Only had Dell pc's for last decade or more (and XP the most recent os). Now looking to spend bouts of time out in the bush here in Aust and so am looking for the best (budget) options for these requirements (any help/suggestions greatly appreciated) :-

- wireless/remote internet connection (Telstra has 4G here)
- WLD
- java
- VS2010
- GPS (inc handheld)

Have noticed that some Dells offer a mini card with internet and A-GPS. Never had GPS before but seems it could be more practical to have just a handheld GPS that can bluetooth (again never had this before) connect to a laptop - if this is possible?

Is it beneficial to have the internet connection via an internal mini card or say USB?

Am thinking 4gb RAM would be sufficient - my db's are general not so large.

Windows 8 seems all too new, but is Windows 7 a worthwhile transition over XP?

Lastly are there issues one should be wary off in 64-bit os? Does this require a different WLD licence? Do earlier versions of software like excel 2003 require upgrading? Would it be 'safer' to stay with 32-bit?

Sorry about the off-topic side of the questions - more things are being lumped together!

QUOTE:
Windows 8 seems all too new, but is Windows 7 a worthwhile transition over XP?

Forget about XP: it's outdated security hole unsupported by Microsoft. Windows 8.1 with its Start button is too new and may take a while to get used to. Don't get me wrong: I like Windows 8.1 for its performance and look, and feel that there's potential in Metro apps. However, Windows 7 may be the way to go for business apps.

QUOTE:
Lastly are there issues one should be wary off in 64-bit os? Does this require a different WLD licence? Do earlier versions of software like excel 2003 require upgrading? Would it be 'safer' to stay with 32-bit?

I'd go 64-bit. Firstly, Wealth-Lab x86 and x64 nicely co-exist on the same 64-bit PC, no other license is required. There's much less chance of getting an OutOfMemory exception on 64-bit with 6-8Gb RAM than on 32-bit (which has a practical limit of addressing only 3.5Gb of all installed RAM).

32-bit software like Excel 2003 should run in WOW emulation mode, like all 32-bit software. Unless you're using Excel provider, or connecting WLD to Excel programmatically (e.g. COM wrapper), no issues in sight.

QUOTE:
Am thinking 4gb RAM would be sufficient - my db's are general not so large.

Even though your DB's are not so large, RAM is cheap and I would certainly get more (e.g. at least 6-8 Gb) to forget about swapping when multitasking. Make sure the laptop's mainboard has another slot to insert a RAM stick.

Finally, having an SSD is a must, it really makes the difference. For reliability, preferably based on Intel/Marvel controller (Intel, Crucial, Plextor) and being not the cheapest one of these. Unlike XP, SSD features like TRIM are natively supported on Win7/8.

Thanks Eugene

Have more of a handle on what is needed now. Picked up a bit on WOW and TRIM. Get anxious of making the wrong choices and then having legacy issues forever after, esp after not having had to deal with these things for along time.

Hi Eugene, Cone

My WLD machine went caput a few months ago (motherboard on a Dell T3400 that they cannot replace). So, finally bought my 1st laptop Dell e6440 with W7 64bit, and a 'tiny' bit over 100GB SSD.

Now with my dwindling cerebral and memory function, I'm doing 3/4 backflips wondering how to get back on board. Looking into my old HD the most recent vers I must have been using was 6.3 and had VS 2010 express on XP.


Do i have it correct that :-
- to run my existing WLD dll's etc I need to install my WLD 6.3 ?
- if moving to VS2013exp then VS2010exp will not be needed ?
- to run my 6.3 code in 6.6 I need to re-code/edit those files (can 6.3 code be edited in vs2013 ?) ?


So, is this my best approach for my new machine/all-new-to-me windows7 & WLD install ?

currently on laptop :-
- Windows 7 pro SP1 with 4bg ram (plus another 8 on the way)
- dotNet Framework ver 4.5.50709

install order :-
- VisualStudio express 2013
- WLD 6.6 64bit
- WLD 6.3 32bit
- WLD 4
- an earlier dotNet Framework for WLD 6.3 (if so, which version would be best?)
- an earlier dotNet Framework for WLD 4 (if so, which version would be best?)

Thanks

Hi Jon,

WL 6.3 and VS2010 are not supported, so you only need to install version 6.6 and VS2013 (though VS2012 would do, too). Install order generally does not matter - except for WL 6.6 32-bit & 64-bit install order (see this FAQ: Extension installed in Wealth-Lab Developer doesn't show up after restarting application.) Since VS 2013 Express comes with proper .NET framework version (4.5.1), no need to install or update .NET. Existing VS2010 projects that targeted .NET2.0 will have to be recompiled under .NET4.0 (which you will select in Project's Properties), also, you'll need to update references to Wealth-Lab assemblies (because your VS2010 projects will have references to .NET2.0 assemblies of v6.3).

Thanks Eugene, That'll keep me busy for a awhile. May take me a couple of months before getting it all together as going bush (literally) again.