Windows 7 Premium vs. MS Office Home and Student

untranslatable

Hello,

I hope somebody can enlighten me: I need a new laptop, somewhere in the £350 range, but I don't get my head around the different operating systems: Most of Curry's laptops in this price range come with Windows 7 Premium, while those from Argos have MS Office Home and Student installed. - Now, what is the difference, which is better?

Thanks for your input.

googler

MS Office isn't an Operating System. It's a program/application, so you're comparing Apples and Oranges.

If you want to work on Word Docs, Spreadsheets etc you either need a PC with an Op Sys, then install MS Office (or equivalent), or you buy a PC with MS Office pre-installed.

If you buy with it pre-installed, make sure it comes with backup or restore disc(s), so that if your Hard Drive throws a wobbly, you can re-install.

untranslatable

Did I mention that I don't have a clue about computers? ;-)

I still don't get it: Does it mean that this one http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5085824/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/2|14418968|Laptops+and+netbooks|14419039.htm
and that one http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/compaq-presario-cq57-364sa-15-6-laptop-11439859-pdt.html have the same software?

What I need is a computer that will run several translation softwares which will take quite some storage. And I want it to run smoothly when I have half a dozen of documents and twice as many browser tabs open. At the moment I have Dell netbook with 1 GB /500GB and Windows Starter, and it's definitely not up to the task. I was told that 500GB for the hard drive and 4 GB RAM are okay for what I need - that shouldn't be a problem.

The problem is the software. Ideally I should get the full Office version (wrong word again, I suppose), but I am on a budget and have to make do with what I can get in this price range - as long as it's better than the rubbish on my netbook, it's a progress.

Mr_Toad

untranslatable wrote: »

Hello,

I hope somebody can enlighten me: I need a new laptop, somewhere in the £350 range, but I don't get my head around the different operating systems: Most of Curry's laptops in this price range come with Windows 7 Premium, while those from Argos have MS Office Home and Student installed. - Now, what is the difference, which is better?

Thanks for your input.

In addition to what the others have said you need to check exactly what they mean by 'MS Office Home and Student installed.'

I think you'll find that it is installed but that it's only a 60 day trial version. MS Office Home and Student costs about £70 to buy so there will be a hidden cost.

Do you have MS Office on your current laptop? There's no reason why you can't uninstall it from the old one and install it on your new one.

f1charlie

Would one of the free office suites do the job eg:

http://www.libreoffice.org/

untranslatable

Ha, trial version! I knew that I had missed something essential - thanks a lot, masonn!

So the Argos laptops come with MS Windows 7 Premium just like Curry's stuff; Home Office & Student is just a teaser.

My netbook has Windows Starter - that's a slimmed down version of I don't know what - no Power Point, no Track Changes, spellchecker only for a few languages, but not for mine - grrr!
I thought about upgrading, but the trouble is the small hard drive and RAM - it's too small to install the translation softwares I need in order to get work with the big translation agencies, and it is awfully slow when I use several documents and browser tabs at the same time, which I frequently need to do.

untranslatable

@ f1charlie: Thanks for the link, I saved it - maybe I can tune up the new laptop a bit. Bit as mentioned above, I need a machine with a bigger hard drive and RAM anyway.

It will be one of them, I suppose:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/laptops/315_3226_30328_xx_BA00002918-BV00196045-BA00002920-BV00196049/xx-400-criteria.html

Any advice which one I should or shouldn't choose?

Mr_Toad

untranslatable wrote: »

Ha, trial version! I knew that I had missed something essential - thanks a lot, masonn!

So the Argos laptops come with MS Windows 7 Premium just like Curry's stuff; Home Office & Student is just a teaser.

My netbook has Windows Starter - that's a slimmed down version of I don't know what - no Power Point, no Track Changes, spellchecker only for a few languages, but not for mine - grrr!
I thought about upgrading, but the trouble is the small hard drive and RAM - it's too small to install the translation softwares I need in order to get work with the big translation agencies, and it is awfully slow when I use several documents and browser tabs at the same time, which I frequently need to do.

Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/ and Libre Office are both free and excellent Office packages.

You can work and save documents and spreadsheets in Microsoft Word and Excel format but you may lose some of the formatting etc.

If it's for work use and everyone else is is using MS Office then that might be your best option.

If you send them documents done in Libre or Open Office they may not appear as intended when they open them in Word, you'd have to try it.

googler

Buy one of them and look on eBay for MS Office if you want it, or download the free office equivalents that others have mentioned....

f1charlie

If you are a student or you have children at school/college you can get Office 2010 Professional for £38 here:

http://www.software4students.co.uk/Microsoft_Office_2010-software.aspx


How about this laptop as it has a 17" screen whereas most of the others are 15":

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/dell-inspiron-q17r-17-3-queens-laptop-black-10562291-pdt.html?intcmpid=display~RR~Computing~10562291

System

untranslatable wrote: »

What I need is a computer that will run several translation softwares which will take quite some storage. And I want it to run smoothly when I have half a dozen of documents and twice as many browser tabs open.

6 instances of Word (newest versions don't run MDI)
IE with multiple tabs open
Several translation apps running

If you want it to be doing all that at the same time and not slow down you need a pretty powerful laptop.