Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: BlueStarLizzard on May 19, 2010, 04:31:53 PM
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so, i may break down and get something other then a mac.
:'(
thus...
which is better, Vista or Win 7?
processor? i was looking at gateway and dell, and theirs a bunch of diffrent processors.. should i just look at speed or is one particularly better then another?
so far, the gates to hell are looking like the better option. cheaper with more options and more stuff overall.
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Win 7 by a mile. It's not even funny how much better/less resource hogging/stable it is than Vista.
Processor? If this is going to be mainly an internet/email machine, light gaming, no 3D FPS games etc. Most anything will do, as long as it's not some micro low power processor like the Intel Atom that's often found in netbooks. I'd worry more about spending money on RAM and HDD space.
Generally when spec'ing systems with Dell's menus on their websites, If a better processor is just $50 more, I get it, if it's $100 more I spend that money on the RAM, HDD, or video card instead.
Dell is generally decent. My inspirion "cheap" (for four years ago) laptop is still trucking along. Gateway, I've heard no complaints of them, but IIRC didn't they get bought by Dell or somebody? I forget.
As usual with computers, "middle of the road" is better than "high end" was just a year or two ago. Generally speaking, unless you have some very specific gaming or graphics needs, most anything that's not the bare-bones cheapest will do everything you want with aplomb.
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If your choices are only between Vista and 7, then go with 7.
I used to be a Gateway adherent, way back in the day (even had a cat named "Gateway", because he was white with black cow spots), but I hear more negative stuff about them now than I do about Dell. My company IT department buys exclusively Dell kit, which may or may not mean anything in particular.
I prefer AMD processors over Intel. For a long time, there was a heck of a lot more bang for the buck. I don't know if that's still the case, however.
Avoid buying total top-of-the-line stuff; there's a significant price premium for the "latest and greatest", that is out of proportion with the level of performance increase.
If you're not in a real hurry, one way to get a pretty good deal is to watch woot.com every day until a deal comes up for the type of system you want. They won't be bleeding-edge, then likely won't be Dell, and often they'll be factory refurbs, but some of the deals are amazing. Just bought BrokenKid a really nice lappy for $600 that way.
-BP
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One thing though, AMD's Athalons in laptops run REALLY hot.
Which is kind of a pain, if you're well.. you know, actually trying to use it on your LAP. =) Mrs. Dual's Toshiba with an Athalon 64x in it runs very, very hot. She had to buy an additional cooling base/USB powered fan to use it for any length of time, when using Photoshop or any major Flash content on it. Not a big deal for her, since she bought a rather large 17" screen model and it's more of a semi-portable desktop replacement for her than a true laptop-laptop. But if you were actually trying to surf curled up in bed with it, or on the couch, things might get interesting fast.
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if i could afford top of the line, i would be buying a mac. ;)
i broke down because it seems like you can get a decent pC in the $500/$600 range, compared to the bottem line in mac at $1000.
but i want to make sure, that when i get a hold of the money, i buy the best i can in my price range, and spend the money in the right spots. =)
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One thing though, AMD's Athalons in laptops run REALLY hot.
Which is kind of a pain, if you're well.. you know, actually trying to use it on your LAP. =) Mrs. Dual's Toshiba with an Athalon 64x in it runs very, very hot. She had to buy an additional cooling base/USB powered fan to use it for any length of time, when using Photoshop or any major Flash content on it. Not a big deal for her, since she bought a rather large 17" screen model and it's more of a semi-portable desktop replacement for her than a true laptop-laptop. But if you were actually trying to surf curled up in bed with it, or on the couch, things might get interesting fast.
*chuckle* my mac would get insane hot sometimes (usually in the summer when i was running sims, itunes and 50 million other things)
i would raid the fridge for frozen peas and set it on the hot spot for a bit. =D
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AJ's spot-on. Start with a $600 online special and do the following until you run out of money you're willing to spend, or reach all your performance goals:
Get at least 2GB of RAM, but preferably 4GB.
