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Looking for a New Laptop

oldMohawk said:
My laptop (see #6) has a numerical keypad and I can’t remember ever pressing a key on it. I use the laptop in the house and always have a wireless mouse connected - can’t stand trackpads even though all laptops have them.
Click to expand...
me too, i immobilized the built in mouse.
 
Horses for courses, I guess. I use the numerical part if the keyboard all the time, rarely the top row.
But I use it often as I am a treasurer and do accounting work.
 
Like Alan I always use the numerical pad and rarely the top row. As a maths teacher I used numbers a lot when I was working.
 
I only ever use the numerical keypad when adding ASCII codes for keys I haven't got, e.g. here a £ sign as Greek keyboards are, by default, the standard USA layout, so I have a $ sign instead. so I hold the Alt key down whilst pressing 156 on the numeric keypad.

Maurice :cool:
 
sospiri said:
I only ever use the numerical keypad when adding ASCII codes for keys I haven't got, e.g. here a £ sign as Greek keyboards are, by default, the standard USA layout, so I have a $ sign instead. so I hold the Alt key down whilst pressing 156 on the numeric keypad.

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...
Greek keyboard
i thought my hp was difficult our Maurice.
1598635080308.png
 
I'm just looking at the Alt Gr key on my laptop and needed to use Google Search to find out what it does. Tried a few things but it does nothing on my laptop. I assume it is not really needed on a UK keyboard.
:)
 
Phil,

On this US-based Greek keyboard I don't even have Alt Gr, but I do have two (identical) control keys, Windows keys, & Alt keys. The trouble with a lot of these so-called shortcuts is that you use them so infrequently that you forget them.

Alan,

That would totally confuse me!

I rarely type in Greek these days and all of my Greek friends speak at least a fair modicum of English and some speak better English than me - wouldn't be difficult! :)

Maurice :cool:
 
I find it easier, Maurice, if you have more than a short paragraph to type than using the Character Map to get the diacritical marks over a letter a and e, plus cedilla.
 
Neville Philpott said:
Thank you for the additional suggestions, not got far in making a final selection except that i have decided
to do without a built in CD/DVD drive and buy that as a seperate.
Click to expand...
There are thousands of laptops out there. Good choice to have a usb dvd drive. I was in the same boat and finished up with an Asus with a 250gb SSD and 1TB HDD, plus it has a backlit keyboard. Good luck with your choice.
 
oldMohawk said:
I'm just looking at the Alt Gr key on my laptop and needed to use Google Search to find out what it does. Tried a few things but it does nothing on my laptop. I assume it is not really needed on a UK keyboard.
:)
Click to expand...

Seems it is used (with other keys) to type characters that are not on a persons keyboard.

For example I used Alt Gr and the 4 key to type this Euro symbol - €
(there are other methods for getting the Euro symbol)

And I used Alt Gr and the letter o to type this - ó

More about Alt Gr here.

en.wikipedia.org

AltGr key - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Alan,

I never use the character map as many of these codes are stuck in my head. If I do have to look it up I just check the Extended ASCII code list and then there is more likelihood of it sticking in my memory! :)

Maurice :cool:
 
Laptops do come with different keyboards. Read post 7.
It might draw attention to another enquirer or purchaser, other than the OP, to be alert to that fact.
 
I would always go with the HP in preference over the Dell, my HPs have been trouble free can't say the same for Dell.
 
On the other hand, Eric, HP are renowned for their practice whereby the day the guarantee runs out, they don't want to know and carry no spares. Up until that point they merely swap the faulty item. A few years back I bought an HP camera from Staples, when they were operating in the UK. I used it three or four times and then it failed a few days after the guarantee period. Staples could do nothing, so I contacted HP direct and they basically said that if I didn't have an extended guarantee, which I regard as very expensive cover, then they couldn't help me, and no amount of pleading or badgering would get them to change their mind.

Now I can't say that the same thing will happen with their laptops, but ever since I have followed the advice of photographic friends which was "Never buy a camera from a company not renowned for selling cameras" and ever since I have bought Canon. My advice would be, should you choose to buy HP, get it in writing from the supplier that they will still provide service for at least 5 years. That way you have someone to sue in the event of no service! My experience with an HP printer hasn't been good either and I will always make Canon my number one choice. I have no experience with Dell.

Maurice :cool:
 
Just to throw a different make into the mix - on the advice of a colleague I bought a Lenovo when I retired 7 years ago. There was a problem a few weeks ago which was sorted via an insurance I have but otherwise I have been pleased.
 
Janice,

I have good experiences with a Lenovo midi tower - now in it's third year and still very fast. I'm not a lover of laptops though my other half has had several over the years. You can only speak of personal experiences and you make your choice and pay your money. Probably the best advice is to back up on an external drive all your irreplaceable data, you can get around any other problem even though it might cost a few bob.

Maurice :cool:
 
In 2015 I bought a Lenovo tower computer but it was actually a laptop board in the large metal case with only one fan on the cpu. In hot weather it overheated so I had to fit a case fan.

Eventually it developed an intermittent fault in it's gpu and would only run with the Windows generic driver which was useless for Youtube etc. The gpu ran perfectly with Linux drivers so I kicked out W10 and it became a Linux only computer. I now use it to play slide shows and videos on a screen in front of my spare bedroom treadmill so I don't get too bored when I'm on it.

Last year I bought an Acer 'proper' tower computer which is presently updated to the latest W10 version and I'm satisfied with it. It came with 4Gb of ram but I recently installed an extra 8Gb and it runs very satisfactorily. I use it with a 24" Dell screen.

Almost all laptop makes are reliable but occasionally a bad one comes along.
:)
 
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pjmburns said:
Just to throw a different make into the mix - on the advice of a colleague I bought a Lenovo when I retired 7 years ago. There was a problem a few weeks ago which was sorted via an insurance I have but otherwise I have been pleased.
Click to expand...
pjm, I have a Lenovo that has been super for four years, I’ll buy another! Before that a Sony Vaio also excellent, pulled out of the US market. Before that IBM Think Pads (became Lenovo). Sorry Dell & HP not on my radar!
 
Just to let you know i have decided to go with a Dell machine, athough HP ran it a close second.

Many thanks for all your comments and suggestions, much appreciated.
 
Good for you, Neville, and I hope it gives many years of trouble-free service. Enjoy.

Maurice :cool:
 
If you do not have any specific software you need to use I would definitely recommend to go with Apple MacBook lately released on its own M1 chip. For a daily usage (Internet surfing, videos, social etc.) it will be more than enough. All comparison tests show that the M1 chip is much more productive than Intel.
 
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dreamliner said:
If you do not have any specific software you need to use I would definitely recommend to go with Apple MacBook lately released on its own M1 chip. For a daily usage (Internet surfing, videos, social etc.) it will be more than enough. All comparison tests show that the M1 chip is much more productive than Intel.
Click to expand...
Dreamliner, welcome to the Forum & enjoy!
 
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