±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: cgsimpson
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6645

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 553
Total: 553
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Community Forums
02: Photo Gallery
03: Community Forums
04: Community Forums
05: Community Forums
06: Photo Gallery
07: Community Forums
08: Community Forums
09: Community Forums
10: Community Forums
11: Community Forums
12: Community Forums
13: Home
14: Photo Gallery
15: Photo Gallery
16: Community Forums
17: Community Forums
18: Community Forums
19: Photo Gallery
20: Community Forums
21: Community Forums
22: Photo Gallery
23: Community Forums
24: Member Screenshots
25: Photo Gallery
26: Community Forums
27: Community Forums
28: Community Forums
29: News Archive
30: Photo Gallery
31: Community Forums
32: Home
33: Community Forums
34: Community Forums
35: Community Forums
36: CPGlang
37: Community Forums
38: Community Forums
39: Photo Gallery
40: Community Forums
41: Community Forums
42: Community Forums
43: Community Forums
44: Photo Gallery
45: Community Forums
46: Community Forums
47: Community Forums
48: Community Forums
49: Community Forums
50: Community Forums
51: Community Forums
52: Community Forums
53: Community Forums
54: Photo Gallery
55: Community Forums
56: Home
57: Community Forums
58: Community Forums
59: Home
60: Downloads
61: Photo Gallery
62: Home
63: Community Forums
64: Community Forums
65: News
66: Photo Gallery
67: Photo Gallery
68: Photo Gallery
69: Photo Gallery
70: Community Forums
71: Downloads
72: Community Forums
73: Community Forums
74: Photo Gallery
75: CPGlang
76: Photo Gallery
77: Community Forums
78: Community Forums
79: Community Forums
80: Home
81: Community Forums
82: Community Forums
83: Community Forums
84: Photo Gallery
85: Community Forums
86: Photo Gallery
87: Community Forums
88: Home
89: Community Forums
90: Community Forums
91: Community Forums
92: Your Account
93: Community Forums
94: Your Account
95: Community Forums
96: Community Forums
97: Community Forums
98: Member Screenshots
99: Community Forums
100: Community Forums
101: Photo Gallery
102: Community Forums
103: Community Forums
104: Community Forums
105: Photo Gallery
106: Community Forums
107: Community Forums
108: Community Forums
109: Community Forums
110: Community Forums
111: Photo Gallery
112: Community Forums
113: CPGlang
114: Community Forums
115: Community Forums
116: Downloads
117: Community Forums
118: Home
119: Community Forums
120: Community Forums
121: Photo Gallery
122: Community Forums
123: Community Forums
124: Home
125: Community Forums
126: Community Forums
127: Photo Gallery
128: Community Forums
129: CPGlang
130: Community Forums
131: Photo Gallery
132: Community Forums
133: Community Forums
134: Photo Gallery
135: Photo Gallery
136: Community Forums
137: Community Forums
138: Photo Gallery
139: Community Forums
140: Home
141: Community Forums
142: Photo Gallery
143: Community Forums
144: Community Forums
145: Photo Gallery
146: Photo Gallery
147: Community Forums
148: Statistics
149: Community Forums
150: Home
151: Community Forums
152: Home
153: Community Forums
154: Community Forums
155: Community Forums
156: Community Forums
157: Member Screenshots
158: Community Forums
159: Photo Gallery
160: Community Forums
161: Community Forums
162: News
163: Community Forums
164: Photo Gallery
165: Photo Gallery
166: Downloads
167: Member Screenshots
168: Community Forums
169: Community Forums
170: Community Forums
171: Community Forums
172: Community Forums
173: Community Forums
174: Community Forums
175: Photo Gallery
176: Community Forums
177: Community Forums
178: Community Forums
