Bartonboy

Should I bring my desk top which is about 4 years old but as been updated on a regular basis or is is it better to start again? I'm getting lots of different stories in the U.K. I'm lead to belive that new machines are cheaper in Spain than the U.K

Mitzyboy

Well I bought my computer with me, and I'm going to buy a laptop shortly. Although I've found it very difficult comparing like for like, I'd say they are marginally cheaper from what I've seen.

But if yours is working fine at the moment then why not just bring it over and replace it in the future when you really need to.

MnM

We too brought over both our desktop and laptop with us when we came 3 years ago and have since purchased new desktop and laptop from here (Spain).

Masters Cadena does some really good deals and if you're nice and ask kindly, they may even give you the English version for the operating system

It all depends on what you want to do

MnM

One very important tip.....back up everything on your HD before transporting it. Puters don't like travelling.

Martha

mikelincs

Also don't forget a computer bought in Spain will have the Spanish language versions of windows, etc on it, so you need to familiarise yourself with it. You cold, of course, go to an English computer shop and get one wiht the english version on, but you do tend to pay a little more in those shops.

jdr

I bought mine from a Spanish place and he asked if I wanted Spanish or English, no extra charge.
The layout is the same anyway, so you would soon get used to it after learning the keywords, unless it played up. lol
I bet Vista in Spanish would be a nightmare with all the confirmation popup boxes.

MnM

A UPS is also very important to have in Spain, as power fluctuations can very easily damage equipment.

Mind you, we used them in the UK as well

brisca

Keep you old PC for as long as possible. Vista is the biggest load of rubbish I have ever come across. Old programs don't work on it, neither do many "add ons" Vista is constantly nosing into everything, doing things for you. I am really considering buying a copy of XP and wiping this Vista rubbish of the HDD. If you can find it I'd buy a New PC with XP on it and a free upgrade to Vista when you want. Then maybe upgrade in a years time.
Buying a Vista PC? DON'T DO IT IMHO

Mr Brisca

Fred James

The free upgrade offer runs out in a few days - after that you pay.

brisca

If thats the case as Fred says then I would steer clear of Vista for now if you can.
Good Luck

Mr Brisca

Rita1

So if you buy a new PC is it safe to wipe it and put a previous version of windows (XP - from a dead laptop) on it?

Fred James

No it is not safe. Most PCs come with a special area on the disk for drivers etc. It would be crazy to buy a PC set up with Vista and try and install XP on it - you would certainly void your warranty. You may also find that the XP CD that came with your laptop (if they bothered to give you one) will not activate on the new PC.

Vista is a very good operating system - miles better than XP. I have been using it for nearly 12 months with very few problems. All new PCs with Vista installed will work out of the box. It is correct to say that some old programs will not work with Vista but an upgrade - sometimes free and sometimes at a charge - will solve the problem.

Some old peripherals such as scanners and printers may require you to download a new driver for them but most will work. Vista has far more drivers available now that XP ever did and many are being added daily.

More to the point, if you are thinking of buying a PC with Vista and are unsure about what will work with it., Microsoft have a program you can download which will scan your present PC and tell you what will work and what will not.

As for "add-ons" which ran under XP and will not run under Vista - most of them are now redundant as Vista has many of these options built in.

If you have a PC running XP then dont bother to upgrade it to Vista - the cost is pretty high and it will not buy you much. If you are looking at buying a new PC it will probably come with Vista so go ahead and use Vista.

Only a Luddite would buy a Vista PC and reverse engineer it to Windows XP.

If you really do want the best of both worlds, then install Vista alongside XP on your old PC or even install XP alongside Vista on your new PC.

brisca

A couple of points.
As far as I know you can't load your old version of XP on another PC. The license won't let you do that. Its one copy of XP to one PC. You would in effect be loading the same version of XP on two PC's and thats not permitted.
I'd disagree that Vista is miles better than XP but Fred has been using it for a lot longer than me so maybe you should listen to him.
Its possible to have a dual boot system where you can have both XP and Vista on the same PC and then choose which you want to use but we are getting a little complicated for most users now.
Anyway its horses for courses and listen to who you like. I'm sticking to what I say and will be putting XP on this PC at the 1st opportunity.
I would'nt mess with your PC's operating systm unless you understand what you are doing.
Its a good job being a Luddite in 2007 doesnt carry the same penalty as it used to

Mr Brisca

MnM

For anyone who is interested, I just discovered that PC World has outlets in Spain under the brand name PC CITY.

The link for shops throughout Spain is here

And for those that doubt there is a connection with PC World and PC City, the link is here for PC World. Once there, scroll all the way to the bottom and pick your country

Learning something new everyday

irup

Just to add to all this (if your a bit savvy with a pc) why not use Linux Ubuntu and get the best of both worlds? You'll be amazed at how fast your pc runs once you got rid of MS products