Shop RadioShack for Great Gifts
Computer help: Windows 7: A New Hope?
Windows 7: A New Hope?
by Tracerbullet7 - 7/2/09 8:41 AMI've been trying to keep up with the news regarding Windows 7, but I still have some questions. I recently noticed that on Microsoft's page, if you preorder Windows 7, you get 58% off. Is that going to stay that way? Or will Microsoft jack the price back up once in releases in October? Would it be a good idea to preorder? I want to upgrade from Vista (WHICH IS HORRIBLE).
Secondly, has anyone heard of the stabability of Windows 7? I have trouble getting through the day without a major application crash or blue screen on Vista.
Thanks!
Checked Out The Windows 7 Forum Yet?
by Grif Thomas
- 7/2/09 8:49 AM
In reply to: Windows 7: A New Hope? by Tracerbullet7
Specifically the pricing topic at the link below:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19411_102-0.html?threadID=347309
Hope this helps.
Grif
Nope
by Jimmy Greystone - 7/2/09 8:50 AM In reply to: Windows 7: A New Hope? by Tracerbullet7Nope, the price goes back up on 7/11/09, so the deal is only for people who want to pre-order.
And Windows 7 will not be some magic bullet if you bought some cheap sub-$500 POS computer. I know people like their bubbles intact, but the simple fact is so many of the problems people have with Windows is because they buy these cheap systems with questionable quality, if we're being extremely charitable, and they expect it to run just as well as some top of the line custom built system. You don't buy a Ford Pinto and expect it to be able to match the performance of a Ferrari. And if you're getting blue screen errors, that says you either have defective hardware, a buggy driver, or both. So, no, Windows 7 will almost certainly NOT help you with this. The only thing that WILL help is either replacing the defective component with a non-defective one, changing to a newer/older driver that doesn't have the bug you're triggering routinely, or both.
The only time you should be seeing blue screen errors on WindowsNT/2000/XP/Vista/Win7 is if there is a hardware and/or driver issue. Which means you should be calling up the company that made your computer and complaining. Have them send someone out to do a hardware diagnostic, and replace any defective parts they may find. Then you will likely see Vista stabilize quite a bit.
Why does Vista crash on your machine?
by R. Proffitt - 7/2/09 9:26 AM
In reply to: Windows 7: A New Hope? by Tracerbullet7
Here the store bought ready to use machines are 'doing fine.' If you are crashing big time in Vista I can bet 7 will too.
No: I'm not poor
by Tracerbullet7 - 7/2/09 8:06 PM In reply to: Why does Vista crash on your machine? by R. Proffitt
I have a HP Pavilion dv9700, which means I shouldn't be having these crashes based solely on a poor processor/ram/whatever.
Now that machine line I know!
by R. Proffitt - 7/2/09 8:11 PM
In reply to: No: I'm not poor by Tracerbullet7
Are you calling in each crash? Hp is changing motherboards on that line all too often. Then again there are folk that are so used to crashes that they never thought it was a machine fault.
Bob
PS. A link
by R. Proffitt - 7/2/09 8:14 PM
In reply to: No: I'm not poor by Tracerbullet7
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?&objectID=c01087277
Now remember there are other articles about other models. I DID NOT DO THE RESEARCH FOR YOU. I leave that to you since this is all volunteer but the issue is simple. Make the call after the first crash and keep calling.
Bob
Well that explains it
by Jimmy Greystone - 7/3/09 8:20 AM In reply to: No: I'm not poor by Tracerbullet7Well that explains it. I've been burned so many times by shoddy quality hardware in HP systems, I won't ever touch them again. I refuse to even consider them when I buy a new system.
Back during the tech bubble of the late 90s, HP and Compaq were duking it out for the toilet bowl crown of desktop PC makers. Compaq had bought up DEC/Digital, and so they had a decent server line. HP's server line was largely regarded as a joke, and a cruel punishment for people who ended up having to admin a system running HP-UX (HP's flavor of Unix). Then the two companies merged, and HP set about killing off pretty much every good product Compaq inherited from DEC (the Alpha CPU & Digital Unix/Tru64) in favor of their own. Then HP killed off its own much reviled CPU in favor of Intel's Itanium (Itanic) which got them nowhere fast. Meantime, back in the desktop PC world, it should come as no surprise that combining two companies known for making crap computers didn't exactly result in a sudden miraculous boon in improved quality. If anything, having one less competitor caused HP to get even lazier about quality control.
And a bit of a personal story... Couple years ago a friend of mine is looking for a new computer. He asks me what I think about some HP system. I tell him not to buy it, or he will regret it. He buys it anyway, and very shortly after every time we chat on IM it's just non-stop complaints about the thing. Eventually I couldn't remain above saying, "I told you so," because the point really needs to be reinforced sometimes. I can only hope he's learned his lesson now.
