Time for a new Laptop
It’s time for me to start looking for a new laptop. I plan on using it for just general computer stuff, surfing the web, emailing, etc, and as an entertainment center. When I say entertainment center ...
Forum Discussion
The OP asked twice about a tuner and people think he's playing the piano.
The best usb tuner for OTA is the Hauppauge winTV 950 or 980 series. I have the 950, it is about a decade old and still works like a champ. It is coax in only which is what an OTA antenna will feed out. It comes bundled with the winTV app (windows only) which is very simple and does a good job.
The coax in only presents a problem when using sat boxes, so for this I would recomend the Diamond vc500. I have this also and is is very good and simple enough. Again, windows only.
VLC player is about the simplest player out there and it will do just fine for you. You won't get file management and there are better choices for high-quality images but I use VLC all the time and I appreciate the simplicity.
The OP also expressed concern about forced upgrades and if you go with win10 you will recieve forced upgrades. Most people are fine with this, I'm not.
I love win7 but I actually found that win 8.1 works better once you configure out all the bizarre applets and clown faces. I use Classic Shell to return most of the UI to win7 look and feel.
There are plenty of win 8.1 laptops still out there, but only a few win7 choices left and they are mostly high-end and expensive. Dell is a good choice and still offers both OS's. But the cheaper choices will all be running win10.
The best usb tuner for OTA is the Hauppauge winTV 950 or 980 series. I have the 950, it is about a decade old and still works like a champ. It is coax in only which is what an OTA antenna will feed out. It comes bundled with the winTV app (windows only) which is very simple and does a good job.
The coax in only presents a problem when using sat boxes, so for this I would recomend the Diamond vc500. I have this also and is is very good and simple enough. Again, windows only.
VLC player is about the simplest player out there and it will do just fine for you. You won't get file management and there are better choices for high-quality images but I use VLC all the time and I appreciate the simplicity.
The OP also expressed concern about forced upgrades and if you go with win10 you will recieve forced upgrades. Most people are fine with this, I'm not.
I love win7 but I actually found that win 8.1 works better once you configure out all the bizarre applets and clown faces. I use Classic Shell to return most of the UI to win7 look and feel.
There are plenty of win 8.1 laptops still out there, but only a few win7 choices left and they are mostly high-end and expensive. Dell is a good choice and still offers both OS's. But the cheaper choices will all be running win10.
