Time for a new laptop. Maybe...

[Grant Lamontagne]

Mine wouldn't boot this morning and since it has a wonky charger and wifi... it was fixed permanently with a hammer.  I feel better but then had to order a new one.

I grabbed this dell latitude for 599 CAD

http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/latitude-35x0-laptops/pd?oc=s005l356015usca&model_id=latitude-35x0-laptops

So we'll see how well it works.

I was looking at a slightly upgraded version of that- basically the same thing but with an i5 and 8gigs.  It looks like a good machine, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Def

It's more than enough for my needs!  Non 3d cad and email.  I only buy the Dell business machines as they come with anti glare screen.   In my day most were anti glare then apple convinced people glare was great.

I have mixed feelings- I had the anti glare on my old Dell Vostro 1000 and it was nice, but it also made the screen seem really dull.  My Toshiba had a standard (non-anti glare) screen and the colors were nicer, as long as you weren't in a bright setting or trying to use it during the day.

Def

[derekmac]

My MBP has the antiglare screen.  I don't think I would want to get a new laptop that doesn't have one.

[Smashie]

My Dell has the glass touch screen and I haven't had any problems with glare yet YMMV

[dks]

i have both types.
when done properly they both work

[Syph007]

When the weather is nice I work outside on the porch in summer.  Glossy sucks donkey nuts for outdoor day use.  If you are a basement dweller and rarely see sun, its probably a non issue. 

[jzmtl]

Even sunlight through window can make glossy screen unusable, I'm glad my current laptop has a matte screen. Color isn't as brilliant as glossy screen, but brilliant color isn't useful when you can't see it.

[Whoey]

glossy screens can be ok, but they are a very stupid idea for a touch screen imho. Constant cleaning required.

[Grant Lamontagne]

glossy screens can be ok, but they are a very stupid idea for a touch screen imho. Constant cleaning required.

I'm noticing that with this little HP machine.  It's a touch screen and glossy and absolutely full of fingerprints!

Def

[Syph007]

Got the laptop yesterday.  I was scared Id hate Win 10 but its just fine.  What everyone has said is true.. win 7 or win 10, 8 is garbage. 

The ram from my old vostro was the same as this new one so I pulled the 4gb from it and put in the new one for a total of 8gb.  Though when checking ram usage it hasnt gone past 3 so I dont know if that even has any value.

Im happy with the i3 vs i5.  Less power usage on a laptop is more important for me, battery life is always my first concern.  I didnt buy this to win a SETI number crunching award.  First use was 3.5 hours but that will always creep down over time but still acceptable. 

I love it has no optical drive, and it has all the ports I need ( dont think dirty! ).  My old one didnt even have hdmi, so that is one upgrade.

So.. so far so good.   

[jzmtl]

Yep win 10 is pretty good, like traditional windows for the most part, and tablet mode works well on tablets.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I like 10.  I think it is a great upgrade from 7, which was a good upgrade from XP.  Anything in between those was a pain in the arse.

That having been said, I did use Vista for a while with no real issues, and I am currently stuck on 8 and managing well enough.  But yes, I would much rather have 10.

Def

[jzmtl]

Isn't yours basically a tablet? 8 is actually decent for touch screen, liked it on my 8" tablet.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yes, it is both, but I really hate switching back and forth between the two different interfaces- when I try to play a video off the hard drive, open a photo etc it switches to the tile interface, while everything else is in the standard Windows Interface.  It's annoying having to switch back and forth.

Def

[jzmtl]

What if you use another program for those things, like VLC player for video (not sure about photos), that should keep it in standard windows mode.

[Whoey]

I admit I setup our laptop to log straight into the desktop instead of sitting at the tile screen in windows 8, also I tended to not use fullscreen apps as multitasking required back and forth.

[Grant Lamontagne]

What if you use another program for those things, like VLC player for video (not sure about photos), that should keep it in standard windows mode.

I do use VLC media player but I'm also not a fan of having to get add on soft ware to do things the machine does natively either.

VLC isn't a problem as it plays things the machine doesn't play in Windows Media so not a big deal there.  I just don't want to have to have to work around stuff that shouldn't need to be worked around.

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

I admit I setup our laptop to log straight into the desktop instead of sitting at the tile screen in windows 8, also I tended to not use fullscreen apps as multitasking required back and forth.