179: Community Forums
180: Community Forums
181: Downloads
182: Community Forums
183: Community Forums
184: Community Forums
185: Community Forums
186: Community Forums
187: Community Forums
188: Your Account
189: Home
190: Photo Gallery
191: Downloads
192: Photo Gallery
193: Community Forums
194: Community Forums
195: Your Account
196: Home
197: Community Forums
198: Community Forums
199: Home
200: Community Forums
201: Community Forums
202: Home
203: Your Account
204: Community Forums
205: Community Forums
206: Community Forums
207: Community Forums
208: Community Forums
209: Member Screenshots
210: Community Forums
211: Community Forums
212: Photo Gallery
213: Community Forums
214: Community Forums
215: Community Forums
216: Community Forums
217: Community Forums
218: CPGlang
219: Community Forums
220: Community Forums
221: Community Forums
222: Community Forums
223: Community Forums
224: Community Forums
225: Community Forums
226: Community Forums
227: Home
228: Community Forums
229: Statistics
230: Community Forums
231: Community Forums
232: Your Account
233: Community Forums
234: Community Forums
235: Community Forums
236: Home
237: News Archive
238: CPGlang
239: Community Forums
240: Community Forums
241: Community Forums
242: Community Forums
243: Community Forums
244: Community Forums
245: Community Forums
246: Photo Gallery
247: Photo Gallery
248: Community Forums
249: Community Forums
250: Photo Gallery
251: Home
252: Photo Gallery
253: Community Forums
254: Downloads
255: Community Forums
256: Community Forums
257: Community Forums
258: Community Forums
259: Community Forums
260: Home
261: Community Forums
262: Community Forums
263: Photo Gallery
264: Community Forums
265: Community Forums
266: Community Forums
267: Downloads
268: Community Forums
269: CPGlang
270: Member Screenshots
271: Community Forums
272: Downloads
273: Home
274: Your Account
275: Home
276: Downloads
277: Community Forums
278: Photo Gallery
279: Home
280: Photo Gallery
281: Community Forums
282: Photo Gallery
283: Community Forums
284: Community Forums
285: Community Forums
286: Photo Gallery
287: Home
288: Community Forums
289: Your Account
290: Member Screenshots
291: Downloads
292: Community Forums
293: Community Forums
294: Photo Gallery
295: Community Forums
296: Community Forums
297: Member Screenshots
298: Community Forums
299: Community Forums
300: Community Forums
301: Community Forums
302: Photo Gallery
303: Your Account
304: Community Forums
305: Community Forums
306: Community Forums
307: Member Screenshots
308: Community Forums
309: Statistics
310: Photo Gallery
311: Community Forums
312: Home
313: Your Account
314: Downloads
315: Community Forums
316: Photo Gallery
317: News
318: Community Forums
319: Community Forums
320: Downloads
321: Community Forums
322: Community Forums
323: Photo Gallery
324: Home
325: Community Forums
326: Community Forums
327: Photo Gallery
328: Community Forums
329: Community Forums
330: Photo Gallery
331: Community Forums
332: Photo Gallery
333: Community Forums
334: Photo Gallery
335: Community Forums
336: Community Forums
337: Downloads
338: Member Screenshots
339: Photo Gallery
340: Community Forums
341: Community Forums
342: Photo Gallery
343: Community Forums
344: Community Forums
345: Community Forums
346: Home
347: Community Forums
348: Community Forums
349: Downloads
350: Community Forums
351: Your Account
352: Community Forums
353: Community Forums
354: Community Forums
355: Community Forums
356: Photo Gallery
357: Photo Gallery
358: Community Forums
359: Statistics
360: Community Forums
361: Community Forums
362: Community Forums
363: Community Forums
364: Community Forums
365: Community Forums
