My HP notebook is dying again. It has been a $1200.00 POS. My wife has a Dell that has not been much better.
We have a 55" 3-D Vizio flat screen TV and 510 sound bar we love.
I have been reading a lot online about the new line of Vizio computers and am VERY tempted to take the plunge and buy one.
The one I am considering is the 15.6" CN 15-A2 notebook from Walmart. It has a Intel i7 3610QM processor. Its 2.30ghz, 8 gb DDR3 SDRAM with a 1TB Hard Drive. Most of this stuff I don't understand.
The one thing I REALLY don't understand is it comes with Windows 7 premium 64 bit. The 64 bit I don't understand. Will I be able to transfer programs from my 32 bit HP to it?
I realize it is a new unknown product but with my luck with old established brands I am willing to give them a try unless you gentleman (and ladies)talk me out of it.
jauguston wrote: My HP notebook is dying again. It has been a $1200.00 POS. My wife has a Dell that has not been much better.
I'd be inclined to try something new here, rather than spend more money on....as you describe.....POS.
We have three different sized Vizio televisions working flawlessly so if it were me I'd listen to karma and try their laptop.
You can not transfer programs from one PC to another. The programs have to be installed a downloaded install program or the install media, CD or DVD.
You can transfer data files, pictures and videos.
2000 Sea Breeze F53 V10 - CR-V Toad
Some RV batteries live a long and useful life, some are murdered. Get a Digital Multimeter and Learn How to Use It
I think the Vizios will be great quality. You do not sound like heavy users, so you might just be happily surprised w/ the 14-A1 with the i5 processor and especially its 128 Gb SSD hard drive.
The i5 is WAY powerful enough for most anything. The solid state drive means stupid-fast boot-up and no moving parts in hard drive. (Look at how much of your current hard drive space is being used and see if its less than 128 Gb)
The smaller, lighter, computer (3 lbs! compared w/ the likely 6 lbs you now have) and the all day battery are great in an RV.
No disk drive might be a turn off. But you are saving $300 w/ the 14-A1 v 15-A2, so if you need to play DVDs w/ it, a cheap USB optical drive (CD/DVD player) could suffice.
Transfer of programs from your old DVDs would simply require you to copy the old disk content to a USB flash memory stick and stick it into one of the new comp USB ports, or else buy and use the cheap optical drive I mentioned.
You or the wife will have a nice machine for sure/
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These aren't cheap machines, are they! Pretty well spec'd out, though. I'd like to see one more usb port.
I liked the "all in one" desktops, too, but again, pretty high price.
But Vizio sure did well with their TV's, brought the price down nicely, and made a good product.
Most of the new processors now are 64 bit - and no, not all older software and/or devices that were designed for a 32 bit system will run properly on a 64 bit system. Many do. Some can be made to work. Some will need new 64 bit drivers.
It is also possible to run all of your older software on Windows 7 XP Mode but you will need to upgrade your premium edition to the professional edition -as Win Xp mode is locked on Win 7 Premium. It is also possible to create your own Virtual Machine on your Win 7 computer with free third party software, then install a legal copy of Windows XP on the virtual machine, and run everything that does not run on Windows 7 on the virtual machine with Win XP. (Not the best of solutions but it does work.)
Before Vizio went to the PC market they put out a tablet with mixed reception. There were some quality build issues - and more importantly few, if any of the computer retailers sold them. They were available at Walmart for awhile - then no longer. And they recently reappeared in Costco.
The solid state drive mentioned will have half its space taken up by the OS - and not much room for software. The lack of a DVD drive is not as crucial as you can buy a portable USB DVD drive to install software with OR if you are hooked up to a network, access a DVD drive on another computer on the network from the laptop and install your software using that.
At this level of cost, I would be looking at a Sony laptop. Forget HP and Dell - and Toshiba! I would go with an ASUS before any of those three.
Something to consider. The two highest rated notebook manufacturers for reliability by Square Trade, a firm that offers extended warranties, and keeps data on frequency of repairs, is #1 Asus and #2 Toshiba. These are the only two I tend to buy new. In fact, bought an Asus Core i3 a few months ago, not only due to their reputation but the fact that they offer both USB 3/USB 2 ports. Asus warranty also included accidental damage such as dropping the notebook, along with defects. It replaced my Toshiba notebook, which ran flawlessly for over 4 years. The hard drive was still rated 100% health, no bad sectors or other issues, and the original battery was still able to keep a 2 hour charge.
1492 wrote: Something to consider. The two highest rated notebook manufacturers for reliability by Square Trade, a firm that offers extended warranties, and keeps data on frequency of repairs, is #1 Asus and #2 Toshiba. These are the only two I tend to buy new. In fact, bought an Asus Core i3 a few months ago, not only due to their reputation but the fact that they offer both USB 3/USB 2 ports. Asus warranty also included accidental damage such as dropping the notebook, along with defects. It replaced my Toshiba notebook, which ran flawlessly for over 4 years. The hard drive was still rated 100% health, no bad sectors or other issues, and the original battery was still able to keep a 2 hour charge.
Made the decision. It will be delivered to my home Monday the 25th from Walmart. Two year extended warranty from Walmart for $99.00 after the one year factory warranty expires. That seemed like a darn good deal.
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