Hardware/OS Geek Thread

[Nathan]

Well yeah but what I said applies there too

nvidia's mobile parts are misleadingly named, btw.  Not that they're bad performers, but their names aren't at all representative of their performance as compared to their desktop counterparts.  Anything with a Mobility Radeon 4850 will mop the floor with a GTX 260m

Yeah.  Anyone want to buy a slightly used MacBook Pro?

Of course, battery life sucks on the high end PC notebooks.

[The Chief]

Yeah.  Anyone want to buy a slightly used MacBook Pro?

Of course, battery life sucks on the high end PC notebooks.

Right tool for the right job.  Either you need a desktop or you need a laptop.  Or maybe you need a portable desktop

[Nathan]

Right tool for the right job.  Either you need a desktop or you need a laptop.  Or maybe you need a portable desktop

I want a quad core, sli, 1 inch thick, .5 pound, 24 hour battery notebook.  Know where I can find one of those?

[The Chief]

So....I just downloaded Google Chrome to see what it's all about. Pretty slick. Anything I should look for? Like Firefox-type stuff (add-ons, etc)?

One of the bookmarks on my Bookmarks bar doesn't show up and I need to click and arrow to get to it. Not a big deal, just annoying.

You might want to cross-post this in the other geek thread, since JMad is too good for us hardware geeks

[PANatsFan]

Windows 7 has crazy battery modes - it keeps trying to turn off my dvd drive.

[The Chief]

I want a quad core, sli, 1 inch thick, .5 pound, 24 hour battery notebook.  Know where I can find one of those?

I hear sportsfan's mind carries them

My brother actually has an MSI 17" 1920x1200 "notebook" with a 2ghz Core 2 Quad and a Mobility Radeon 4850 that gets an impressive 3 hours of battery life.  Impressive for that kind of monster, anyway.

[sportsfan882]

So....I just downloaded Google Chrome to see what it's all about. Pretty slick. Anything I should look for? Like Firefox-type stuff (add-ons, etc)?

One of the bookmarks on my Bookmarks bar doesn't show up and I need to click and arrow to get to it. Not a big deal, just annoying.

http://www.mychromeaddons.com/

[Nathan]

I don't really need the 7 hour battery of the MBP, but the $1500 i7 notebook I was looking at got 86 minutes.  That's basically worthless as a notebook imo.

[The Chief]

Windows 7 has crazy battery modes - it keeps trying to turn off my dvd drive.

Cant' say I've seen anything like that on the dozen or so laptops I've tested or deployed on.  There are only 3 modes by default, and one of them is hidden...

I don't really need the 7 hour battery of the MBP, but the $1500 i7 notebook I was looking at got 86 minutes.  That's basically worthless as a notebook imo.

Like I said, it's a portable desktop.  Why do you need a quad core and 7 hours of battery life?  Doing a lot of code compiling on the bus?

Not trying to knock your preference at all, btw.  I'm just one of those people who views notebooks as web/email/office/IM tools.  Anything else should be done on a real computer.  As such, why anyone buy a notebook that is larger than necessary for comfort is a mystery to me.  The 14 or 15" (not sure exactly) Macbook I have from work is just about the perfect size, IMO.  Not too tiny to type on, but not so big that it hampers mobility.

[UMDNats]

Cant' say I've seen anything like that on the dozen or so laptops I've tested or deployed on.  There are only 3 modes by default, and one of them is hidden...

Like I said, it's a portable desktop.  Why do you need a quad core and 7 hours of battery life?  Doing a lot of code compiling on the bus?

Not trying to knock your preference at all, btw.  I'm just one of those people who views notebooks as web/email/office/IM tools.  Anything else should be done on a real computer.  As such, why anyone buy a notebook that is larger than necessary for comfort is a mystery to me.  The 14 or 15" (not sure exactly) Macbook I have from work is just about the perfect size, IMO.  Not too tiny to type on, but not so big that it hampers mobility.

My laptop is like 17"...it's too big IMO. I play some games on it right now (which is why I got a bigger one), but it's too big to bring to classes and sometimes annoying to carry when I have to go cover a game. I probably should have gone with my dad to get it when he did in 2007...I didn't realize it would be such a hassle.

When I graduate I am getting a new laptop - probably 15" like you said, and definitely a Dell/PC (can't stand the one-mouse Mac and love my PC). In addition, though, I'm buying a home computer to play games on and just handle everything important for me. My laptop will be for work and when I need to go cover games or do broadcasts and stuff but my home comp. will be for other stuff.

[The Chief]

For some people who do computationally intensive work and only have one computer and/or limited space, I can see having a large powerehouse "notebook."

The one-button macbook isn't actually that bad, but the new "no button" macbook really turns me off.  The entire pad is the button.  It seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice it just feels weird.

[UMDNats]

For some people who do computationally intensive work and only have one computer and/or limited space, I can see having a large powerehouse "notebook."

The one-button macbook isn't actually that bad, but the new "no button" macbook really turns me off.  The entire pad is the button.  It seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice it just feels weird.

Whenever I have to use someone's Mac, I hate it. I used my ex-gf's a bunch and it was such a pain and felt so weird. I use an USB mouse and rarely use the built-in pad on my computer. I can't stand it.

[sportsfan882]

I move around too much to use a desktop. I have two laptops and take them everywhere. To school, on trips, and even in my house I move them from room to room constantly.

[UMDNats]

I move around too much to use a desktop. I have two laptops and take them everywhere. To school, on trips, and even in my house I move them from room to room constantly.