366: Photo Gallery
367: Community Forums
368: Community Forums
369: Community Forums
370: Home
371: Community Forums
372: Community Forums
373: Community Forums
374: Community Forums
375: Community Forums
376: Photo Gallery
377: Community Forums
378: Photo Gallery
379: Community Forums
380: Community Forums
381: Community Forums
382: Community Forums
383: Community Forums
384: Home
385: Photo Gallery
386: Home
387: News
388: Photo Gallery
389: Community Forums
390: Community Forums
391: Photo Gallery
392: Community Forums
393: Community Forums
394: Photo Gallery
395: Community Forums
396: Photo Gallery
397: Community Forums
398: Community Forums
399: Photo Gallery
400: Community Forums
401: Community Forums
402: Downloads
403: Community Forums
404: Photo Gallery
405: Community Forums
406: Community Forums
407: Photo Gallery
408: Community Forums
409: Community Forums
410: Photo Gallery
411: Community Forums
412: Home
413: Photo Gallery
414: Member Screenshots
415: Community Forums
416: Statistics
417: Community Forums
418: Home
419: Community Forums
420: Community Forums
421: Community Forums
422: Community Forums
423: Community Forums
424: Downloads
425: Community Forums
426: Downloads
427: Community Forums
428: Photo Gallery
429: Photo Gallery
430: Photo Gallery
431: Home
432: Community Forums
433: Photo Gallery
434: Photo Gallery
435: Community Forums
436: Photo Gallery
437: Your Account
438: Home
439: Community Forums
440: Community Forums
441: Community Forums
442: Community Forums
443: Your Account
444: Community Forums
445: Community Forums
446: Downloads
447: Community Forums
448: Community Forums
449: Photo Gallery
450: Community Forums
451: Community Forums
452: Community Forums
453: Member Screenshots
454: Member Screenshots
455: Community Forums
456: Community Forums
457: Downloads
458: Home
459: Home
460: Community Forums
461: Community Forums
462: Community Forums
463: Photo Gallery
464: Community Forums
465: Community Forums
466: Community Forums
467: Community Forums
468: Home
469: Home
470: Community Forums
471: Community Forums
472: Community Forums
473: Community Forums
474: Community Forums
475: Home
476: Community Forums
477: Community Forums
478: Your Account
479: Community Forums
480: News
481: Community Forums
482: Community Forums
483: Community Forums
484: Community Forums
485: Community Forums
486: Home
487: Community Forums
488: Community Forums
489: Community Forums
490: Community Forums
491: Community Forums
492: Community Forums
493: Community Forums
494: Home
495: Community Forums
496: Photo Gallery
497: Community Forums
498: Community Forums
499: Home
500: Photo Gallery
501: Community Forums
502: CPGlang
503: Downloads
504: Your Account
505: Photo Gallery
506: Community Forums
507: Community Forums
508: Photo Gallery
509: Community Forums
510: Community Forums
511: News Archive
512: Community Forums
513: Community Forums
514: Community Forums
515: Community Forums
516: Community Forums
517: Community Forums
518: Home
519: Community Forums
520: Community Forums
521: Photo Gallery
522: Photo Gallery
523: Community Forums
524: Community Forums
525: Photo Gallery
526: Community Forums
527: Photo Gallery
528: Community Forums
529: Photo Gallery
530: Home
531: Community Forums
532: Community Forums
533: Community Forums
534: Downloads
535: Community Forums
536: Home
537: Community Forums
538: Photo Gallery
539: Community Forums
540: Your Account
541: Your Account
542: Community Forums
543: Photo Gallery
544: Your Account
545: Community Forums
546: Community Forums
547: Community Forums
548: Community Forums
549: Community Forums
550: Community Forums
551: Community Forums
552: Community Forums
553: Community Forums

