What’s the cheapest way to get into a computer of some sort running Win 8 or 10

fieldgrade

fieldgrade

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I run iMacs, but the Dynojet Powervision tuner for my bike I’m thinking about requires Windows 8 or 10 to download their tunes. My riding buddy two doors down with a pc available to me will be overseas till after Christmas, and I think I’d want my own device to communicate with the tuner anyway, to share data-logs mostly and download updated tunes.

Ideas?

Edit: this is probably something I will do later this winter at the earliest.
 
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Surplus office in raleigh regularly sells dell desktops for like $10, they just need a hard drive. Monitors there are normally $10-20.

One of those little mini PCs might be an inexpensive option but idk what the supply is like on them right now.

I use a laptop for my scanners and shop stuff.
 
I’ve got a 2011 HP running Win 7 that I mothballed 3-4 years ago. Pulled it out last year and updated it enough for son #2 who needed a Windows machine to run a financial program to finish grad school on my dining room table during the pandemic.

I don’t know if it will have the horsepower and torque to run this program if I can find Win 10 somewhere.
 
fieldgrade said:
I’ve got a 2011 HP running Win 7 that I mothballed 3-4 years ago. Pulled it out last year and updated it enough for son #2 who needed a Windows machine to run a financial program to finish grad school on my dining room table during the pandemic.

I don’t know if it will have the horsepower and torque to run this program if I can find Win 10 somewhere.
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Since you have 7, just upgrade.

www.cnet.com

Still running Windows 7? Time is running out to upgrade to Windows 10. What to know

You can still get Windows 10 for free -- and you'll need it to get the free Windows 11 upgrade.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
 
I have an old laptop running windows 7 (pro?) I think. You would need a remote keyboard as some of the keys don't work.

Yours if you want it.
 
J R Green said:
I have an old laptop running windows 7 (pro?) I think. You would need a remote keyboard as some of the keys don't work.

Yours if you want it.
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Thanks JR. I got this old HP cleaned up and running good for my son 18 months ago. Let me get it fired up (like starting wet wood) and see what’s what first.
 
fishgutzy said:
Many systems that old don't pass the compatibility test.
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True, but it will test that before it does it, and it doesn't hurt to try it. Free is free, afterall.

Much easier than telling him how to use get an ISO off the Microsoft Tech bench, turn into bootable flash with Rufus, and then handwave him to where activators are. :p
 
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pinkbunny said:
True, but it will test that before it does it, and it doesn't hurt to try it. Free is free, afterall.

Much easier than telling him how to use get an ISO off the Microsoft Tech bench, turn into bootable flash with Rufus, and then handwave him to where activators are. :p
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One used to be able to access the test on line.
 
The old wreck is running. Strangely enough, when I shut it down the last time 18 months ago (after sitting dormant for several years previously), it finally decided it wanted to download and install all the updates that it wouldn’t download several years ago, so it has a bit of configuration to do momentarily.

Checking for updates. I recall it used to try to download Win 10 and I wouldn't let it for some reason years ago.

Trying to download and install 17 updates from 18 months ago. This thing is slower than a Volkswagen beetle. It has refused to download and load updates in the past. Might again.

Downloading Win 10 now.
 
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if that doesn't work, Woot.com always has lots of good deals - I've bought a number of refurbished HP and IBM ultra-compact systems which I use as VMware servers, media servers, media PC connected to my home theatre, and to run a virtual gun range
 
I get all my used gear at ibm off lease, 15 month warranty included no extra charge. Check daily, inventory changes fast. Still using 2006 Thinkpad with win 10 no issues. Added a SSD and it runs great.

Marlin Storefront

www-store.shop.ibm.com www-store.shop.ibm.com
 
I picked up an HP refurb I7 desktop recently. Needed more horsepower to reliably run my blue iris camera system. It's been great so far. Went from 50% CPU usage on the older machine to 8% on this one. Much smoother video capture. Fewer frames lost.
 
You can pick up used refurb dell pro series laptops off ebay and amazon cheap as well if you need more horsepower
 
I was able to download Win 10 from Microsoft for free, because I have an old jalopy PC that I literally forgot with a licensed copy of Win 7 on it. Thanks to @pinkbunny for the info and the link.
 
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JohnFreeman said:
Did you get 10 running?
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Yep. Had the option to deep six everything else on the machine, well, all personal data and all apps, and chose that. Runs great, or seems so. It had been a work machine for my business from 2011 till 2015, then gave it to the wife for a personal machine to replace my older work machine that she was running. It was pretty bogged down.

I don’t know if this install wiped the hard drive or what. The bios looks the same, but it runs. I just need to be able to download engine tunes from Dynojet onto their tuner and it will only work with Win 8 or Win 10.
 
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fieldgrade said:
Yep. Had the option to deep six everything else on the machine, well, all personal data and all apps, and chose that. Runs great, or seems so. It had been a work machine for my business from 2011 till 2015, then gave it to the wife for a personal machine to replace my older work machine that she was running. It was pretty bogged down.

I don’t know if this install wiped the hard drive or what. The bios looks the same, but it runs. I just need to be able to download engine tunes from Dynojet onto their tuner and it will only work with Win 8 or Win 10.
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When you do a wipe of the files, it moves all your old files to the folder
C:\Window.old

Generally, it'll auto delete after 30 days. Gives you time to save anything you need from there, then free up space.

If you want to get it cleaned up quicker, hit start menu, and type "Storage Sense" Configure it how you want. I set it to delete Windows.old, and wipe stuff every day. Then just turn it on.
 
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phideux said:
You can get most of the tuner programs to run on your phone, that's how we do it.
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V&H Fuelpak FP3 will, but after a great deal of research over five years worth of posts on the intertoob since the M8 came out I’ve concluded that Fuel Moto tunes with the Dynojet Powervision tuner are singularly the only ones who can, and have, remedied the subtle but persistent detonation (pinging) I have when aggressively accelerating. Not all M8s do this but some do. Harley either can't or won’t fix it due to getting spanked by the EPA a few years ago. Their Screamin Eagle tuner has to now comply with the EPA which means a) they can’t fix it, and b) I’m going to give up some remaining warranty once I reflash the ECM.

FuelMoto will preload a tune for my set-up before they ship it, but if I ever want another tune from them for a different set up I will only be able to open the tune they send me with Win 8 or Win 10
 
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