Will you use a desktop?

[froggyboy604]

I think hiring a computer technician to fix a $200 laptop may cost more than buying a new laptop because a lot of computer repair stores have expensive prices for computer repairs.

But, with a desktop PC, you can easily install a new video card, sound card, RAM, and hard drive in 30 minutes or less if you know what you are doing.

it depends on the pc, if its a old one it might be worth keeping around versus newer ones which seem disposable.

Sometimes people keep old PC to use older operating systems like Windows XP because their old software, old printer and scanner, and old USB webcam does not work with Windows 10.

A lot of old PCs with quad-core CPUs, 8GB of RAM, and fast video chips are still pretty good for web browsing, office work, video editing, and playing older games which may not work on Windows 10.

I agree, a lot of the new cheap laptops are disposable where the CPU, video chip, soundchip, RAM and SSD are soldered/stuck on to the motherboard, and you need a heatgun and clamps to remove the chips from the motherboard.

[Skeithex]

I was reading the other day you can get old printers to work on Windows 10 by using a compatibility option in their properties section. Haven't tried it myself though.

[froggyboy604]

The compatibility option may work. But, it may make Windows 10 less reliable because you are running incompatible drivers which is not designed for Windows 10.

If users mainly use their printer for printing out pictures, using an old Windows XP or 7 PC to print pictures is easier.

But, users may need to convert newer Word Documents to PDF if the version of MS Word you are using is not compatible with Windows XP and 7.

[Skeithex]

I think you can get office to work on anything though. But I do hear that office 2019 will be coming out soon, which I'm sure will only work for w10.

[froggyboy604]

There is an online version of Office called Office 365 which may work on Windows XP. But, you may need to use Firefox and Google Chrome because Internet Explorer for Windows XP is very old and have not been updated in many years.

[Skeithex]

eh, office 365 is pretty much the name of office these days, at least that's how it seems on my devices.

[froggyboy604]

I notice I have not been seeing many people talk about Office yearly releases like Office 2007, so I guest Office 365 is Office current name until Office 365 becomes discontinued.