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....? :: Archived
Resolve issues with your computer problems here or read about the latest computer parts and information.
Go to page 1, 2  Next
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  Hardware

Topic Archived View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:58 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Dontchya love it when a plan works out?! You're not gonna get back from your trip at the end of the month soon enough!

And hey! By sheer coinky-dink, I just purchased MS Office 2007 "Home and Student" version yesterday......paid $122 and change for it at Costco (we just became members there and saw it offered). Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and this "OneNote" thingy, all the latest and greatest versions which actually have a brand new newfangled look to the interface, different but not bad.

There was NO "qualification" needed or paperwork to fill out, etc. Buy it, walk out, install it, say "yes" to the licensing agreement, let it validate itself via the internet connection after punching in the key code, and bam, that's it. Also, the licensing agreement states it's allowed to be installed on up to THREE devices per household. Hardest thing was figuring how to open the odd-shaped packaging. Th'kid then proceeded to whip up an excellent presentation for his school project within a coupla hours.

You might even have basic Outlook email installed on the thing as part of XP (you should at least get Internet Explorer and they're kinda tied together or so I thought), and if so then all ya need besides Office is that wireless router and you're good to go!

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:52 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-Ascout
you don't want Vista? Well we get a LOT of calls like that
lmao

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:10 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

The saga of the great notebook buy!

So, last nite, The Ascout and esposa call le' Dell and try to buy ze D820 Latitude "better"...but ze business dept....she is a-clos-ed so we are shunted to home computers. Where they really don't want to sell me a "latitude". In fact, they refuse. Like, "you're not a small business...you don't have a tax I.D. number...but I can sell you an "Inspiron" or "XPS"(very expensive) and all with "Vista". "But I don't want Vista."

Much BS ensues. I'm emphatic. I want XP, I go to "hold". Forever. I hang up.

Eventually, I go to Gateway. I price out a system. It's cheaper, but not by much. I'm ready to buy this morning, BUT.....


....just on a hoot, I call the Dell business center, NOW that they're at work (finally). "Hey, no problem, we'll happily sell you the Latitude for your wife's Biochemistry work, doesn't matter if she's not a "business" or hasn't a tax I.D. number...oh, you don't want Vista? Well we get a LOT of calls like that, no problem. XP Professional it is!"

So, on or about March 26 they will ship the D820 with the 1Gg mem, 80Gg HD, 15.4" screen, wireless equipped, with three years ON SITE service for $1,352.

Ascout's tip of the day. Call in the daytime. Rolling Eyes

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:25 am
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Over 2,000 miles from In-N-Out here.....about ready to ship you out MY Lattitude D820 for one of those Double-Doubles with cheese.......throw in the fries and the choco shake and I'll overnight it....


_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:23 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-fr8ycat
Dang it I guess I'm to late to offer your misus one heck of a deal.

For an In 'n' Out DD/W cheese/animal style she can have it.

Dell inspiron 3200 notebook
233Mhz w/512Mb ram (smokin fast)
Came with Windows 95 but has been upgraded to 98 (want charge ya for that upgrade bud)
4G HD
56K ext. PC Card modem


Dude!....she's already got picture folders of our godchild bigger than that.

Nice try though, 'preciate the offer! Laughing

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-fr8ycat
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 13, 2005
Posts: 1528
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:56 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Alright already. 3 Del Taco hard shell tacos with Del Scorcho sauce....... but that's as low as I go!

_________________
Back to top
View user's profile MSN Messenger Photo Gallery
JG300-fr8ycat
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 13, 2005
Posts: 1528
Location: Los Angeles
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Dang it I guess I'm to late to offer your misus one heck of a deal.

For an In 'n' Out DD/W cheese/animal style she can have it.

Dell inspiron 3200 notebook
233Mhz w/512Mb ram (smokin fast)
Came with Windows 95 but has been upgraded to 98 (want charge ya for that upgrade bud)
4G HD
56K ext. PC Card modem

_________________
Back to top
View user's profile MSN Messenger Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:26 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Yeah, like I said I won't question your reasons. I bought a Gateway for the kid this last Christmas (for the same reasons you need a second 'puter in the house, and now I can FLY again!!) and it came with XP but with a upgrade coupon for a free Vista O/S upgrade which will be arriving shortly. I'm gonna let the kid test drive it for me.....

Go to Gateway.com, select a Desktop, select "View Details" then select "Customize and Buy" (after you de-select the MCAfee Security and 3-year warranty stuff).....you'll see the note under the OS selection choices:



Here's something I whipped up, and note the 500GB hard drive, which is about the best price/performance option I saw, and worth it.....you'll wonder how you lived so long with 40 Gigs!!!!