If the tile screen was just an expanded start menu that would be tolerable. I try to look at it that way, but when certain programs want to run on the tile gui and others want to run in desktop mode it gets a little annoying.

Win8 was just trying to do too much and only marginally succeeded.  It is still useful enough, and these are only minor annoyances but they also tend to be very visible in a machine as limited as the one I'm using.

Def

[jzmtl]

VLC is a much better player anyway, I install it first thing on new computers and completely disregard the built in windows video player.

[Smashie]

VLC is one the first apps I install on a fresh build.

Just a tip in case people have missed it, there's a website called ninite, select the apps you want and download the installer, it will install the apps you want without any crapware 

[raistlin65]

VLC is one the first apps I install on a fresh build.

Just a tip in case people have missed it, thee's a website called ninite, select the apps you want and download the installer, it will install the apps you want without any crapware 

Wow! Hadn't seen that before. Awesome. I usually like to do a reinstall of Windows on my main machine about every 1 to 1 1/2 years, so this will be really nice. 

[Syph007]

Ok it's just abut 2017 now... why is there still a num-lock button and why the smurf does it not default to ON.  Hands up who expects cursor key movements when you hit the number keys instead of, oh I dont know.. NUMBERS!  There used to be arrow and number keyrs on keyboards but now there are just numbers. 

Windows 10 does not solve this either and the regedit setting I tried failed as well as the bios setting to default to ON!

WHY!!!!!!!

[Smashie]

Ok it's just abut 2017 now... why is there still a num-lock button and why the smurf does it not default to ON.  Hands up who expects cursor key movements when you hit the number keys instead of, oh I dont know.. NUMBERS!  There used to be arrow and number keyrs on keyboards but now there are just numbers. 

Windows 10 does not solve this either and the regedit setting I tried failed as well as the bios setting to default to ON!

WHY!!!!!!!

No idea, but my Corsair keybod defaults to num lock on but more importantly doesn't give me crap functions on the F keys like some still do

[Whoey]

gotta be a setting...

[Smashie]

gotta be a setting...

Was this the reg hack you tried?

http://www.howtogeek.com/244606/how-to-enable-num-lock-automatically-when-your-computer-boots/

[Syph007]

gotta be a setting...

Was this the reg hack you tried?

http://www.howtogeek.com/244606/how-to-enable-num-lock-automatically-when-your-computer-boots/

Yep.  No luck with either 2 or the other number

[Smashie]

gotta be a setting...

Was this the reg hack you tried?

http://www.howtogeek.com/...when-your-computer-boots/

Yep.  No luck with either 2 or the other number

BIOS setting perhaps? Clutching at straws here

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've never even had a laptop with a number pad on it.... 

Def

[Whoey]

Bios setting does sound like it might be a possibility.

[Sazabi]

Ok it's just abut 2017 now... why is there still a num-lock button and why the smurf does it not default to ON.  Hands up who expects cursor key movements when you hit the number keys instead of, oh I dont know.. NUMBERS!  There used to be arrow and number keyrs on keyboards but now there are just numbers. 

Windows 10 does not solve this either and the regedit setting I tried failed as well as the bios setting to default to ON!

WHY!!!!!!!

Syph, I use an Acer desktop that originally came with Windows 8; in both 8 and 8.1, NumLock was defaulted to on, however, in the Windows 10 update, that is no longer the case, but I do not wish to mess with the BIOS settings to correct the annoyance.

[Syph007]

Ok it's just abut 2017 now... why is there still a num-lock button and why the smurf does it not default to ON.  Hands up who expects cursor key movements when you hit the number keys instead of, oh I dont know.. NUMBERS!  There used to be arrow and number keyrs on keyboards but now there are just numbers. 

Windows 10 does not solve this either and the regedit setting I tried failed as well as the bios setting to default to ON!

WHY!!!!!!!

Syph, I use an Acer desktop that originally came with Windows 8; in both 8 and 8.1, NumLock was defaulted to on, however, in the Windows 10 update, that is no longer the case, but I do not wish to mess with the BIOS settings to correct the annoyance.

Oh there is an option in the bios to default it to ON.  Ive toggled it both ways and windows 10 does not care. 

I know its not a major deal, but Im confused as to why the option even exists anymore.  Most keyboards that have a number pad have separate cursor keys anyway.