MelodyL, you could consider getting a 18 inch name-brand laptop (a quick Google pulls out a number of options for you to consider).

The reason for this that the hard drive of a laptop (which is intended to be moved around) is generally more mechanically robust than that of a desktop (which is intended to stay in one place).

To Kiwi33

But I don't want to be charging up a laptop. I have no idea about laptops other than I have been using mine for 5 years and for the past 3 have used it as a desktop. Always plugged in and never moved.

So let's say I can get my hands on an 18 inch better laptop (with more memory, dual band wi fi, etc.), do I take out the battery and then plug it in and then I would have exactly what I have now (but a much newer model). I could do that???

If so, then I WOULD get a laptop. I thought if I got a new laptop I have to use it with the included battery, always re-charging, etc. etc.

See why I'm confused? At night, when I retire, I just put my present laptop to sleep, and the next day if I choose to use it, I just tap the keyboard and usually it wakes up (sometimes I have to re-start) but it's what I'm used to. But then I started looking into All In One (because of the screen size and wi fi etc.).

But a replacement laptop would be just fine as long as it's an 18 inch.

Maybe I'm wrong, but sometimes I sit at this at night and watch mini series on youtube and I thought I would burn out a laptop if I ran it on battery life only. This way it's so much simpler for me, I don't have to check the battery life. To me, it's a desktop

See what I mean?

Thanks much

Melody

Melody, laptop batteries are a bit complicated.

This laptop had one for many years - they are automatically charged through the mains power connection which means that if you unplug the laptop and take it somewhere else it will get power from the battery.

But, after a while, laptop batteries die - this has happened to this one (it stopped charging) so I pulled the battery out which means that if I unplug the laptop from the mains power it will stop.

One of my NY missions is to buy a new battery (they are fairly cheap, often less than $100) and put it in, which is an easy job - that means that if I use this laptop with mains power (which I usually do) the battery will stay powered and (flexibility) if I unplug it and take it somewhere else it will work through battery power.

Okay, let me make this simple for you. I want to get another laptop. 18 inches. Can I bring it home, plug it in my outlet, LEAVE it in the outlet, go on the internet, and put it to sleep at night (even though it has a battery already in it). I know they have headphone jacks so that's all I really cared about.

So let's say I get another Dell Inspiron, only a much newer model with more ram and it will probably have a Terrabyte (you don't want to know how much my E1705 has, but it's good enough for me.

I would imagine that any newer laptop would run faster than this old bird.

And the Optimum guy (and me) figured out that my present laptop does not have Dual Band capability. My router DOES.

So any new laptop that I have will pick up that particular network (he told me what to look for), I select the 5G network, then I'm all set to go watch my movies.

The big question is can I leave it plugged it and put it to sleep at night. I would assume that would make it perpetually charged, am I correct in that assumption?

I should have made that more clear in my first question, but hey, I'm 68 years old. ROFL.

Thanks much

Melody

You can run any laptop with, or without the battery. If you plan to use it plugged in most of the time, you can take out the battery and not worry about it charging & discharging all the time.
I would charge it fully the first time , remove it and store in a safe place, in case you want to use it in the future. Then use plugged in just as you are now.

As far as newer being faster, yes probably, but some slowness on your system now could be from Windows OS getting bogged down.. do you defrag the hard drive yearly?
That get s the files back in the best order for the system..

Usually the speed of the computer matters more for gamers or people having multiple programs open or a heavy graphics work..
for mainly online use the computer speed would not be a big factor. Then the wifi speed is more important, if you get a lot of buffering or not when watching videos/shows...

I have never degragmented this hard drive.

I am NOW going to look into how to do it.

Will update if I live through this. lol

Melody

Well what do you know, I just checked my disk defragmenter and it seems it's on automatic and does it periodically (first time was 1/1/2005) yes, that's how old this Dell Inspiron is. My last degrag was 1/16/2016) so I gather I'm good in that department.

So in my honest opinion, any new laptop that I get would have to be better than this one. I have Windows Vista. I heard bad things about Windows 8, too many bugs. Don't know anything about Windows 10 except they put back the start button. Never owned a MAC.

So I'm just comfortable using my BIG laptop and watching miniseries onyoutube.

I do have one question which no one seems to have the answer to (especially my cable provider). When I watch my tv shows via my laptop (not through Optimum) but regular CBS, NBC or any other video I get no problem. However, if I want to watch General Hospital or any of the ABC television shows, it get choppy video that does not sync up with the audio.

This does not happen on youtube or any local channels that I watch on the internet. For example, I go to google, I type in Watch Big Bang Theory, it takes me to the actual website and bingo, I can watch anything on CBS. Same with NBC.

But not ABC. The theory is that it's the ABC bandwith that is doing this. How on earth can I watch all other channels on their websites except ABC.

Any input is appreciated and thanks for all your help.

I now know that I can buy any laptop, charge up the battery full, take it out, plug it in and use it like a desktop.

Thanks so much

Melody

I didn't find any definite info about the ABC streaming show question ..