New laptop

The one Ricky put the link to appears to have 8 USB ports and no Ethernet port.

Who is going to be using 8 USB ports all at the same time on a laptop.

 

If interested, quiet a few Ytubes on your machine if you put your model number into its search, though most come back as a EasyNote TE69KB which appears to be the same machine or very similar. They show things like updating the Hdd, Ram , cleaning etc..
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Packard+Bell++MS2384

Yes, we suggested the young ones go and have a look in currys which they did, and when out we also did the same just to see what was around these days.
The Lenovo was on display but currys stocked the dark blue smooth type of anodized finished one, which to us looked awful, yet the one they showed us the other day from Ebuyer had a textured black finish and looked totally different and so much better. So just be aware currys display may look and be specifed slightly different even though being listed as the same model.

 

TE69KB series is the one I have

 

They do not lose quality each time you copy them. They do lose quality each time you open them then save them, even if you do not modify them while open.

 

It's taken me some while to read through all the posts on here but I find it very interesting!

One of my brothers gave me a Notebook PC a few years ago- well more than a few since it was in 2015! He bought it fir his gdaughter but she didn't like it because there was no DVD drive, so he gave it to me. It came with W.8.1 installed but being as I was used to W.Xp I couldn't get on with it! But when a free upgrade to W.10 came out I opted for it & the first year was fantastic! I got on with it very well until - that first update came along! Since then no matter what I do it goes slower than a limping snail! Being so small I hardly ever use it. But I do make sure it always has the latest updates from MS. Not that any of them have made any difference since that first update came out.

A couple of years later he gave me another laptop that he had bought for his daughter. She had lost the password & there was no way of getting it to work again. Nevertheless I installed Linux through a DVD in a magazine. I could never get the hang of it though & managed to get a hold of a W.10 which I installed. It was free but I have never activated it on the laptop, nevertheless it works very well - except it crashes practically every time I start it up. Once it restarts there is usually no more trouble.

I mostly use W.7 on a desktop PC which has never given me any problems! I have tried on 2 occasions to upgrade to W.10 but it won't let me. Nevertheless it works very well & it's the machine I mostly use.

 

Not a problem @ricky101. As you say what is added here is all part of the discussion

Not yet as I haven't investigated what's out there, so to speak. I hope to buy in the new year sales so will do some research leading up to that time. I'm almost certain though that it will be an HP or failing that an Asus. I will find a few that are suitable then my son will give me guidance on which one to go for.

 

Seems a lot of us have the same problem of an old laptop !

Both good makes, though worth tracking the prices as they change so quickly and can often be found the same or lower prices both before and after the so called sales.
If it was us, might look at getting one this side of Christmas, if Covid and Flu really strike hard there might be a shortage in the new year as more folk work from home again ..?
Often the better model/s you want are not in the sales, just the ones the sellers want to move on.

 

A similar story to us @Balc , we mainly use a desktop for its bigger screen and easier keyboard/mouse and have an old laptop for backup etc.

Like you it initially ran ok with W10 but now very slow, despite being software cleaned regularly. Begin to wonder if MS are making it harder to run on old machines forcing us to upgrade the hardware?

Also tried Linux Mint on the laptop which runs very quickly and has all the basics for email , basic office work and surfing the web ready installed, but go beyond that and you have to learn a whole new language (sudo) to make things work, it left us for dead !

Re your laptop, worth checking the Bios to see if the settings are correct and doing a Ram check.

Re your W7 desktop not loading W10, have a look on ytubes / the web , sure you will find an answer there.

 

Thanks, @ricky101, I agree with you re Linux Mint. It's a whole new world out there! I never learnt to really download & install programmes, it's sooo much easier on Windows machines!

The Notebook was changed from W.8.1 to W.10 without any issues at all but after the first update for the system came out it ruined the Notebook & has never been the same again! I occasionality put a few photos on it but I very rarely use it any longer to surf the internet. But every Saturday I get it out to charge up & keep the machine in conditions! I run the update service & let it install anything that it needs & then after a few hours I turn it off & put it away till the following Saturday.

The big laptop, a Toshiba 17" screen with W.10 installed but not activated, is the machine I use on Saturdays & Sundays for some hours. I like it for its bright & sharp screen - it's even better than my desktop pc's monitor! I'd perhaps use it more often it it weren't for it's crashing at least once every time I switch it on! When it restarts sometimes it may crash a 2nd or even a 3rd time but then runs just fine. I'm using it to write this now!

 

@Balc, you do not mention what happens to the screen when it crashes, does it just go blank or some form of Blue screen ?

Any reason you do not Activate it, if a genuine licence ? until you do you will not get updates including security ones.

This MS link give some methods to try and establish what causes such things, including being infected.

Edit - the link changed to this 'Redirecting' once we posted, but it does take you to the Microsoft community help pages

Redirecting

 

Thanks, once ago, @ricky101 When it crashes I always get a blue screen but after a minute or so it restarts automatically.

I installed Win.10 but never activated it because it's too expensive. I get all the updates without any problems though I have to manually set it to scan for updates. Security updates are also updated & downloaded & ran. No malware has ever been detected on the laptop. It doesn't have a license because the MS licensing process doesn't recognise the original licence number on the sticker underneath. Possibly because when I installed & later uninstalled Linux it deactivated Win.7.

When it doesn't crash it works very well & I like it very much.

 

Sorry @Balc , but something like that would drive me completely round the bend.

I have no patience with technology that doesn't work properly, I would have probably smashed something like that to pieces by now.

 

Another thing to think about is the laptop has to be comfortable to use.

 

Comfortable for who?

 

@ricky101 I ran the scan on my desktop Win.7 & on the laptop Win.10 & both scans came up clear! I've still to run it on the Netbook, I'll do that on Saturday.