Category Archives: Upgrades
iPhone/iPad Update Better?
In a surprising article, MSNBC takes Apple somewhat to task because the “iPhone/iPad update makes you buy more stuff". In short, the iOS 4.2 upgrade really doesn’t give you that much for free. It basically allows you the opportunity to buy more stuff to support the new features.
Oh, and even the free feature (apparently singular) requires you have the latest phone.
I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t make me want to rush out and get it.
You Might Not Believe This, But … (a Tale of OpenOffice, MS Office 2007 and 2010)
I am putting Windows 7 on a MicronPC Transport GX3. Call it desperation if you wish.
It all started innocently enough. All I wanted was to be able to read, edit and save spreadsheets on the road. I did not want to buy another license of MS Office to do that. Just install OpenOffice and all will be well, no?
Well, no. Yes, I can read Excel 2007 worksheets, but I cannot save in that format. It converts it to ODS format. So, the question was whether or not Excel could read/write them, so I gave that a try. Yes, it can. So, I’m golden, right?
Well, not so fast. First of all, viewing the header is a pain. Since that is where such unimportant things as invoice numbers go, that was a bit of a drag. However, when I checked up on the formulas, and anyone who has done any multi-sheet formulas in Excel knows the pain it can be to set them up correctly, they were not there. It converted the data, but not the underlying formulas.
Nice. Not.
OK, I’m a MAPS subscriber. Why not use this opportunity to check out Office 2010? It might be slow, but I’ll just put that on the Transport instead. After all, it isn’t like I’ll need fifteen windows open at the same time like when I’m sitting in my office.
Well, that sounded good. I downloaded it, but the install complained about either the package being corrupt or there was a network error. OK, so I copied it locally just to make sure it wasn’t a network issue. This time it just complained about “an error”. Oh! That’s helpful! OK, maybe the download really was corrupt. So, I’ll download it yet a 3rd time, but this time directly from Microsoft onto the desktop. While I’m waiting for that, I will uninstall OpenOffice – just in case. Still no joy. “An error” has occurred.
“This is wacky,” I thought. I checked and rechecked the specifications.
“OK,” I thought, “what if I put Windows 7 on here?” Well, then I knew I had gone beyond the standard of reason. So, I pulled down the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. To my surprise, it only really seemed to be a problem for the Belkin Wireless G card (which has me a little confused). Some of the other things, like the fingerprint scanner, would be nice, but I don’t consider them requirements. I can work around the wireless card with a USB one, I suppose.
However, the Upgrade Advisor also installed a newer version of .NET. Could that be the missing ticket? No joy there, either.
And so, here I am hours later, burned DVD in the drive and looking at a Windows 7 desktop.
The saga continues…
Memory Upgrades: What You Need to Know
I often get asked, “Can I upgrade my memory?” Sometimes the question is more in the form of, “Will more memory make my PC faster?”
Well, one of the main criteria is knowing what you already have in the machine and what the maximum memory is. Well, it looks like Crucial.com, a company that specializes in memory, has just the tool you need! They have a Crucial System Scanner tool that you can use to view your current configuation and make recommendations for upgrades.
Click on the Terms and Conditions link to view the agreement, click on the checkbox saying you agree to them, and then click on the Download the Scanner button. If you are using Firefox, you’ll have to save the file before running it.
Once you run it and get past the user access control boxes (on Vista and Windows 7), it will scan your system.
Once it is done, it will display the results.
As you can see, it identified that this system has the maximum it can take. It also identified the number of memory slots.
However, even if this wasn’t the max for the machine, I am running a 32-bit version of Windows, so the max I could go to in any event would be 3 GB. How do I know? The tool told me under “Q: Will my system recognize the maximum upgrade?”
Hopefully, others will get some benefit out of this tool as well.
BTW, this post was not endorsed by Crucial, nor was their permission sought beforehand. However, I do want to add that I have used the tools on their site about 4 different times, and I did wind up ordering memory from them one of those times. The memory worked out great and the price was right too!
Semi-Geek Friday: Which Version of Windows 7 Can I Upgrade To?
There are several factors that will influence whether or not you want to upgrade to Windows 7. However, even after that, there are different versions of Windows 7, so you’ll still be faced with a decision as to which version to upgrade to.
