It's pretty hard to find a computer with Windows 7 in stores, you'd have to order one.

I have Windows 8.1 on my desktop computer (came with Windows 8 and I did the upgrade) and I don't mind. It starts on the desktop, the power button isn't 4 clicks away (or whatever it was) and it's different and if I had a touch screen I could use more of what Windows 8 is about but it's not bad.

I don't know about other retailers but the store I work at the minimum RAM is 4 gb and 500 GB is the minimum harddrive. The differences come in the processors, if it's a touchscreen, and if it's a 2 in 1 where it flips. That is becoming more and more common.

Also a lot of laptops don't have disc drives any more. I don't know how that is an issue, you can always get an external drive but if you use one everyday then a built in drive is better.

Whatever you get, I recommend Windows 8 only if the machine has a touch screen.

I no longer agree with this. Pay $8 to install Metromix and Start8 if you really don't like the start screen (I like it even on my desktop, actually, but use both). There are enough under-the-hood improvements in Windows 8.1 that it is a solid upgrade over Windows 7.

Question that I should probably know the answer to: I need to free up hard drive space, so I want to take a bunch of iTunes TV shows off my computer and put them on an external drive. Will they still play?

Bear in mind I know nothing about creating a media server or whatnot. What I'm envisioning is literally just copying the .m4v files onto an external drive, like you would with Word docs or .jpgs or whatever.

So, if I put them on an external drive but don't create a media server (I have no idea how to even do that), but want to play the shows, will they still play?

(Thank you in advance for not mocking my techno-ignorance on this matter.)

If playing from iTunes, they should play just fine. Just check the file path, that iTunes is looking to the new location, before deleting old files. There should be some links on migrating your library to a new location. There are some steps, so iTunes doesn't get confused.

You can either move the whole library or you can just move the files you choose. I've always moved the whole library, but I believe if you just move a few files you can still play them, they just won't show up in your library. You can still navigate to the file and open it with iTunes no matter where it is. I haven't tried that recently to be able to really confirm, though.

What's your operating system? Might make a difference to how easy that is, I'm not sure.

What do you want to play them with? If you're just using a program like Quicktime or VLC to play individual files, then they should play fine from the external drive. If you want to use iTunes, as mentioned above it's a teeny bit trickier.

Speaking of media servers - I am getting a lot of "abnormal shutdowns" on my Seagate Blackarmor 220. Is that something I need to be worried about and/or can try something to fix? The Seagate website is not telling me anything, possibly because I am not looking right.

So I have spent the last few days looking online at potential new laptops. The best value ones all seem between $375- 500 CDN and to be 15.5" with Windows 8. Friday I decided to put digits to keyboard and went into a bricks and mortar store looking at laptops. And those 15.5" were HUGE. And ugly. And slow. So I decided to recalibrate my search. Nothing was small enough that had a DVD player was also under $500 that wasn't a touch screen, which I do not want.

Today I went into Future Shop (the CDN equivalent of Best Buy) and after giving the salesman assface for all the big or touchscreen laptops, he took started showing me his clearance section. He almost talked me into a ginormous Sony, but no. Then I was like...is that a MacBook Air on clearance? And yes, they had an open box 11" MacBook Air, which he was wiling to give me for $750 and he'd give me the 3 year extended warranty for half price. I normally wouldn't get an extended warranty, but since it was probably a return (there were a few signs of some use on the charger), I agreed.

TL:DR...I blew my budget and bought a MacBook. It's like I think I have money!

PS, I do realize I still need to get some kind of external disk player. Or slowly rip all my CDs at work...

Nice!

You can either move the whole library or you can just move the files you choose. I've always moved the whole library, but I believe if you just move a few files you can still play them, they just won't show up in your library. You can still navigate to the file and open it with iTunes no matter where it is. I haven't tried that recently to be able to really confirm, though.

I mostly wanted to move some of the files, but not all.

What's your operating system? Might make a difference to how easy that is, I'm not sure.

I'm still running 10.6.8.

What do you want to play them with? If you're just using a program like Quicktime or VLC to play individual files, then they should play fine from the external drive. If you want to use iTunes, as mentioned above it's a teeny bit trickier.

I have VLC and Quicktime, so I can play them with those if need be.