Ask Slashdot: What Should A Mac User Know Before Buying a Windows Laptop?

New submitter Brentyl writes: Hello Slashdotters, longtime Mac user here faced with a challenge: Our 14-year-old wants a Windows laptop. He will use it for school and life, but the primary reason he wants Windows instead of a MacBook is gaming. I don't need a recommendation on which laptop to buy, but I do need a Windows survival kit. What does a fairly savvy fellow, who is a complete Windows neophyte, need to know? Is the antivirus/firewall in Windows 10 Home sufficient? Are there must-have utilities or programs I need to get? When connecting to my home network, I need to make sure I ____? And so on... Thanks in advance for your insights.

Comments

Avoid the crap

[Cyberglich]

One reason pc laptops get a bad rep is the good deals are full of crapware. Pay a bit extra for a Microsoft signature edition (usually less then $100 more then same hardware) but these have ZERO crapware and have had extra driver testing.

Re:Raise your child properly

[rtb61]

First up gaming laptops have a real problem, overheating to death. Basically whilst they last they last, but once warranty is over don't expect them to last more than say three times the warranty period. They run hot, real hot and system elements will fail. That is a high powered gaming laptop. Reality is for gaming get a good desktop and for school and other stuff get a cheap near disposable notebook. Cheapest notebook pretty much anything running Linux and a range of free open source software will be good enough (for computer learning experience they now have a foot in both games, windows for gaming all it pretty much can sort of be relied on for and Linux for everything else). So desktop to play games and the cheapest possible Linux notebook for school work, some of the work can still be done on the desktop. Just remember to remind them M$ will be spying on them and not to 'you know' in front of the microphone and camera that M$ is monitoring.

Re:ugh

[whoever57]

4) remove IE, install chrome

Isn't that the wrong order?
https://imgur.com/gallery/9TxW...

Re:Windows 10 Field Guide by Paul Thurrott

[lucm]

I can only imagine that it's peer-pressure convincing his kid that he needs Windows. ("No! You need to play *this* game, specifically.")

This is not peer pressure, this is social gaming. They all get the same game and half the fun is talking shit over bluetooth headsets while you murder each other and/or work together to rob a bank or kill a dragon. There's nothing wrong with it, this is the same kind of thing that us dinosaurs used to do in LAN parties, except now it's done over the web and doesn't require you to carry your desktop computer to someone's basement.

Sure you can find solo games on any platform (or get your kid a connect-4 board in the $5 bin at 7-11) but to play high quality games with the best multiplayer features, you need a good machine running Windows. That's how it is.

Re:Raise your child properly

[mjwx]

Ever notice how they always get viruses

Spare me this tired meme from 20 years ago.

We've got five Windows 10 machines in our family, used by me, my wife and my two kids. I just let Windows Defender do its thing and I haven't seen a virus in years.

This has been the case for years. Mac OS is no more or less secure than Windows since XP SP2. The major cause of insecurity remains the user and almost all Windows malware is now user installed and its worse for the Mac because the Mac user believes it's automagically protected (and the cure for Malware on a Mac is to buy a new Mac*).

Also remember that almost all malware this day and age is intentionally non-destructive. They've taken a leaf from microbiology and if a virus kills its host, it cant propagate and send spam, DDOS or mine Bitcoin.

* OK, you could re-install OSX but having to do this for simple problems is why I stopped doing Mac support over a decade ago.