non windows laptop?

zagubov

Unless you want to train yourself up on computer systems, I'd recommend switching to a mac for an easier life. I'd buy secondhand using the new silicon hardware. They keep their value well. I'm still running a 14-year old one as it plays DVDs I can cast on my TV. Newer ones are still user-friendly, intuitive and you never hear of anyone giving them up in disgust to get a Linux instead.

You can avoid a lot of intrusive software by using Brave or Firefox, and it can run MS Office or Mac equivalkets as well as LibreOffice. Free VPNs like ProtonVPN will run on it, as will most cloud services with minimal fuss.

EnPointe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6680548/non-windows-laptop

what is your use case ?

as that drives a lot of the decisions which is the most appropriate / least inappropriate alternate Operating system

HillStreetBlues

If OP finds Windows is slow performance wise, that seems to rule out a Mac, cost wise.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82115964#Comment_82115964

why?

A quality used Mac can be very affordable.

zagubov

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116019#Comment_82116019

And with their lengthier working life they can be better value in the long run. Avoids the "Buy cheap, buy twice" scenario you get with other systems.

GDB2222

I don’t know about Mac’s but my Windows PC is running fine still. It was built in 2012/13. It’s not W11 compatible of course but it runs W10 pretty briskly.

However, there’s a good reason to phase it out prematurely, namely the electricity usage, as a more modern processor will use around 50 watts less. So, that’s a potential saving of £100+ a year. I expect that similar arguments apply to elderly Mac's, running on similar processors.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116312#Comment_82116312

On the old intel CPUs then the draw from the CPU was identical irrespective of it ran MacOS or Windows. On a like for like laptop then Mac overall tended to be a little lower power consumption for various reasons but not night and day difference.

An old windows machine however could have been notably more power efficient by having a low resolution/brightness screen or a fatter case allowing better thermals as macs always were the higher end, thinner materials etc.

When mac first moved to ARM there was a night and day difference with macs getting several hours more from the same battery and performance than a windows machine. Intel have certainly upped their game now but mac with its vertical integration and RISC architecture remain ahead of intel windows machines in power efficiency… windows though arent limited to x86 any more too though and a snapdragon CPU windows machine is very close to a mac for power efficency given it too is a RISC architecture

finbaar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82115100#Comment_82115100

There's nothing special or magical about Apple Macs, and certainly nothing that makes life easier compared to other operating systems. Nothing. If a Apple Mac works for you then that's great. But the are other options that would be just as good. I personally don't use an Apply Mac as the OS isn't intuitive to me and I find it ugly to look at, but when you get into the browser most of that goes away. However, there's no "Apple Magic" in any of their products.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116019#Comment_82116019

What's affordable to one, can be unaffordable to another.

TheComputerGuru

For What it's worth.

I have an aging Linx 12X64 tablet PC

I have installed Linux Mint on it with success follwing the tutorial here.

Installing Linux on a Linx 12x64 Tablet

Linux Mint takes a bit of getting used to being a ingrained windows user, since V3.11 (Windows for Workgroups).