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Emitdeb
04 Jun 26 21:55
Joined:
Date Joined: 28 Dec 07
| Topic/replies: 10,939 | Blogger: Emitdeb's blog
Any advice on hardware with windows 11... please.

Keep it in the shed, so I'm looking cheap... ish.
Pause Switch to Standard View Looking to upgrade my windows 10 desktop
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Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:00 PM BST
You can get a free upgrade to 11, as long as you W10 was legit
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:00 PM BST
*your
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:04 PM BST
I have 4 PC's, one an old Dell W10 where the hard drive went on it. Bought a new HD and got a free upgrade to 11. The other 2 were bought with 11 (one for work) and the last was one of those cheapie £200 mini PC's, which works surprisingly well, also on 11.
Report Emitdeb June 4, 2026 10:05 PM BST
You can get a free upgrade to 11, as long as you W10 was legit

This might be tricky... Sad

But My current pc is probably over 10 years old.. Been meaning to upgrade, to be on the safe side for a couple of years now...
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:06 PM BST
My 2 new PC's were bought in Currys. Some good deals there (circa £500)
Report Emitdeb June 4, 2026 10:07 PM BST
the last was one of those cheapie £200 mini PC's, which works surprisingly well, also on 11.

Aspro, this sounds like the sort of thing I'm looking for..
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:07 PM BST
One sec and I'll get the link...
Report Emitdeb June 4, 2026 10:11 PM BST
My current windows 10, has been running like a dream for years... until quite recently, now she runs like a complete pig.. I'm sure by design.
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:11 PM BST
Search Amazon "mini pc" - I bought a NiPoGi £209.99
Report Emitdeb June 4, 2026 10:13 PM BST
Nice one Aspro.. Thanks. Happy
Report Aspro June 4, 2026 10:13 PM BST
Good luck
Report sofaking June 5, 2026 12:06 AM BST
Ditch Windows. Go Linux. I do run a HP Windows 11 laptop with a i7 processor though and it's pretty decent.
Report jasstardust June 5, 2026 5:56 AM BST
yap. gaw ye local cash in a dash
av 3 lappies, linux installed is the
best as man above says, tother on windows
n thats over 10yo, in got a acer chromebook
couple years back, plenty freds on ere, as all
different, linux is the way forwards !!!
opensource bLA BLA,etc etc....
feck 5ton at high st books
Report Foinavon June 5, 2026 11:09 PM BST
I got rid of windows years ago.I was fed up with watching that little thing go round and around while waiting for it to update or to boot up. I have a Samsung Chromebook plus which is super fast and lightweight and does everything I want it to do. If you are into the latest games it's not for you as they won't be compatible but otherwise it's much more fun than clunky old windows.
Report Susquehanna June 6, 2026 12:20 AM BST
That may have been slow to boot up for you if you had too many programs enabled on startup, pressing ctrl, alt, del on your keyboard to bring up task manager, you can disable a lot of the start up apps from there that you don't need, makes the computer run faster when booting up, but yeah, Windows is definitely heavier in general, it has inefficient, heavy background processes and system drivers that can be buggy when updated our just become outdated fairly quickly if not updated at all. It's the actual browsers that consume the most memory and Safari/Chrome are the two worst. I used edge, apparently that's mid range. Ad blockers add to memory loss but can't do without them.
Report Emitdeb June 6, 2026 12:25 AM BST
I looked into Aspros NiPoGi £209.99 but really want something that can handle 3 screens. Resigned my self to spending £600 for a basic Novatec pc tower... (the cheapest is so bloody expensive these days)

Last minute looked into this Linux OS on my old machine.. gonna give that a go, see what happens tomorrow. I'm totally non techy so should be fun..
Report Aspro June 6, 2026 8:01 AM BST
Need an SSD these days, turns on like a TV, so much faster.

You're probably better off with a tower Emit, although I personally prefer All-In-One's (AIO), less wires. I have 2 screens on my work PC and can fully appreciate why you would not want to lose them. Invaluable!

I used my old Dell (AIO) to experiment where I took it apart, cleaned it up inside, got rid of the faulty HD and added a new SSD, before downloading Win 11, all with the help of the kind folk on here, no less. Learned a lot with their help and managed to do it all myself for what was a very small outlay. Surprisingly easier than I expected.

However, I did look up Linux yesterday and rather than gathering dust, I too may start yet again with the Dell on Linux to test it out. Less bloatware and more security conscious... very interesting.
Report SirNorbertClarke June 6, 2026 8:48 AM BST
A Chromebook.
Report Aspro June 6, 2026 11:00 AM BST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8QQJtXOQEw

Just watched this video regarding Linux and read the interesting comments below. This could certainly liven up your old PC Emit. I also have an old tower XP in the cupboard so I may buy some hardware for it and try to bring this back to life too, but more for extending my building knowledge than for practical purposes. I'm sure a local charity would appreciate it once completed, not forgetting getting the space back.

I also noted that around 4% of private users are on Linux, but around 95% of web-servers use Linux. That tells its own story.
Report Emitdeb June 6, 2026 1:46 PM BST
Nice link Aspro thanks, I'm waiting on a Amazon flash drive with the Linux os...

Could have downloaded I suppose but it's only a tenner! Excited
Report brentford June 6, 2026 2:08 PM BST
I tried quite a few Linux distros and all had issues despite the great press they get in the tech community...

they are fine if you're very savvy around computers but not great tbh if you aren't..

Chrome OS FLEX is a very reliable if limited option for keeping old kit in life..can be downloaded as with Linux distros..

just be wary of buying pre installed Linux usb's as can contain dubious stuff if not from a reputable seller.
Report jasstardust June 6, 2026 4:00 PM BST
another "teckno Tip".....
best browser going is one called
GIBIRU
its the boolox
Report sofaking June 6, 2026 5:10 PM BST
I've been using Brave browser for years. It's a Chromium-based browser (open source) where you have the option to block all adds, trackers, cookies, fingerprinting etc to whatever extent you want. Also has a Tor browser option. Works great and so much quicker than the mainstream options.
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