Computer Talk

delft

Brigadier
I recently build a computer from parts I had lying around, but I didn't get the cooling working well enough. The CPU was a Pentium4, which runs rather hot and I didn't succeed in fitting the large blower I had. Also because our money might well suddenly loose half its value I decided to buy new parts, except for the Power Supply Unit and the DVD burner. However even in the day between putting in the order and get the parts my wife claimed the machine and before I completed building her computer died, probably trouble with the mother board. So now she has a computer with more memory on the video card than in her previous computer. She got 8 Gig working memory ( I remember the envy of some members when someone mentioned that amount of memory in his home computer a few months ago ) for which I paid just more than EUR 40, about $50. I paid for the parts I bought ( mobo, AMD cpu with four cores and 2.6 GHz, memory, 500 GB hard disk, video card, and box ) some EUR 330, about $400.
I made a begin with installing Arch Linux but my wife completed it. She is very happy with the increase in speed and the reduction in noise. But I will have to start over with building my own as well as, probably, building one for my mother-in-law.
 

Franklin

Captain
I recently build a computer from parts I had lying around, but I didn't get the cooling working well enough. The CPU was a Pentium4, which runs rather hot and I didn't succeed in fitting the large blower I had. Also because our money might well suddenly loose half its value I decided to buy new parts, except for the Power Supply Unit and the DVD burner. However even in the day between putting in the order and get the parts my wife claimed the machine and before I completed building her computer died, probably trouble with the mother board. So now she has a computer with more memory on the video card than in her previous computer. She got 8 Gig working memory ( I remember the envy of some members when someone mentioned that amount of memory in his home computer a few months ago ) for which I paid just more than EUR 40, about $50. I paid for the parts I bought ( mobo, AMD cpu with four cores and 2.6 GHz, memory, 500 GB hard disk, video card, and box ) some EUR 330, about $400.
I made a begin with installing Arch Linux but my wife completed it. She is very happy with the increase in speed and the reduction in noise. But I will have to start over with building my own as well as, probably, building one for my mother-in-law.

So you use Linux, i had a Linux computer once (Ubuntu). How do you play Youtube, MP4, AVI, WMV files and DVD's on it ? I couldn't do any of those things on my Linux computer and that's why i'm using a plain Windows 7 computer now.
 

blacklist

Junior Member
So you use Linux, i had a Linux computer once (Ubuntu). How do you play Youtube, MP4, AVI, WMV files and DVD's on it ? I couldn't do any of those things on my Linux computer and that's why i'm using a plain Windows 7 computer now.

you need to download "restricted codec" or "proprietary codex" or something like that...
you should try another distro which install them out of the box like mint intead.

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 

delft

Brigadier
So you use Linux, i had a Linux computer once (Ubuntu). How do you play Youtube, MP4, AVI, WMV files and DVD's on it ? I couldn't do any of those things on my Linux computer and that's why i'm using a plain Windows 7 computer now.
I used Ubuntu several years ago and had little difficulty in finding support under "community". But the website has changed somewhat and I didn't see it in the short time I had. But going to Mint seems the best thing to do. Success!
 

SteelBird

Colonel
Just got a new Toshiba Portege R930 with Intel's latest Ivy Bridge Core i5 3210m, 4GB of RAM, 640GB HDD and a pre-installed Windows 7 Pro. I additionally added another 4GB a carrying bag and a wireless mouse. The total package cost me $1,232. The R930 was announced on June 5 and I got it on August 5, two months after its announce date. It is quite a decent laptop; light but powerful. The screen is a little small though at 13.3" with 1366 x 768 resolution.
 

T-U-P

The Punisher
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I love building computers, as long as I'm not the one paying for the parts ;)

Just got a new samsung series 7 laptop to replace my 5-yr old vaio that pretty much stopped functioning after incompatible drivers in windows 7.
 

SteelBird

Colonel
I love laptops which are portable. Why didn't consider the series 9 instead of series 7? However, ultrabooks are usually 12" to 13" range which are a little small if your eyes aren't good enough. 1366 x 768 seems to be a little outdated now as more and more requirement on the 1600 x 900 emerge. Lenovo has just introduced a new X1 Carbon which is very very sexy. I'd love to choose this one if I hadn't bought my R930 yet.
 

T-U-P

The Punisher
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
I love laptops which are portable. Why didn't consider the series 9 instead of series 7? However, ultrabooks are usually 12" to 13" range which are a little small if your eyes aren't good enough. 1366 x 768 seems to be a little outdated now as more and more requirement on the 1600 x 900 emerge. Lenovo has just introduced a new X1 Carbon which is very very sexy. I'd love to choose this one if I hadn't bought my R930 yet.

I was mainly looking for a 15" laptop just a bit over $1000, i think the series9 is quite a bit more expensive. I'm not that into the ultrabooks until they make one that is decent at gaming.
 

SteelBird

Colonel
I was mainly looking for a 15" laptop just a bit over $1000, i think the series9 is quite a bit more expensive. I'm not that into the ultrabooks until they make one that is decent at gaming.

15" laptops are huge and usually powerful but not so portable. Many of them are more than 3kg combined with the adapter and other stuff in the bag, it is just too heavy to carry around. Moreover, batteries of this type of laptop usually don't last long due to their heavy consumption. I tested mine can last 8 hours for normal use.

3rd gen Intel's Core CPUs are equipped with Intel HD Graphic 4000 which is said to be double speed of the older HD Graphic 3000. Unless your games are heavily graphic, this one should be suitable.
 

T-U-P

The Punisher
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
15" laptops are huge and usually powerful but not so portable. Many of them are more than 3kg combined with the adapter and other stuff in the bag, it is just too heavy to carry around. Moreover, batteries of this type of laptop usually don't last long due to their heavy consumption. I tested mine can last 8 hours for normal use.

3rd gen Intel's Core CPUs are equipped with Intel HD Graphic 4000 which is said to be double speed of the older HD Graphic 3000. Unless your games are heavily graphic, this one should be suitable.
Mine will mainly be used for my grad school, aka sitting on my desk in the grad student office. 3D modelling is also a requirement in addition to games that i would think are heavily graphics. Integrated graphics, as good as the new ones sound, is simply no match for discrete graphics. In fact i was testing out the graphics on a 3 year old game with the intel HD4000 (switchable graphics) and it was crap.
 
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