hTTi

Thankfully, just before the prices on RAM went up, I bought a new mini PC with 32 GB RAM. I did this because my Asus GL703VD is not able to upgrade to Win 11. I had the Asus checked out and cleaned by a professional, and he said it was great, but he wouldn't do any banking on it because even with the Windows ESU, it won't be 100% safe.

The reason I had always used laptops was because I was traveling a lot more. Furthermore, I had always bought gaming laptops because I have found that they tolerate moving about significantly better than regular business laptops. Right now, we are traveling less for a variety of reasons. This is about to end, and we will begin traveling again this fall.

The Asus has an Intel i7 7700HQ, 32 gb RAM, and 1TB SSD. It is in A+ condition (very good to excellent). It weighs 2.95 kg and is not nice to tote around...but I will if it makes sense. I also have to consider security. There's a chance I will get some work while traveling (that's why I bring it); my client says it is secure enough, but is it really?

The question for the people who know about this stuff is:

Do I buy a new, less expensive laptop for travel and sell the Asus? Is anyone even going to be interested in buying a ca. 9 year-old laptop no matter what its condition?

If you feel adventurous that spec will run Linux nicely although there are sometimes issues with the dual-graphics configuration and switching between intel and nvidia drivers.

If you are still too dependent on Windows, then you can probably install Windows 11 even though you don't meet the full HW spec.
You will probably lose bitlocker encryption but otherwise it should be fine for a while.

As far as "doing your banking" on it, these days I find the banking app on my phone is better than the one on my laptop so I use that.

TLDR, I would say keep it, but do a clean OS install. Don't stick with windows 10 unless you know what you are doing.

EDIT: Actually what I personally would do is buy a new laptop AND keep the old one, but I'm a hardware hoarder, I have a lot of old tech kicking around.

pappnase wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 12:47 pm If you feel adventurous that spec will run Linux nicely although there are sometimes issues with the dual-graphics configuration and switching between intel and nvidia drivers.

If you are still too dependent on Windows, then you can probably install Windows 11 even though you don't meet the full HW spec.
You will probably lose bitlocker encryption but otherwise it should be fine for a while.

As far as "doing your banking" on it, these days I find the banking app on my phone is better than the one on my laptop so I use that.

TLDR, I would say keep it, but do a clean OS install. Don't stick with windows 10 unless you know what you are doing.

EDIT: Actually what I personally would do is buy a new laptop AND keep the old one, but I'm a hardware hoarder, I have a lot of old tech kicking around.

Thanks, Pappnase. The problem with Linux, which I would try just to learn something new, is that it doesn't support Office. My work requires Word as one of the systems I am required to use.

I do not bank on my phone yet. I am a bit of a neo-luddite in that I am not convinced of the security of Android OS. I barely use the thing.

Keeping the old Asus feels like hoarding, but I guess I will hang onto it for a while longer or until my business needs a new expense.

That is not meant at all to shame your hoarding. Everyone should have a hobby.

Re: Linux/Office, Office 365 runs fine on any old web-browser, the OS doesn't really matter.
If you really want a local copy of Office, then the modern OSS office suites are all pretty good and you just need to find one that fits your workflow.

Worst case you can always run a custom virtual machine that only runs office for you.

You can always give it a go from a bootable USB stick and see how you get on.

That said, Linux isn't for everyone and if you don't want to make the leap, I fully understand, I've been using it for years so it seems simple to me, but I know I'm not representative.

Have fun whatever you choose.