System
Gateway® DX420B

Base Price $549.99
Additional Items:

500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/ 300 hard drive w/ 16MB cache [$159.00]

2048MB 667MHz PC5300 Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2-1024MB modules) [$229.00]

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E6700 (2.66GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 4MB cache, non-HT) [$550.00]2

Removed Items:


Base Price $549.99
Instant Discount
Additional Items $938.00
Removed Items $0.00

Total $1,487.99

Then, here's the part where whipping out the credit card and calling NewEgg or someone pays off......ya order up this bad boy to replace that pukey lil' 128MB card it has in it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103022

Of course there are other choices along that line and NVidia makes a fine card as well.

Anyway, that card is shown at $250 so for like $1750 you'd end up with a pretty healthy system that has some guts (LOTSA guts for the sims you have now) and is way better than stock with just a touch of wrenching and personalization.....kinda like that nasty lil' black Moostang with the Hurst shifter ya bolted in. Wink

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:07 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Wink
- JG300-Stoopy

The trick might be getting a WIndows XP system.....just for fun I went to Gateway's website and saw that all systems are offered with Vista now. I won't question your reasons for not wanting it.

Anyway, I did notice that in teeny tiny print below the Vista selections it said "Looking for a Windows XP system? Click here to talk to live sales rep"......hopefully, this might be because MS is pushing vendors to list only VISTA on the options list, but the vendor doesn't want to loose sales to XP fans and so will configure an XP system in a discreet manner. I mean, I hope the rep's job isn't just to try to convice everyone to go with Vista.
.


'Cuz three out of four website forums that I frequent have brisk threads just full of fulminant posts bristling with mucho annoyed users that are hyper PO'ed about their systems that have it. From constant popups about "are you sure you want to do this" to existing software that suddenly is no longer compatible. Lots of unprintable lanugage is being used.

Where on the Gateway site is that "footnote"...I can't find it?

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:50 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

Yup, your monitor and keyboard can make the trip over to the new system, no sweat. New keyboard will come with the new one even if ya don't want it.

The trick might be getting a WIndows XP system.....just for fun I went to Gateway's website and saw that all systems are offered with Vista now. I won't question your reasons for not wanting it.

Anyway, I did notice that in teeny tiny print below the Vista selections it said "Looking for a Windows XP system? Click here to talk to live sales rep"......hopefully, this might be because MS is pushing vendors to list only VISTA on the options list, but the vendor doesn't want to loose sales to XP fans and so will configure an XP system in a discreet manner. I mean, I hope the rep's job isn't just to try to convice everyone to go with Vista.

It's a tough time to buy a new PC because those really FAST Core 2 Duo Intel systems (2.8Ghz) have a big price delta right now. I think the best I did was about $1500 for a desktop rig with 2Gig RAM, a 2.66Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, and a pukey ATI 1300X vid card with 128MB.

Then you'd wanna rip that card out and go hit the local retailer and get a NICE vid card for whatever else you can add to the total price.....personally I made the switch from Nvidia to ATI (running an ATI 1650 PRO with 512MB RAM right now and pretty happy) and really like ATI's driver setup and control software, but there's lots of advice you can get here on that route. Two or even three bills if you can, will get you going in style.

Just make sure to accidentally bump the software shelf when you walk by so that FSX falls into the shopping cart...

Hopefully maybe, manufacturers are going to continue to offer XP even if discrettly, and then it's just a game of how long you can hold off while you wait for the faster CPU's to slowly come down into the sweet spot pricing range. The Intel Core 2 Duo's are supposed to be nice but still I wouldn't want to consider anything less than 2.4Ghz.

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:52 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

'Kay...so, like, all I need is wifey's laptop...software an' stuff...then, since Ascout is OK with his monitor and keyboard and printer an' stuff...all he really needs is a new system unit (Gateway, I guess, since that's what I have, with all the drivers from my first purchase) and presumably I can get one without Vista? ...an' stuff? Ain't looked yet.

