Tony P Posted February 4 Posted February 4 (edited) My trusty, 8-year old Acer laptop runs Windows 10 which will no longer be supported later TY. So I feel compelled to switch to Windows 11. My Acer does everything I need. I'm not a techy guy at all (these specs came off of a label on my laptop).It runs on an Intel I7-7500U (2.7GHz/boost to 3.5GHz), 16GB DDR4 memory & 256GB SSD. I'm considering an All-In-One as I no longer travel with my laptop. I'm not a gamer so graphics don't need to be "the very best". Trying to figure out a suitable replacement is driving my crazy. If any of you guys 'n gals have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. On a related topic, I've been a slave to MS Office for decades. I dislike subscriptions so I've been searching for an alternative to Office 365. Has anyone had an experience with Microsoftkeys? They seem to offer One-time downloads of Office for around $35 and on the surface, it appears to be legit. MicroSoft Keys Thanks!!! Edited February 4 by Tony P Quote
Draconator Posted February 4 Posted February 4 35 minutes ago, Tony P said: My trusty, 8-year old Acer laptop runs Windows 10 which will no longer be supported later TY. So I feel compelled to switch to Windows 11. My Acer does everything I need. I'm not a techy guy at all (these specs came off of a label on my laptop).It runs on an Intel I7-7500U (2.7GHz/boost to 3.5GHz), 16GB DDR4 memory & 256GB SSD. I'm considering an All-In-One as I no longer travel with my laptop. I'm not a gamer so graphics don't need to be "the very best". Trying to figure out a suitable replacement is driving my crazy. If any of you guys 'n gals have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. On a related topic, I've been a slave to MS Office for decades. I dislike subscriptions so I've been searching for an alternative to Office 365. Has anyone had an experience with Microsoftkeys? They seem to offer One-time downloads of Office for around $35 and on the surface, it appears to be legit. MicroSoft Keys Thanks!!! Actually, any computer around $600 will do the job for you. Don't concern yourself with specs. Most new computers are solid right out of the box. As for an Office type program that's not a subscription, Google's suite (Docs, Sheets, etc). Very similar to the Office Suite, for free. 2 Quote
Virgil Posted February 5 Posted February 5 Go to Costco if you have one. You can't go wrong with any of the laptops they sell. They start around $500, but have great specs and build quality. Myself, family, and friends have all bought from them over the past few years and have been happy. 3 Quote
Mike in Horseheads Posted February 5 Posted February 5 Latest laptop I have is a Target sale Hp . Touch screen, back lite keyboard been very happy happy with it. Have used Google Sheets for some things and no issue. Quote
CookieG Posted February 5 Posted February 5 Ill just throw it out there, but if it is just Windows 11 you are worried about, you can get a free upgrade from Microsoft. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/upgrade-to-windows-11-faq-fb6206a2-1a0f-448a-80f1-8668ee5b2bf9#:~:text=The upgrade to Windows 11,download is large in size. Quote
Tony P Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 (edited) Thanks. I saw that free 11 upgrade a couple of days ago so I ran the system checker. It came back that my processor wouldn’t run Windows11. On Google Sheets, is it 100% compatible with all of my current Excel, Word, etc files & docs? Edited February 5 by Tony P System Merged my replies Quote
boyst Posted February 5 Posted February 5 I don't get the PC deal anymore. Unless for work go get a $300 chrome book for home use, and a tablet for social media/streaming/browsing/brazzers 1 Quote
Draconator Posted February 5 Posted February 5 2 hours ago, Tony P said: On Google Sheets, is it 100% compatible with all of my current Excel, Word, etc files & docs? I'd say 99.999% compatible. There's a couple of quirky things that Google throws in, but all-in-all pretty much the same. 1 Quote
UConn James Posted February 6 Posted February 6 I was in the same boat and got an HP mini elite 800 at the Black Friday price , ~$900 down from $1,400. Very small form factor that I have on my entertainment center and I use my 65” tv as a monitor via an HDMI cable. I’m pretty happy with it so far. Also looking for an Office program and the free ones LibreOffice OpenOffice have left me very unimpressed — my best friend’s mum died and I edited a eulogy for him and sent it back but it was not compatible with his Word and he couldn’t open it (I eventually found a workaround of using Office.com which is MSWord, online and free) so I may have to bite the bullet. I’m just a guy who wants a nice word processing program loaded ON my computer to type things on. That’s all I want. But you evidently can’t get (see: pay for) just Word. This Office365 monthly payment model is 🐂💩 — $9.99 a MONTH?!?? For something that is basically the same thing MS has been pushing for 40 years with hardly any change? Robber barons. They all want monthly payments now. There is Office 2024 apparently for $150 on the MS site, and I’ve done a cursory look at something like you mentioned, just getting a key code but I’m a bit leery about where to try that without your money vanishing into the ether. It seems too good to be true. Following this topic for any insights. Quote
