If, like me, you're fiscally challenged and can't afford the unreal prices Apple charges for it's hardware, you're probably running Windows (Linux will be ready for the desktop just as desktops cease to exist ). If you use Windows 7 or 8, upgrading to Windows 10 will be free. If you're using XP or Vista, you can still get 10 free by becoming a Windows Insider. Just sign up (name and email address) and download the .iso file and 'burn' it to a USB drive to install. When the final version of Windows 10 is released at the end of July, you can have it for nothing. https://insider.windows.com/Home/Index http://pcsupport.about.com/od/file-folder/fl/burn-iso-usb.htm
Linux is great on desktops and laptops both, but the Win 10 deal is a good one. I've been running the preview build and I like it.
Agreed. I'm in Mint 17, and I use a Virtual Box for my writing software (WriteItNow), because WINE still isn't quite up to it. Mint boots in about half the time it takes Windows, and has a range of other software to do everything else I wish. It's stable, much easier to use than Linux used to be, is pretty and feature-rich. It's been about a year for me now, and I have no regrets at all. That said, I shall update my Windows 8 to W10 some time after it's released, and thanks to the OP for the useful info.
I still use Windows 7, but I'm not in love with it. I'd love to try Linux (does Scrivener run on Linux?) but I haven't installed it because I'm too lazy. I am the Mighty Hercules of lazy. I have the ability to out-laze dead people.
As Steerpike said, there is a Scrivener for Linux, but the Win version runs very well in WINE (which comes with Mint). The Mint forums are very, very good, too.
Thanks for the info! My laptop is still running Vista, and I'd love to upgrade it. Even though I'm a pretty technical person, I had overwhelmingly bad experiences with various Linux distros until the newest versions of Ubuntu (since Unity). If you've tried it a while back, it's certainly worth trying again. You might try booting a new version of Ubuntu from disk, or even installing it in VirtualBox or VMware. (FWIW, I haven't tried Mint.) About six months ago I finally broke down and bought a Mac Mini. Despite a few software compatibility issues (the rare cases where the software has a Mac port, yet WINE still doesn't suffice), as a whole I'd say my Ubuntu experience has been better than my Apple experience... I'm not unhappy with my Mac, but I won't buy another going forward.
Anyone know what Windows 10 is actually like? It sounds quite tempting, but I don't want to switch to it if I'm going to have a ball ache getting programs to work. I still play a lot of classic games.
I'm interested to see what windows 10 will do, mostly because it means I can update my hardware without getting 8.
I'm currently using 7 very happily on an HP laptop (i7, 8gb, 1tb etc) and have been told that 10 can be made to look and feel more or less like 7, which is encouraging. I'll be getting it when it's available. On the other hand, I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with XP on it, which is no longer used. In the interests of learning something about modern Linux, I think I'll stick Mint on that and give it a serious try. If I could get away from Windows without too much stress, that would please me immeasurably.
Putting Mint on it is a good idea. Depending on how old it is, you may want to use the MATE desktop instead of Cinnamon. Or you could give Lubuntu or Xubuntu a try. Both of those run nicely on older hardware, because the desktop environments are light-weight, but they're built on a core of Ubuntu (as is Mint), so you have all of the functionality you'd expect from that. Also, Elementary OS is a very nice Linux distro, and it's not too hard on resources.
