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General discussion

Upgrade my old laptop to Windows 10, or buy new one? Help!

May 31, 2019 1:07PM PDT

Hello- I have an HP Pavilion 15t laptop G1V32AV (specs: Intel Core i5, 8GB DDR3 memory, 750GB HD) running Windows 7 with MS Office installed that I bought in 2014. Since Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows 7 and I didn’t upgrade to Windows 10 when they offered it at no cost, does it make any sense to upgrade to Windows 10 now or just get a newer laptop? I use my laptop now only for storage and when I need a bigger screen which I is usually one to two times a week, and use my iPhone other times. The internal DVD writer is dead and I'm currently using an external one. Thank you for any help.

--Submitted by Lauren C.

Post was last edited on June 7, 2019 1:47 PM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Upgrade
Jun 7, 2019 8:46PM PDT

She uses her iPhone for basically everything she does. As she stated, she uses the Laptop for storage and a larger screen than the iPhone. That means that she doesn't use the Laptop for running Windows programs, except maybe those that are also on the iPhone I guess. There is no reason at this time to buy another Laptop or desktop computer. With the updated Windows 10, she will have a few things that she can use, and she may not regularly go online on the Laptop. There are absolutely no reasons from her query that she uses anything that requires more computing power than what she has. The security features of Windows 10 will be useful if she actually does go online.

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Yes but one suggestion
Jun 7, 2019 9:12PM PDT

Those are still great specs the only thing I would suggest is take out your 750 GB drive put it in an external enclosure, and use drive copying software to transfer the OS to the SSD. Then upgrade to Ten or do a fresh install.

This is the only thing holding you back.

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Do upgrade your computer to Windows 10 and Do get a new one
Jun 7, 2019 9:43PM PDT

Do these things slowly. Take your time and everything will go smoothly. Unless you have a current 4th generation or preferably 5th generation or higher I5 processor, stay off the internet as much as possible. Earlier versions are not safe any more. To be safe you need a TPM 2.0 or higher and secure boot in the bios or UFEI. Also be careful, when purchasing Intel based computers right now they have serious security problems that are very slowly being patched, especially if you have an HP. I purchased HP 14-an013nr in 2017, very cheap but am able tear down an put back together quickly no big problems yet. Upgraded to 8 GB Ram and 120 GB SSD Good luck with your new purchase.

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Consider ugrading to an SSD
Jun 8, 2019 12:29AM PDT

I admit I bought a new PC this year... but mine was an HP with 4 Gig ram from .... 2008? When Vista just came out. I upgraded every time MSFT offered a free upgrade and let it patch annoyingly to keep the security in tact. With Windows 2010 it got super sluggish. I broke down and bought an SSD drive for $100. That gave me another 2 years life out of it. Boots tons faster and it still works, but with a Pentium it is quite slow so I splurged and bought new laptop this year.
For your usage I say upgrade to Windows 10 and consider upgrading to an SSD drive. You might end up using it more if it boots quickly and the performance will improve.
A new DVD drive should be pretty cheap, or take it out to save weight.
If you do buy a new PC consider one with an AMD CPU. I think Intel found a security bug with their method of running 2 threads on one core and the security fix halves your thread count... It is likely to be a couple years before they have a new CPU design that addresses a number of hardware issues that have been uncovered lately. Moors law took a step backwards.

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The upgrade still works
Jun 8, 2019 1:23AM PDT

In April I upgraded a bunch of PC's at work, including some purchased in December 2010. Those are running 32-bit with 3GB of RAM and they work fine. We basically do wordprocessing, browsing, email, etc., so nothing too demanding. We also do remote desktop into our clients' systems.  We did update most of them to SSD's, but even the ones still running hard disks run at acceptable speed.

I don't have any insider info, but it's a pretty safe bet that once Win 7 reaches EOL MS will cut off the free upgrades.

Some caveats and considerations:

1) You may have to upgrade in stages. I had all kinds of problems trying to upgrade to 1803. I wound up upgrading to 1703, then to 1803, then to 1809. Several machines said they could not be upgraded.  When I went to 1703 it worked fine. And then the one's that "couldn't" run newer versions all did work when I did the upgrade from 1703 rather than directly from 7 to 1803.

2) You can do a bare minimum upgrade from Win 7 to 1703, i.e., once it's running 1703 don't pull down all the updates. The same when going from 1703 to 1803 and to 1809. Once you hit 1809, then do all the updates.

3) If you're running Pro, once you have upgraded to 1703 and activated Remote Desktop you can do the rest by Remote Desktop--yes, even the version upgrades!

4) I haven't tried it, but if you're running Home, you probably could do the upgrades using Chrome Remote Desktop.

5) I did a bunch of the upgrades from Linux Mint over the Web using Chrome Remote Desktop into my office PC and from that did MS Remote Desktop into the PC's I was upgrading--worked fine!

