Worth upgrading laptop?

catoutthebag

I currently have a hp 550 laptop which is 5 years old this summer :T
Cost 330 new
I'm thinking of upgrading, however I doubt myself
I use a laptop a few times a year to do my tax on excel, basic photo edit using sd card, & watch DVD occasionally

I feel I can do none of the above on my nexus tablet (or it would be awkward)

My laptop is running vista or xp, can't remember which, but functions ok

I fear it may die at any moment & be worthless, whereas I can maybe get £50 for it working or more

I have seen the asus f551ma for around £280
However don't think it has a DVD driver? Do many not?
Makes my DVD unusable because it seems a lot don't at the low end?
What are people doing? Ripping into external drive, ext DVD player, renting, illegally d:l?

grumpycrab

catoutthebag wrote: »

However don't think it has a DVD drive?

Think it does.

But its slow so forget it. You said your current one "functions ok" so keep it. Its been said many times before - make a backup (e.g. Macrium image backup).

closed

doesn't make sense spending £100's on something you only intend to use a few times a year when you have something that works and does that already

macman

If it only 5 years old then it won't be running XP.
Laptop don't just 'die'. Components fail, and primarily the hard drive. As long as you've got a back up, replacement and recovery is painless.

tronator

macman wrote: »

If it only 5 years old then it won't be running XP.

My laptop is in its 6th year and came with Vista with the XP downgrade option.

catoutthebag

Yes. I had vista but changed to xp (or friend did it for me)

Think ill hold off, I guess.

Have essentials backed up (employment accounts)

Was worried that if components died, someone would attempt/be able to still retrieve stuff unscrupulously

Other question : I have a couple decent 500gb hard drives. Are all brands the same? When do you stop making copies of a copiesof a copy? They all have a shelf life. I've emailed myself main accounts stuff as another back up

macman

The only place your data is held is on the hard drive. Remove or wipe that and no one else can access the data.