Aldi computer offer

Mumstheword

Thanks closed, I will spend some time later reading through that link!

RAM - could it be that some parts are incompatible, not just the ram, but anything, so my pc seems sluggish? I'll know better once I've followed the tips on here!

Lappys - I dont really know, the boys (and my oldest, a teenager, so officially an expert!) tell me they are broken. They wont start up. I'm going to get them to take them back to their dads at weekend. He was given them 'broken' originally, and fixed them up for the littlies to use. So if he can get them going again, great. If not, they may be able to use this pc instead. They dont really use the computer much.

closed

Little point speculating on the cause, slowness is rarely hardware related - if you follow that link the answer will probably become apparent. If you skip step 3 (and do it at the end), you should get results in less than half an hour.

Switch the laptops on, and describe what happens, which model of laptop, and how old they are.

Mumstheword

I think they are both Toshiba lappys, and there's no response at all to attempting to switch on, altho I havent checked myself. If the lappys are still here later (ie, not gone to the ex for fixing!) I will have a look, thanks! One of them was always poor. The other was fairly poor but better! They were both rescued from being binned and brought back to (slow) life for the kids!

A.Penny.Saved

Your current PC probably just needs an operating system (windows) re-install and it would work again as fast as it did when you first got it. Windows does tend to slow down and malfunction the older it gets and it does need a re-install after some time to freshen it up. System maintenance doesn't really help all that much if it is choked up with rubbish. The registry tends to become very bloated and fragmented which can slow things down by quite a bit.

How old is the windows installation you are using?

BTW, my browsers, I often run two at a time, have around 100-150 tabs open at a time. lol it brings 6 into perspective doesn't it?

If your using windows XP, try NTREGOPT to re-build your registry and see how much it gets reduced by. It doesn't delete anything because it's not a registry cleaner which I don't like using because they can mess things up more than solve anything.

It doesn't run at startup by default so it won't add more stuff to your startup list or slow anything down. You will have to manually run NTREGOPT on the start menu. It might not change things as much as night and day but it will improve things to some degree and certainly won't hurt anything. Do it on a rebooted system with nothing running and then reboot immediately.

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ You can get ERUNT which contains NTREGOPT and it also includes a registry backup utility.

De-fragmenting your hard drive might also help a little. But there will be nothing as good as a new windows install to freshen everything up to as good as new. It depends upon whether the person who put the PC together gave you a windows CD or recovery partition to restore windows. If so then back everything up and re-install or restore before spending money on hardware you could probably do without.

Mumstheword

Thanks APenny. I'll look at that one later too! I've said 'later' to all these as I'll have some time alone to digest it all properly.

I recently (last couple of weeks) defragged.

I cant remember how old this system is now, but 2 yrs ago it was due for a reformat and re-jig (whatever that all means), which didnt happen. It's XP if that gives an indication to age?

Gosh 100-150 tabs!!! *jealous* *no, really, BIG TIME jealous!!* I really could make some use of that! (well, maybe 15-20 lol) I do have to shut things down a lot to open up other things. I use the pc all day for both work and pleasure so could easily leave lots open at a time.

I think I've made a decision.....

Since the general concensus is that the other machine is good enough for me (maybe too good) and a reasonable price, I am getting one. (spoken to Aldi, who will put one aside for me, very good customer service for a limited stock product!)

This machine can then get a real going over. I wont be worried about messing it up. My teenager has asked repeatedly if he can format and reprogramme this one. I've always said yes, once I replace it! But I may hang fire til the new one is running (there's a link somewhere to Office for £40 as long as you have kids in school, sounds reasonable??) - and then go thru the links you've all given me on here, with him too, to see if we can clean this one up and get it in good shape. Failing that, I'll let him re-do it - it's all good practice for him in learning to do these things for himself!

Thank you all so much for your help so far, I really do appreciate it all.

bubblesbonbon

flossy_splodge wrote: »

mumstheword, this is a superb offerand if you can afford it, go for it.
Medion are highly reliable and the spec on offer is excellent.
I speak from experience, I am currently on a Medion laptop which is the best computer I have ever owned.
Just be aware that Aldi get queues for these computers so go early.
Best of luck.

I would second that. I have had mixed experiences with Medions - my trusty 6 year old 8383 still sounds like a Dyson on heat when doing anything beyond emailing but it is reliable.

I bought a Medion i3 machine last year that packed up with a motherboard failure after 3 weeks.

Fair play to Medion - they refunded without question on the dud and the Aldi 3 year warranty is a well worthwhile assurance.

The Medion Forum is well supported with very helpful bods. (Just like this one)
As Flossy says - Get down early if you want one _ Just read your last post and you have reserved one - well done

Chimpofdoom

Mumstheword wrote: »

This machine can then get a real going over. I wont be worried about messing it up. My teenager has asked repeatedly if he can format and reprogramme this one. I've always said yes, once I replace it! But I may hang fire til the new one is running (there's a link somewhere to Office for £40 as long as you have kids in school, sounds reasonable??) - and then go thru the links you've all given me on here, with him too, to see if we can clean this one up and get it in good shape. Failing that, I'll let him re-do it - it's all good practice for him in learning to do these things for himself!

Thank you all so much for your help so far, I really do appreciate it all.

Well to be fair, if your going to give the machine to your son.. then I'd suggest sticking Ubuntu onto it or even Edubuntu (education version of Ubuntu).

They are both free and run easily on older hardware. It does have a reasonable learning curve.. but usually kids pick it up quite easy (my 10 year old cousin was given his first Ubuntu box at Xmas and he's getting pretty good at it)

Openoffice (which is free too) will open word documents etc, so will handle that!

http://www.ubuntu.com/

2010

This pc is discussed here:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/aldi-pc-399-99-medion-akoya-base-unit-pc-amd-athlon-ii-x4-640-quad-core-4gb-ram/866496?page=1

But there are cheaper ones here if you don`t want to spend £400:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/segments/dhs/inspiron-570_headless_rec?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

BackOnTrack

Chimpofdoom wrote: »

Well to be fair, if your going to give the machine to your son.. then I'd suggest sticking Ubuntu onto it or even Edubuntu (education version of Ubuntu).

Pfft why bother with noddy linux tell him to install slackware.

Coveredinbees!!!!

wow 18 post until linux got mentioned must be a record.