Do I need a new PC?

1…78101213…16

Comments

  • guy999
    guy999 Posts: 325 Forumite
    Is there much benefit in updating a basic pc, from home to pro?
    For me it would for W10 to W10 pro, the PC is used for internet, basic office type work, youtube etc.
    Cant see that i would use the additional features of the Pro however is supposed to have less bloatware,,, so should run quicker?

    Thanks
    A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.

    A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent,
    the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
  • ChuckMountain
    ChuckMountain Posts: 194 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 9 May 2018 at 11:38AM
    Yesterday it was a Dell latest version of the bios modified cracked to allow installs, hosted on a file sharing site.

    At the point of sale Dell themselves charge an extra £46.80 for an upgrade from Win 10 Home to Win 10 Pro. The guidance on various websites including MS, Dell and HP requires buying a product key even for OEM machines.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12384/windows-10-upgrading-home-to-pro

    What is your method of upgrade, do you use a new key?
  • ChuckMountain
    ChuckMountain Posts: 194 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 9 May 2018 at 7:56AM
    guy999 wrote: »
    Is there much benefit in updating a basic pc, from home to pro?
    For me it would for W10 to W10 pro, the PC is used for internet, basic office type work, youtube etc.
    Cant see that i would use the additional features of the Pro however is supposed to have less bloatware,,, so should run quicker?

    Thanks

    Are you running a desktop or laptop.

    Bloatware normally comes from the manufacturer of the machine adding additional software that you may or may not need. If you do a clean install of an OS you do not get this bloatware. Upgrading to Pro via the upgrade path will not get rid of any though.

    For a laptop it gives you Bitlocker encryption which encrypts your hard drive so if it is removed from your machine then you cannot access the files normally with out the encryption key. Most other functions are useful if you have multiple machines joined to a domain.

    w10-features.jpg
  • ChuckMountain
    ChuckMountain Posts: 194 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    AndyPix wrote: »
    You clearly have no idea what you are talking about - please stop ruining this thread

    The bios file that Everywhere linked to earlier, is a modified bios file hosted on the anonymous file sharing site Mega.

    Dell use unique filenames in their bios files that correspond to the version of the bios. New version, new file name.

    The latest version of the bios on Dell's website shares the same filename as the mega one, however the file is very much different in binary content. Therefore it has been modified, with the right tools this is not hard.

    This is no different to using a crack or other exploit to manipulate the licensing OEM or otherwise.

    If this didn't matter we could all buy our machines with the lowest version of Windows from any given vendor and upgrade when we felt like it at no additional cost. No need for vendors\MS to charge money for an upgrade to Pro\Ultimate etc.

    They may well be making large profits from this but that is their business model, and we might be trying to save money here but skirting round the issue and hiding behind an OEM royalty agreement is not an excuse.
  • tazwhoever
    tazwhoever Posts: 1,326 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    EveryWhere wrote: »
    You really should do the work yourself. Simply from the standpoint that you will understand how things work and not have to hand it over to a repairman every time something simple goes wrong.
    PCs were designed to be modular. That is, user upgradeable. Everything just slots into place. There is no complicated wiring etc. You can literally slot the RAM in and swap the HDD to SSD in five minutes.
    Forget about cloning the HDD. Why take old rubbish into the new house? Just transfer what you need after the Windows 7 installation.
    As soon as you install Windows 7, I can show you how to back up the Windows 7 activation and clean install Windows 10.

    Best to put certain characters on ignore. They are only cluttering the thread with long winded and pedantic posts and continued arguments. Almost every post filled with scaremongering.

    This is a website dedicated to saving money, not wasting it unnecessarily.

    For example, the machine that he has recommended to you can be purchased for between £50 to £85 with a mechanical hard drive(HDD). The addition of a 120 GB SSD costs £25.
    Therefore you can have the same machine, same spec for between £75 to £110.
    Yet he claims it is good value at £250.It doesn't even write to DVD.
    Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/HP-8200-Elite-500GB-Intel-Core-i5-2nd-Gen-3-1GHz-4GB-Desktop-XY146ET/129653539

    He doesn't care about you. he cares about his ego.