Sounds like a plan.... Wink

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-Ascout

I LIKE that plan...because I DO plan an upgrade at home and want that flexibility for the desktop as well!

Say...this leads me to another question....

Should I even buy another desktop for me, or just a strong laptop with a big-a$$ accessory monitor and keyboard for gaming purposes? Can I get enough USBs and ports and stuff for accessories or is the desktop not dead yet?


The desktop is WAY far from dead buddy! I would, absolutely, never ever ever ever ever buy a laptop for any simming purposes. Case in point - look what you've done to your dekstop since buying it - added RAM and a vid card (admittedly, a long time ago, but still). Man, try doing that to a laptop and you're looking at huge bucks IF you can get the components designed specifically for it by the time you realize you want to buy them a couple years later. Upgrading laptops is a SUCKY proposition compared to a desktop, so - while I have nothing against them for practicality - my opinion is get what you're gonna need in it to begin with (hence, the additional RAM) and be done with it.

When you go get your new rig, you wanna get a desktop to be sure, bud. You pay less for what you get because you don't need the miniaturization and packaging of a laptop, nor a new screen. And they're EASY to upgrade.

Shades and others will (rightly, for most) give you advice on building your own, but the thing to stress is that, if I may say, I know you are not the type and don't wanna mess with it. I'm the same way these days, although I have built all my own systems up until buying a Dell, then a Gateway.

The Dell stank to upgrade the motherboard on, but the Gateway uses common components so it's my last PC for a long while. The strategy that worked for me was to find one with:
a) Fastest processor I could find,
b) Enough RAM to keep me happy for a while (2 Gigabytes, seriously, for simming these days)
c) a LOUSY video card!!!

Why the lousy vid card? Simple......because even the nicer ones that come with a system will stink for simming about 6-12 months later. So, save money on the base system, and go over to the Video Card aisle and grab yourself a really nice card that's so new it's not packages with any systems yet, and has 512MB RAM and stuff.

Yep!!!!!!! THEN you go home and install that bad boy in the new-but-not-expensive system, and you're crankin!

Oh, and yes, the new desktops will come with USB ports a-plenty on the front and back.....no lack of ability to plug stuff in to 'em.

Thing is, and it's overlooked these days but still true, there is no other kind of applciation you'll commonly find that absolutley stresses the CPU, memory and video card hardware more than a flight simulator program will. It's always been true since the early days. Tons and tons of calculations and math going on just to do the flight dynamics, not to mention the scenery and visual presentaion data going to the vid card, and the complex textures we have these days that demand more and more RAM. That right there spells lots of trouble for simmingon a laptop, although they are GREAT for Office applciations that only have to work as fast as human fingers can type. Smile

Hey my flight is cancelled so I'll be aorund but I gotta go chop wood for the fire.....hope that gets most of your questions for now!

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:26 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-Ascout
Stoop...the first one you got linked there is actually for 2007, which is what is pretty much what is for sale via Dell anyway...and who wants do a bunch of upgrades for 4-5 year old software anywho? I'd get the '07 variety. Mainly, I'm wondering what's the diff between "Home and Student" and the "Office Standard"...both seem to offer Word, Excel, Powerpoint and like that there...and that's the main thing. We both have email so Outlook is no biggie. She just needs to do her biochemist thang. Presentations and so on... Data stuff.

And her MP3 Stuff (so I can get it the heck off my computer!) and her pics an' stuff, cuz' gawd knows, I got enough of those cluttering up my own system now.

Mainly, we have a "competition" for the computer issue at home that we need to relieve, and the smaller unit will be nice for using elsewhere in the house.

Hey, if it has wireless, what do you need to take advantage of that at home? (I'm not sure I want to go that way at home...I've heard of security issues with neighbors and stuff).


Yup, as mentioned above, the 2007 products make the most sense and the "Best Buy" strategy seems solid. Specifically, it will get you MS Powerpoint, and that's something to be careful of, becuase there are versions of Office that don't come with it, and then you're sunk as far as working on presentations goes.

