DELL Latitude E6420-All laptop battery | http://www.labatterie.fr

… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.I’m (still) on Vista Home Premium SP2. My Acer Aspire 6930G is nearly six years old but it does everything I need, except I can’t upgrade beyond IE9 and that is increasingly limiting. I could change to another browser but I find Firefox quite flaky and would rather avoid Google products if possible – and I understand that Chrome support for Vista is going soon anyway.

Windows Vista shipped in November 2006 – nine years ago – and Microsoft will stop supporting Vista SP2 in April 2017. I don’t expect the wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanied the end of Windows XP in 2014, because of Vista’s tiny market share (it’s roughly the same as Linux). None the less, Vista users should be planning to migrate to something else.According to your email, your Acer Aspire 6930G has an Intel Core Duo P7450 processor with 4GB of memory. Reviews suggest this machine also had a dedicated graphics card that made it suitable for some gaming, so check the system info to see if you have a Nvidia 9600M GT installed. Some models also had Blu-ray drives.Since you’re not a gamer, I can well understand why your Acer does everything you need. The P7450 processor is almost as fast as a new quad-core Pentium N3540, which is one of the best Atom-based chips of its generation (Bay Trail). In fact, CPU Boss says a single P7450 core is actually faster than an N3540 core. Obviously, the P7450 loses on built-in graphics (it scores 0.0), but if you have a dedicated graphics card, that’s not a problem.The problem is that if you buy a cheap Windows 10 machine with 2GB of memory, it could well be slower than your old Acer. You might have to go for something with an Intel Core i3-4020Y or hotter Intel Core i3-2310M or better to get a faster laptop. In its day, the Aspire 6930G was probably a very good Minecraft machine, so last week’s column will give you some useful hardware tips. (What’s the best laptop for running Minecraft?)A better browser?

I don’t share your view of Firefox: it’s my main browser. Try the current version 43 to see if you still think it’s flaky. I find it rarely crashes nowadays, though I use the Session Manager extension so I can reload tabs if the auto-reload fails.I do share your wariness of Google, but it’s easy to do without Chrome. I’ve replaced Chrome with the Vivaldi browser, which is now in beta testing. Vivaldi is based on the open source Chromium code and runs almost all Chrome extensions. Other current browsers based on Chromium include Comodo Dragon, Torch, and Opera. Like Chrome, they all consume too many resources.Google has announced that, from April 2016, it will stop supporting Chrome on “Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8, since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft and Apple”. Google really ought to know that Vista SP2 will be supported until April 2017. Either way, you would still be able to use Firefox, which “doesn’t select arbitrary dates for ending OS support”.Maxthon is another option. Maxthon uses the rendering engines from both IE and Chrome, and there’s a button to switch between them. (I assume it’s based on Chromium and therefore excludes the proprietary code that Google adds in Chrome.) Maxthon would avoid some of IE9’s limitations while enabling you to get most of the benefits of Chrome.

I like it because it’s got a 17.1in screen, but it’s getting slower and creakier. Could I just replace the existing hard drive with an updated one? Would this get me back to how it was performing when it was new? HughThe Toshiba Satellite P500 belongs to a class of high-specification laptops known as “desktop replacements”, and it should still perform well. Without seeing it, I can’t tell whether it’s a hardware or a software issue, but both can be improved. The main issues are whether you can spare the time to fix your laptop, and how much money you’re willing to invest in an old machine. These are the things that drive people to buy new laptops.Windows includes a number of performance-monitoring tools, so you can run these before and after making changes to see how well they have worked.Desktop-replacement laptops typically use fast processors that tend to run hot. This can affect performance because the chip will either be throttled back or shut down altogether if it starts to overheat. You can reduce the risk by making sure there’s good airflow under your laptop, perhaps by standing it on a riser or cooler. You can check the internal temperatures (and many other things) using HWMonitor software. Consult the P500 manual for the maximum operating temperature, which is probably about 95F.Your machine may be overheating because it has five years’ worth of dust and detritus inside, especially if you’ve used it on carpets or fabrics. If you think this might be contributing to the problem, take the case apart and blow away anything that’s clogging the insides – especially, clean the fan. (A local PC shop could do this for you.)If the hard drive is still in good condition, then replacing it won’t help. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if a hard drive is failing, but running a hard disk checker such as HD Tune or Crystaldiskinfo will help.Either way, you could give your P500 a boost by upgrading the hardware in two ways.

First, you could expand the memory from 4GB to 8GB. System Scanner software from the Crucial website will tell you your options. Second, you could replace the old 500GB hard drive with a 128GB or 256GB SSD (solid-state drive). That will make your machine much more responsive, though you won’t have as much storage space. However, you can stick the hard drive in an external USB enclosure and still access your old data.With 8GB or memory and an SSD, your Satellite P500 should run faster than it did when it was new, even with today’s bloated websites.You can also try giving your laptop’s software a spring clean. You have probably installed lots of programs over the past five years, and you may have left the bundle of free Toshiba software – Service Station, Toshiba Assist etc – in place. Uninstall the ones you don’t need.The quickest way to spring-clean your hard drive is to run SlimCleaner. (Use the link that says “Download SlimCleaner Now from SlimWare Utilities” not the one for Download.com.)

