# Win 7 64 Laptop ?



## Tin Falcon (Mar 9, 2011)

Hey computer geeks and pros out there. I am currently shopping for a laptop. Looks like bang for the buck on laptops is very similar to desk tops these days. anyway I am looking for something around the $399 price point I have seen dells toshibas and HPS with amd dual core , 500gb HD 4gb ram cd/dvd, wireless, Ethernet ect etc. but they all seem to have win 7 64 bit installed. How much of a problem is this with current software. 
I am a fan of OS stuff. I use Firefox., Thunderbird OS office so no worries there. From what I read Mach 3 will be fine if I use a smooth stepper. I intend to continue to use my Pentium 4 desk top with mach 3 but would like to be able to take my little lathe on the road in the future. I guess my only concern is Alibre cad probably just need to bite the bullet and get a maintenance upgrade. For $99. I think i may have just answered my own question but would like input from experienced ones. 
do you guys like and use win 7 64 bit. 
Help
Tin


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## S3MIH3MI (Mar 9, 2011)

I have 4 laptops and 2 PC's. 2 of which are running W7. I have no major issues running all the apps. But some of the older ones need a little work to get working after the install. Most common issue is the program needs to have write permission to function. This is an easy fix. You only need to set permissions in the properties of the folder.

As far as Mach3 I may be wrong but I thought they had something on their website about running on a laptop.

Also most if not all the laptops in that price range will not have a com port or printer port. You would need to use a port replicator if you wanted to use the com port.

Hope this helps


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 9, 2011)

> Also most if not all the laptops in that price range will not have a com port or printer port. You would need to use a port replicator if you wanted to use the com port.


That is were the smooth stepper comes in. I some reading on the mach 3 forum last night. Officially Mach 3 does not support laptops but a smooth stepper allows it. also win 7 64 will not run a com port in mach 3 but again a smooth stepper plugs into a USB and then the smooth stepper will feed two com ports . the whole mach 3 computability thing can get a bit confusing. You have folks say it can not be done but others doing it HMM. 
Thanks for the reply . I also just looked at the official Win 7 web page . According to them win 7 64 will run most programs designed for xp and 32 bit programs should run fine on win 7 64. the problem arises with device drivers they need to be upgraded /updated. 
So I may be OK also WIN 7 64 pro will allow to run in xp mode but that is a $89 upgrade expense to do . Choices choices.
Thanks for the quick rely and help
Tin


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## Kermit (Mar 9, 2011)

I've had Win7/64 bit for 8 months now. It is only in the last 2 months that adobe acrobat and various flash drivers have 'caught up' with the 64 bit browser. When I first got it, I had to install firefox to view any websites with embedded video. Now that the latest 'updates' have been released and loaded, I have zero problems with the computer, or with websites using video.

I still prefer the firefox though. It's less 'buggy' than IE.

Check/research google for this item. I hear from several sources configuring your system to run as an 'administrator' every time you get on, instead of as a user, can cause problems if you get hacked. The admin rights allow them to make changes that they couldn't make if your were running as a 'user' instead.


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## Troutsqueezer (Mar 10, 2011)

Is battery life important to you? A mobile Intel processor gets you around 40% more battery life than AMD processors for equivalent machines. All the business about speed and graphics can be confusing when trying to compare the two brands but for battery life, Intel is clearly king. 

For printing, if you have a printer that works from wireless or Bluetooth, you don't need a printer port. More and more printers come with one or both these days. Even low priced ones. 

There are some programs that simply will not work nor install when you switch to 64 bit and as you stated, most drivers need updating. 

I lost the use of AutoCAD and Adobe Premier, both very expensive programs when I made the switch. 

Still, 64 bit machines work quite nicely. I have it on two laptops and my primary desktop.


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## S3MIH3MI (Mar 10, 2011)

Troutsqueezer  said:
			
		

> I lost the use of AutoCAD and Adobe Premier, both very expensive programs when I made the switch.



I run AutoCad 2002 on a 4 month old Toshiba running W7. You just need to change the permissions for the folder before you run it.


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 10, 2011)

There is a neighbor at work network computer guy/business that want to sell me a IBM lintel dual core not sure of the other specs for 350. at least 2 gb mem not sure of HD size 

tin


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## Tin Falcon (Mar 10, 2011)

OK went crazy spent the hard earned tool money. Went to Best buy did a little window shopping. Nothing interesting in my price range . The sales folks were great. even tried looking in the eol area (end of life) ie NOS. I showed the sales guy the specs on one I was looking at at staples . He made some interesting facial expressions and positive noises. Then said looks like a great deal go for it. Enjoy your laptop.
So went to Staples and bought a Toshiba Satellite c655, nice machine at a nice price 
Now lets see if it will do ALL I want it to. 
Tin


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## Troutsqueezer (Mar 10, 2011)

S3MIH3MI  said:
			
		

> I run AutoCad 2002 on a 4 month old Toshiba running W7. You just need to change the permissions for the folder before you run it.



Are you running 64 or 32 bit?


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## S3MIH3MI (Mar 11, 2011)

I'm running two W7 PC's in 64 bit.
Here is a snap shot....


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## Admiral_dk (Mar 11, 2011)

I very happy installing Windows 7 x64 on all our computers here at work (we got some 10,000 PCs) just make sure that you got at least 4GB Ram in the computer.

Old hardware is a pain with Win 7 x64 especially old network printers run from a server and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that a lot of old CNC equipment will have problems ..... But then again, a USB to Parallel adapter will make a lot of that old stuff run again.


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## Mainer (Mar 24, 2011)

I've been running 64-bit W7 for about 9 months. I was able to get all my 32-bit applications to run, mostly. A couple of them have minor details that don't work but nothing serious. I might be able to get those details to work if I wanted to take the time. If you have any ancient 16-bit apps, those seem to be beyond resurrection unless you get W7 Professional or Ultimate and install the XP virtual machine (free download).

The big thing seems to be hardware: you need 64-bit drivers. In my case, that was a minor issue as well. Anything built into the computer you buy will work, of course, so it's just add-ons like printers and scanners and by now most manufacturers are on the 64-bit bandwagon.

W7 seems solid and reliable.


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