One thing you want to watch out for from the get-go is compatibility. Before you decide to upgrade, go to the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to tell you if you can run Windows 7 and what problems you may encounter.
Next, if you are upgrading from Vista, go to the Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 page. Be sure to check out the Step 1 tab in particular. This is an important consideration because if you cannot upgrade your particular version to the one you desire in place, then you will have to backup all of your data files, install Windows 7, restore your data files and reinstall any programs.
However, if you are upgrading from Windows XP, check out the Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 page. You will note that you will not be able to do an in-place upgrade, but rather you will have to do a custom upgrade which means you will need to backup all of your data files, install Windows 7, restore your data and reinstall any programs.
Please note that Microsoft does offer Windows Easy Transfer to help with this process. However, when I used it in Vista, it really had its problems, so YMMV.
Now you can see why this decision is not to be taken lightly. If you have Vista and can upgrade in-place, it will certainly be less time consuming.
Finally, now that you have it narrowed down to which ones you might want to choose from strictly from a technical standpoint, which ones make sense from a business feature or desired usage standpoint? Fortunately, Microsoft did a good job of detailing the differences between the different flavors of Windows 7 editions. I am only going to hit some highlights in the differences.
First off, if you are running Windows XP, pay particular attention to program compatibility. you will notice that only Professional and Ultimate offer “Windows XP mode” for ultimate compatibility.
Same with domain networking. Many companies use domains by default. If you are running a home office LAN and don’t know about domains, you probably don’t need it.
If you are a home user, you probably don’t do full system backups to a network drive. If you do, you probably already have a program that does this.
BitLocker encrypts the data on your hard drive, which is useful if your laptop is ever stolen. Be sure to check out the link on the page for details.
Finally, if all you use is English, then Ultimate is probably a waste of money unless you want one of the other features.
Hopefully, the above guide will make it easier to decide which upgrade path is right for you.
When Is It Just Not Worth Fixing?
I’m going to attempt to tackle a somewhat sticky problem today: When is it just not worth fixing your old computer?
It’s sticky because the short answer is: “It depends.”
Think about when a car starts getting some age on it. Is it worth fixing? Should I get a new one? How much could I get for a trade-in? Etc. The answer in that case is the same. It depends.
Yesterday, I looked at two laptops, both requiring similar repairs. While one was obviously damaged, the other had no obvious screen damage. Yet, I concluded that if it were me in the customer’s shoes, I would have not fixed the one with obvious damage. It really wasn’t a matter of it being more expensive to fix, either.
Here’s the deal. In spite of them being manufactured within a year of one another, the one with damage also:
- Had only half the RAM the other one did.
- Only had a 40 GB hard drive.
- Was going to be used for PowerPoint presentations.
At minimum, the RAM would have had to have been upgraded to get decent performance during presentations. That’s on top of the fact that something else yet unaccounted for could’ve been damaged inside. It just wasn’t worth it.
However, the other seems like a better risk. In addition, the larger amount of memory and the bigger hard drive needs to be taken into account.
And yet, it still may not be worth upgrading. If the customer thought it was too slow before, it will still be slow. If the customer thought something was quirky before, it will still be quirky. If the customer was wanting to replace it before, then that likely isn’t going to change either.
Just like some people change cars every 5 years or sooner while others drive cars over 200,000 miles, some believe it’s a better use of their money to buy a new computer every 3 years while others keep the one they have until it completely dies.
Like I said, it depends.
Watch Out for That Memory Upgrade
One nice thing about servicing computer systems is that you always learn something. The bad thing is that sometimes the mistakes can cost money. The good news for an enduser is that using a computer service can shield you from some mistakes because your supplier eats or has eaten some of those costs. It is the cost of education, you might say.
Well, I’m a big believer in passing on my “education” when practical. The latest life lesson? Don’t buy that cheaper “high density” memory!
What is interesting is that I checked off all of the specs, and everything matched, except for the speed. However, there is no reason for faster memory to not work in a machine, as that is the maximum speed rating. The PC-xxxxx number matched even. However, it did not work. I tried it in another machine, with the same issue. Neither machine would even POST.
I found an eBay article that goes into more detail on this subject titled, “Myth: Low Density vs High Density memory modules”, which states that high density memory is only compatible with 10% of the systems out there. In my opinion, this junk shouldn’t even be allowed on the market!
So, caveat emptor, be careful out there, etc.!