If you get 4GB, then make certain you get the Windows 7 64-bit version of the operating system.
Get a bigger or faster hard drive. Laptop drives are typically 5400RPM. If you can get a 7200RPM drive that is larger than your current one, for an acceptable upgrade price, you'll notice the performance difference.
Upgrade the CPU just a skosh.
Mobility upgrades: Higher quality wi-fi card, or a modem (if you think you need one), or some other connectivity upgrade. I wish my netbook had bluetooth.
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question, dell has a option for a wireless card with a built in router (its like $40 added to price)
what is that and how would i use it?
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Uh... Stupid question time here...
1) What are you planning on using this gizmo for? Editing video? Lots of Photoshop? CAD renderings? Hard core gaming?
Or Teh Interwebz, with occasional video viewing, etc?
Or are you looking for something that'll do some internet browsing, forum stuff, a bit of word processing, etc?
2) What is your budget? What percentage of that budget are you willing to push toward "having the latest and greatest, which will be worth a third of the price in a year?"
I've bought $120 (delivered) systems that have worked great in business environments - I think the last one was a P4 with two gigs, a legal install of Mickeysoft Orifice 2003 or whatever it is, and Windows XP Pro...
Which leaves a LOT of money to fix the bandwidth bottleneck - and the computer is still faster than the data stream.
But if you're buying a new system, get Windows 7... And a lot of RAM and hard drive.
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if you do anything that would benefit from it, amd has a 6 core processor out now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851 2.8
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849 3.2
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mostly the basic computing, but i really really like Sims. so i want something that can handle Sims 2 and hope hope hope Sims 3.
i already know i want a nice size memory, becuase i like collecting music on my computer.
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question, dell has a option for a wireless card with a built in router (its like $40 added to price)
what is that and how would i use it?
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. Can you post a model number or something? Skimming Dell's website it probably means they are offering to sell you a wireless router in addition to the laptop. You can hook the wireless router up to your Internet connection and then access it wirelessly from the laptop.
Any laptop with a basic 802.11g wireless card can access wireless Internet in a coffee shop or something.
Regarding hard drive space I would recommend 150-250 gigabytes (GB) unless you have a TON of songs (multiple thousands) or are planning to to start collecting movies on your hard drive. For the average music user a normal sized hard drive is fine. You don't need to get a 500 GB or 1TB hard drive. For perspective, my ~1200 song mp3 collection is 5 GB.
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my music is about 2000 and keeps growing.
and yes, now that i look at it again, you seem to be correct. basically it would be a waste of $40
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which is better, Vista or Win 7?
Win 7.
At this point in time I'd get 64 bit, to be able to beat the 4GB RAM barrier when necessary.
Budget extra cpu and ram for your antivirus. [barf]
Gateway, I've heard no complaints of them, but IIRC didn't they get bought by Dell or somebody? I forget.
Part of Acer, I'm pretty sure.
question, dell has a option for a wireless card with a built in router (its like $40 added to price)
Huh? Does not compute.
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Can you install your own operating system?
If so, business laptops off-lease or refurbished are great bang/buck.
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250 GB 45bucks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136113)
320 GB 48 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098)
500 GB 56 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073)
750 GB 70 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152227)
1 TB 75 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304)
i really can't see a reason to buy less than 500GBs and with the bigger drive you can set your partitions to leave the end of the drive as a media partition and speed up disk access. as in partitioning a 1TB drive to 300GB or so and leaving the rest or the drive blank.(or putting a partition for stuff you don't access very often)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/short-stroking-hdd,2157.html
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while we are taliking computers, is there a link that explains how the different components and speeds interact/equate. ie memory speed, frontside bus, processor cache, dedicated/onboard graphics. i would like to find a desktop able to download movies without glitches.
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i already know i want a nice size memory, becuase i like collecting music on my computer.
"memory" is different from "hard drive space."
You can buy HUGE external hard drives, which is what I'd recommend.
Because you also want to use it as a backup.
