Author Topic: Hardware/OS Geek Thread  (Read 53346 times)

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Offline JMW IV

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #550: November 10, 2009, 11:37:39 PM »
Remote Desktop FTW.

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #551: November 10, 2009, 11:38:44 PM »
hard drive = slowest part of any modern computer.  laptop hard drives = slower than slow.

And yes the additional speed is quite noticeable for the things I do.  Perhaps not so for the things you do, but that's why I have a desktop and you don't.  Bully for both of us.

Basically I never keep anything of significance on any of my portables.  Just the OS, browser, maybe office.  If I want to take something like music or documents with me, I toss it on a flash drive.

slower than slow? how so

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #552: November 10, 2009, 11:39:32 PM »
Keep in mind here that I'm not one of those people who has a 50 gig music collection that I absolutely can't live without.  My entire music folder is 10 gigs, of which what I listen to with any regularity fits on my 1st gen Nano 1GB :lol:

I think I'll have half a terabyte when all my CD's and vinyl are ripped.

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #553: November 10, 2009, 11:44:40 PM »
I think I'll have half a terabyte when all my CD's and vinyl are ripped.

Half a Terabyte is ALL of my data :lol:

And even most of that isn't terribly important.  Nothing I'd freak out over if my drive died tomorrow.  The truly important stuff is backed up in triplicate, probably not more than 100 gigs worth of stuff, tops.

slower than slow? how so

I wish I could think of a good rhyme :lol:

I don't really feel like getting into a detailed discussion about hard drives right now, especially since you probably don't do much where you'd notice a big difference.

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #554: November 10, 2009, 11:45:03 PM »
what's good with the PS3?

I am thinking of getting the $299 120 GB version for Christmas. Worth it?


Offline UMDNats

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #555: November 10, 2009, 11:56:38 PM »
what's good with the PS3?

I am thinking of getting the $299 120 GB version for Christmas. Worth it?



i have a ps3 and i LOVE it. omg, it's great. I had a 360 but traded it in and got a ps3.

pros:

-AMAZING baseball video game (the Show)
-great exclusives (in my opinion): SOCOM, MAG, Uncharted, etc
-FREE online gaming (wi-fi included, too)
-can browse internet on it if you want to (i don't use it)
-can stream netflix account on it (new feature i believe)
-tons of downloadable old titles and stuff
-can easily put photos/videos/saved games on it, much easier than 360 to get new rosters/custom music/etc
-doesn't break down like 360
-BLUE RAY! It's not that great of an upgrade  for some movies, but for action/war movies, it's awesome. Dark Knight FTW. Going to watch Band of Brothers in blue ray this winter.

cons:
-online experience not as good (at least for me, all my friends have a 360)
-some smoother features (online party system and voice chat, for example)
-some exclusives on 360 people prefer (halo, GOW)
-bigger and less mobile than 360

Offline Nathan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #556: November 11, 2009, 12:13:39 AM »
what's good with the PS3?

I am thinking of getting the $299 120 GB version for Christmas. Worth it?


Im thinking of getting a second one.  My netflix disc for ps3 comes Thursday, so for $299 you get a bluray player, netflix instant watch streaming device, online video store, plus the gaming.

UMD, the new "slim" model is not that big, it looks to be on par with the 360 plus I believe the power supply is built in unlike the brick with the 360.

Two downers about the new ps3 is the removal of the ability to install Linux as a secondary os (no biggie for 99% of people) and the lack of ps2 ability, so you have to keep your ps2 hooked up if you play ps2 games often.

Offline UMDNats

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #557: November 11, 2009, 12:14:28 AM »
UMD, the new "slim" model is not that big, it looks to be on par with the 360 plus I believe the power supply is built in unlike the brick with the 360.


You are exactly right. I totally forgot about that. I got my ps3 4 months before the slim came out. :?

Offline Nathan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #558: November 11, 2009, 12:17:56 AM »
Size comparison:





from this site:  http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=83537 ;)

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #559: November 11, 2009, 12:25:05 AM »
that sucks that they are not compatible with ps2. guess I will have to buy new games.

so you can play vs people on games over the wifi connection? i assume so.

what is the deal with the netflix thing?

it has hdmi output right?

Offline Nathan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #560: November 11, 2009, 12:34:50 AM »
that sucks that they are not compatible with ps2. guess I will have to buy new games.
Yep.  The first PS3s, like mine, had an actual ps2 "emotion engine" and all games should work.  Later they went to an emulator and most games work.  Now they removed it completely.
 
Quote
so you can play vs people on games over the wifi connection? i assume so.

yes, for free.  No $50/ year subscription like Xbox Live Gold, though some claim it's a craptier experience.  I've never played online on ps3 since my friends all have 360s.

Quote
what is the deal with the netflix thing?
A netflix subscription entitles you to unlimited streaming of instant watch titles (10,000+) on you computer or compatible devices.  It's been on Xbox 360 for a while, now you can get a disc for free to watch over wifi on your ps3.

