So im about to get a new laptop, its no the best but it will be diffrent, currently i have a desktop so a laptop i will be able to move around with.

Its a windows laptop with 12gb of ram, 250 storage, so im hoping its good becasue i got this laptop on the cheaper end becasue its refurbished acording to amazon.

anyways what are some of the first things to do with a laptop besides setting it up and what are some cool uses, i have some ideas on how i might use the laptop but i want to hear what yall have to say.

  • Contramuffin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    702·
    1 year ago

    First thing to do: reinstall windows. You keep your license, it’s quick, but it removes all the bloatware on your computer

  • t0fr@lemmy.caEnglish
    391·
    1 year ago

    To add on to what others are saying, install Firefox+uBlock Origin

      • Aatube@kbin.social
        91·
        1 year ago

        “SOME WILL SAY … INSTEAD” UPDATED LIST 2024 TOP 10
        Waterfox
        Brave
        Epiphany
        Konqueror
        Pale Moon
        Safari
        Maxthon
        360 Total Security
        Gordon Ramsey
        Ur mom

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  • Rhabuko@feddit.deEnglish
    20·
    1 year ago

    • Buying Dwarf Fortress on Steam and getting addicted? 😂

    • Download Blender and start learning 3D modeling. All Blender beginner’s usually start with a Donut tutorial on YouTube 😉

    • raubarno@lemmy.mlEnglish
      155·
      1 year ago

      I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

  • Belgdore@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    1 year ago

    Other than games,

    Learn how to code. Look up some YouTube tutorials on python or Java to get started then go from there.

    Write/ journal. Laptops are great for being in new and different locations that may inspire new thoughts and ideas. Write them down, make them into a book. This works best when you don’t have WiFi imo.

    If your hardware supports it learn how to 3d model. Look into blender.

    • ShySpark@lemmy.fmhy.mlOPEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      ive been wanting to make a game but im not sure hwere to start or what engine to use, there just so many.

      • Belgdore@lemm.eeEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        Start small. Watch game developer videos. Make games that imitate games you like to get an idea of how they do it.

        Get on some game dev boards and talk to the people who already make games

      • blazera@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        You can do a lot without knowing a lot going with unreal(game engine), mixamo(character animations), and whatever free models you can find. Unreal has some starter projects, a small 3D arena with a default character already controllable and animated, you can ease into it learning how to replace whats already there and then add on new things.

      • crossover@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Unity, Unreal, and Godot are popular game engines with good communities and tutorials available. Or try something simpler like Game Maker.

        Just jump in and experiment and there’s no wrong choices. Think of it like digital play crafting. Just explore and see what you can do.

  • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.eeEnglish
    13·
    1 year ago

    Install Linux

    or if you choose to install Windows, only reinstall with official media and uninstall the stuff you don’t need. Then go into privacy and disable telemetry.

    don’t install these random debloater programs suggested in this thread, and most of what they do will get undone in a regular windows update anyways

  • Candelestine@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    1 year ago

    Nothing wrong with a cheap, refurbished laptop. Hopefully it has a warranty of some sort.

    First thing is wipe all the crap off. The amount can vary dramatically depending on where you got it.

    Then go through and configure your windows settings. This is pretty personal, you can just play around with most of them, but probably stay out of advanced menus if you don’t know what you’re doing.

    Then start downloading free software you’re going to need. The very basics is an unzipping program and your web browser of choice. Beware windows defender, the default security software with windows, is intended to work specifically with their browser, not other people’s.

    Then start downloading optional software you want. Steam, discord, crap like that. Start installing and configuring the settings of the programs one at a time.

    Here’s some other people’s opinions. I haven’t watched these, but the sources appear reputable:

    https://youtu.be/L14fTu6dsCo https://youtu.be/XEEcxYzNOfI https://youtu.be/MfwjISmkEJM

    • Poggervania@kbin.social
      81·
      1 year ago

      Adding on to the Windows Defender bit: it’s also a very good antivirus, so you can pretty much just get away with that and an adblocker on your browser of choice. Been running Firefox with uBlock Origin and Windows Defender for years now at this point and have not had a single virus nor infection on my computer - and I used to use Norton and Avast before that.

      That being said, if you’re the kind of person that goes onto hella sketchy sites a lot of the time, might be worth looking into a paid antivirus.

  • birdcat@lemmy.mlEnglish
    11·
    1 year ago

    Before you do anything, run The Ultimate Windows Utility

    “This is a tool that has evolved over several years and achieves much more than just debloating a Windows install. I have expanded it to install the programs you select, which is a bigger selection than ninite. The classic debloat is there, but also includes a tweaks section with quality of life features. To round out everything, I have included my recommended settings for Windows update that I use in a variety of businesses. Misuse of this utility can break your install so please be careful and I do not provide any help or assistance should this happen!”"

    One Command - Download and Usage

    From an Elevated (Run as Administrator) PowerShell prompt

    iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex

    And then Debloat more with O&O ShutUp10++

  • Blizzard@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    currently i have a desktop so a laptop i will be able to move around with

    Utilize your newly aquired mobility to watch movies in bed, browse lemmy and play heroes 3.

  • ryathal@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    1 year ago

    Get a bigger/better hard drive, 250gb isn’t going to be that useful unless you really only surf the web or work with basic office documents. The average game nowadays is going to take 15-20% of your drive, the worst offenders won’t even fit on it.

  • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    1 year ago

    Reapply the thermal paste, reinstall windows 10, run CTT windows utility script, dual boot linux, run nextdns on it, use brave and librewolf, update all your firmware.

  • Spectator@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Consider undervolting (via Throttlestop or Intel XTU) to prolong your laptop’s longevity and possibly mildly increase its performance. For the same CPU workload, undervolting will reduce the amount of heat generation and therefore the temperature of the CPU, thereby decreasing the risk of hitting the CPU’s temperature throttling and risk of CPU damage.

    There are ready guides on youtube and r/gaminglaptops sub, but I’ll leave reddit links out for now. Just search for your laptop model since the exact values will depend on the model and also on luck. If you’re lucky, you can undervolt a lot without causing instabilities.

    • Aatube@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think it’s faster than just uninstalling especially with that uninstall tool I forgot the name of

  • Laticauda@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    Depends on what your interests are. If it was me I might write something, or pirate Sony Vegas pro and edit a video, or download some movies to watch, or work on a project of some sort that requires a computer, or just watch some YouTube videos in bed on a screen bigger than my phone for once.