I think I paid $600 for the Duo machine I'm running now. Added RAM up to four gigs, and I've got a coupla-three terabytes of hard drive space. Have a LOT of music...
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Can you install your own operating system?
If so, business laptops off-lease or refurbished are great bang/buck.
250 GB 45bucks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136113)
320 GB 48 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098)
500 GB 56 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073)
750 GB 70 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152227)
1 TB 75 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304)
i really can't see a reason to buy less than 500GBs and with the bigger drive you can set your partitions to leave the end of the drive as a media partition and speed up disk access. as in partitioning a 1TB drive to 300GB or so and leaving the rest or the drive blank.(or putting a partition for stuff you don't access very often)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/short-stroking-hdd,2157.html
while we are taliking computers, is there a link that explains how the different components and speeds interact/equate. ie memory speed, frontside bus, processor cache, dedicated/onboard graphics. i would like to find a desktop able to download movies without glitches.
Come on, guys. Don't scare the Mac user away from our platform.
Just help her get a decent, inexpensive laptop. She can learn the other stuff after she comes back to the adult side of the keyboard.
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I'll second getting an external hard drive. You can get a 2T for like $130ish bucks these days. Why pay way more for way less just so it's internal to the lappy?
I'd also suggest looking at ubuntu. I'm not a technical computer person by any stretch but I managed to install and use it with no problems. And the $ saved on an OS can upgrade ye olde components a lot.
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Come on, guys. Don't scare the Mac user away from our platform.
Just help her get a decent, inexpensive laptop. She can learn the other stuff after she comes back to the adult side of the keyboard.
=|
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BSL,
Either AZ's just joshing, or he's being a reprobate and deserves a thumping. Either way, don't let it get to you.
I'm a software engineer of 16 years' experience. I started with an original IBM PC, and DOS 2.0, back in '84. Since then, I've used every flavor of DOS and Windows, and a relatively broad selection of the flavors of Unix (SunOS 4.1.x, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, BSD), VMS, a goodly number of Linux flavors, and MacOS.
I can tell you unequivocally (and notwithstanding the opinions of others), that the absolute best computer out there to get is: the one that gets the job done best for you.
BrokenMa's Windows lappy died, and she decided she wanted a Mac. I got her one, and I liked it enough that I had a serious jones for one for about a week. Then I realized that some of the features that I absolutely require to do my work...simply weren't there, and could not be made to be there. So the Mac is the wrong computer for me. I use a combo of Linux and Windows at work. I have a Windows laptop at home, with Linux virtual machines running in. The servers in my home are all Linux.
Different computers and different operating systems for different people and different purposes. Figure out what works for you, and ignore anyone who scoffs at you for your choice.
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thank you, brokenpaw.
i am not a computer person. i am a competent user of computers. thats it. i don't like trying to remember numbers and have a hard time understanding technical terms. some of this goes for guns too. i barely remember NATO round designations, much less all the model numbers for Glocks and thats with something i actually really do want to be able to rattle off without resorting to looking it up.
when it comes to computers, i really don't care about remembering this stuff beyond actually getting a new computer. thats why i came here, to ask. i don't want to get something and then find out i got the wrong thing. i want to be able to go to the store and, if i happen to see a neat game i actually want to be able to buy it without worrying that i don't have the system for it. thats the real reason i'm asking so many questions. for the basic run-of-the mill crap i do, the 300 doller wonder will mostly suffice, but for me 300 is a lot of money and i'd rather actually spend more money to ensure that i have something that will last for several years and will be able to handle odd jobs that i might really want to do, then spend 300 now and find out in 6 or 7 months, that i got something i don't really want and be 300 short of what i could have.
at the same time, i don't want to spend money on some bit that i won't use, and i want to have an idea now of how much money i need to aquaire to get what i want.
alright, i have more to add, but APS keeps doing this weird thing that makes it hard to type past a certain point so i will continue in another post.
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Sorry, BSL.
