New Dell Laptops with no CD Drive

[dustymars]

My daughter's 5-year old, Dell Inspiron 15 3000-3552 gave her the BSOD so after I diagnosed it to be unknown problem she bought a newer one, a Inspiron 15 3000-3502 with SSD and no CD drive. As long as we can remember laptops have come with CD's. Oh well, they need to profits so getting older programs to install will require some hacking work. I tried transferring a CD to a jump-stick but we all know that ain't going to work. Maybe an external USB CD drive may wok, but we are tired of all the nickel and dime gouging (more like $30 and $100 gouging stuff).

So, she will just have to work around using my old Office 2003 and my VB5.0 programs until I am forced into replacing my laptop and getting a USB CD drive.

The new 3505 is really lightweight, fast and works great, so I will forgive MS and their Mafia-style businesses; yes, they do need profits so I know that. We tend to be el-cheap-oes.

 

[Neemobeer]

CDs for sure and even DVDs are becoming obsolete technically. Storage and speed are far worst then newer USB standards. I'd say the same for the softwares mentioned. Unsupported and some won't even work on Windows 10.

 

[dustymars]

CDs for sure and even DVDs are becoming obsolete technically. Storage and speed are far worst then newer USB standards. I'd say the same for the softwares mentioned. Unsupported and some won't even work on Windows 10.

I have had no problems getting Office 2003 or Visual Basic 5.0 working in Windows 10. While my old programs are 20 years old they will work and were paid for. Their marketing strategy will eventually make millionaires out of billionaires. Yes, I have been in the computer world long before digital came along, then it got easier.

 

[helpifIcan]

If you have a CD/DVD drive she could connect to your drive over the network to install the software, of course she would have to be near you.

 

[dustymars]

If you have a CD/DVD drive she could connect to your drive over the network to install the software, of course she would have to be near you.

Thanks, I didn't think of that. I guess we could go USB to USB or something. My memory of such operation is foggy; I'm 80

 

[helpifIcan]

Most Ethernet cards now days are self negotiating so all you need to do is connect them and they will sync up. Trouble is some laptops don't have an Ethernet port anymore.

 

[dustymars]

Most Ethernet cards now days are self negotiating so all you need to do is connect them and they will sync up. Trouble is some laptops don't have an Ethernet port anymore.

I must be getting older than I thought; yes, the light bulb went off in my nimble head so I connected an Ethernet cable between my PC and my wife's PC, set the network sharing up and Shazam; it worked like a charm!!! Man, I must be getting brain dead in my old age. Wow, I used to did this stuff in my sleep back in the day. Practice makes perfect, my mom always told me. Guess Windows has everything we dream of using but if we never use it, it never gets used.

 

[helpifIcan]

Well I'm 77 and so far just by helping out friends and relatives I stay some what sharp. Glad it worked for you.

 

[dustymars]

Well I'm 77 and so far just by helping out friends and relatives I stay some what sharp. Glad it worked for you.

I’m splitting 80-81. Seems like a short time ago the Air Force forced me into an electronics career and eventually computer engineering 62 years ago. Very little passed me by, but now the fog has set in and technology has drifted by me. Old Japanese saying; "The fog is so fine that you can't hold it in your hands, yet it can hide a mountain.”

Lately my intellectual efforts have been trying to get my lawn trailer tire from going flat.

 

[dustymars]

I love my laptop; my cat does too since he naps in my lap between my belly and the PC.

Yes, when both his paws rest on my keyboard some interesting screen frames pop up.

His home is behind my desktop ...