Computer question

[stevebrassett]

I have a netbook (Acer one) running Windows 7. It is not very fast, but I just consider that to be the nature of the beast. I did upgrade it to 2GB, whic made a difference to some things, but not much to browsing.

 

[nigelmercier]

The limit is 4GB ...

The physical limit is 64GB, Windows imposes a limit close to 3GB. I'll see if I can find a reference.

[Later] not ideal, but see 3GB Barrier.

 

[boatmike]

Oh dear! I seem to have started something here.... Lots of controversy regarding a very simple question.
For those who have made more of the question than I asked I offer the following.

My Sony Vaio is a dual core T2370 Pentium (1.73GHz) and I only have 2 GB of RAM. I am using the wireless connection from a Virgin Cable connected Router. It is very fast by my standards and by that I mean that when I click on an application or website it generally loads within 2 or 3 seconds. "Crew" has a very recent HP Pavillion with similar spec and that if anything runs even faster using the same router.
I bought the notebook basically because it is smaller and lighter and has higher battery life It has a Dual Core intel Atom processor and I GB of RAM. As purchased it had Windows 7 starter loaded and very little else. I have downloaded Skype but only turn it on when I want it. If I have it auto starting at start up and have it running in the background it does affect the speed noticably. The only thing I have done is added AVG free which I have turned off to try without it and if anything it starts faster with this than the Norton trial thing it came with which I have now removed. You can alter the speed of it by not using the power saving function as I said earlier but then you can't get 11 hours battery life. In the "balanced" mode it gives about 9 hours life though which is not bad so that's what I use. The speed it operates at I judge simply by how long it takes to get to my e-mail on Yahoo. On the Vaio it's there within 3-5 seconds. The notebook takes 15-20. It's still perfectly useable and the advantages of low weight and size are undisputable. I suppose I am just used to lightning fast broadband speed through virgin which as I have already said I don't get elsewhere anyway so away from home it will probably keep up with the pathetically slow WiFi found in most marinas I have visited just as well as the Vaio so I guess I will just leave well alone unless there really is a vastly faster operating system which I would see and advantage from using the very simple functions I use it for. Reading most of the conflicting posts on here I come to the conclusion that unless I want to use it for multi-media applications and other things requiring lots of downloads and processing power I should just accept what I have and get on with it!

 

[nigelmercier]

Norton trial thing it came with which I have now removed.

Are you sure? Norton can be a bugger to remove properly, so much so that if you type Norton into Google the first hit is the Norton Removal Tool.

 

[DaveRo]

I have a Linux eeePc - quite old now. Last time I looked - some time ago - there were distros specially for the machine - eeeBuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

 

[stuartwineberg]

+1 on Chrome

Agree with everything, except Chrome. Wait for IE 10.

Quite a lot of stuff wont run on Chrome it is very stripped down. My IT people say go for Firefox

 

[prv]

Quite a lot of stuff wont run on Chrome it is very stripped down.

What sort of stuff? I use Chrome as my main browser at work (Safari at home) and it does everything I need of it.

Firefox used to be small and fast but has become increasingly blorted over the years.

Pete

 

[AntarcticPilot]

All the propeller-heads will tell you that Ubantu (or any other flavour of Linux) is better than Windows, but for the average Joe, it simply isn't. For a start, none of your Windows programs will run.

A) It isn't true that your Windows programs won't run; Linux (of any variety) provides an environment (Wine) in which they will run.
B) In (so far) every case I've found an equivalent or superior FREE software package with the same (or very close) functionality to the Windows package. For example, I no longer use any part of Microsoft office - OpenOffice or LibreOffice provide ALL their functions at zero cost.
C) I probably count as a propellor head, but Ubuntu is extremely simple and I'd say that it is easier than Windows to manage effectively.

 

[maby]

A) It isn't true that your Windows programs won't run; Linux (of any variety) provides an environment (Wine) in which they will run.
B) In (so far) every case I've found an equivalent or superior FREE software package with the same (or very close) functionality to the Windows package. For example, I no longer use any part of Microsoft office - OpenOffice or LibreOffice provide ALL their functions at zero cost.
C) I probably count as a propellor head, but Ubuntu is extremely simple and I'd say that it is easier than Windows to manage effectively.

Haven't tried Wine for a while, but in my experience it is a long way from perfect.

 

[prv]

I no longer use any part of Microsoft office - OpenOffice or LibreOffice provide ALL their functions at zero cost.

Not really all (though perhaps all that most people use), and in a bit of a clunky and sucky way. Compatibility with files generated by Office isn't 100% either.

I use OpenOffice at work (in fact, the company is doing its best to stop people using MS Office, no site license, you need to justify why you need it and get your manager to pay for it) but I don't really like it. Fortunately it's very rare that I need to use any "office" program in my work.

Pages and Numbers for domestic stuff at home. They're nice.

Pete

 

[lustyd]

The physical limit is 64GB, Windows imposes a limit close to 3GB. I'll see if I can find a reference.

[Later] not ideal, but see 3GB Barrier.

Nope, 32 bits can represent 4 Billion. Whatever reference you found to 64GB is not referring to the 32 bit limitation. Possibly it's the PAE limit, or an arbitrary limit set by Microsoft on the 64 bit edition but it's definitely not the 32 bit limit.

Sorry for the thread drift

 

[lustyd]

A) It isn't true that your Windows programs won't run; Linux (of any variety) provides an environment (Wine) in which they will run.
B) In (so far) every case I've found an equivalent or superior FREE software package with the same (or very close) functionality to the Windows package. For example, I no longer use any part of Microsoft office - OpenOffice or LibreOffice provide ALL their functions at zero cost.
C) I probably count as a propellor head, but Ubuntu is extremely simple and I'd say that it is easier than Windows to manage effectively.

OpenOffice doesn't provide all of the functionality - it provides all of the functionality you use. I, on the other hand, have found lots of functionality missing which I regularly use for my job. I do work on very large technical documents so it's not average functionality but don't assume that just because you don't use it that they are equivalent.
I also wouldn't consider Ubuntu to be simple - it's easy enough to install and browse the internet on but anything off the beaten track becomes a nightmare for the average user. For instance peripheral support is nowhere near on par with Windows, and even hardware which is supported often doesn't have all of the features enabled under Linux because the programmers have no incentive to write code they don't personally use. This is where Microsoft shine, they write all of the features and code that might be useful because 1% of users will use it.
I've nothing against Linux (it forms part of my job) but it's not faster than Windows and it's not all that much cheaper than Windows (the upgrade to Windows 8 is £15!) so without a good reason to switch I recommend non techies stick to Windows or Apple.

 

[nigelmercier]

Norton trial thing it came with which I have now removed.

Are you sure? Norton can be a bugger to remove properly, so much so that if you type Norton into Google the first hit is the Norton Removal Tool.

Can we stop the bickering about GNU/Linux, WINE, 32-bits etc and get back to the topic. The OP has said he is going to stick with Windows, and the above is very relevant.