Either AZ's just joshing, or he's being a reprobate and deserves a thumping. Either way, don't let it get to you.
A little of both. I'm a reprobate at heart.
I loathe the Mac Cult and worked inside the pericardium of its rotting heart for about 5 years... in an upper middle class school district that oozed Macitis.
The simple facts of the environment were:
-All elementary schools were 100% macintosh.
-All junior highs were predominantly macintosh, with about 10% PC's for a handful of specific laboratory tasks in robotics labs.
-All high schools were predominantly PC, with the exception of:
*special education
*graphics labs
There were NO programming courses for Macs. There were 6 different programming languages with 3 levels of coursework each, for PC's.
One of the graphics labs committed the incorrigible sin of wanting to change to PC. They were told the software didn't exist, that the software costs would be too high, the support infrastructure in the district couldn't handle it, and a host of other mistruths.
Simply put, the MacHeads wanted job protection and if the per capita machine count of their systems dropped, they would lose staff (since none of them knew anything about supporting a professional computer environment consisting of enterprise grade server systems).
That teacher actually got his way after awhile. His classroom efficiency increased, and even found new software to augment his lab's capabilities that was not available on Mac.
So, in an environment with ~10,000 computers, the primary Mac users were either unsophisticated (non-programmers), young (K-8) or mentally handicapped (special education in high school).
Add to that: The MacHeads, when a new paper-pusher would arrive at the district, would lobby like mad to get that person on a Mac instead of a PC. The software load of a typical paper-pusher involved:
-Data input via AS-400 telnet terminal (wimpy-easy program that is a command line interface)
-Email client software
-MS Office
-Web browser
This can be done with a PC to meet the goals of the business for ~$750, or with a Mac for ~$1250, back then.
I'm a software engineer of 16 years' experience. I started with an original IBM PC, and DOS 2.0, back in '84. Since then, I've used every flavor of DOS and Windows, and a relatively broad selection of the flavors of Unix (SunOS 4.1.x, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, BSD), VMS, a goodly number of Linux flavors, and MacOS.
I'm also a software engineer, been doing it for about 2 years now after about 10 years in network administration and engineering and light code hacking/tweaking. I've written software for many different environments... and I've supported the end user desktop of many OS's, including even an LTSP Linux lab of thin clients, along with hundreds of PC's and Macs.
I'll admit to taking a pot-shot at the MacCult any time I can. From my experiences with the platform and OS, they have earned the criticisms. The uninformed should be better educated in regards to computers (cost versus performance, the power of the right click, the real story on software available for both platforms, hardware design that deliberately damages components, the list goes on). The cultists should be... something. Sterilized, euthanized, hydrolized, catalyzed and pasteurized would be a good process IMO. Run out of schools for wasting taxpayer money would be a good starting point.
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Picking up *random new game is going to require a heck of a lot more powerful system than email+forum+youtube. Not saying that is wrong, just noting that as a capability you will need to be prepared to pay for.
The barebones kits from someplace like Tiger Direct are often good deals. They are fairly simple to put together, cheap to have someone else put together, and if you have friends with minimal computer building knowledge you can prolly get it slapped together for a nice dinner or something. That would also be your best bet for getting a gaming capable system at a lower budget point.
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i want to be able to go to the store and, if i happen to see a neat game i actually want to be able to buy it without worrying that i don't have the system for it.
Then you want a PC. Running Windows.
You get more hardware for your money with a PC than you do Mac, and you'll be able to play more new games, farther into the future as they release, because your hardware won't be behind the technology curve like Macs tend to be (... at least back in the RISC processor days. They were always behind the bus with AGP versus PCI-express graphics interfaces, and memory bus speeds, as a couple examples).
And you don't want Linux, because no one is developing games for sale on Linux. And getting Windows games to run on Linux is a headache you don't want to get involved with.
