German laptop - help!

[BTB 500]

Been given a netbook by the in-laws. It's an HP Mini 210-1000: 10.1" LED screen, 160 Gb drive, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom, 1 Gb RAM. It has Windows 7 Starter installed. The problem is ... it's all in German.

Hardware-wise, the keyboard looks quite straightforward to change for a UK QWERTY one e.g.

Notebook Laptop Keyboard for HP Mini 210-1000 UK English (QWERTY)

But Windows 7 is another matter!

In theory you can download a free Language Interface Pack, which translates most of the interface into your chosen language (bits that aren't included are displayed in the 'base' language). But ... as far as I can see the English LIP can only be installed on Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise

An upgrade to Ultimate would be £125, and would still have German as the base language. A new UK copy of Home Premium would also be £125, although you can obviously get 'OEM' versions for less.

So it could potentially cost me £150 or so to get it into a reasonable state ... a lot of money for a free netbook (and more than they sell for secondhand!).

Any bright ideas?

TIA

 

[neilz]

Sorry, had the same problem with a tablet laptop running XP. Apparently there's no other way of doing it (aside from illegal downloads of 7 which are, of course, illegal). So all you can do is shell out the money, try eBay for a cheap copy (though be warned many aren't genuine)

 

[BTB 500]

The annoyance is that Win 7 supposedly supports multiple languages out of the box (which XP never did). The MS website actually says

Language Interface Packs (LIPs). LIPs can be installed over any edition of Windows Vista and Windows 7, providing a translated version of only the most widely used dialog boxes, menu items, and help content. You can download LIPs from the Microsoft Download Center by using the links below.

But then when you look at the links, the English LIP (I would guess the most commonly needed one?) requires Win 7 Ultimate or Enterprise - not quite 'any edition' then

 

[grober]

Windows 7 Prof. + LIP - Windows 7 Forums

 

[neilz]

One of the only languages not available for the starter edition

Change Windows 7 Starter language to English - Microsoft Answers

 

[Rory]

Any bright ideas?

Learn German?

I looked at upgrading an old laptop from XP to Windows7 Pro and for what it would cost (getting on for £200) you're within a £100 of some laptops that come with W7 Pro already loaded.

 

[Igurisu]

Any bright ideas?

TIA

Depends on what you want to use it for, if its just for everyday stuff, surfing, mail, music etc then I'd suggest installing Ubuntu Linux on there.

Legally free, works really well with a low powered processor (like your atom), easy to install and run, much faster than windows.

If you need some help with Ubuntu just say, although I'm sure there are people on here who know more than me. It really is as easy, if not easier than a windows install and will do most things the same.

 

[gaz_l]

Any bright ideas?

Works fine on my netbook, very similar spec to yours. Flies in comparison to Windows too..

Cost £0.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[BTB 500]

Many thanks for the suggestions guys, will have a look.

I've just completed the Win 7 SP1 / IE9 upgrade so at least it's an up to date German notebook now

 

[gaz_l]

Ubuntu is easy to set up as dual-boot, which is how my netbook is configured. I only boot into Windows if it's absolutely necessary, and I find those times are few and far between..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[John]

I'm wondering if the Windows 7 key stuck to it is language-specific i.e. would that work on a UK copy of Windows 7. Then you just need a 'backup' copy of Windows 7 OEM?

Reminds me a few moons ago of having to install Windows 2000 Japanese and all I had was the localised version.

You can just imagine the fun to be had...

Managed it though, eventually.

 

[BTB 500]

I don't have the key for the copy of W7 on there, no idea why ... zero chance of it being dodgy. But I know from similar experiences with XP (they gave us a Sony tower PC a few years back) that manufacturer-installed copies are language specific. Incidentally the specific model of the netbook is only recognised on the German HP website ... it's not listed on the UK one. But HP.de did have manuals for it in English

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Not sure about language packs etc. I assume you've looked at Control Panel / Clock, Language & Region / Region & Language - perhaps that lets you change Location & input language?

However if you find you need to upgrade / re-install and have any children in full-time education then you could be entitiled to buy cheap licences & media, have a look at Student discounts, deals & offers for premium software in UK I have no connection with them and the software they supply are the full versions.

 

[John]

and have any children in full-time education then you could be entitiled to buy cheap licences & media, have a look at Student discounts, deals & offers for premium software in UK

...or your other half etc.

My misses did a 3 year CIPD qualification and qualified for these prices.

I bought W7U and Office 2010 Full Monty for about £60 or something.

Doesn't expire after they finish either...

I used the above place.

 

[A210AMG]

Other than the sugestions already given and running a differnt OS then another option....


Sell it on ebay.de


Buy a UK one on ebay.uk

 

[BTB 500]

Good ideas guys, will check them out - thanks.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Was sie tun müssen, ist im Deutschen eBay und verkaufe sie dann kaufen, müssen sie nicht rumfummeln.

Hth

 

[BTB 500]

However if you find you need to upgrade / re-install and have any children in full-time education then you could be entitiled to buy cheap licences & media, have a look at Student discounts, deals & offers for premium software in UK I have no connection with them and the software they supply are the full versions.

Have checked this out, but unfortunately you can only upgrade from XP or Vista. It specifically excludes the situation where you already have any version of Win 7 installed

 

[removed]

I'd like to join in on suggesting you look at Linux, particularly for this machine - Ubuntu is excellent, as mentioned above, also if you're not inclined to learn a new interface (which is far more intuitive than what Microsoft has to offer), you can check out Linux Mint 12 - it's got more 'Windozie' look to it.

 

[Nik_Endeavour]

Have checked this out, but unfortunately you can only upgrade from XP or Vista. It specifically excludes the situation where you already have any version of Win 7 installed

As a workaround how about installing XP (do not need to activate or register for 30 days) and then upgrade using the copy that you buy that way.