By the time I graduate from UMD, I'll have a laptop and a blackberry (which I desperately need already for my journalism stuff with the radio station). I feel like I'll be so connected LOL (though wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too many kids my age have blackberries and have NO need for constant e-mail and internet access and are just spoiled)

My desktop computer will mostly be for gaming, LOL. I'm not 100% sure I'm going to go that route but it'd be nice to put a lot of stuff on my desktop and keep my laptop for work-related stuff.

[PANatsFan]

Cant' say I've seen anything like that on the dozen or so laptops I've tested or deployed on.  There are only 3 modes by default, and one of them is hidden...

Vaio's have all kinds of proprietary power management hardware. I know because it gives Linux all kinds of fits

I have Vaio Optimized mode, Ultimate Battery mode, high performance mode.

It's a big upgrade from a few years ago when I had turn my Compaq upside down when compiling code to prevent it from overheating.

[Nathan]

For some people who do computationally intensive work and only have one computer and/or limited space, I can see having a large powerehouse "notebook."

The one-button macbook isn't actually that bad, but the new "no button" macbook really turns me off.  The entire pad is the button.  It seems like a good idea in theory, but in practice it just feels weird.

I always use tap to click anyway, with a two finger tap as a right click.  Or you can set one corner to act as a right click button

Whenever I have to use someone's Mac, I hate it. I used my ex-gf's a bunch and it was such a pain and felt so weird. I use an USB mouse and rarely use the built-in pad on my computer. I can't stand it.

The Mighty Mouse and now Magic Mouse do have right click.  But I agree, Apple's mice suck.  I always just used a cheap Logitec with my Macs (you can use any usb mouse that you want).

[The Chief]

Whenever I have to use someone's Mac, I hate it. I used my ex-gf's a bunch and it was such a pain and felt so weird. I use an USB mouse and rarely use the built-in pad on my computer. I can't stand it.

If I were using a Mac desktop I'd just plug in a normal USB mouse.  For notebooks it's really not that big of a deal as I mostly tap-click anyway.  Using an external mouse with a notebook largely runs counter to my views on the uses of notebooks.

I move around too much to use a desktop. I have two laptops and take them everywhere. To school, on trips, and even in my house I move them from room to room constantly.

Notebooks aren't conducive to doing serious work at an efficient pace, at least for me.  I always feel handicapped when I try to do anything other than basic stuff on a notebook.  Give me a real keyboard and mouse and 20-24 inches of real estate any day.  Sure I could plug those things into a notebook, but then why do I need a notebook?  And that's not even considering the enormous speed gap between even high end notebooks and relatively low end desktops.

Nathan, is this the notebook you were looking at? - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220605

If so, that's a darn nice bit of equipment for a 15.6" form factor.  140 DPI, drool!  6-cell battery for the lose, though

Vaio's have all kinds of proprietary power management hardware. I know because it gives Linux all kinds of fits

I have Vaio Optimized mode, Ultimate Battery mode, high performance mode.

That's what you get for buying a Sony   Pretty much any time I touch a PC that I didn't build, the first thing I do is run msconfig and disable everything that isn't a Microsoft service

It's a big upgrade from a few years ago when I had turn my Compaq upside down when compiling code to prevent it from overheating.

I once put my notebook in the fridge to cool it off after I had somehow concocted the genius idea of covering it with a towel the night before and leaving it running.  I don't even remember why the hell I did that

[UMDNats]

Well, yea, I could plug in a mouse just like I do now with my PC, but I don't want to get a Mac because of all the change that I would need to make to switch over.

Our new journalism building is  going to be all-mac so I may need to do it anyways

[sportsfan882]

I don't know what crappy laptops you use but my good laptop is pretty damn solid. Granted I don't do a lot of crazy things on it but it still gets the job done.

[Nathan]

Well, yea, I could plug in a mouse just like I do now with my PC, but I don't want to get a Mac because of all the change that I would need to make to switch over.

Our new journalism building is  going to be all-mac so I may need to do it anyways

My love of the Mac pretty much only extends to the OS.  The hardware is nice, but if I could run OS X on a home built rig, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  Mac Pro power for 50% or less of the cost of a Mac Pro

[Nathan]

Nathan, is this the notebook you were looking at? - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220605

If so, that's a darn nice bit of equipment for a 15.6" form factor.  140 DPI, drool!  6-cell battery for the lose, though

Yeah, I was reading a review but they said the keyboard was fairly crappy too.  Cheap, flexy, and a weird layout.

[The Chief]

I don't know what crappy laptops you use but my good laptop is pretty darn solid. Granted I don't do a lot of crazy things on it but it still gets the job done.

Anything you can do on your laptops, my desktop can do about 8x faster, minimally.

It's not about "crappy laptops," it's about the fact that I work faster on a desktop, and the work gets DONE faster, too.  Laptops are for surfing the net, IMing, writing papers, and...  that's about it.  Just because you CAN do most things on a laptop doesn't make it a pleasurable experience to do so.  The storage bottleneck alone is hideous.

[Nathan]

Anything you can do on your laptops, my desktop can do about 8x faster, minimally.

It's not about "crappy laptops," it's about the fact that I work faster on a desktop, and the work gets DONE faster, too.  Laptops are for surfing the net, IMing, writing papers, and...  that's about it.

I don't know I can deal with having 2 systems, though.  How do you keep your files and stuff synced between the 2?  Like music, documents, etc?

[sportsfan882]

8x faster? that may be true but it's probably hardly even noticeable. My machine is fast.

storage bottleneck?

[The Chief]

8x faster? that may be true but it's probably hardly even noticeable. My machine is fast.

storage bottleneck?

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.

I don't know I can deal with having 2 systems, though.  How do you keep your files and stuff synced between the 2?  Like music, documents, etc?

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.

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