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alright, i've been mostly impressed with Dell. the one i played with the most is the Inspiron 15, which with some add ons, ended up around $719 (one of the add ons is cheap, kinda dopey but i would actually use alot *blush*) its has:
Win 7 64 bit
320Gb HD with 54000RPM
4GB memory
512Mb ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 Video Card
plus several other bits and peices.
the other was a Studio 15, which runs about $769 with the bigger 72000RPM. the only downside on this one is for some wierd reason it doesn't come with MS Word (it has MS works but states really clearly that Word isn't included) but i'm not so sure thats all that bad since i can always go down to best buy or what ever and get office, or even just "find" a copy of Word since i don't really use the other stuff in Office. plus it doesn't have the goofy add on, but i can buy that from dell seperatly. so the real question is, is the 72000RPM worth the extra?
AZ, the reason i like macs is because they are stupid easy ;)
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...one of the add ons is cheap, kinda dopey but i would actually use alot *blush*...
Well, now I have to know - what is it? =D
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Well, now I have to know - what is it? =D
a USB digital TV receiver. :lol:
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I don't think that's dopey at all. My only television is based on a TV tuner card in a PC. =)
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I'll admit to taking a pot-shot at the MacCult any time I can.
I'm all for taking potshots at the cultists of any of the camps (whether it be Mac Hippies, Windows Borg Drones, or Oooooboooontoooooo zombies).
I just didn't want that kind of infighting to make it harder for BSL to make a proper decision.
I know that Macs are supposed to "Just Work", but from an admin standpoint, I don't buy it; my wife's iMac crashes more often than my Vista(!) laptop does. From an ease of use standpoint, they're about the same, though there's a learning curve going from one to the other.
The machine that says it doesn't come with Word comes with MS Works, which is their sort of "cheap give-away" office suite. Works has a word processor in it, but it's very feature-limited. If you wanted a real word processor, you'd either have to fork over the cash for MS Office, or download OpenOffice.
You can't easily "find" a copy of Word, legalities aside; MS Office is an integrated product, and you can't install just the one bit (or not easily, in any case).
7200 RPM is likely something that you won't notice day-to-day; it means that data can be read from and written to the hard disk faster, and some other aspects of disk access are faster, too. But unless you're reading or writing monster-huge files, you likely won't notice a difference. Worthy of note: 7200RPM drives eat power faster than 5400s, so your battery life will be shorter accordingly.
-BP
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would it affect game speed? or is the 52000 enough to keep it moving? (i like to run stuff in the background too, so i would have the game and music and probably a browser open too, which would occasionally make my sims hiccop)
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Installing "just Word" from an Office CD is do-able, but it's part of a more advanced custom setup procedure.
I'd recommend you just use OpenOffice for word processing, and save any documents to .doc file extension.
I have a TV receiver on my home entertainment PC. It's pretty schweet. My own DVR that I can burn or move content to/from.
I'd go opposite from BrokenPaw: Get the 7200 drive, but only if you primarily use the thing plugged in, or don't mind a sub-2 hour battery life. I hate listening to a hard disk searching for something and reading partial bits of files.
What video card is in the Studio 15? The ATI one in the other machine should play games moderately well for the foreseeable future.
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would it affect game speed? or is the 52000 enough to keep it moving? (i like to run stuff in the background too, so i would have the game and music and probably a browser open too, which would occasionally make my sims hiccop)
Once an app is open, disk speed doesn't matter. Just the amount of RAM you have.
But, it will help open apps or large files faster.
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Realize that the "brand names" don't mean a lot... Impresario, Supertiva, whatever...
It's just marketing.
You want GOOD PLAIN VANILLA, not a bad mix of strawberry and chocolate that someone tossed a bunch of foil sprinkles on...
Ah... And my Mac background... I'm bi, leaning toward PC - built my first IBM compatible in 1987.
Almost failed a graphics class that I NEEDED my senior year to graduate. Why? It was spring of 1987, and I borrowed a Mac Plus and PageMaker with a Laserwriter to do the final project. Teacher was NOT amused, and informed me that "this desktop publishing fad will never last, and they'll never replace real typesetters."