Windows XP, to my knowledge, won't come with an email prgram, it's easy to think it would, becuase it comes with Internet Explorer for web surfing and also our systems probably came with some form of MS Office on them (I know mine did) which gave us Outloook. But if you're excluding MS Office as being bundled with the system, I am fairly certain you'll need to make sure you get MS Outlook for your email, one way or the other...if you want to do email from the laptop, which at some point you likely will.

I truly appreciate the contention at home over one system. I've had to hunker down with my laptop to keep the peace many times, and also added another desktop system to the house. It truly keeps the peace!!!

To take advantage of wireless, all you'll need is the router. Yep, there can be security issues becuase your nearby neighbors can have wireless devices that will "see" your wireless router. The router provides some different options to prevent anyone accessing it, and setting that up is fairly straigthforward as long as you have someone to give you some tips.

I have one neighbor with an unprotected router and have actually, accidentally, connected to the internet through it while sitting in the breakfast nook!

On the other hand, my router is set up to recognize the actual hardware ID's of the systems in our house and let nothing else connect to it. This is the way to go in my opinion (wireless MAC filter).

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:08 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-Stoopy
Hmmm..okay: From what I know of your preferences, you want to walk into a store somewhere and just get the stuff, rather than buy online. And also keep it simple, and not spend more than you need to. So here's what I think I'd do (as a matter of fact I think I'll go get the first item myself soon).

Go with the Office 2007 products rather than the 2003 products, becuase you'll get MS Word 2007 and won't have to deal with the trouble in the future of having MS Word 2003 which won't be able to open documents made with Word 2007.

In that light, youcan go right to Best Buy if you want and pick up Office Home and Student 2007, which wil give you 2007 versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote (note-taking thingamajig). So you have Word Processing, Spreadsheet, and presentations:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8129447&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01083&id=1158320998618

That's $149.99

Then for $98.99 grab MS Outlook 2007 off the same shelf....and you have your fancy new latest & greatest email program.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8168323&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01083&id=1162593933838

Total $250 so far. Dell wants $275 for Office 2007 Small Business Edition which is about the same thing with a sales contact manager thing if you need that....

BUT, the nice thing about buying these seperately and not packaged with the Dell, is you will have a legal end user license agreement to install these on two seperate systems - say, one desktop and one laptop system.
And while you're there, go to the other aisle and pick up your router (Dell wants too much for the same thing, $120)....for about seventy bucks:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat25300050001&type=category&parentCatID=false&initialize=false&initialize=true&_requestid=53561

So that's $320 in add-ons, plus the price of the D820 with 1Gig of RAM which is $1149, gets you to $1470 and tax......pretty close to your upper limit but about all you're gonna need.

If it makes you feel more confident, I wrote all that while sitting here by the fireplace on my exact similar laptop:



I LIKE that plan...because I DO plan an upgrade at home and want that flexibility for the desktop as well!

Say...this leads me to another question....

Should I even buy another desktop for me, or just a strong laptop with a big-a$$ accessory monitor and keyboard for gaming purposes? Can I get enough USBs and ports and stuff for accessories or is the desktop not dead yet?

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:06 pm
Post subject: Re: Short course, need laptop, no Vista, what to do....?

- JG300-Ascout
if it has wireless, what do you need to take advantage of that at home?
Uh oh!
LOL
If it's configured properly, it shouldn't present any security problems to you or your neighbours.
Actually it should be more secure having a hardware firewall (via router) than software, although you could have both.

[Don't run two software firewalls, but you can run one hardware and one software firewall side-by-side]

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  Hardware
Page 1 of 2
All times are GMT - 6 Hours
Go to page 1, 2  Next

Archive Revive
Username:
This is an archived topic - your reply will not be appended here.
Instead, a new topic will be generated in the active forum.
The new topic will provide a reference link to this archived topic.