Comments | flametwirler: Computer blues....1,2,3 let's jam

flametwirler

Computer blues....1,2,3 let's jam

Dec 26, 2011 23:41

I officially have no computer. Haven't for a while now. The ones I was trying to piece back together are dead. Deceased. Kaput. Fershtunken. Fertig. Ferfallen. Ferlumpt. Ferblunget. Ferkackt. *can't remember the song Ms. Von Shtupp spontaneously breaks into here in Blazing Saddles, dang it!*

Sad, sad times they are.

However my parents, generous as ( Read more... )

Comments 16

eggplantlady December 27 2011, 14:25:52 UTC

I do not recommend Dell laptops. I only had one from them but that was enough to put me off the brand forever ( ... )

knittingknots December 27 2011, 16:12:49 UTC

I will note that I used a Compaq laptop as my workhorse, plugged into my monitor and keyboard, left on most of the time for close to 2 years without a cooling mat underneath it and I had no problems with it...it works well still, but I wanted more processing power. So maybe that's a plug for the staying power for the Compaq.

eggplantlady December 27 2011, 17:39:20 UTC

My friends have had a lot of luck with Asus laptops and certain models by HP in this regard, also. But I have no real personal experience with either, aside from a fabulous HP tablet PC that I got to test-drive one semester in college.

flametwirler January 3 2012, 09:16:19 UTC

Yikes! That sounds awful. I'm sorry you had such a crummy experience. I hope things all worked out in the end? Was the third time the charm?

Luckily the gift-givers decided to go with the conventional wisdom of a desktop, for which I'm thankful. I much prefer desktops, but thought they really wanted to get me a laptop, and hey, looking a gift-horse in the mouth and all that.

knittingknots December 27 2011, 16:06:53 UTC

Last few years, I seem to buy cheap and/or refurbished computers every year, either at School Supply Time, or about Christmas time. I have an Acer, a Toshiba, and a Compaq laptop. Of the three, I like the Toshiba best ( ... )

flametwirler January 3 2012, 09:59:08 UTC

I love refurbs - they make me happy. I tend to buy refurbished all the time - I don't get why people are so skittish about em. *shrugs* Then again, some of the brand new stuff I've seen people get has been crap, so maybe I just know it depends on WHAT you get, not how new and shiny it is. Ptth ( ... )

saniika December 27 2011, 23:03:40 UTC

I wish you all the best and new fancy healthy computer :)

Ill be buying a laptop too in near future - so it will be interesting.. (had only desk computer so far...)

flametwirler January 3 2012, 09:48:12 UTC

You too, eh? Ah, the joys, trials, and tribulations of electronics shopping.

drjmaxwell January 1 2012, 09:39:15 UTC

The brand matters very little. You want to look at components. I've actually spent my vacation building desktops (4) for friends and family, so if you want to talk parts, name a price and I'll tell you what you can get for it.

going with the desktop now, huzzah! flametwirler January 3 2012, 10:56:04 UTC

Well thank you sir, I appreciate it. I'm a little behind the times on the current hardware configurations so I'm unsure as to what's going to work well with what, and so forth.

It's coming as a gift, so I don't know an exact price point, however I know they'd been looking at this computer computer as a possibility and thinking it was a rather smokin' deal. (But then there's this one which I'm assuming is just the upgrade in processor and graphics card? I know crap about processors.)

My basic guess would be a very loose $400ish.

Re: going with the desktop now, huzzah! drjmaxwell January 3 2012, 18:56:22 UTC

What do you want to do with it ( ... )

Re: going with the desktop now, huzzah! flametwirler January 3 2012, 21:54:07 UTC

Well, I do tend to push my system a bit. I like to multi-task, so I'll have Word, Photoshop, and firefox (with about 20 tabs open) all going at once.

How hard are computers to assemble, all told? I've done simple things, like switching out hard drives and RAM, but when it comes to installing a Motherboard and processor it seems slightly intimidating. Looked up a few 'how tos' and it didn't look all that bad, but going from the screen to actually doing it is always something, isn't it? So, given your experience, just how intensive would you say it is?

And let me just ask you a couple basics, (because for instance, I hadn't even known Hard Drives had speeds).

Hard Drive speed: are you looking at the RPM or the /sec? What's a decent speed?

Processors: speed of the cache(s), ghz, etc. I know it's all important, but since I'm a little new to this component, what takes priority?

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