The mac I borrowed belonged to a guy who, when you talked to him, the first word outta your mouth was "Dean." He was NOT amused at the instructor.
Then there was my time working for Gemini Consulting - they were all-mac, and if anyone is hazardous to a computer, it's a Harvard MBA...
How do you fix -any- software glitch on a mac? "Hello, tech support - I'm not even going to tell you the problem, because you're just going to tell me to reinstall the system, right?"
Then I went to work for Searle. Which then got merged with Pharmacia, and I suddenly had 900 researchers who got switched from Macs to PCs... That was NOT a fun environment...
Since then, I was working with research graphics, and having to send my PC files generally to Mac people... It can be done...
What I'd recommend:
If I was buying a new machine today, and I didn't have to worry about my -expensive- software packages that will only run on XP, this is probably what I'd get...
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5722425&CatId=5138
And I'd use whatever monitor I had lying around, or...
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605332&CatId=3774
If I was buying another business box...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Precision-370-3-3-Ghz-Tower-2GB-RAM-HD-80GB-/230476743813?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item35a97c0485
The monitor would come from goodwill.
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ok, so it just gets stuff open and close faster. well, i can see how that would be nice (i hate that sound too. for some reason if it takes to long i start getting paranoid since it sounds like somethings being broken)
battery isn't that important for the most part. occasionally its nice to work out in the open, but for the most part i tend to park my computer somewhere. my reasoning for a laptop is two fold. the first reason is because i just don't have a lot of room for a computer, and the second is i'm not always home so i need something that travels to the other places i tend to park my behind.
hold on a minute and i'll look up the video card. i got distracted by the personilizing options (not that i would pay $85 dollers for such, just wanted to see what their "personilization" options where ;/)
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Intel® HD Graphics [subtract $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 4570, 512MB [Included in Price]
Dell Recommended
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $94.99]
those are the options.
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I'd say to get the Studio15 with the ATI 4570 card.
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Intel® HD Graphics [subtract $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 4570, 512MB [Included in Price]
Dell Recommended
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $94.99]
those are the options.
Run, run fast from Intel on-board graphics cards.
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Works has a word processor in it, but it's very feature-limited. If you wanted a real word processor, you'd either have to fork over the cash for MS Office, or download OpenOffice.
And, Works' default save format can't be opened by anything else.
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And, Works' default save format can't be opened by anything else.
I'd use wordpad before the suck that is MS works! I liked an older bundle they used to have for home users.. it was MS Works with their goofy spreadsheet and other apps but had a real copy of Word 2000 in it instead of the lame works word processor.
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Sorry, BSL.
A little of both. I'm a reprobate at heart.
I loathe the Mac Cult and worked inside the pericardium of its rotting heart for about 5 years... in an upper middle class school district that oozed Macitis.
The simple facts of the environment were:
-All elementary schools were 100% macintosh.
-All junior highs were predominantly macintosh, with about 10% PC's for a handful of specific laboratory tasks in robotics labs.
-All high schools were predominantly PC, with the exception of:
*special education
*graphics labs
I do support one day per week at a small (~500 total) school district. Have for 6 or 7 years. When we came in, it was all Apple. The mindset lingers. They still don't have a Windows domain for teachers and office staff, just for the HS and elementary labs. Everything is ad hoc, just "out there".
As a consequence of being there, I get exposed to a lot of educational software. A lot of it comes from companies that seem to have a Macintosh mindset. Their instructions don't always make a lot of sense in a Windows environment. "Security? What security?". (We had a major app (http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZk99) in one of the labs fail because security on the shared folder had to be "everyone gets full control", and a whole multi-gigabyte directory tree just vanished. My guess is somebody whacked it by accident.)
OSX is slick, but put in the hands of your typical end user and it will start to deteriorate, just like Windows.
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Run, run fast from Intel on-board graphics cards.
(And, (parenthetically), Ubuntu 10.04 still hasn't fixed the Intel graphics problem that made me roll back from 9.10 to 9.04.)