HP/Compaq computers, and while I'm at it I'll add Acer/Gateway/eMachines (another merger of toilet bowl contenders) are complete garbage in my opinion. I flat out refuse to even look at them when I'm in the market for a new computer. They look nice on the outside, but open them up, and it's a coyote ugly situation. Where you wake up next to someone so hideous, you'd rather chew your own arm off rather than wake them up.
If you have an HP, and not only that, one Bob says is known for having issues with the motherboard, I think we've found the source of your problems. After all, if the OS is expecting an answer between 1 and 10 from the hardware, and the hardware responds with "goat"... You're going to have problems. Call HP, get them to replace the motherboard on that system as many times as it takes to get a good one, and then don't buy an HP/Compaq/Acer/Gateway/eMachines system ever again. Life with your computer will be much smoother that way.
So what do you buy?
by Tracerbullet7 - 7/3/09 9:14 AM In reply to: Well that explains it by Jimmy GreystoneFirst off, my computer is not included in Bob's link. And secondly, with that extensive list of computers that you don;t buy, whats left? Sony and Toshiba? I love my Sony TV, but I find it hard to justify spending an extra $300 dollars for what amounts to the namebrand.
My list
by Jimmy Greystone - 7/3/09 10:26 AM In reply to: So what do you buy? by Tracerbullet7My list includes: Apple, Lenovo, Dell, and Toshiba. I'll generally avoid Sony PCs as well since they have nasty support policies and I'm not overly fond of how the entertainment division of Sony has been dragging the rest of the company down by forcing all kinds of nonsense into it's otherwise excellent consumer electronics division.
I will also sometimes build my own systems, but circumstances haven't permitted that lately.
The list may be small, but each one of those companies has a reputation for quality systems. HP makes some nice graphing calculators and their LaserJet printers are second to none if you can get past the drivers that appear to have been written by a dyslexic masochist office temp with a bad attitude. Some of HP's other businesses might not be so bad, but those generally aren't within the realm of consumer electronics. Let's just say good old Carly ran that company into the ground long before that pretexting scandal came to light a few years back.
And you just have to think of it this way. Everyone in the supply chain with regards to making a computer, is going to want to make a profit on the deal. So if you buy some computer that's say $500US, and even in lots of 1,000, the CPU alone can cost almost a quarter of that... You have to start wondering where the additional savings came from. Sure, some of it is the Asian slave labor HP and Acer are so fond of. Ship the manufacturing off to China or Vietnam where you don't have to pay people much more than a pittance wage, you can impose 12-18 hour work days with few, if any, breaks, and you don't have to concern yourself with making a reasonable effort to make sure people aren't injured on the job, pay for any kind of benefits, or really just treat the workers like human beings so much as livestock. That will certainly help keep costs down, but it's still not going to be enough. Where exactly is the rest of the savings coming from? Testing a product is a very time consuming, and expensive, prospect... So could it possibly be that there's little to no quality control? Or maybe the quality of systems made at the beginning of the day is quite a bit better than that after someone has been assembling computers for 12-16 hours straight.
Just in general, you really have to stop and think about why it is something is so cheap. The usual economies of scale answer really doesn't hold a lot of water. If that's all it was, then there'd be no reason for sending jobs to underdeveloped nations in Asia and Africa.
And another way to look at it... Say you're in the business of building computers, and you might only make a couple pennies on the dollar for every system sold. Just how much money are you going to be willing to sink into quality control, when virtually any amount will eat up your entire (razor thin) profit margin and likely send you into the red?
Your machine was NOT in the link I provided.
by R. Proffitt - 7/3/09 3:24 PM
In reply to: So what do you buy? by Tracerbullet7
I think I was unclear here. I wrote your model was not in the list and I wrote I did not go looking for a list with your model.
But I know your model line well. Too many now have been shipped back for hp to change the board.
What else can I do but offer advice you call it in and ask for them to check if yours is on another list?
Bob
Vista worked for me
by mrwood1120 - 7/3/09 8:16 AM In reply to: Windows 7: A New Hope? by Tracerbullet7The issue with Vista is the same issue they had w/XP, NOT enough RAM. If I remember correctly, there where many complaints about XP when new. My two cousins received a couple Dell laptops w/intel core processors with minimum memory (1 gig). They where both a nightmare until I added more RAM (3 gig each) and turned off the fluff (gadget bar, aero scheme). They worked OK after that. I have Vista on my desktop cpu and experienced no problems. The desk top has a quad processor w/8 gig RAM and a good video processor.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
