I had the latest version of W10 on a test drive on a test machine a couple months ago. I needed it to test & troubleshoot a couple W10 laptops in for repairs. My hopes were to make enough tweaks & mods on the newest W10 that I could make the customers happier with their W10 machines. I made minor improvements in W10 too. But in the end they both decided to try my customized version of W7 instead, after I made it clear that all their apps, programs & features will still work in W7, & none of their files would be lost. They were both happy with my customized W7 install, & I eliminated W10 from the test drive.
One of them was so happy with her W10 machine converted to W7 (was originally W8, but upgraded to W10), that another brand new W10 Dell laptop she had, she promptly returned to the store & got her money back. She bought it on payments, so she didn't get much money back though. She thought the machine 2009 I fixed up for her would be good as a spare back-up machine. Instead, it out-performed & out did her very expensive brand new quad core machine with 32gb of RAM. Indeed, she was stalling sending me the old one to fix until she got a brand new one to use first, so she wouldn't be without one while I work on it or in case something went wrong.
So I no longer have W10 on any machine to test. They all have W7 on them. But more than half of them are dual-boot, so also run some form of Linux. Astro Distro, Xubuntu, & Zorin are my favorite Linux.
I also have an old 2005 apple iBook running OS X & Xubuntu in dual boot. Running on a single 1.3ghz single core, with 512mb of RAM (0.5gb), every site I visit with it functions normally. My old 1.8ghz single core 2005 ACER laptop still runs fine & surfs the web good too. I recently downgraded the 1.5gb of RAM to 512mb of RAM, because I needed the 1gb more RAM for a Hitachi 2005 laptop I got for almost free. It won't play HQ YouTube smooth anymore with less RAM, but will play downloaded or saved HDTV video smooth directly from a drive. Youtube sucks up a lot of CPU power with data mining & adware. Even when you have that stuff blocked, the CPU is working hard blocking & dealing with it all.
I had a 2011 laptop in for repair, but she had no money to pay me to fix it. So she gave me her old broken 2005 Hitachi laptop as payment -- which I didn't need or want. 1.5ghz 32-bit single core with 512mb of RAM. I pulled out 1gb of RAM from my ACER to make it a little better -- after I got the damn broken Hitachi running. It had the advantage of having the best sound of any laptop I ever heard (Harman Kardon speakers inside). It also has a big 15.5" screen in 16:9 aspect ratio 800p format. My old 15.5" Acer is old style 4:3 format (1024x768p). If I could get it to play HD video smooth it would be a great big-screen portable player to play stuff, music, or TV in the kitchen.
Surfing the net was OK with it, but it would not play even 480p DVD quality mp4, h264. But would still play DVDs fine (mp2), because the processor has to work less hard decoding those. Anything above VHS quality 240p on YouTube wouldn't play or would freeze/stutter.
After a month of poking around with it, crashing/bricking it, & restoring it again, I was finally able to overclock the 1.5ghz processor to 1.855ghz without it crashing or bricking. That little bit of speed increase was all I needed so it would play HD mp4/mkv video, & youtube up to 480p. The overclocking did not make it or the power adapter get unusually hot either.
This 2005 model, & my 2005 ACER laptop sold used in working condition with a 90 warranty about 3-4 years ago for around $65. These days, I'd probably have a hard time just giving them away, even though they were well tweaked, & modernized a little. Single core 32 bit machines under 2.2ghz just aren't in demand anymore. They also use old style PATA IDE hard drives. They don't make those kind of drives anymore, so a replacement one would be almost impossible to find. No room inside a laptop for a SATA to PATA adapter either. Basically, the laptops are almost un-sellable.
You can find plenty of good commercial grade used PCs with 64 bit dual core 2.7-3.0 ghz processors these days for around $100 or less shipped to your door. Most of them will blow away many of the new PCs in the stores today.
So the Hitachi laptop sits on my kitchen counter as my kitchen TV & multimedia device. MY 2005 ACER sits beside my bed. With its large 4:3 15" screen it does well for lots of heavy serious reading in a chair or in bed, But can watch video & surf the web with it too. Both have dead batteries. Replacements are around $50-$80, & it's potluck if those old stock batteries will actually still work. The ACER speakers are burnt out. Replacing them is difficult & too expensive. External $10 speakers plugged into it sound nicer than most modern TV speakers. The Hitachi laptop has amazingly good sound.
So I'm accumulating a lot of cool functioning, but old stuff, that nobody wants to buy anymore. They look at the numbers & the date, instead of what the things can actually do.
Two - HP DC7900 dual 3ghz 64-bit 2009 PCs (got them for $79)
HP 2009 Probook 14.1" dual 2.4ghz (turbo to 3ghz) 64-bit laptop (got also for $79)
Compaq 3.66ghz desktop ($99 in 2006, rebuilt after the fire)
ACER 1.8ghz 15.1" laptop (bought new in 2005-$299, rebuilt after the fire)
Hitachi 1.5ghz (overclocked to 1.855ghz)2005 15.5" laptop (got for fixing a newer HP laptop)
Wintergreen dual 1.6ghz desktop ($499 in 2002, rebuilt after the fire)
HP 1.2ghz 2000 or 2001 desktop (got it free)
32" OCOSMO 720p HDTV/monitor-fixed (got it broken in trade for a 800mhz 2000 Linux PC)
27" VIzio 720p HDTV/monitor-fixed (Got it broken, free. With front facing speakers that actually sound good).
26" Olivea 720p HDTV/monitor ($199 in 2004, restored after the fire, also nice front speakers)
24" Hanspree 1080p monitor ($89 in 2011)
TWO Digiland/Azpen Android 5.0 & 6.0 7" quad core tablets (free-long story)
Alcatel Pixi dual core 4.5" phone (free for reviewing it)
Samsung 3.5" Gravity Smart phone, with cool slide-out lighted keyboard ($45 with rebate in 2011)
Two-20" Sony Wega TVs (Over $400 each in 2000, rebuilt after the fire)
75% of that stuff is for sale (the older stuff). It all runs better than new. Any buyers? No shipping. Local buyers only.
Topic: Feminine VS Masculine test (Read 5337 times)
