3 ms·

Vista is plain aweful. I bought a cheap $400 laptop for my parents, and unfortunately it came with vista. I should have just wiped it out, and installed XP, b

by ardit33 19y ago

Vista is plain aweful. I bought a cheap $400 laptop for my parents, and unfortunately it came with vista. I should have just wiped it out, and installed XP, but I didn't have time. The user interface is confusing, menus are incoherent, and the web 2.0 gradients everywhere create huge readibility problems in cheap lcd screens. I also had problems with remote help and connection, and had to use a third party solution to help my parents on some problems they had. If you are looking for a cheap laptops for your parents, just don't go with vista. Just install XP, or even Ubuntu would be better. Unfortunately for 400-500 dollars you can't buy anything with Mac Os in it. Mac Os seems to be easier to operate, especially for older folks.

cstejerean 19y ago
It gets worse. I bought a laptop for my mom that came with Vista as well. I wiped Vista to put XP on it, but I couldn't find drivers for XP for things like the wireless card. Turns out some of the newer hardware doesn't even come with XP drivers. I would have but Ubuntu on there but unfortunately my parents need some Windows only software for various reasons.
dhimes 19y ago
XP costs $200--half the price of the machine! That's why I am willing to endure the pain of making Linux work. It's wonderful, but lags in driver release.
mechanical_fish 19y ago
Unfortunately for 400-500 dollars you can't buy anything with Mac Os in it. Is this true? It might be. And yet I'm going to offer this old quote from the Car Talk guys: "In the immortal words of former GM president Roger Smith, when asked by John White, who works for the Boston Globe, what kind of car can an American buy if he wants to buy an American car for under ten grand and if he wants to buy a General Motors car? And Roger Smith thought for a second and said, 'A two-year-old Buick.'" So perhaps the used Mac market would be helpful. I'd be a little bit worried about reliability -- the warranty repair rate on Macs seems a bit higher as Apple and the rest of the PC world continue to push product costs into the nether regions -- but, hey, what do you want for $400? Of course, used Macs hold their prices pretty well, so your statement may be accurate.

by ardit33 19y ago

cstejerean 19y ago

It gets worse. I bought a laptop for my mom that came with Vista as well. I wiped Vista to put XP on it, but I couldn't find drivers for XP for things like the wireless card. Turns out some of the newer hardware doesn't even come with XP drivers. I would have but Ubuntu on there but unfortunately my parents need some Windows only software for various reasons.

dhimes 19y ago

XP costs $200--half the price of the machine! That's why I am willing to endure the pain of making Linux work. It's wonderful, but lags in driver release.

mechanical_fish 19y ago

Unfortunately for 400-500 dollars you can't buy anything with Mac Os in it. Is this true? It might be. And yet I'm going to offer this old quote from the Car Talk guys: "In the immortal words of former GM president Roger Smith, when asked by John White, who works for the Boston Globe, what kind of car can an American buy if he wants to buy an American car for under ten grand and if he wants to buy a General Motors car? And Roger Smith thought for a second and said, 'A two-year-old Buick.'" So perhaps the used Mac market would be helpful. I'd be a little bit worried about reliability -- the warranty repair rate on Macs seems a bit higher as Apple and the rest of the PC world continue to push product costs into the nether regions -- but, hey, what do you want for $400? Of course, used Macs hold their prices pretty well, so your statement may be accurate.