6) Win 10 File Explorer cannot Run As Administrator--period. There are various supposed hacks that will make it say it's running as administrator. But it's actually not. I wound up installing FreeCommander XE, which can Run As Administrator.

7) Classic Shell Menu still does work although development stopped in December 2017. You'll probably prefer that over the Win 10 menu.

8 ) I suggest you also add QTTabBar, which adds a number of capabilities to File Explorer.

9) You may want to try the Waterfox web browser. Firefox abandoned a lot of the older add-ons, but Waterfox, which is based on the Mozilla code, still supports them.

10) Be aware that some of your programs might see it as a new install and you could hit "maximum installs exceeded" or "product key already used". Many of the smaller vendors only support the current and previous two versions.  If you call Tech Support for an older version, you could be told, "Sorry, we don't support that any longer.  You'll need to buy the current version."

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OLD stuff still works
Jun 8, 2019 1:37AM PDT

By the way, a bunch of folks at the office are running Office 2007 and I have that at home (and was using it earlier tonight.)

I routinely run WordPerfect X4, which is from around 2009. I have a Compaq laptop I bought as a refurb with Vista. I later upgraded that to Win 7, then to Win 8.1 Pro, and then to Win 10 Pro. I had to buy a new laptop last year to hook into a TV that doesn't have a VGA input. But the Compaq still does work.

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upgrade to Windows 10
Jun 8, 2019 2:21AM PDT

Briefly I use a PC for most things and particularly for flight simulators and also use a plug in mouse because it is much easier that way. But Windows 10 is not happy with these games anymore and if you have Microsoft games earlier the FS X they will not work, even X does not always work without a lot of fiddling about and this may well apply to other software, so do check first..
My own choice would be go for a new machine ( laptop or PC ) with Windows 10 already installed as you will get a lot of extras that way and a guarantee for a year as well.

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Reply to Upgrade my old laptop
Jun 8, 2019 5:40AM PDT

2014's not old, I have a 2009 Gateway 64 bit, 4gb ram, regular hard drive, that came with Vista and have done all the free upgrades and now run windows 10 with no problem. Its my daily computer. I use the free Open Office with no problem. Have all kinds of other free programs. Do minor video and photo editing with no problem.

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The specs are great for 10, however..
Jun 8, 2019 5:44AM PDT

It's an HP, does it have dual band wifi. HP is known to still use the 2.4GHz in most models and what is the speed of the i5. I just don't trust HP and it appears I have reason sine one of my clients who buys Lenovo's from me, works for HP. Others work for IMB who is taking away their employees Lenovo laptops and giving them Mac's, yes, it's true, IBM is doing a lot of work with Apple now and gave their tech's Mac's. So they come to me for Lenovos. I also sell to SAS and Google employees. The only people I have asking about HP's are wanting laptops for their daughters, because HP makes a pretty laptop. My sister bought and HP and a year later I sold it to a guy because she stole one of my Lenovo's Her HP had 10 days left on the warranty.

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Upgrade I think
Jun 8, 2019 5:59AM PDT

I have a similar decision to make in respect of 2 machines but I have already upgraded 2 machines dating from 2013. The ones on "decision" are older. I also still have 2 machines on WinXP. The older machines are required to access, for record and legal reasons, some old software although that requirement runs out at the end of 2021. All the machines are Dells, and are working fine if a little slowly. I will switch to the 2 Win10 machines for most things later this year but there are one or two niggling hardware issues which will mean changes to how I work.

Come late this year I may well upgrade one of the remaining Win7 machines to Win10, and try out Linux on one of the XP machines. Why would I not buy new - well the machines are all working, one or two have had replacement hard drives and I have spares, and I have not as yet thrown away a laptop because it wouldn't work, only because it had become slow. Plus, I've retired and would prefer not to spend the money. Win10 doesn't seem to slow down machines. Linux would seem viable on the even older XP machines and I'd like to try it as most of the software I use has suitable Linux alternatives.

Did I have issues upgrading? Yes, it took time and a couple of false starts. The subsequent version upgrades(not security upgrades) also have given problems but most of these problems have been solved since I started to uninstall antivirus and encryption software before the upgrade, and reinstall it after completing the upgrade. I have lost the use of a card reader in Win10 and it does not seem happy with some external hard drives and definitely with lan connected usb hubs. Most other things seem to work fine. The issues I have are probably driver related but I have not found solutions.

HTH

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Upgrade my old laptop or buy new one
Jun 8, 2019 6:13AM PDT

My HP dv7-3085dx 17" (Icore7) new in 11/2009 w/Win7 home premium 64bit will be TEN YEARS OLD this Nov. I did the free upgrade to Win10 when it came out. Used MS security, Malwarebytes, and others none of which wasn't very good and over the years I had several issues that I was painfully able to overcome. I bought this LT because it was basically, an entertainment "portable PC" with very good parameters for its time, a good graphics card and with Office 2007. I never used for gaming, I just wanted the power it offered for its time.

