A Windows 11 laptop

[ef37a]

Thanks Merlyn yes, I AM administrator since I could download and install the trial version of Samplitude Pro X 8. All a bit academic now since I found the demo tracks in Sam clicking like a b****d! I ran speccy and it told me I had a 2 core, 2.1G i3 in there!

I then found the computers specs (eeeventually!) and sho nuff i3 processor.
Straight onto the man! He has said it deffo SHOULD be an i5 Gen 8 and to send the service tag so I have attached a smudge.
Yet to hear back.

When (I hope!) I get the right laptop, will I be able to use the same Msoft log in? I found I had to create an account before I could then go Local Account. Also does not seem worth the hassle now they have my details?

Dave.

[merlyn]

... When (I hope!) I get the right laptop, will I be able to use the same Msoft log in?

Yes. The idea is that if you have e.g. Microsoft 365 you can use that subscription on multiple machines.

I found I had to create an account before I could then go Local Account.

If it was Windows Home, then yes you have to do that.

Also does not seem worth the hassle now they have my details?

If you use a Microsoft login, the machine will still work without an internet connection, so it's not a huge deal.

[James Perrett]

send the service tag so I have attached a smudge.

The service tag is just a short sequence of letters and numbers. You can look up the information yourself on the Dell website if you just enter the service tag at

As an example this one on Ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116459725529

has a service tag of 6VKPFW2

and looking up at

https://www.dell.com/support/product-de ... 0/overview

gives a link to look at its original spec

[ef37a]

send the service tag so I have attached a smudge.

The service tag is just a short sequence of letters and numbers. You can look up the information yourself on the Dell website if you just enter the service tag at

As an example this one on Ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116459725529

has a service tag of 6VKPFW2

and looking up at

https://www.dell.com/support/product-de ... 0/overview

gives a link to look at its original spec

Ah shoot! You need a Dell account. Can't be a'ed to have yet another one!

Thanks though James.

Dave.

[James Perrett]

Ah shoot! You need a Dell account. Can't be a'ed to have yet another one!

No you don't. The basic product specs for your actual machine are available without signing in.

[ef37a]

Ah shoot! You need a Dell account. Can't be a'ed to have yet another one!

No you don't. The basic product specs for your actual machine are available without signing in.

OK thanks but I am shortly going to reset the laptop to factory settings to ship it back. I have been offered an i7 Lenovo E590, handy because we both 'know' Lenovos.
BTW I just read that there is a registry hack you can use to stop W11 updates for 20 years! Not advised of course for most of us but possibly for a dedicated studio PC?

Dave.

[Pete Kaine]

The laptop will have Windows pre-installed. I've installed Windows 11 for other people, and setting up a local account is something that is done when installing. Microsoft don't really want you to have a local account and it's a bit of a hack, getting more so as Microsoft try to close loopholes.

If it's pre-installed by a partner firm then they have to do to a factory reseal before shipping. You can do the drop to DOS and disable networking trick during the initial setup phase to bypass the online account and register it as a local setup. If it hasn't been factory resealed, you can still do a factory reseal yourself as a end user and setup a new account that way.

BTW I just read that there is a registry hack you can use to stop W11 updates for 20 years! Not advised of course for most of us but possibly for a dedicated studio PC?

The first application you install a year down the line that requires "x" update, will cause you large amounts of frustration as you try and figure out which update that was. I never block mine for more than a few months, as it's caused me too many headaches in the past. There's dozens of tools that will give you the ability to block updates or manage them via desktop apps without messing about in the registry. "WuMgr" is my preference for more granular control.

[Matt Houghton]

The first application you install a year down the line that requires "x" update, will cause you large amounts of frustration as you try and figure out which update that was.

^ This. I froze the last Windows 10 studio machine I had built five years ago, thinking along the same lines as suggested above.

It still works and works very well — it's remained stable throughout. So there's merit in the idea. But at the same time there's plenty of software I can't now install/update on it. That started about 18 months in. And now it's hard to know what to update to, and what else doing so might break... So I'll probably end up using this until I need a new machine. What I *should* have done is set restore points and performed controlled updates after I knew the wrinkles had been ironed out. Maybe even a second test drive on the system so I could keep a known stable version working as a backup. But life's too short, right? Pete obvs keeps up to speed on Windows through the day job — for the rest of us, iI reckon this stuff is a lot to have to keep abreast of!

