Make sure you buy one with a good return policy.
As for needing an i5 for multitasking?
lol core i5 is such marketing gimmick, core 2 duo is more than enough to do day to day tasks.
Laptops are dead.
Desktops for everything serious, smartphone/tablet for portability. Any laptop more than a small netbook to SSL with is a waste of money these days. I only got my X100e because I needed something to take notes on in class, and it's probably ended up distracting me more than helping.
Laptops are dead.The new air is a perfect example of a portable machine... too bad it comes with an apple price tag.
Desktops for everything serious, smartphone/tablet for portability. Any laptop more than a small netbook to SSL with is a waste of money these days. I only got my X100e because I needed something to take notes on in class, and it's probably ended up distracting me more than helping.
Laptops are dead.
Desktops for everything serious, smartphone/tablet for portability. Any laptop more than a small netbook to SSL with is a waste of money these days. I only got my X100e because I needed something to take notes on in class, and it's probably ended up distracting me more than helping.
I'm inclined to say that anyone who thinks laptops are conceptually dead is not a student.
(or, at least, a student in an institution or program within said institution where typing is the preferred note-taking method, 100% of your assignments are on the computer only, using software such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio and OneNote, and 100% of your communication with professors outside of class is by email...)
Laptops have their uses. They're certainly not optimal for contacting someone, for example, on the city bus, but they beat the crap out of a smartphone for note taking in class.
I'm inclined to say that anyone who thinks laptops are conceptually dead is not a student.
Also, stop using Internet Explorer. That make computah go fastah.
Not meaning to convey a sense of MW-ness, but there are a lot of not-quite-current machines you can buy used that can keep up for most things. Do you need to run the latest and greatest, or are you working with ~5 year old software, or stuff that isn't too demanding?
To me, XP seems slower compared with 7 if you're running it on decent hardware. On older hardware that obviously doesn't hold true because of the extra RAM consumption of the newer operating systems.
As for needing an i5 for multitasking? This morning, I was running three operating systems at the same time on my Core 2 Duo Thinkpad, and didn't have any slowdowns. That's pretty pimpin' multitasking by my standards.
Show Image(http://www.acartoonchristmas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/grinch-instrument1.jpg)
What sort of things do you run on the laptop?
Even Linux is bloated with features because they've been fooled into thinking they need to keep up!
Ten browser windows? You have heard of tabs, right?
But for Welly, I think the best thing to do in this situation would to be to see what about the laptop is insufficient for what he does. If it's the RAM, just chuck in a few more GB's. If it's the CPU that's the bottleneck, that might be a little harder but I'm sure, that with care, it can be upgraded. And it definitely wouldn't hurt to review what background processes are running and trim down the ones that don't get used if there are any.
(The whole proper shutdown, not just unplugging the thing) and 30-second Windows startup time (Try and get Windows 7 to do that even on a newer computer).
Now I understand why you need the multitasking power. 50 browser tabs total would make my computer explode.
Cloud...grumble...
Cloud is intermediary networks, not some magical place in the sky...
unlike the luddites here, i'm actually a big fan of evolving tech for pc's right now. The cloud/integration/speed/SSD/ebook/tablet revolutions really excite me and I squeeze my nipples just like a little girl. Seriously, i think its brilliant and really useful stuff thats coming out these days for PCs in general and this is partly why I cant wait for the next iteration (EP121 specifically) to come out already.
lighter faster stronger better...
main programs open all day and open simultaneously:
-at least 10 browser windows
-at least 2 or 3 word documents
-at least 2 surfulater (http://www.surfulater.com/)databases
-onenote
-evernote
-outlook
-thunderbird
And thats if i'm not doing anything special that day. Sometimes I also have:
-dragon naturally speaking (voice recognition)
-canon g3 tethered taking pics for my digitizing station, running ABBYY finereader OCR on the pics, and using calibre or etc to convert the resulting ebook formats.
(But when doing the above I dont have most of those other windows open.)
-occasional netflix streaming (tho i have a roku box now for my tv).
You'll notice - no real multimedia most days except for occasionally. I dont need a multimedia machine, just a multitasking machine. I deal with text -- vast amounts of text - most of the day (notes, documents, emails, research)
I adore when my programs open instantly, switch instantly,update instantly, (its a train-of-thought issue, dont want to lose it), and when the computer turns on very very quickly (yes i use hibernation most of the time).
TO me thats useable if its also in a 2 or 3lb package and a minimum 12" screen (I prefer 13 or 14). If its in a 2lb package i'd also ditch my sony reader and cuddle up with the tablet. Over 2lb i cant cuddle up with it.
Also: Bells and whistles running in background - a ton of stuff, starting with a massive autohotkey script that runs at high priority. I likes me productivity utilities.
true dat, my old fashioned bro, but when you get two laptops and have to share the same files between them, suddenly you'll find yourself praising and thanking the gods for "microsoft office live" and other **** like that... integrated right into office too... its genuinely useful and it actually works well... and is seamless to share docs between my computers now. No more usb drives for things like that.
Or dropbox. I couldnt function without dropbox anymore.
