# I think it might be time for a new computer...



## buyjupiter (Jan 7, 2014)

I was merrily revising away at a short bit of fiction and once I'd finished, I saved it. Then, again, I was merrily typing away at the submission email and I'm ready to attach my recently finished and saved document when I discover--it's gone. Poof. No proof of existence, no cats in the room to blame for deleting it accidentally, nothing. Not a thing.

I've already searched for it on the hard drive. But I think it may be gone. Too bad it was really good. 

Suggestions for new PCs? I'm currently working on a refurbed laptop I bought 3 years ago.


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## Steerpike (Jan 7, 2014)

Yikes. That really sucks. I save everything into either Dropbox or Skydrive just in case.

There are some good deals on laptops these days, particularly since so much is moving toward tablets and hybrid systems. Personally, I'd think of something with at least an i5 processor, 4GB RAM, and a nice touchscreen 

I need to upgrade as well, but I'm holding out to see when the Asus Transformer Book Duet will release - it will run Win 8.1 and Android both, with a press of a button to switch back and forth between the two, and the screen detaches so you can use it as a tablet!


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## Steerpike (Jan 7, 2014)

Good price on this one (no touchscreen though);
Lenovo G500 15.6" Laptop 4GB Memory 1TB Hard Drive 59399508 - Best Buy


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## Steerpike (Jan 7, 2014)

This one has 6GB RAM and a touchscreen:
Lenovo IdeaPad 14" TouchScreen Laptop 6GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive Lenovo P400 Touch - 59371991 - Best Buy


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## buyjupiter (Jan 7, 2014)

Steerpike said:


> Yikes. That really sucks. I save everything into either Dropbox or Skydrive just in case.
> 
> There are some good deals on laptops these days, particularly since so much is moving toward tablets and hybrid systems. Personally, I'd think of something with at least an i5 processor, 4GB RAM, and a nice touchscreen
> 
> I need to upgrade as well, but I'm holding out to see when the Asus Transformer Book Duet will release - it will run Win 8.1 and Android both, with a press of a button to switch back and forth between the two, and the screen detaches so you can use it as a tablet!



Yeah, I think I'm saving things to dropbox for a while. I've been meaning to, I just get lazy. Or something.

Thank you for the links and suggestions. I'll be checking them out and frantically backing everything up tonight, just in case.


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## Steerpike (Jan 7, 2014)

Sure, no problem. I guess it also depends on what you use the computer for. You may get away with lower specs, or require higher ones, depending on what all you use it for (e.g. writing, browsing, gaming, and so on).


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## buyjupiter (Jan 7, 2014)

Writing/editing/multitasking like a boss in the task bar. I need processing capability because I'm always mid-stream on at least half a dozen docs and I do research as I write (trying to stop that habit), so I need the computer to not go "OMG just stop already! Let me have a breather!"  

Which I suppose is my main issue right now. I can have one program open, or one tab open in Chrome and it works fine. Anything more than that and it crashes. Badly. Which is probably how this happened. (And if my anti-virus decides to start up mid-writing, then I'm not getting anything done that day.)

I really need a desktop, since I spend so much time writing/editing/revising and I do some graphic layout work for crafting. I wonder if the dust-covered one out in the garage still works. If it was custom built in 2007, that should be fine in 2014 right?


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## Steerpike (Jan 7, 2014)

My desktop was built by me in 2008 and it still works quite well, even for gaming. I've upgraded the RAM and video card over the years, but that's about it. But when I built it, it was at the higher end of the spectrum. 

Actually, that 2007 computer would probably run nicely on a Linux distribution suited to older computers, and if you don't need Windows that might not be a bad solution. For writing you can run LibreOffice, or something like Scrivener. GIMP and other programs can handle graphics work. I suspect something like Lubuntu would run well on the computer. There are other distros suited for older machines as well.

Otherwise - well, a new desktop these days can be had inexpensively


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