Our Dell desktop is on its last legs and thinking about updating. It gets used for iTunes, photos and kids homework mainly. We have a variety of devices : I have a nexus, wife has iPad, kids have iPods and eldest getting a chromebook at Christmas. We have a wired printer with wireless option.

Any advice on what to do with main computer ? Do we get another desktop, with benefits of a decent screen, or go laptop and keep pics and music locally with external hard drive backups as present, or should we get over to icloud and google docs ?

Our desktop packed up a few months ago, we have a netbook so I just plugged in the monitor/mouse/keyboard and we use that now.

Its a bit on the slow side but we don’t use it that often anyway, sons got a mac, wife has an iPad, we all have smart phones so didn’t see the point in buying another pc.

My work laptop is plugged into the mains all day, 5 days a week and lasts so I don’t see batteries being an issue.

I’d go the laptop route but with monitor and keyboard.

eldest getting a chromebook

very brave….. of the 7 people I know who purchased a Chromebook…. 7 of them returned them to the shop and exchanged for a Windows based netbook…

I ditched the desktop and now use my works laptop with a docking station and an extra monitor and wireless keyboard.

Works well for me.

Our Dell desktop is on its last legs and thinking about updating

When you say “on its last legs” – what exactly is wrong with it ?

very brave….. of the 7 people I know who purchased a Chromebook…. 7 of them returned them to the shop and exchanged for a Windows based netbook…

and of the 7 I know with them….they still have them. You do need to know how to use them properly as it does require a change to the way you manage data and files.

A chromebox would make an alternative choice. Use with your existing screen (if HDMI), and keyboard/mouse (USB)

Depends, if you want the kids to do their homework in a fixed location then a desktop still makes sense

Otherwise a laptop and a decent NAS hard drive is what I would suggest.

Use the NAS hard drive to store your media and all you devices can access it.

I used to recommend desktops over laptops. But in the past 4 or 5 years, laptops have gotten good enough for most people.

I think, unless you know you need a desktop, get a laptop instead.

You can always (depends on connectors) plug it in to your old monitor / keyboard etc, it you like a bigger screen.

I’ve been looking at something similar.

Tempted to get one of these:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/desktop-pc/3483039/intel-nuc-d54250wyk-mini-pc-review/

, you need to add in memory and a SSD and you’re away. Mount it behind my monitor, it’s a nice solution.

In two minds because you are overpaying for the style/size aspect. If you want bang for buck it’s hard to beat this, unbelievable value:

http://www.ebuyer.com/579786-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1214

Otherwise a laptop and a decent NAS hard drive is what I would suggest.

Can anyone recommend a good NAS HDD for a mac? My old HDD is formatted for windows, and my new mac can’t do much with it unless I format it and lose all my stuffs.
What about a time capsule or a Seagate wireless plus?
Want to use it to store itunes stuff, piccys, movies etc. Would/could a cloud service do the job? Been looking at Qvivo.
Sorry for the hijack!

thanks all, dektop is around 7 yrs old I think, its making weird noises and is very slow. A decent clean out would probably sort the latter. It’s on Windows 7.

The screen is a decent 19 inch widescreen one, although not sure what inputs it has. Quite liking teh ideas of a laptop, but using screen, mouse etc.

thanks for ideas so far.

re the Chromebook – he is about to turn 11, so will be away ahead of me anyway !!

The 11 year old is most likely going to use the Chromebook for school related things, and this will cause many headaches… when everyone else (including the school) has MS Office on their macs or PCs…

There’s no issue with dealing with MS files on the chromebook. I can move between the file types in both directions with no problems. As I said, it’s a change of mentality and with a lot of computer stuff some people can be very stuck in their ways. q.v. I wouldnt be seen dead trying to find my way around a Mac.

Can anyone recommend a good NAS HDD for a mac? My old HDD is formatted for windows

Surely if it’s a NAS drive it’s just a network share and the mac will access it the same as the Windows device?

Are you locally attaching a drive formatted for NTFS which is why your mac can’t read it?

Are you locally attaching a drive formatted for NTFS which is why your mac can’t read it?

Apparently so. It can read it, it can’t write to it or do much else. A bit hamstrung as the data on the external HDD is more than the amount of space on the MBP.
Our IT chap just recommended QNAP NAS stuffs. He’s got apps on his telephone for it, looks very nice, seems pricey though.

Our IT chap just recommended QNAP NAS stuffs. He’s got apps on his telephone for it, looks very nice, seems pricey though.

They come with iTunes and Time Machine support built in and Apple’s proprietary network file gubbins support.

They don’t have to be that pricey – look at their TS-212 ( you’ll need to factor in the cost of a drive as well- look at Western Digital Red series drives.

Edit – price for a TS-212 and a 4Tb drive ( allowing further expansion with another disk in the future ) would be ~ £300.

Is there any point getting a non RAID NAS?

Is there any point getting a non RAID NAS?

I’ll flip that back at you – is there any point in getting a RAID one for home use?

You probably don’t need the extra performance, the redundancy doesn’t matter much as it’s not mission critical, and if it dies you restore your backup.

What you say, with RAID you have a backup? No you don’t.

Ah, OK.
If I’m only going to use one slot on a NAS, would there be a downside to getting a cheaper one than the TS-212?

Any thoughts on this please?
http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1140
Good price, would have preferred a torrent client but hey ho.