.

And he has presented me with a bill of Rs 15600/- and anyway the AIO will be taken away for 3-4 weeks.

I can't use a different monitor with the AIO, so there is no other way out now!

I somehow continued to use the AIO with cracked screen while writing emails to HP explaining them the original problem. Last week they replied that the agency undertaking warranty for HP products has now changed and I need to restart the whole procedure with a new firm, again through HP call centre.

I decided to leave the AIO in as-is-where-is condition, and after doing a bit of research, last week, I bought an 11.6" laptop Acer, 4GB / 500GB, 360 deg viewer, pentium quadcore, gorilla glass, for 29,000/-.

Not decided still as to what I should do with the AIO!!

[carboy]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

It is widely available as Medical Spirit. Now IPA is used in place of Denatured Ethanol in the past. I will be carrying a small amount of blue dye. Try any chemist.

This worked very well. I got Ashwin Fine Chemicals Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol from the medical store. Worked very well to clean the laptop. Removes oily patches on the touchpad also. Thank you.

[hothatchaway]

Folks, need advise on a laptop/netbook purchase. Though I have a Nexus tablet the biggest limitation is creation of content: creating docs,excel sheet etc is just not possible without a keyboard.

Requirements are as follows

Keyboard must, don't really need detachable screen/touchscreen functionality
Should have at least one USB port and be able to read regular pen drives, external hard disks and digicam memory cards
Don't mind a small 10 inch screen, am on a budget (sub 15k) and I guess thats the size I will get in that budget
Usage will be internet and basic content creation like excel, ppt etc. I guess a 2GB RAM will suffice. Dont need big storage space as have external HDD
This is the part am confused about. I guess one pays more if the system comes with windows preinstalled. I am ok if if it comes with Linux/Ubuntu etc as long as its able to read external drives. Also, w/o windows, will I still be able to read/edit MS Word/excel/ppt with the MS apps downloaded from the play store? (I have the MS office apps on my Nexus 7)

TIA

PS - Checked out a couple of options at Croma, the systems with Windows pre installed didnt have MS Office and one has to pay an additional 3 odd k for that which defeats my purpose. Also, didnt find any options other than a HP one at sub 15k rupees.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

I am ok if if it comes with Linux/Ubuntu etc as long as its able to read external drives. Also, w/o windows, will I still be able to read/edit MS Word/excel/ppt with the MS apps downloaded from the play store? (I have the MS office apps on my Nexus 7).

Ubuntu is a linux
Android isn't exactly a linux

Your play store apps will work on a chromebook or other android tab, not on linux. For office docs on linu install "libreoffice" which has packages for most distributions.

Linux has excellent and even more robust than windows support for USB.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by hserus

For office docs on linu install "libreoffice" which has packages for most distributions.

From my experience, if you are creating something on libreoffice/openoffice etc, and the docs are going to be read in MS office, then there is always going to be minor differences.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by hserus

Ubuntu is a linux
Android isn't exactly a linux

Your play store apps will work on a chromebook or other android tab, not on linux. For office docs on linu install "libreoffice" which has packages for most distributions.

Linux has excellent and even more robust than windows support for USB.

Thanks.

Lets say a system comes with windows pre installed but not Office. Will it still be able to at least read files like word/excel?

[carboy]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Lets say a system comes with windows pre installed but not Office. Will it still be able to at least read files like word/excel?

Yeah - Microsoft has free viewer apps to read it.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/down...ails.aspx?id=4
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/down...ils.aspx?id=10

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Will it still be able to at least read files like word/excel?

if you work for a corporate in IT or otherwise, you might be eligible for pricing on office as low as 10$. I forget the site but I purchased it for my wife's laptop this way.

[DriverR]

Originally Posted by diyguy

if you work for a corporate in IT or otherwise, you might be eligible for pricing on office as low as 10$. I forget the site but I purchased it for my wife's laptop this way.

I believe you are refering to the Home Use Program
Link

The Home Use Program is a Software Assurance benefit available to Microsoft volume licensing customers with active Software Assurance coverage on their Office applications. Employees who use the covered licenses at work are eligible to purchase these Office applications for use on a personal device during the term of their employment.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by DriverR

Home Use ProgramLink

Yes for hothatchaway

[dhanushs]

Hi All,

Wife is interested in starting a Youtube cooking and home hacks channel. Videos will be shot in an iPhone. Next month is her birthday, so, I was thinking of gifting her THIS macbook. The intended purpose is make video edits for the youtube channel.

The said model was launched in 2012, but has upgradable RAM & HDD. Its been a while since I've shopped for laptop, and I'm outdated. So, wondering if it'll serve the purpose.

Oh, yes, another purpose is that it'll be ON forever. So, should be able to last atleast 3-4 years.

[redcruiser]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Hi All

Oh, yes, another purpose is that it'll be ON forever. So, should be able to last atleast 3-4 years.

I you want the laptop to be mostly ON all the times then go for laptop with SSD drive. I bet you will never regret it.It will boot in 2 secs because it has very fast access speeds.You may need to buy external hard disk to increase the storage.
Why not wait for BigBillion day?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

The said model was launched in 2012, but has upgradable RAM & HDD. Its been a while since I've shopped for laptop, and I'm outdated. So, wondering if it'll serve the purpose.

Look for Mac book pro with SSD like redcruiser suggested, but you'd need to increase your budget.
Get something like this.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by redcruiser

I you want the laptop to be mostly ON all the times then go for laptop with SSD drive. I bet you will never regret it.It will boot in 2 secs because it has very fast access speeds.You may need to buy external hard disk to increase the storage.
Why not wait for BigBillion day?

Originally Posted by NPV

Look for Mac book pro with SSD like redcruiser suggested, but you'd need to increase your budget.
Get something like this.

Like I said, the HDD on this can be upgraded. So, might be doing it.

What I really want to know if the machine will last me 3-4 years, and will video editing for Youtube be possible in this?

[hserus]

The machine may very well last as macs have excellent build quality but you aren't likely to find that hardware supporting the latest OS X, and after a point older OS X versions don't get updated with security etc updates.

Bang for buck pick up an iPad if all she wants to do is stream videos to YouTube. There are many video editors available for the iPad that she can try.