Computer help

HokieLaw · December 2009

My home computer died yesterday. We had a storm, power went out, computer will not come back on. I had a friend try to fix it and his professional opinion was that it was dead.

SO, can you guys tell me what the difference is between a netbook and a notebook? All I use the home computer for is internet, quicken, itunes and uploading pictures.

Paula051907 · December 2009

I'm not nearly as qualified as several other ladies here to answer, but from what we've been looking at... netbooks are small (~10" I think is what we've been seeing), notebooks are what you think of when someone says laptop - it's a decent size.

Melanie051907 · December 2009

I'm not a computer expert but any stretch of the imagination but did you friend confirm that it wasn't just your power supply that went bad? The power supply on our desktop died last week and for like $80 DH fixed it himself.

And I agree with what Paula said about the net vs note book.

HokieLaw · December 2009

Well, it will "turn on" to a point. It looks like it is going to load, and then the entire thing goes black. We did system restore. We did safe mode. He went into the registry (?) and tried to fix it there. He thinks that my explorer (or something) file is corrupt and my choices are to buy a new operating system (my computer didn't come with a restore CD) and have that put in or buy a new computer. Either way, everything I had saved on my computer is gone now.

I'd kind of like to beat the current one with a hammer so I'm leaning towards a new one. haha.

Mrs.Graves51907 · December 2009

Paula is right. Netbooks are "mini" versions of notebooks. Really I think people mainly get them if they carry them with them a lot because they are small and lighter. I got a Dell Inspirion 17 a few months ago and love it. It only weighs 5lbs and was inexpensive. I don't use it for much other than internet or money.

Melanie051907 · December 2009

I see. You can always see if some place like Best Buy can at least transfer the music/picture/word files from your hard drive to a new external drive. We back up the important stuff to an external drive now. That way, it's on two places if something happens to the desktop.

HokieLaw · December 2009

Melanie051907:
I see. You can always see if some place like Best Buy can at least transfer the music/picture/word files from your hard drive to a new external drive. We back up the important stuff to an external drive now. That way, it's on two places if something happens to the desktop.

That's a good idea. I do have all my pictures on CDs, shutterfly and facebook so I won't lose any of that. It's mostly my budgeting data that I'm mad about. I just got Quicken working correctly and the computer died.

Duffinger · December 2009

You can probably order a new restore CD for much less than buying a whole new OS. I think mine was about $20...Windows 7 is going for about $120 right now. Paula's right about netbook vs notebook. We have a 10" Acer (or maybe it's Asus...whichever the better one is b/c Mike bought it and he's anal about that) Eee PC that's great. The only thing that's not great about it is that it's running Windows Vista still and it's killing it.

If you're going to get a netbook, the Eee PC is great, lightweight and has a ~9 hr battery life.

That said, now that I've converted to Mac, I'll never ever ever ever willing go back to PC. Sooo, if you decide to get a notebook, look into a Macbook...I have just a basic Macbook b/c I didn't need any of the upgrades, but we'll be getting Mike a Macbook Pro when his notebook dies. That computer made my life worth living. Stick out tongue

Duffinger · December 2009

Oh, I'd also go to G&T and ask about what happened to your computer before making any decisions.

HokieLaw · December 2009

I actually just went home and got my machine and gave it to our IT guy. He's looking at it and trying to see what he can do. His initial reaction was "this is bad..." Then he said "Well, I might be able to fix it." So we'll see.

I had a mac a long time ago and didn't do well with it. But that was when they were fairly new and the world wasn't quite as accommodating to them as it is now. I'll go look at them too.

flyer1982 · December 2009

The big thing about a netbook is it doesn't have a CD drive. If you have to install stuff onto the netbook you have to use an external CD drive or download it off the internet.

I have the HP Mini netbook and love it! I use it around the house for internet and we use it for Skype to MH's family. It's so light that I don't really ever use out notebook anymore. I have no need for a CD drive though so it works for me (I use our desktop for banking and such).

blairsgirl · December 2009

I just got a MacBook and I love it. it is light. I was initially looking at the netbooks, but wanted a cd drive. MH has a Dell laptop and the thing is freaking huge. I love the MacBook.

HokieLaw · December 2009

IT guy came back and said that part of my problem is the explorer.exe file being corrupt. The other part of the problem is that my hard drive is mostly fried. He also thinks the computer doesn't get enough air from the fan and parts of the motherboard or whatever are not working (it's one of the small HP slimline computers). He said he could get me a new hard drive and motherboard and fix it but I'd run the chance of the same thing happening in a couple of years because the fan on the computer simply isn't strong enough to keep it all cool.

Duffinger · December 2009

With the cost and hassle of a motherboard, you're prob better off just replacing the whole thing.

HokieLaw · December 2009

Somehow, last night we got it to work! IT guy had to basically wipe it clean (he did do some backups of some things but he's not sure that the data will be clean since he's pretty sure I had some nasty viruses). I can use the internet and nothing else. At least that will get me through until I get a new one for Christmas.

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