Seeking help buying new laptop

When you have downgrade rights it means that the key provided for Win 8 will allow you to downgrade to Win 7 and activate. That way you don't need to buy a copy of Win 7 in order to downgrade.
 
Thanks Joe, never had a Lenovo, I'd be more inclined to go with Toshiba. as I mentioned. Dell scares me with all the horror stories I read years ago.



Yeh I just learned that yesterday & was surprised that I had been misinformed by the techie who told me it couldn't be done. Someone else who also claimed he used to be a techie didn't correct me, so he thought that also.

Who would be the one to tell me that I can do it? I have to call the manufacturer I'm assuming, right? New Egg & such won't know, they are VERY untech savvy.

I won't be buying this from a store, as online has the best deals. It's either New Egg, Tiger Direct, or Amazon & Amazon usually doesn't have the best pricing.

Even if I went into Best Buy, I wouldn't trust anyone in there to give me correct info. They are a bunch of kids who know very little, although I'm sure some of the stores have the odd gem in there.




Well I already have 6 on this laptop, so unless it's the Win 8 issues, it's not helping/working. 6 should have been enough you think?

And I won't know 100% if it's the ISP until I go to another location & try it out which I can't do right now.

Ok, this isn't about displaying myself on one cam, it's 4 cams at once. That's where the issue is. But when I first started doing 4, I didn't have as much lag as I do now. Even now when I shut down 1 or even 2 or 3, I still get lag. I shouldn't have to reboot the computer every time I add on or take away a cam.

I can't even type on one of the sites, I have to click into the field 5-10 times to make sure what I'm typing shows up & then it takes 30-40 seconds before I can see it.



Ok, I guess it's different in the UK, b/c here in the US when I was buying the Asus, almost every laptop I looked at had the num pad on the right. Maybe a few that were really cheap didn't.



Ok the fan/cooler stand I bought takes upto a 17. That's my only concern. The Asus sounds like its overheating all the time when it really reves up or gets hot, so I bought the cooler.

Sorry if I said the wrong screen size.



9. I'm still not understanding how you can have an external graphics card. Please explain. That other forum did think I should be getting a gaming laptop.

10. Also what is the difference between a multimedia laptop, & a gaming laptop?

11. What I also need to know, is the min. processor for doing this kind of work.



Ok, I think part of the problem here is that she may have been outside North America or the US.

I could be wrong, but I don't think anywhere in the US you can buy a new laptop with Win 7 on it. When I got this Asus almost 2 years ago I couldn't even get Win 7 on it. Now if you go to a private small shop, then yes, they may be willing to put it on for you & I remember someone telling me that some shops were getting tons of business by advertising that their laptops would come with Win 7 on it, but that's b/c they installed it on there, not b/c the laptops came with Win 7 on it.

MS doesn't even make it anymore & I even called them & asked them how much it was 2 years ago. I had to buy an OEM or one that had Dell on the CD just to get a copy.

They don't want anyone using Win 7, that's why they told (I'm pretty sure this is correct) the hardware manufacturers NOT to let their hardware work with Win 7.

Back when Win 7 was new, you could still put XP on brand new laptops & no one had to go thru this BS, so clearly something has changed recently.

If I want it, I have to go thru hell now to get it on a new computer. That's all I know, b/c I won't touch the Bios without a professional walking me through it via the phone/SK, etc.



Based on what I said above, please LMK if you still only recommend this Toshiba laptop, & I hope you were looking in the US since that's where I'm buying them from.

I have to assume (don't bite my head off), that the latest & greatest comes out of the US, although I know Germany's SD HDs are cheaper than here.

Would an SD drive help with the lag?



Yeh any time I have a problem with a laptop, it's not something anyone on here can fix. With Asus it was the Win 8 key. The wifi, the ethernet connector, the fan, the power button & more.

I lost a whole month dealing with Asus' stupidity. They didn't know how to get it from the bios or MB & I spoke to at least 4 different people. This was after a refresh I did b/c the wifi didn't work when I needed it to.

In fact after all that, when I filed the complaint with the BBB, whoever responded to the complaint provided a NEW & DIFFERENT solution that was NEVER mentioned by anyone I spoke to including the equally stupid supervisors. So I guess when you write on the BBB, you get better tech support. LOL

Hint everyone: Complain right away on the BBB. I couldn't even get the Asus site to work. I tried to e-mail them at least 8 times & only once did the form work. And yes I tried on a secondary browser just in case.

In the end I had already paid someone to get me the key off the computer, so their suggestion on the BBB was a moot point.

Like I said, HP wasn't half bad with their tech support even though I wouldn't call them brilliant by any stretch.

I didn't like that the computer was a lemon, but at least they picked up the phone, spoke English & in the end replaced the computer & I think that was twice. Now mind you that was back around 2010/11.

Thanks again :)

First things first... I'm so sorry, I ironically didn't notice the sentence at the start of your post (and there I was thinking I'd read the whole thread properly). In theory, that Asus laptop should perform fairly well on Windows 8, and should easily be able to multi-task. You shouldn't have to upgrade the laptop.