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so since i think i have decided to go with a PC...
what should i do about virus protection/security? it wasn't something i really worried about with my mac but it seems like something i would need to worry about with a PC
which would you recomend, since it seems something i should be ready to get at the same time?
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what should i do about virus protection/security?
Other than the two obvious answers (both variations of "don't do (http://www.apple.com)that then" (http://www.ubuntu.com)), ESET Smart Security 4 (http://www.eset.com/).
One customer I had a couple weeks ago has this, and it actually dealt with his malware infestation by the time I'd got to his place of business. That impressed me.
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Intel® HD Graphics [subtract $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $75.00]
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 4570, 512MB [Included in Price]
Dell Recommended
ATI Mobility Radeonâ„¢ HD 5470, 1GB [Add $94.99]
those are the options.
Get the ATI 5470 with 1gb if you want to play Sims and multitask music, leave the browser open etc. IIRC Sims will hit the mainboard processor and RAM harder if your graphics aren't up to snuff. And of course, there's whatever comes out next after Sims 2 or whatnot.
I think comparing specs between the cards, the 5470 will move/address double the number of pixels per clock cycle, and it has a 256 bit memory bus, as opposed to only 128 bits for the 4570. I also think the 5470 will support MS DirectX 11.0, and the 4570 only DirectX 10.0. Essentially all things video are about 2x as potent for the extra $75.
It probably does not matter much NOW, and I guess that the better card is not capable of running whatever 3D FPS is the most demanding and used as the "benchmark" as-is, (laptop cards never are) but for gaming, it'll at least keep you current longer.
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Good deal on woot.com today, made me think of you.
HP Core 2 Duo 17.3” Entertainment Laptop
$489.99
+ $5 shipping
Condition: Refurbished Product: 1 HP G71-340US Core2 Duo T6600 2.2Ghz 4GB DDR2 320GB SATA LightScribe SuperMulti DVD Win7 Home Prem
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so since i think i have decided to go with a PC...
what should i do about virus protection/security? it wasn't something i really worried about with my mac but it seems like something i would need to worry about with a PC
which would you recomend, since it seems something i should be ready to get at the same time?
I use Panda for my antivirus/spyware/adware/etc. I've been quite happy. You can get it online or at Staples, same price, About $40 for a 3 user license. I run it on both of our laptops and the desktop. Stopped Antivirus 2009 in it's tracks...that's a nasty one.
Comes with a firewall too. That and my router security seem to keep us safe.
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oh, one thing you can do for laptop security. if you like to have your banking and shopping user names and passwords saved in your browser. you can get an external hard drive, and do a separate install on it. leave it at home, and if someone steals your laptop they don't have all your passwords. =D oh and you should be able to boot to it over a lan(if you get the networked enclosure or hd) so at home you can carry around your laptop without the ehd and still be running on it.
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Good deal on woot.com today, made me think of you.
HP Core 2 Duo 17.3” Entertainment Laptop
$489.99
+ $5 shipping
Condition: Refurbished Product: 1 HP G71-340US Core2 Duo T6600 2.2Ghz 4GB DDR2 320GB SATA LightScribe SuperMulti DVD Win7 Home Prem
I came to this thread to suggest this as well.
Also, Lenovo (formerly IBM) is running a sale on some of their laptops.
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You know, it's also possible to get a VERY nice little suite of applications that don't require massive windows installation to run on a little USB drive... You can carry your email on your keychain.
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Are you committed to a laptop and gaming ? Otherwise, the Mac Mini can be had for $599, without keyboard, mouse, monitor.
If you're only interested in gaming, why not consider a PSP/Wii/XBox ?
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The cultists should be... something. Sterilized, euthanized, hydrolized, catalyzed and pasteurized would be a good process IMO.
Totally reinforces my opinion of certain Windows users.
Here's something we can agree on: you deserve to be stuck in Windows. Right ?
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And with that we have the end of the discussion.