[ef37a]

Too short indeed Matt!
My idea for my son's lappy when I get it is to install Samplitude X8 (if I can get a good deal) plus Reaper and some other stuff. Turn off things that I have found a nuisance and I don't need like OneDrive and make Notification less intrusive then when I am happy do a backup to an external drive which will go with the machine, then hopefully if things do go wrong he can get back to the way it was when he got it.
I suppose when he gets it in France he should re set it and start from a "new" computer but I am pretty sure he won't! Not sure what the ramifications of that could be?

What little time I had with W11 was easier than I feared. It is very like 10 (I SHALL move the Start button back! what stupid ****hole thought that was a good idea?) My biggest problem was with the Dell trackpad buttons. They seemed very imprecise and being EXACTLY the same colour and texture as the trackpad, very hard for these old eyes to make out. Never used a Dell before I hope mine was a bad'un?

Dave.

[OneWorld]

Too short indeed Matt!
My idea for my son's lappy when I get it is to install Samplitude X8 (if I can get a good deal) plus Reaper and some other stuff. Turn off things that I have found a nuisance and I don't need like OneDrive and make Notification less intrusive then when I am happy do a backup to an external drive which will go with the machine, then hopefully if things do go wrong he can get back to the way it was when he got it.
I suppose when he gets it in France he should re set it and start from a "new" computer but I am pretty sure he won't! Not sure what the ramifications of that could be?

What little time I had with W11 was easier than I feared. It is very like 10 (I SHALL move the Start button back! what stupid ****hole thought that was a good idea?) My biggest problem was with the Dell trackpad buttons. They seemed very imprecise and being EXACTLY the same colour and texture as the trackpad, very hard for these old eyes to make out. Never used a Dell before I hope mine was a bad'un?

Dave.

Too short indeed Matt!
My idea for my son's lappy when I get it is to install Samplitude X8 (if I can get a good deal) plus Reaper and some other stuff. Turn off things that I have found a nuisance and I don't need like OneDrive and make Notification less intrusive then when I am happy do a backup to an external drive which will go with the machine, then hopefully if things do go wrong he can get back to the way it was when he got it.
I suppose when he gets it in France he should re set it and start from a "new" computer but I am pretty sure he won't! Not sure what the ramifications of that could be?

What little time I had with W11 was easier than I feared. It is very like 10 (I SHALL move the Start button back! what stupid ****hole thought that was a good idea?) My biggest problem was with the Dell trackpad buttons. They seemed very imprecise and being EXACTLY the same colour and texture as the trackpad, very hard for these old eyes to make out. Never used a Dell before I hope mine was a bad'un?

Dave.

I've had a Sweet'n'Sour experience with Win11, the sour bit mainly brought about the 20h2 update, it affected all sorts of things, and is acknowledged to have been problematic, most inconvenient was the loss of access to my 2 trusty NAS drives, and the fix turned out to be so perplexing. I think I tried about 6 YooToob 'fixes' some of which made things worse, before I landed on a fix. Thing is when we make these suggested changes, you don't find out if it is fixed until you reboot and find its not fixed and there been config changes, registry changes, yes I know one should make backups as one stumbles along through those YooToob fixes, having to listen to inane yelping, heavy scrapmetal soundtracks, inarticulate mumbling.....gimme strength.

And the graphics was another problem, with white text on a light yellow background.

However once Win11 is 'fixed' it is fine. There are patches on the internet whereby you can have the Win10 Start Menu and you can have the old Right Click Menu back - Qstion MicroSoft - why on earth move the 'Send To' etc what harm were they causing when there clear as anything, on the Right Click Menu?

BTW - I went with a Dell, with trepidation, because they are/were decent enough machines but built to a cost and not a standard, fine for workaday office stuff but not intended for hard core work. But, by way of serendipity, I got such a great deal on the Dell I got, 500gig NVMe C:drive, 12th gen Intel, 32gig Ram, I could hardly walk away from the deal. That was a few years ago and (crossed fingers) it is doing just fine

[James Perrett]

I went with a Dell, with trepidation, because they are/were decent enough machines but built to a cost and not a standard, fine for workaday office stuff but not intended for hard core work.

Dell make a whole range of computers. Your description sounds like the cheaper Inspiron or Vostro ranges. The Latitude range is intended for mainstream business work while the Precision range is roughly the equivalent of a Macbook Pro and certainly works well for intensive computing.

[OneWorld]

It's the Optiplex 7000, i9, 12th gen, one of the SFF machines. I wanted to see if one of those tiny PCs would do the job, and sure enough it does, and runs cool and quiet too. Boots in about 5 seconds, Cubase + project not much longer, faster than my old hard disk recorder!

Albeit I am only a light user, eg 8 MIDI tracks max 16 audio tracks, with Halion 6, Groove Agent 4, a few softsynths/FX too