Windows 10 Computer Recommendations
 

My girlfriend has retired and has to return her "work" computer.

Her Samsung Windows 7 computer which she purchased rebuilt is, to be blunt, a kludge. (The more I worked with it, the lower became my opinion of Samsung.) She is going to see whether work will let her purchase her "work" laptop (it's almost three years old and she has been with this outfit off and on for almost four decades, so she just might pull it off).

I am considering getting her a new laptop as a gift, because she is who she is.

I'm not asking for a brand recommendation--I have had good experiences with Dells and would most likely will get her a Dell. I have not used with regularity any version of Windows more recent than Win7, which was actually a rather usable thing.

I have no hope of weaning her from Windows, because that's what she's used to; she has no interest in learning how to use a new OS. However, she may be receptive to a Mac.

She uses email and surfs the web. She is adept at using MS Word, as her employer was a Windows shop and Word was what she did. She is a cautious and savvy web and email user who delights in spotting and trashing spam.

A new machine would certainly come with Windows 10. If you have used Windows 10, what are your impressions and reactions? (I am not interested in polemics about Windows; any polemics you might produce cannot meet, let alone exceed, my own opinion of that product.)

If you have used a Mac, ditto.

I'm a big fan of Dell, posting this with an upgraded W10pro system on a 3 year old Dell Vostro desktop. For Dell laptops I prefer the Latitude series. I got a couple year old Latitude with W7Pro from ebay recently, with SSD, under 200 bucks.

I have a Lenovo 17" i7 laptop with touchscreen, came with W8.1 pro and upgraded to W10. Runs great, but I despise the keyboard and touchpad on it, and probably will never get a Lenovo again.

Bloody awful.
I upgraded a couple of my machines and wish I hadn't - the Win7 laptop is staying as-is.

My other half bought a HP "convertible" (touch screen rotates over) with Win7 a while back and that got "upgraded" too. She hates it, and wants Linux back. Am in the process of updating Mint Mate to 18 to see if it handles the lid-close and suspend/hibernate events better than 17.
I suspect Win10 will be ignored on that machine too ...

Is there a way you can rent or borrow a Macintosh and a Vista10 machine for a week and let her try both? Then she can make a more informed decision after a few days. Those that I've lent Macintoshes to in the past have usually ended up upgrading to Mac or even Linux, once the psychological barrier of 'different' is broken.

No one I know directly uses Vista10. Those that I know who are still on Windows have avoided it after having looked at it, but they will face a hard choice someday soon. OS X users have a little more time, but the writing is on the wall for it too unless Apple changes direction with their development choices.

Two second hand cases about Vista10, both negative:

I know someone who knows someone who has Vista10 infecting their computer. I only hear about it because the person I know complains frequently that the Vista10 user is often missing deadlines because of OS-specific problems popping up -- nearly every week. So there is a ripple effect.

Someone else I know arranged for their parent's computers to use Linux Mint rather than Vista10. Apparently they tried it and it was not met with joy, to put it mildly, so they decided to get more life out of the old machine with Linux Mint instead.

Hi...

I've used it a handful of times so far helping clients. In terms of look and feel, to me it's pretty much a sequel to Windows 8/8.1, if you've ever used that. Two important changes from 8/8.1 that helped, in my opinion, were the reinclusion of the start menu and, after logging in, the OS goes straight to the desktop. No Metro screen, although it can be re-enabled using the instructions shown in this video.

Probably my two biggest concerns regarding Windows 10 Home is that 1.) you cannot legally turn off the automatic update feature nor is there any mechanism in the OS to do so. The only possible exception or workaround is if you're using a wireless (not ethernet) and metered connection. If Microsoft creates a buggy or defective update (like the one that caused a boot loop in systems with AMD processors using Windows XP,) then, unless they remove it, avoiding it in the future or recovering the system is made more difficult. The Pro version allows you to disable it using the Group Policy Editor. 2.) Microsoft has greatly changed what is allowable (by Microsoft) under the EULA (concerning user privacy) in Windows 10, more so, I think, than any previous version of Windows. Although some of it may be personal opinion, you can find more information and examples here and here. :(

Regards...

Thinkpad all the way... :):thumbsup: (refurbished is cheaper tho I wipe 10$ so no comment there.)

Please discourage her from "pulling off" the purchase of her erstwhile "work" laptop considering that it is almost three years old.

OK

I purchased a cheap Win 10 laptop (Lenovo "ideapad" 100) thinking it would be an interim purchase until I could find something better after both my ancient desktop and laptop 'bit the dust' in the same week. That was more than a year ago. Win 10 runs fine and I have Ubuntu 16.04 running in a VM. Frankly, about the only time I boot Ubuntu is to manipulate photographs which I like to do with perl scripts from the cli. My only complaint is the one voiced at post #5 concerning forced automatic updates.

How much are you willing to spend and what screen size/resolution?

The Rest of the Story
 

Thanks for all the feedback. I agree about Windows 7 vs. Windows 10, but a new machine will come with Windows 10 and I have been unable to convert her to using a real OS; on my Windows 7 machine, I fought the automatic "upgrade" tooth and mouse for months.

As for updates, she may be the type of user the non-interruptible updates are intended for, as she finds the Windows update routine so annoying (which it is) that she does not update her current machines often enough.:)

We ordered the machine today and, after deciding that she really had little use for a laptop any more, as she no longer needs to carry one around for work reasons and doesn't want to lug one on a flight to visit family (all of whom have computers she can borrow when she's visiting), she picked this All-in-One.

I already have a Lenovo All-in-One (it was a gift, and a big surprise when it arrived at our door!) and she likes it, plus she likes the prospect of a big screen and the regular keyboard.

When it arrives, I'll post an update.

I promised an update, so here it is.

The computer arrived yesterday, two days earlier than promised. It seems to be a nice machine.

The set-up process was annoying. Microsoft include a dialog in all the read-this-before-you-finish-booting stuff) that implied that creating a microsoft.com account was somehow required to use the machine (and, of course, it's not).

The Windows menu with all its thumbnails is a disastrous hodgepodge of distractions and sales pitches. The program listing is alphabetical with headers A, B, C, etc..

We paid for MS Office Business (not Office 365--she's lived inside Office for most of her career as a proofreader and magazine editor), and haven't found it yet. Well, that's not strictly true; we found PowerPoint.

The hunt will continue tomorrow.

frankbell,

I think both of you will greatly appreciate using Classic Shell instead of the poorly designed (IMO) W10/W8.1 layout.

You can choose between Classic, Two Columns or W7.

Click on the different tabs to see which layout is preferred:
http://www.classicshell.net/

That dell should do the job nicely, Dell has come a long way in recent years in terms of quality control.
Sure issues still happen but Dell is still a good company.
I know if i didnt have the skill I do in PC building i would buy a Dell

It's her computer. She's been using computers as long as I have; she's just not as interested in how they work as I. Her first computer was one of the early Macs (which she still has for some fool reason).

I will answer questions and help when asked, but that's where it ends.;)

(Later)

As an aside, I've owned a number Dells. I must have been lucky enough not to buy one when Dell was having QC problems.

MS Privacy-Invading Nagware
 

I thought I'd add this nugget.

Today, she was trying to read her mail and a big "create a Microsoft.com account" window opened, maximized, without a close or minimize button in the title bar, and with no menu option to make it go away. She had no idea what, if anything, she'd done to cause it to open. If you aren't familiar with Microsoft.com accounts, they pretty much give MS even a greater free run of your data than Windows 10 out-of-the-box.

I was able to close it with ALT-F4 (which she wrote down for the next time). Her webmail was right there behind it.

The sleazy. It burns.