Which internet browser do you use? (from the look of it, it's Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox performs better in my opinion if you have a lot of tabs open, so it might be worth using that instead). Chrome seems to use a new process for every tab, whereas Firefox just uses one. (In normal english: Firefox uses less memory). I also believe Google Chrome leaves items running in the background even when it's not open, so it might be worth uninstalling Chrome which should dramatically reduce memory usage.

If you use anything like adblock (add-on), this adds overhead to the memory usage, but again, this is less pronounced on Mozilla Firefox.

If Avast is running a computer scan, looking for viruses in the background, this could be slowing your PC down as well. If you have multiple anti-viruses running on your PC, they'll clash and this will slow your PC down

If the laptop has spent much time sitting on a bed, fabrics etc, or close to the floor, then it has probably sucked it in, over time this blocks up the heatsink, the laptop overheats, then slows down. You can either clear this by A) Blowing compressed air into the exhaust while it's on (usually on the side or rear of the laptop, keep your eyes away as the dust will blow out...) or B) Stripping the laptop down and removing the dust with a brush. This will be particularly pronounced if you smoke in the house or have any pets. The pets hairs get sucked in, and the cigarette smoke causes the dust to stick...

If you've never done a full reinstall of the laptop, then it's worth doing, over time applications take up memory, the machine starts running more in the background and you get slowdowns. This can all be stopped manually, but it's time consuming, and doing a "factory reset" of the Operating System is often quicker.

6GB of RAM should be enough, the type of lag you're describing doesn't seem to indicate internet speed being a problem come to think of it, it's the computer itself struggling, does the laptop only start lagging when it's been on a while, or immediately? (would indicate overheating).

Sorry for being such a **** about the screen size, it's not really important.

9. An "external" graphics card in a laptop is still internal really, we tend to use the word "dedicated" to denote that it's higher performance. A graphics tend (whether dedicated or not) is not practically upgradeable, you're stuck with what you had when you bought the machine.

10. A multimedia laptop plays videos etc, a gaming laptop has a substantially more powerful graphics card to play games. There's no real definition here, the line between the two is a grey area as the power of graphics cards change year on year.

11. A quad core (like you have) should be fine really, if your laptop didn't lag before then it sounds like you have some sort of a software issues (or the websites you're using have added a lot of new adverts...)


Any laptops I can recommend at your price point which come preinstalled with Windows 7, are not substantially better than the one you have now, which doesn't really make it economically viable to purchase a new one.

A lot of the latest and greatest comes from abroad nowadays, though most brands are pretty comparable... I don't think an SSD would fix your issue (although it'd give you a pleasant surprise when it booted the Operating System in about 10 seconds flat).





If you can back up your old data, pictures etc and restore Windows 8 to factory settings, it'll give you the best possible idea whether the hardware needs upgrading, or it's the software causing a problem. (if it's still slow after a reinstall, then you can start thinking about new hardware).
 
Original post (2.) Someone mentioned this one will take Win 7 - Toshiba satelitte L50d-b but I can't find it anywhere on New Egg or Tiger Direct.

this one led me to think you were looking for the OS Win 7.
 
Which internet browser do you use? (from the look of it, it's Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox performs better in my opinion if you have a lot of tabs open, so it might be worth using that instead). Chrome seems to use a new process for every tab, whereas Firefox just uses one. (In normal english: Firefox uses less memory). I also believe Google Chrome leaves items running in the background even when it's not open, so it might be worth uninstalling Chrome which should dramatically reduce memory usage.

With Chrome and its background services alternatively you can tell Chrome to stop running in the background when you exit to help save resources. Yeah I too do not like how Chrome makes a new process for every tab opened.

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Original post (2.) Someone mentioned this one will take Win 7 - Toshiba satelitte L50d-b but I can't find it anywhere on New Egg or Tiger Direct.

this one led me to think you were looking for the OS Win 7.

Sorry I wasn't clear, I meant the laptop, not Win 7. New Egg does have OEM copies. For how long, I don't know.
 
With Chrome and its background services alternatively you can tell Chrome to stop running in the background when you exit to help save resources. Yeah I too do not like how Chrome makes a new process for every tab opened.

Ah218Ic.png

Thank you. Didn't even know what that was.
 
Ok, last night I tried to post this & the site just spun until I got 503 errors. Trying again...

First things first... I'm so sorry, I ironically didn't notice the sentence at the start of your post (and there I was thinking I'd read the whole thread properly). In theory, that Asus laptop should perform fairly well on Windows 8, and should easily be able to multi-task. You shouldn't have to upgrade the laptop.

Well I wish that was the case. Even when I'm not camming it's a struggle, it's just worse now that I'm camming.

Which internet browser do you use? (from the look of it, it's Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox performs better in my opinion if you have a lot of tabs open, so it might be worth using that instead). Chrome seems to use a new process for every tab, whereas Firefox just uses one. (In normal english: Firefox uses less memory). I also believe Google Chrome leaves items running in the background even when it's not open, so it might be worth uninstalling Chrome which should dramatically reduce memory usage.