    Thanks,

    Could you kindly let me know which SSD drive and Ram 4GB/8GB I could buy from Amazon. I don't shop from eBay.
  • guy999
    guy999 Posts: 325 Forumite
    Hi
    If you go to the crucial website, they have a program you can download onto your pc, This will tell you correct type of memory to buy and the SSD .
    http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/upgrades?cm_re=uk-top-nav-_-uk-flyout-upgrades-_-uk-upgrades-home

    You can then buy from their, our google for the same items.
    Just purchased this today
    https://www.mymemory.co.uk/integral-120gb-p-series-5-sata-iii-2-5-ssd-drive-560mb-s.html

    I updated my own pc yesterday from 8.1 to 10, with the free microsoft update offer, which is still going on despite it says it finished... keys are in bios.
    A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.

    A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent,
    the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
  • ChuckMountain
    ChuckMountain Posts: 194 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    guy999 wrote: »
    Hi
    If you go to the crucial website, they have a program you can download onto your pc, This will tell you correct type of memory to buy and the SSD .
    http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/upgrades?cm_re=uk-top-nav-_-uk-flyout-upgrades-_-uk-upgrades-home

    You can then buy from their, our google for the same items.
    Just purchased this today
    https://www.mymemory.co.uk/integral-120gb-p-series-5-sata-iii-2-5-ssd-drive-560mb-s.html

    I updated my own pc yesterday from 8.1 to 10, with the free microsoft update offer, which is still going on despite it says it finished... keys are in bios.

    Yep that SSD is a good price from MyMemory it is ten pounds more on Amazon at the moment.

    Just make sure you have the exact model of your PC as a couple in the S range only have 2 memory slots. A visual check by opening the PC (you can check out how dusty it is) will confirm you have 4 memory slots.
  • tazwhoever
    tazwhoever Posts: 1,326 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Based on figures is SSD 120GB same as HDD 320GB? So should I go for SSD 240GB?

    With extra Ram, do I just slot the Ram in the slots and that's it? Meaning it is plug and play?

    Thanks
  • ChuckMountain
    ChuckMountain Posts: 194 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    tazwhoever wrote: »
    Based on figures is SSD 120GB same as HDD 320GB? So should I go for SSD 240GB?

    With extra Ram, do I just slot the Ram in the slots and that's it? Meaning it is plug and play?

    Thanks

    Your existing HDD has just under 3 times as much space as the 120GB SSD. You can buy a bigger SSD if you want but at more money. As the suggested upgrade route is to ultimately keep the old HDD you can save money by buying a small SSD.

    That way Windows is installed on the much quicker SSD and any large documents, movies, music etc can be stored on the bigger hard drive.

    You can check how much space you are using by pressing the Windows and E key together. Under there it should show how much space you are using note your 320GB drive will probably be reported as around 298GB or so total size in Windows.

    Windows7Explorer_thumb.jpg

    Re the RAM yes, so long as you have slots free you just plug it in, hence visually double checking first before ordering. They have notches so will only plug one way round. When you start the the PC it will detect the RAM as will Windows and you can check everything is working. You can do this before you start the disk swap.
  • tazwhoever
    tazwhoever Posts: 1,326 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    ChuckMountain, thanks.

    Ideally I wish to take out HDD and put in SSD (Win7 and all the applications). Throwing away HDD in the bin.

    That's why I was asking is SSD 120GB equivalent to HDD 320gb, or do I need more on SSD?

    My current drive is HDD 320GB -
    Drive C: 64.4GB free on 288GB
    Drive D: 3GB free on 10GB.

    With brands, which is better Kingston, SanDisk or Crucial, and so on?

    Thanks for advice on Ram.
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173K Life & Family
  • 247.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards