Cheap Laptops

Vince53

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Mickey has some bad news this time. If your splash screen appears, then your Power On Button, power cord, internal power supply, CPU, BIOS chip, monitor cable, and monitor are working. But they usually do.

The most common cause of failure in a laptop is the hard drive, and if the splash screen comes on normally, and then disappears, your hard drive has probably failed. Depending on your model, the BIOS chip might be able to give you some suggestions about getting into Safe Mode. If you can, immediately run your anti-virus program. But the most likely cause is that your hard drive is failing but isn't dead yet. My advice? Back up everything you can.

It appears that there is a 1/3 chance that your problem is with the software, and a 2/3 chance that it is the hard drive (or some other hardware) itself. If you can borrow a legal copy of your operating system, put it into the DVD drive and reboot: MAYBE a repair menú will appear, and MAYBE it will let you solve your problem.
 
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Vince53

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Folks, we get a lot of questions on the laptop forum I write on, and many of them involve temperature problems. The free CoreTemp program has worked on every computer I have installed it on. You can read your temperatures in Celcius or Fahrenheit, get a list of all your hardware, shrink it to half-size, and a few other functions. I leave it running all the time on my laptop, but you can turn it off or shrink it to the taskbar. I have been able to install other temperature monitors at times, and they always give the same readings as CoreTemp.

The free Win Patrol tells you everything that starts up in your computer, including malware, adware, and bloatware. Don't Delete anything, just Disable it until you're sure it's not needed. Don't interfere with anything from Microsoft or your computer's manufacturer. Stubborn bloatware uses different names to avoid Win Patrol, but it has a tab for all currently-running programs, and you can stop those prgrams there.

Both programs run well on desktops as well.
 
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Vince53

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Most laptop problems can have multiple causes. When I research the cures, I keep finding one method that pops up for a variety of problems. By my unscientific count, about 10% of the time, the "Universal Laptop Cure" will work. It's free, so here it is:

Turn off your laptop, unplug it, and remove the battery. Hold the Power On Button down for one minute. Put the battery back in, plug it in, and start it up.

Why does this work? It refreshes the BIOS, corrects problems in the battery's software program, and reboots the Start-up program.

Note: Last week, I took a donated laptop that a computer store said was unrepairable and used this method. We are now using that computer.
 
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Vince53

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Time to discuss operating systems. Laptop drivers are so specific that if you upgrade your OS, they will likely not work well with your new OS. The manufacturer's warranty doesn't cover it, and Microsoft isn't to blame. Don't do it! This is why I advise you to buy a cheap laptop. For $120 more than the cost of the upgrade, you can buy a new cheap laptop that has the new system installed.

Windows 8.1 is a fake-out. Microsoft claims that it is an update for tax purposes, but it's actually a complete new OS. Yes, I'll install it on my desktop. But if you install it on your laptop, you might lose your drivers. Granted, 8.1 is so close to 8 that you might be able to re-install the drivers from the manufacturer's website. But if it doesn't work, it's your problem, not theirs.

There actually is a version of Linux written specifically for laptops, and it works well. But some companies buy left-over Windows laptops without an OS, and then install a free version of Linux. This lowers their cost, but you get a laptop that doesn't run well. Before you buy ANY computer, go home and research it on the web.
 
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Vince53

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NZ, I'm even talking about games. An eye doctor showed me that even a near-sighted person can see comfortably at a short distance.

I'm a little off-subject here, but have you ever seen a Polaroid Tablet for sale? These medium-sized touchscreen devices use the Android operating system and are sold at low prices. Reviews are good: they are low-priced, so they are weak and slow. But if you only want to surf the net and run a few simple games, they work fine. They have good monitors, and they are not filled with cheap parts. The free Android Store will have plenty of aps for you. Remember that THEY CANNOT USE DSL. You must have wireless. And one more thing: they are not manufactured by Polaroid. Another company pays to lease the name.
 
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Vince53

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Folks, I'm a bit frustrated over this. On a tech forum, we are dealing with people who bought a laptop, didn't like Windows 8, and installed Windows 7. Some of them have deleted the re-install partition, and all of them have erased the drivers that are designed specifically for their rig plus Windows 8. One guy bought an $850 laptop, deleted 8, reformatted (thus destroying his re-install partition) and when it didn't work, put in a new hard drive that doesn't work.

DO NOT CHANGE THE OPERATING SYSTEM ON A LAPTOP!

A new operating system contains generic drivers that have difficulty with the finicky architecture of a laptop. Sometimes you can improve the situation by installing new drivers (that are either designed for your machine of your operating system, but not both) and sometimes you can't even start up the laptop again.
 
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Vince53

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An Air Force veteran told me that in their workshop, you were issued a laptop that you put on your work table and rarely moved it. The Air Force expected them to last seven years. Although they were not elevated (which would lower the temperature about 10 F) they were rarely moved and were not used for high-end games. Most of them lasted at least seven years.
 
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Vince53

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For years, I have had a shortcut to "Create a Restore Point" on my desktop. I used it whenever I installed ANYTHING. But such a shortcut is imposible with my beloved Windows 8. However, I found this Restore Point Creator | Tom's World Tech Blog and have a working System Restore Point shortcut on my desktop now.

But what DOES System Restore do? It only does two things: It restores your drivers and your settings. In order to do so, it might delete a malware program that caused your problem. And then again it might not.
 
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Vince53

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Mickey's back, with more common-sense solutions to complicated laptop problems.