UConn James Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Forgot to mention… I was upgrading from a 2010 model HP laptop with i5, 3rd generation chip, Windows 7 originally, 4GB RAM that was the max it could hold (bc an old style of slot). The upgrade to Windows 10 had really bogged it down and it was spending more time & straining meager system resources updating itself than I spent using it. I thought I’d need a laptop at the time of purchase. Portability. Turns out in actual use, I don’t need a laptop. The mini one I got can be plugged into any tv for a screen, or if I eventually want to get a dedicated monitor maybe with touchscreen capability. And looking at a nicer wireless keyboard and mouse than I have at the moment. It’s conducive to multiple or change-between setup styles. Quote
Just Jack Posted February 6 Posted February 6 21 hours ago, Virgil said: Go to Costco if you have one. You can't go wrong with any of the laptops they sell. They start around $500, but have great specs and build quality. Myself, family, and friends have all bought from them over the past few years and have been happy. I picked up my current laptop (Acer) at Costco about 7 years ago, for $500. Only two major issues with in, both in the last year. The built in Bluetooth just died one day, so off the Best Buy and I picked up a simple Bluetooth dongle for under $20. Other issues was the battery. I started noticing that battery life, which used to be 7-9 hours when new, was getting under 4 hours on a full charge. Then if I did not use it for a couple days, the battery would be just about dead. About $40 for a new battery, and I replaced it myself, now I'm back to getting over 7 hours of use before needing to plug it in. As long as MS does not shut me out if I don't upgrade, I'll keep it a few more years. Quote
Just Jack Posted February 6 Posted February 6 On 2/4/2025 at 5:15 PM, Tony P said: On a related topic, I've been a slave to MS Office for decades. I dislike subscriptions so I've been searching for an alternative to Office 365. Has anyone had an experience with Microsoftkeys? They seem to offer One-time downloads of Office for around $35 and on the surface, it appears to be legit. MicroSoft Keys How about a lifetime subscription for $60? Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License | iDrop News Quote
Tony P Posted February 6 Author Posted February 6 15 hours ago, Just Jack said: How about a lifetime subscription for $60? Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License | iDrop News Thanks Jack. My Acer is also a Costco laptop and has been very reliable. I'm trying to get out ahead of the Windows 10 support thing or I'd just keep using it. Have you bought that MS Office license? That's a really similar situation to the Office 24 link I posted. I'm just not sure if I'm, as UConn James stated upthread, throwing my money away. I'd sure like to know if someone has had success using it. 19 hours ago, UConn James said: I was in the same boat and got an HP mini elite 800 at the Black Friday price , ~$900 down from $1,400. Very small form factor that I have on my entertainment center and I use my 65” tv as a monitor via an HDMI cable. I’m pretty happy with it so far. Thanks! That sounds like a really interesting option. I'm going to check it out although I'd like to try to keep it to a ceiling of $600. The Office 365 subscription model blows chunks! Quote
Orlando Buffalo Posted February 6 Posted February 6 From what you are describing- not running high memory apps- any computer with 8 Ram should work for you. I still have a 4 ram computer that is good enough for what you are running but it gets laggy if I am doing much more about 5 windows. The last time I bought I had to pay a little extra to get the bloatware removed. I also have had luck getting refurbished computers from Dell, but you have to wait for sales which seems to be monthly. 1 Quote
Jukester Posted February 6 Posted February 6 Are you only looking at laptops? If your needs are fairly basic from a computing perspective and you’ve got an external monitor, you may want to consider a mini pc. Here’s an example - $169 on Amazon - preinstalled with Windows 11 pro - just as powerful as many desktops https://a.co/d/hSs6Bow 1 Quote
Just Jack Posted February 6 Posted February 6 1 hour ago, Tony P said: Have you bought that MS Office license? That's a really similar situation to the Office 24 link I posted. I'm just not sure if I'm, as UConn James stated upthread, throwing my money away. I'd sure like to know if someone has had success using it. I have not, since through work I have access to Office 365. 1 Quote
Tony P Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 (edited) On 2/6/2025 at 4:28 PM, Jukester said: Are you only looking at laptops? If your needs are fairly basic from a computing perspective and you’ve got an external monitor, you may want to consider a mini pc. Here’s an example - $169 on Amazon - preinstalled with Windows 11 pro - just as powerful as many desktops https://a.co/d/hSs6Bow Thanks! I hadn't considered a mini pc. I'll research these to see if it will work for me. Appreciate the suggestion! Edited February 9 by Tony P 1 Quote
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