I frequently heard and had seen the advertisements for PC Matic, in one ear, out the other. Finally, after issues primarily with security, I finally decided to give it a try. Man, why did I wait so long.? Once I installed it, and dumped all the other security programs it was like brand new all over again. Very fast startups, no more BS infiltrating or compromising my security. This year I maxed out my RAM with new cards and replaced the 500mb HDD with a new 2TB SSD. I pondered for some time about buying a new machine but, why? This computer works great. I may buy a new machine once the next generation of processors is out and tested but I don't forsee trashing this machine anytime soon.

My suggestion Lauren, upgrade all you can for yours and definitely give PC Matic a try.
Rob

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Why upgrade?
Jun 8, 2019 7:54AM PDT

Since you haven't or don't plan on purchasing new hardware, I see no reason to upgrade. What I do suggest is clean up your current computer, get rid of cookies and any other useless files. Do a defrag, then copy your system drive (simple EaseUS copy software) to another hard drive. Why copy? Because, if in the future, you get a virus and/or corruption to your system drive (C:/) you have a back up. Otherwise, you'll wind up paying for a new computer and most likely hardware as well because Windows 10 might not be compatible with your old hardware (printer, scanner, etc.). Bottom line: Take a few minutes to get the free copy software and copy your drive...or, spend needless money on a new computer and more money on a new printer (all because of compatible drivers).

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Should still be good.
Jun 8, 2019 8:10AM PDT

If based on what you say that it is only being used as a storage unit, & not as a laptop with an internet connection, there is no reason to go to W10. The most important thing is to make sure you have a hard drive in good working order. My wife has a very similar one as yours even age wise & she kept complaining how it would take longer just to load up than it used to. Even after doing hard drive clean up. It did not help. Installed an SSD and now it fly's. Like I said earlier, if you are not going online with it, it should be just fine as is.
Now if you are transferring doc's, etc. from your iPhone to the laptop using wifi, then I would definitely look at a new computer with W10 pre-installed.
I have W10 and am still able to use a couple of old programs from XP.

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Hate windows 10
Jun 8, 2019 2:17PM PDT

I hated the upgrade to 10 so much that I bought. MiniMac. I love it and wish I’d done it years ago!!

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Yes, Use New Install
Jun 8, 2019 10:58PM PDT

I have a HP Pavilion dv6 Series (i7, dual-core) that is older than your 5-year-old one. Upgrading from win 7 was no good - it actually slowed down the system. However, I decided to take a different tack and did a complete new install. This overcame the problem of slowing down. It was fine. As for the Office, I still use Office 2007 and find it as good as the latest one. I also use the Adobe Master Suite for design work and video editing which both require a lot of power - no problems; in fact better tan my new Asus quad-core unit. So, copy your old files and do a complete new install.

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You Don't Have Much to Lose
Jun 10, 2019 12:38PM PDT

Being a computer repair tech for 12 years, I have seen a serious slow-down on the need for new hardware, unless you are doing some very graphic or processor heavy work (gaming, video rendering, Photoshop etc.)....Your machine specs are more than okay for Windows 10 as a solid light-use computer, and you can still upgrade for free using your Windows 7 Product Key (just remember to install the right version for your key!)....make sure you have everything backed up, either to the cloud or to an external hard drive or flash drive...then download the media creation tool and follow the steps. It's a quick, easy install and Windows 10 is quite a bit quicker than Windows 7, especially as it gets bogged down after years.

If you are concerned about speed or reliabiltiy you could upgrade to Solid State Drive. The price per GB is much lower than it was a few years ago, and some quality ones with decent storage can be found for well under the $200...you mentioned the internal DVD writer has failed, you can actually get a caddy where you could install and SSD drive in your old DVD writer spot as well...then you could keep your 750GB Hard Drive, and have an SSD boot drive. I do that frequently on older laptops so that people can upgrade cheap without losing storage. A 128GB SSD and the Caddy can be had for less than $100 and it will boost the speed of your PC tenfold...but I digress, Windows 10 is an easy upgrade, and you're about to lose all support for Windows 7.

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Upgrade to Windows 10, or even do nothing!
Jun 11, 2019 9:47AM PDT

Dear Lauren
I'm usually the person who says "buy a new one". But in your case I would do nothing, not even upgrade to Windows 10, assuming you never use the computer for work. Why? Because you are barely using it at all. I had a Vista laptop which did just fine for years after it was no longer supported. It was only used for a few tasks, and as long as I kept current my anti-virus/firewall (free version of Zonealarm) there were no issues. As with all computers it should be backed up frequently to an external hard drive; do not ever click on links in emails; and do not ever open a downloaded file until you have right-clicked on it and run your anti-virus on it. (Good advice for an up-to-date PC also.)

If you use the laptop for work, or anyway would feel better upgrading to Windows 10, back up everything to an external hard drive before you start.

(General reminder: external drives should only be connected when you want it to add recent files to the backup. If you leave the drive in all the time, a virus or ransomware might destroy your backup.)

Good luck - let us know what you do and how it goes!