It will list and rate the software you have installed, clear out old log files etc, and remove unwanted registry entries. Under Disk Tools, it also includes utilities to analyse, defrag, wipe and shred hard drives, plus a duplicate file finder.In the old days of DOS-based Windows and even Windows XP, the operating system tended to slow down under the weight of accumulated crud. Some of us did clean re-installations every 18-24 months. Happily, that’s not a problem with Windows 7, and I’m still using a five-year-old laptop that hasn’t slowed down. However, you could certainly try re-installing Windows 7.Your Toshiba should still have the original Windows code on a hidden partition, and a Recovery Media Creator utility that will create two DVDs so that you can take your P500 back to “factory condition”. Bear in mind that you will also have to download a few hundred megabytes of Windows updates and security patches, as well as re-installing all your programs and data files.Windows Update will automatically install all the updates in the required order in the background, so as not to affect what you’re doing. However, it could take two or three days and will probably require half a dozen or more restarts.

At least it’s not 60!Taking your P500 back to “factory condition” will mean that all the original Toshiba drivers will be re-installed. If this restores your laptop’s performance, I’d stick with those for a while. You can update the drivers (one at a time) later, but be ready to roll back a driver update if it hurts performance.If the software spring clean doesn’t make a significant difference, then installing more memory is the quickest, cheapest upgrade. After that, consider installing an SSD.At this stage, I wouldn’t bother re-installing Windows 7: I’d wait until you can do a clean installation with Windows 10, which will be free to Windows 7 users.In most respects, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 are better operating systems than Windows 7: they’re faster, more secure, run in less memory, and have generally been further optimised and debugged. They also provide the opportunity to run “modern” apps, which are securely sandboxed and controlled in ways that are not possible with old Windows desktop programs.

Microsoft Edge (formerly Project Spartan), the fast new not-IE browser, shows what can be done.Of course, not everyone prefers the Windows 8.1 user interface, especially on systems that don’t have touch screens. However, the Windows 10 user interface has been changed fairly dramatically to make apps much easier to handle with just a mouse and keyboard.While I think Windows 10 is worth a go, you will need to run the compatibility checker first, when it appears. Also, make sure you have working Windows 7 installation DVDs, so that you can go back to Windows 7 if you don’t like it. Alternatively, you can order Recovery Media from Toshiba’s support website by typing in your laptop’s serial number.The 13.3in notebook – which falls into the ultrabook category recently defined by Intel for very thin, light laptops – was shown off at the IFA technology show in Berlin on Thursday. Toshiba also launched a new Android tablet, the AT200.Andy Bass, Toshiba’s sales and marketing chief for the EMEA region, claimed that the company has been launching ultrabooks for many years now, in that it has always tried to make its laptops thin and light. However, he said, the Z830 was the thinnest and lightest yet.The Toshiba ultrabook is 15mm thick, despite which it offers three USB ports along with HDMI, VGA and Gigabit Ethernet ports. It weighs 1.11kg. Intel’s specification for an ultrabook says it must be 20mm thick at most, and weigh a maximum of 1.4kg.

The AT200 is also fairly thin, at 7.7mm. Running Android Honeycomb 3.2, it weighs 558g and has a 10.1in screen, putting into the same size category as the majority of Android tablets out there, as well as the iPad.Analysts at Nomura have expressed severe doubts about the viability of the ultrabook category, at least at the price point it seems to currently entail.Analyst Richard Windsor said in a briefing a week ago that Apple, whose MacBook Air laptop may be said to have spurred on the category, would be very difficult to compete with, given the control it has over its supply lines.Here the magic price seems to be $1,000, but it appears that the PC makers are really struggling to make this price point and still preserve a modicum of profit for themselves, Windsor said. This is the major reason why we do not believe that the ultrabook segment is really going to take off until next year.Windsor suggested that the advent of Windows 8, which allows the use of ARM’s architecture instead of Intel’s, would make devices cheaper, as would the availability of low-cost flash memory.Just as it is with tablets, non-Apple PC makers will need to be very price competitive before they are likely to see any real traction in that segment and the pieces to allow them to do that are still not really in place, Windsor said.Toshiba has said it is aiming to have the Z830 come in at under $1,000, but has not announced final pricing.Business computers are different from home computers, and have different requirements. One major consideration is the cost of downtime if your PC has a problem or stops working altogether. How quickly can you recover? Will you need a next-day on-site repair service?

Try to work out how much productivity – or business – you would lose if your PC wasn’t available for anything from three hours to three days. The bigger the number, the more you need to worry about downtime.Because of the different purchasing criteria, large PC manufacturers offer different ranges for businesses and home users. For example, Dell makes Inspiron and XPS PCs for consumers, and Latitude and Optiplex PCs for business users. HP’s Pavilion and Envy ranges target home users while ProBooks and EliteBooks are for businesses. (Yes, there are two ranges for each segment: one for “value” or price-conscious buyers and one for “luxury” or performance-oriented buyers.)In general, business laptops tend to be solid, reliable, and relatively easy to repair. Many include fingerprint or smartcard readers for extra security. Also, business laptops are slow to change, and manufacturers keep spare parts for several years. By contrast, consumer laptops are designed more for price and/or style than reparability – parts get soldered down in sealed cases – and models may change every year.Business PCs come with Windows Pro installed; this includes downgrade rights to run Windows 7, the business standard. Consumer laptops come with Windows 8 or 10 Home, and probably an extra helping of “crapware”.

Oldal ajánlása emailben

Kommentek