Or mozy sending my backups to the cloud so if my place burns down I dont lose any data.
Or google docs, or google calendar sync so I dont have to pay for ms exchange and yet can share my outlook tasks and calendar between all my laptops as well as my palm pre smartphone...
truly brilliant stuff and it actually now is working pretty well.
[tho i agree 'cloud' is a dumb name]
I'll sell you my U35JC, which has a 60 GB Sandforce SSD for $790.
Have you ever looked into Motion Computing?
not a tablet :(It was reflected in the price :)
anyway why wouldnt you pull the ssd and use it in something else? they're pricey.
Get a netbook with an SSD and something like 2GB of ram. The "responsiveness" you mention is due to the SSD, not the CPU. With what you're doing with it you'd actually be ok with a dual core Atom in a good netbook with an ssd. Would certainly be more responsive than an i5 and a regular mechanical drive.
Your usage is not excessive, you don't actually need a high end CPU.
That **** ran hot as hell too. That whole generation of Intel was a complete waste of time and money lol.
Woah, RDRAM, now that's an abomination I haven't heard in a while. Don't get me wrong, it was fast when it came out, but there's that little thing called cost/patent trolls that comes to mind...
There were a lot of generations within the p4 line, including later socket 775 p4's. Not all of them were completely sucky.
Not all that fast. The first round of DDR1 was quicker than RDRAM running at something like four times its clock rate due to latency issues.
Nonsense. The Pentium 4 was inefficient by design. Remember the gigahertz wars?
Just about any other chip on the market at the time, x86 or otherwise.
Recall that the P4 was over-pipelined almost entirely for the marketing benefits of having a chip with a high clock rate.
I don't really recall it that way. P3's were going up over 1.5 before they switched to renaming them p4's really.
P3's are really just p4's with a new name.
Plus the 775 chips which are extremely stable. I built a system around one for her about a year ago and it's been running continuously at low temps for a year now.
Wrong. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netburst)
With the Pentium M, and the later Core chips, they ditched Netburst and went back to the P6 architecture of the Pentium 3. The Pentium 4 was widely considered a failure, and caused Intel to lose a lot of money and business to AMD.
Did they like, go back in time?
How low is low?
A relative of mine who has a 775 3.6GHz Prescott needed a replacement fan, and I gave him a Zalman fan that used to keep my old S939 Athlon 64 running at about 30-40 under load. On the Prescott, it's on full blast all the time and only manages to keep it at about 50-60. Oh, and the Athlon performed better.
This thread started with a whine.
The OP is good at it.
It pretty much automatically destroys your credibility.
Welly, I recently got one of these (http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Solid-OCZSSD2-1ONX32/dp/B003BPBUQO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1288200282&sr=8-1). ~$65 for 32GB of a very good brand is not bad at all.
Size/cost is worse than the kingston but the SSD is better.
It's definitely pricey if you want:
Or maybe I'll just get the Kno (http://kno.com/) (single-screen model) and a conventional notebook for my mobile needs, but that means no Photoshop and such, as well as the likely inability to carry over my OneNote notebooks.
That's a pretty crazy ghz for a p4. Even a 775. I always tried to stick around 2.4. That seemed to be a reasonable operating ghz. Anything after that seemed like not only overkill for most apps, but also was really pushing the operating envelope of the technology.
One of my machine's got a 3.2 Ghz Socket 478 P4 in it. I've personally found it to work pretty good.
how much difference does bus speed make? for instance: a bump from 533 to 667 (or whatever it is) is it worth $100?
Yup, my mother's machine is a 3.2 p4 775. It has low 40's operating temps. Hasn't had any problems in over a year now since I built it.
I have seen a lot of 478 prescotts that were dead though over my years of repairing and refurbing broken computers though. Also those motherboards were routinely blown for different reasons. Not very robust I think. Lot of dells with the crappy ass case design, minimal hs/fan, and proprietary motherboards.
What are your operating temps on your 3.2 478? What kind of heatsink/case do you have for it?
I think the major contribution of the p4 generation is an increase in case/heat sink design. lol Later generations have really benefited from it.
I don't really have a high-end video card in there either).
bro, i take that as a given.
I've got a Voodoo; faeces is so cash.
never heard of The Kno - fascinating! I dont see a buy link on the site - is it still vaporware?
A relative of mine who has a 775 3.6GHz Prescott needed a replacement fan, and I gave him a Zalman fan that used to keep my old S939 Athlon 64 running at about 30-40 under load. On the Prescott, it's on full blast all the time and only manages to keep it at about 50-60. Oh, and the Athlon performed better.
There's also the 'small' issue that an MS OS on a tablet form factor doesn't really work. The interface is not meant for the form factor. Don't know if they plan to use the new win7 phone OS (which is far from complete atm).
IMO, good PCs will always be pricey to get. If you want the best, you'll always have to pay for it.
I think a good pc is the same price as it ever was.
@Welly, running full blown windows on a tablet would be madness.
This isn't Sparta.
Edit: That case/bag... oh god my eyes! It buuurns
the sleeve is awesome rip.