A fellow wrote into the forums that he had bought an expensive laptop with an expensive video card and an expensive touchscreen monitor. He could easily swipe with one, two, three, or four fingers. Then he bought a large cheap external touchscreen monitor, and it not only doesn't show the pictures as clearly as his laptop monitor, but he can only swipe with one finger. We explained that no matter how good your video card is, it cannot make a cheap monitor do something it isn't built to do.

Another fellow bought a budget netbook and upgraded the built-in monitor to a better one. But it doesn't give him a good picture. The answer: his drivers aren't designed for the new monitor, his laptop isn't powerful enough to run the new monitor well, and for less than he paid for the new monitor he could have bought a full-size laptop.

One happy person upgraded his Windows 7 laptop to Windows 8, and lost his drivers in the process. He downloaded and installed the newest drivers, but it still didn't work well. The solution? Download and install the old Windows 7 drivers (which is what his laptop is designed for). It doesn't work all the time, but it did for this fellow.

Anybody else have a Mickey Mouse solution to a common problem? Feel free to post it here.
 
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Vince53

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VinceMember

Christian:Yes
I was surprised to learn this a few weeks ago. If you can Start your computer but can't get Windows to open, you are probably having a hard drive probem. There is about 1/3 of a chance that it is a software problem, however. So you try to get into Safe Mode and can't. Now what?

On some versions of Windows, including Windows 8, you can put ANY legal copy of Windows into your DVD drive and restart your computer. Depending on your operating system, the DVD will allow you to go into Safe Mode, and various repair modes, before it asks for your Windows Key. No, it is not illegal, because you are only using it to access your own legal copy of Windows.​
 
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Vince53

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On another forum, we have a four page series helping a fellow who bought a cheap laptop and can't get good Wi-Fi. Eventually, he posted a solution that worked: he bought a good-quality external Wi-Fi card. Folks, the competition is fierce, so profit margins are slim. If you find a laptop with incredible power and a low price, it is built with cheap parts.

And today's painful lesson. If your laptop has the installation operating system installed on your hard drive, you cannot transfer your operating system to another computer. Let me translate that into English: You can't buy a cheap laptop, remove the operating system, and put it on another computer.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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And today's painful lesson. If your laptop has the installation operating system installed on your hard drive, you cannot transfer your operating system to another computer. Let me translate that into English: You can't buy a cheap laptop, remove the operating system, and put it on another computer.

Please clarify that the comment you made is about a Windows operating system on an OEM machine, this restrictive practice does not apply to all operating systems. Another way to buy a better system (for general users) is to buy from a company like System76 which seem to care for its customers. To quote from their site,

We carefully craft our product line to demanding standards using only the highest quality materials and components. We then backup our products with leading support and customer service to provide an experience unlike any other.

I have heard good things about these people. No, they don't do Windows machines but these days you don't need one unless you have some specialised use for it.
 
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Vince53

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Let me clarify for everyone's benefit.

Most Windows laptops today have the operating system installed on a hidden partition on the hard drive. YOU DO NOT GET AN INSTALATION DVD. This makes it impossible to transfer your copy of Windows to another computer.

USUALLY, if you upgrade to a different operating system, you destroy this hidden partition. Since changing the operating system on a laptop is usually a bad idea, this will really foul you up.

Windows 8 makes it easy to use the hidden partition to restore your system to its factory defaults. On older Windows, it is more difficult.

On the other hand, this lowers the cost of the manufacturer, and Yes, the savings are passed on to you.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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Most Windows laptops today have the operating system installed on a hidden partition on the hard drive. YOU DO NOT GET AN INSTALATION DVD. This makes it impossible to transfer your copy of Windows to another computer.

You fail to mention that most, if not all, laptop manufacturers provide a utility on the laptop which can create a backup CD/DVD of the laptop image which can be used to restore the laptops software back to the factory default. So you can install another OS then go back to Windows at a later date, providing you run the mentioned restore utility and create the CD/DVD's first.

Most restore utilities provided with laptops can make a backup of the clean base install, so it will be as you got it just after purchase, or they can make a restore set including any data you have on it at the point you create the restore set. Personally I like to backup my data separate but that's me.

So it's more than possible to put another OS on the laptop and go back to Windows if not happy with it.

From memory most Vista, 7 and 8 laptops/desktops should have a restore facility. With XP you should have a CD but realistically you should be moving to another solution now as XP is going to be a virus/malware party after April 2014.
 
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Vince53

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Mickey's back, with another brilliant tip so simple that everyone can understand it.

Have you noticed that your desktop computer does not have an Fn key, but your laptop does? The function key lets you use all those funny little symbols you've been ignoring. Look at the little pictures on your F keys. The one with a radio antenna shuts off your wireless. The one with the Z puts your laptop to sleep. The one with a hand turns your mouse on or off. And the one with a loudspeaker turns your sound on or off. You have to press the Fn key, plus the proper F key, to do what the picture refers to.
 
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Vince53

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When shopping for a laptop, stick with name brands. Generally, the best cheap laptops are Acer. If you find one you like, write down the complete model number, go home, and look it up on the internet. Find out EXACTLY what the operating system is. Is it Starter Edition, Single Language Edition, etc.

Forget the warranty, since the manufacturer won't pay much attention to it. Find out how long the store will allow you to return it. When you get it home, if it doesn't work right, TAKE IT BACK! Don't try to fix it, TAKE IT BACK!

Be very careful about buying a Linux laptop. There is one version of Linux written especially for laptops. But if the machine is designed for Windows but has the Linux operating system installed, walk away.
 
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