Reprogramme an old laptop or buy a new one?

[rufusgti]

Forgive my total lack of computing knowledge. I used to mess around on computers before smartphones and iPads came along but haven't had any use for a computer for a long time.

My 7 yr old has a go pro he likes making little videos and also my father gave me an SLR digital camera to have a play with. I quickly learned there's almost nothing you can do with these without a computer to view, edit and create something of interest. So I would like a laptop that I can play around with some kind of editing software.

I have an approximately 10 year old Lenovo G505 notepad/laptop that runs windows 8. I never had much look with this laptop if I'm honest and found windows 8 hard work. So it ended up in a drawer.

My question is should I look at getting this laptop reprogrammed with modern software and use it for my editing purpose or should I throw it away and buy a new laptop. And if that would be the preferred choice, what would I need to spend to get the spec needed.

Many thanks for any advice.

[hairy vx220]

I would think you will need more processing power and memory than a 10-year old laptop will have.

[rufusgti]

hairy vx220 said:

I would think you will need more processing power and memory than a 10-year old laptop will have.

That is what I suspected. I haven't looked into what power new laptops come with but I remember things moving on very quickly back when I knew a bit more about it.

[imck]

Worth looking at refurbished ex-Corporate Laptops.
Much better built than Home User Machines and easy to get Chargers, Batteries, Keyboards and Screens.

Depends how much you want to spend.
Lenovo T450 around £300 (T440 older/cheaper. T460 newer/more expensive)
You want i5 or i7 Processor, Min 8GB RAM, SSD with Win 10.

I have bought a few ex-Corporate Lenovo Laptops from Ebay. Usually from Suppliers that have a few in Stock.

[HiAsAKite]

Depends what you want to do.
You lose nothing by installing something open source and free like GIMP on the laptop - and seeing if the laptop can handle it.

How much RAM does it have? - this may be the limiting factor.

Alternatively, if it is going to go into the bin, have a go at installing a linux distro (you can get some pretty lightweight ones which work wellon older machines), with GIMP and trying that?

[campionissimo]

You can do what I did a couple of weeks ago, with a 10 year old Samsung R530 (so not a top spec machine at it's time)

It was on Windows 7 and incredibly slow, to the point of being unusable.

I downloaded Linux (Mint 19.3 I think), turned it into a boot disc, then booted off that, and did a clean install of Linux. It's a dead easy step by step process. It now runs like an absolute rocket. Quick enough for the 2d CAD stuff I do, some music workstation stuff and web browsing.

[CubanPete]

What spec was it when new. As above, how much ram does it have?

It looks like you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-st...

Could be worth giving it a go before you spend any money.

[Penelope Stopit]

campionissimo said:

You can do what I did a couple of weeks ago, with a 10 year old Samsung R530 (so not a top spec machine at it's time)

It was on Windows 7 and incredibly slow, to the point of being unusable.

I downloaded Linux (Mint 19.3 I think), turned it into a boot disc, then booted off that, and did a clean install of Linux. It's a dead easy step by step process. It now runs like an absolute rocket. Quick enough for the 2d CAD stuff I do, some music workstation stuff and web browsing.

Agree with this

Old doesn't mean finished

[AJB88]

Find out what ram and processor it actually has, might be worth upgrading the ram and putting a SSD in it.

As a Linux user I would then tell you to either install Ubuntu or Linux Mint on it, but probably better off sticking with Windows if that's what you know.

[rufusgti]

Thanks for all these replies. Really helpful.
Ok specs

Lenovo G505
Processor AMD A4-5000 with Radeon HD graphics 1.50ghz

4.00gb Ram (3.45gb useable)

64 bit operating processor

Would that be up to running Windows 10. I've never heard of the Gimp or Linux systems. But happy to explore. What I need is enough power to run some kind of editing software.

Thanks

[xtruss]

I wouldn't bother doing anything with that laptop, they were slow in the day when they came new out of the box. You could spend £60 - £70 and put in a sdd drive and some more memory, this would make it usable for general day to day stuff but it always be limited by that processor with its integrated graphics for any kind of video work. Just my opinion but others may have a different idea.

Edited by xtruss on Friday 17th April 20:44

[rufusgti]

xtruss said:

I wouldn't bother doing anything with that laptop, they where slow in the day when they came new out of the box. You could spend £60 - £70 and put in a sdd drive and some more memory, this would make it usable for general day to day stuff but it always be limited by that processor with its integrated graphics for any kind of video work. Just my opinion but others may have a different idea.

It was always hopeless. I'm not sure why I chose it at the time. Yes I'm not keen on throwing good money after bad. Could you recommend me a laptop that would do what I need I've noted some specs someone gave above that I'd need. Is there anything else to add to that.
Many thanks for all replies .

[rufusgti]

xtruss said:

I wouldn't bother doing anything with that laptop, they where slow in the day when they came new out of the box. You could spend £60 - £70 and put in a sdd drive and some more memory, this would make it usable for general day to day stuff but it always be limited by that processor with its integrated graphics for any kind of video work. Just my opinion but others may have a different idea.

It was always hopeless. I'm not sure why I chose it at the time. Yes I'm not keen on throwing good money after bad. Could you recommend me a laptop that would do what I need I've noted some specs someone gave above that I'd need. Is there anything else to add to that.
Many thanks for all replies .

[bloomen]

I used to edit video on a 10 year old Samsung laptop. I had to guess where I wanted to make the cuts because it couldn't keep up with displaying video.

I wouldn't bother with anything like an ex corporate Lenovo either. They'll be ancient, i5 or i7 doesn't mean all that much if it's several years old and they may not have any graphics capability whatsoever.

What's your budget and would you consider second hand?

Alternatively if you have fast internet there are online video editing options. It would take me a week to upload half an hour so it's never been an option for me.

Edited by bloomen on Saturday 18th April 17:41

[rufusgti]

Budget would be under 500 pounds. I don't think I'd go second hand, maybe refurbished as someone earlier suggested.

[AlexC1981]

I think I would go for something with an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor at the price point of £500 or under.

Take a look at these benchmarks compared to an i5 and i7 used in similarly priced or more expensive laptops.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-3...

Now those Intel chips will come with Intel UHD 620 graphics and the AMD chip will have Vega 8 mobile graphics. Vega 8 scores better for 3d, but the 620 scores better for 2d. Both will run HD videos anyway, so I would go for the Vega.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare/Radeon-...

These look ok to me, but you should look for reviews of the particular laptop if you can. There is a website called notebookcheck.net that tests things like screen viewing angles, speaker quality, whether they run hot or noisy. I get really annoyed about poor viewing angles on screens.

https://ao.com/product/nxhf9ek019-acer-laptop-blac...
Cheapest

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3068984
Has Dolby Audio speakers

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9396461
Has USB C.