I was a die hard Fx user for years & I still use it, but I got fed up with the memory hog & all the crashing I get on it on my desktop. After hearing someone else tell me his friend also ditched Fx for Chrome, I finally made the decision to make Chrome my default browser.

Doesn't mean I still don't use Fx, it's just I only use it for a few sites.

Even on the laptop I run Pandora on it & now every hour or so it crashes with the debug error which I assume is a Flash issue.

My computer, flash & Fx never work. I had tons of flash crashes with Fx too & I even followed the instructions on how to try & stop it & it still continued.

With Chrome I barely get that & I don't find Chrome to be a memory hog & it definitely crashes a lot less often than Fx does.

It's not like I'm in love with the BIG G, b/c I can't stand them, but I need to be able to work & when dealing with crashing issues takes up more time than working, my loyalty goes out the window.

I actually happen to like Opera, but b/c no one uses it, it's buggy with Pandora & I have yet to use it f/t so it may crash a lot too plus I couldn't find the settings button anywhere when I pulled it up the other day.

If you use anything like adblock (add-on), this adds overhead to the memory usage, but again, this is less pronounced on Mozilla Firefox.

I have Adblock on Fx, not on Chrome.

Also I couldn't get one of the cam sites to work properly on Fx which is also why I switched to Chrome, & that site "claims" their site works best on Fx (go figure).

I can try it again tomorrow to see if the lag goes away, but I don't know why you have less memory issues with Fx than I do.

If Avast is running a computer scan, looking for viruses in the background, this could be slowing your PC down as well. If you have multiple anti-viruses running on your PC, they'll clash and this will slow your PC down

Well I'm sure Avast is doing that b/c that's what it's supposed to be doing :)

I never had multiple anti virus software loaded until last week. I had to go onto Bleeping computer to get help b/c I couldn't work, & he had me installing a new one. Of course none of the scans helped & in fact, I now have even more issues.

My mouse now has a mind of its own. It double clicks, instead of single clicks, opens windows I never touched & is driving me insane. I can barely work b/c I am constantly trying to click. Sometimes it can take 4 clicks before I can get a window to open.

If the laptop has spent much time sitting on a bed, fabrics etc, or close to the floor, then it has probably sucked it in, over time this blocks up the heatsink, the laptop overheats, then slows down. You can either clear this by A) Blowing compressed air into the exhaust while it's on (usually on the side or rear of the laptop, keep your eyes away as the dust will blow out...) or B) Stripping the laptop down and removing the dust with a brush. This will be particularly pronounced if you smoke in the house or have any pets. The pets hairs get sucked in, and the cigarette smoke causes the dust to stick...

Nope, I only use my laptop on a desk, but yes, this city is terrible with dust, so I just blew it out & some grit did come out. Thank you.

As I think I mentioned, I now have a cooler, so it's sitting even higher up then it was while on the desk.

If you've never done a full reinstall of the laptop, then it's worth doing, over time applications take up memory, the machine starts running more in the background and you get slowdowns. This can all be stopped manually, but it's time consuming, and doing a "factory reset" of the Operating System is often quicker.

I already went thru this 2-3 months ago with Asus. First I did a refresh, then I did a factory reset. This was re: the Win key issues, nothing to do with the lag, but I really don't want to have to go thru this again if I don't have to.

The only reason I'd be willing is b/c I barely have any data on my laptop. Now if you were telling me to reformat my desktop I'd be freaking out on you. :)

If you really think I should do it, I'll do it, but it's a pain getting my settings back the way I want them.

6GB of RAM should be enough, the type of lag you're describing doesn't seem to indicate internet speed being a problem come to think of it, it's the computer itself struggling, does the laptop only start lagging when it's been on a while, or immediately? (would indicate overheating).

Well (don't say ahhhaa), I do keep my computers on 24/7. It is also very hot in my apt. as I have to use the AC sparingly, but the cooler should be cooling it down more than before.

The fan always sounded like it was on its last legs even before the camming. I can DL something & it revs high.

10. A multimedia laptop plays videos etc, a gaming laptop has a substantially more powerful graphics card to play games. There's no real definition here, the line between the two is a grey area as the power of graphics cards change year on year.

Well I think it was Tom's Hardware site had an article describing both as being different & I didn't know which one I needed. It sounds like the gammer one to me.

11. A quad core (like you have) should be fine really, if your laptop didn't lag before then it sounds like you have some sort of a software issues (or the websites you're using have added a lot of new adverts...)

Yes, those camming sites are terrible when it comes to external ads.

The computer was never fast, it's just now even worse.

Any laptops I can recommend at your price point which come preinstalled with Windows 7, are not substantially better than the one you have now, which doesn't really make it economically viable to purchase a new one.

It's not like I want to buy a new one. I'm just at my witts end with this thing.

I can't work like this.


If you can back up your old data, pictures etc and restore Windows 8 to factory settings, it'll give you the best possible idea whether the hardware needs upgrading, or it's the software causing a problem. (if it's still slow after a reinstall, then you can start thinking about new hardware).

I was afraid you were going to say that.

Thanks a ton :)
 
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