Quote
it has hdmi output right?

yes, though I still think you have to buy your own cable, it only comes with RCA cables in the box (or mine did).  Monoprice has cables for cheap.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #561: November 11, 2009, 12:46:02 AM »
Monoprice has ridiculously, incredibly cheap cables.

Offline UMDNats

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #562: November 11, 2009, 10:09:12 AM »
I use my old HDMI cables that came with my 360 for my ps3. :lmao:

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #563: November 11, 2009, 10:15:22 AM »
I don't even own a "real" dvd player.  I have a 20-ft hdmi cable that I run from my my desktop to my TV when I want to watch a movie :lol:

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #564: November 11, 2009, 10:56:25 AM »
Have any Apple users here had a problem with this?

http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3672&p=7

Apparently 64-bit Safari eats up the battery.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #565: November 11, 2009, 10:59:15 AM »
Have any Apple users here had a problem with this?

http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3672&p=7

Apparently 64-bit Safari eats up the battery.

:lmao: Way to go, Aple software testers.

Offline Nathan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #566: November 11, 2009, 02:40:23 PM »
Hmm, I don't use Safari often so I'm not too sure.  I did find this revealing from the page 2 though:
Code: [Select]
13-inch MBP Battery Life OS X 10.6.1 "Snow Leopard" Windows 7 x64 OS X Advantage
Light Web Browsing 468 minutes 263 minutes 77.9%
XviD Playback 207 minutes 198 minutes 4.5%


Ok, it's all gobbled up, but basically on the light web browsing test, OS X gets 468 minutes of battery life, Windows 7 on the same machine gets 263.

Also telling is that the battery life is close between Leopard and Snow Leopard, until you put flash into the equation, which only runs in 32 bit mode.

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #567: November 11, 2009, 02:48:21 PM »
Yeah but you know that's because of poor Apple support for Windows 7.

And flash is the debbil, Bobby Bouche

Offline blue911

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #568: November 11, 2009, 02:50:05 PM »
Yeah but you know that's because of poor Apple support for Windows 7.

And flash is the debbil, Bobby Bouche

Why should Apple support Windows?

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #569: November 11, 2009, 02:51:49 PM »
Why should Apple support Windows?

Because they advertise that they support it.  That said, Windows 7 support via Boot Camp isn't official yet, so that test is silly.

Offline blue911

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #570: November 11, 2009, 02:56:59 PM »
Because they advertise that they support it.  That said, Windows 7 support via Boot Camp isn't official yet, so that test is silly.

But are they supporting it within the realm of what MicroSoft allows?

Offline Nathan

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #571: November 11, 2009, 03:07:40 PM »
Because they advertise that they support it.  That said, Windows 7 support via Boot Camp isn't official yet, so that test is silly.
I think you'd see similar results with Vista.  There's better integration between os x and the hardware because apple only has to support a limited set of hardware.

The heavy use tests show very similar results between the two.  Is it not possible that OS X is better at power management?

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #572: November 11, 2009, 03:10:59 PM »
I think you'd see similar results with Vista.  There's better integration between os x and the hardware because apple only has to support a limited set of hardware.

The heavy use tests show very similar results between the two.  Is it not possible that OS X is better at power management?

Not really, no.  I am confident that 95-100% of the difference can be accounted for by lack of support by Apple.  Almost all PC OEMs use proprietary software/drivers/tools to enhance battery life, and Apple is no different.  The difference likely lies in Apple not going to the extra mile to squeeze the additional battery life out of Windows that they do out of OSX.  Why would they?  It makes a great selling point.

Besides, one extremely ambiguously titled "light web browsing" test is hardly and airtight case.  The difference in the video playback test is nearly within margin of error.

In the end, it's just typical marketing speak.  Saying OSX gets better battery life than Windows is like saying Macs can't game.  It isn't really technically true, but it has the appearance of being true enough for marketing purposes.

If it were only 5-10% difference then I might be willing to believe there wasn't anything funny going on, but 75%?  Come on.

Offline PC

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #573: November 11, 2009, 06:35:08 PM »
Got my Thinkpad R52 today.   :thumbs:

My netbook phase is over.  I can finally have video/audio playing in one tab now while using another tab to do something else and the a/v will keep playing, unlike what happens with the netbook.  :|

When I started it up, I ran gparted to see what the partitions were and there was one for the os and one for recovery.  I resized the OS partition and moved it down to the "end" of the drive and marked them both as hidden.  Now I have 50gbs waiting for an operating system.  I haven't decided which one I'm going to install, as I have so many options.  :D  And now I have even more options because, wait for it, I added to my Technet subscript, an MSDN subscription.  :shock:  Now I have twice as many Windows OS keys.  Yes, not 10 but 20 Windows 7 Home Basic keys!!!   :lol:

With all those Windows keys available, right now, I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 on a USB flash drive on my new Thinkpad.   :o 

Offline The Chief

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Re: Hardware/OS Geek Thread
« Reply #574: November 11, 2009, 06:38:00 PM »
You have a sickness, PC.  Please seek help.







:lol: