PC Update

 had a bit a spare money recently (which is always nice!) so I thought I’d treat myself to a new computer. The laptop I was using previously must have been getting on for six years old and while it’s been a workhorse over the years, it is beginning to show its age.

So I shopped around a bit, looked at various websites, High Street shops, etc., looking at specifications and prices. Now the problem I always have with things like this, is that I set myself a budget and look for goods around that price. Then I go a little bit above it; after all, £10 is not too much is it? Although, for another £10 above that I can get this, or for £20 extra get that. Wait, hang on –  if I spend an extra £100 I can get a super-duper computer. BUT….if I’m paying that, I might as well….And so it goes on. My initial budget goes from £350 to £400, to £450, to £500.

I finally managed to reign myself in, compromised a little. A budget of £450, but willing to go up to £500 if a better version of the ‘budget’ one was available.

I also had a few other key pieces of information I wanted to use in my new PC choice, I won’t get overly technical, but they related to processor speed, RAM, hard drive size and graphical ability.  Now bearing in mind you’re more than likely to be reading this on a computer, I’m guessing that you all will have been through a similar process yourself. How many find it hard? How difficult can it be for a website to have a few simple check boxes for you to select your ideal computer? Sure, a few do have some rudimentary options, but often they fail, or don’t quite have the options you want. I even toyed with the idea of choosing my own PC from a list of specifications on specialist, ‘Custom Build’ sites, but these turned out to be prohibitively expensive.

I walked round PC world and then Curry’s, looking for inspiration, whilst at the same time strenuously avoiding the attentions of staff asking if I wanted to help. Still no joy.

After a couple of weeks I was starting to get a feel for prices and specifications. I was also starting to get concerned. It seemed that when a shop gave you a good deal on one aspect of the computer (i.e decent RAM), then they’d skimp on processor clock speed. I suppose that is the way of all retail though – give you a headline offer to attract you in, but then cut corners on aspects you might not be able to see.

Ultimately I decided on a new laptop from Medion, it seemed perfect for what I wanted. I still procrastinated for a week though. I was just about to buy it when I had an inspiration. Ebay.

Most retailers now have a presence on ebay, Medion are no different. Cue another week or so of watching, looking for patterns, even placing a few low bids.

I eventually saw one that I realy liked the look of. It matched or bettered my original choice and had a quite low current bid. I checked how much it would normally retail for – £499, and it was well below that, with only a day to go.

With ten minutes to go it was still cheap. I opened another window in my browser, typed in a bid and hovered my cursor over the confirm button. Three seconds to go, I clicked; a flurry of bids were placed. Then…success! I’d won it, and for the pleasing price of £290.

That was the middle of last week. It was shipping from Germany and had an expected delivery date between Monday and Wednesday of this week. My luck seemed to be in however. Saturday arrived and so did a very large box (I really should have visualised what a 17.3 inch laptop would be like).

Up and running in seconds. Of course, a few updates (78 to be precise) to Windows were required, that was to be expected and it wasn’t a big deal as they could keep themselves amused in the background while I did other things.

Now here’s an important aspect. The OS installed was Windows 8; I had my reservations about it, preferring the iterations Microsoft had got me used to over the years. No fancy tile for me, I’d liked to get down and dirty. I was willing to give it a go however.

Once that update was done, there were updates to apps, updates to drivers, updates to everything. Even an update to the version of Windows itself, a major upgrade of Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

And that’s when my problems started.

In the midst of the flurry of upgrades, my shiny new laptop seemed to have got stuck. It was restarting to finish an upgrade. But then it hit a problem. ‘Oh dear’, Windows helpfully/annoyingly (delete as appropriate) told me, it would need to restart. And then it would just go round in a loop.

And this is where my problems got larger.

On previous incarnations it was quite simple to troubleshoot problems, booting up to safe mode was always a good option. Possible in Windows 8.1, but mind-blowingly difficult due to the speed it boots up (it’s like playing Daley Thompson’s decathlon), not impossible, but fiendishly difficult.

I tried booting Windows from the recovery disk. It loaded up the first time, but it’s efforts to repair Windows failed.

And it is where my problems got even larger.

Now Windows didn’t want to boot up from disc again. Bloody hell! Eventually, after much Googling (other search engines are available), I managed to find a way to get Windows to boot from the device (i.e. my CD/DVD drive) I wanted. I tried to repair again, but now joy.

I thought that if only I could use ‘command prompt’ to start the laptop in safe mode I would be ok. I eventually find on the internet a command to do that, and so after nearly a week of messing around, I got safe mode started. Only problem was, I couldn’t see what the actually conflict was that was causing Windows to loop (the internet general consensus seemed to be a conflict between two programs trying to update the same driver).

Oh, to hell with it. I bit the bullet and reinstalled Windows. And more updating.

So here I am now. A week after my new computer arrived and only just using it really.

I’m happy with the laptop itself, it’s quick and powerful. I’m just having serious reservations about Windows 8/8.1. Time will tell if I’ve been cursed with an albatross of an Operating System

What are your experiences of Windows 8? Love it? Loathe it? Let me know.

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