Say Anything.
'Say Anything' is a John Cusak/Cameron Crowe 1989 teen flick. ' A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.' This is actually not what this thread is about, but the message is the same.
Actually no it isn't, I just like imdb.com and the title sounded interesting. /snort
This is not necessarily a vent thread - far from it. This is about saying anything - weather, the bird outside your work window, the fundamental differences between Mormons and catholics, how Law and Order Criminal Intent doesn't get the props it deserves, that I always forget whether it's 'it's' or 'its', that my daughter has a beautiful smile and the first guy that breaks her heart - I'm breaking his knees...it's about anything.
So, say anything.
Lessa
15 years ago
My only issue with Asus is that it was the brand of the motherboard I bought for my desktop, that turned out to ultimately be crap and died, taking nearly everything else on my computer with it. Most likely though it was just that MB was faulty and not necissarily the brand.
Vulash
15 years ago
I've had a lot of success with ASUS MBs.
Ok so look at this motherfucker:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115823
So far ACER has by far the best bang for buck on newegg. The only issue with the one above is it might have so much power that I'm not sure how the battery could possibly hold on - that and overheating. There are some other models with the i5 and 4 GB of RAM that don't seem to have heating issues though
Ok so look at this motherfucker:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115823
So far ACER has by far the best bang for buck on newegg. The only issue with the one above is it might have so much power that I'm not sure how the battery could possibly hold on - that and overheating. There are some other models with the i5 and 4 GB of RAM that don't seem to have heating issues though
Verileah
15 years ago
Mileron, do you work on the thinkpads? Vulash I forgot to specify the thinkpads :X.
Gongaa
15 years ago
Here's a laptop from HP that got great reviews on cnet. They're currently on backorder at newegg (probably because of the cnet article), and are expected to be restocked in about a week.
It's a 14.5" model, so the feel of the keyboard will be pretty spacious for a laptop since there's no number pad.
I currently have a 15.4" laptop *with* a number pad, and often find myself wishing I had gone with a smaller model, due to size/weight. On the other hand, I pretty much only use my laptop when I'm not at home, which means I'm schlepping the damned thing around when I'm using it. If you're a desktop tinkerer, I'm guessing you've already got a machine that's good enough for your day-to-day needs sitting on your desk?
I have absolutely no experience with HP notebooks, but the first desktop I ever had that was actually mine was a HP. By the time I was done with it, the damned thing looked like Frankenstein's monster with hard drives bolted on in places they had no business being and shit hanging out all over the place. It ran like a champ the whole time, though.
It's a 14.5" model, so the feel of the keyboard will be pretty spacious for a laptop since there's no number pad.
I currently have a 15.4" laptop *with* a number pad, and often find myself wishing I had gone with a smaller model, due to size/weight. On the other hand, I pretty much only use my laptop when I'm not at home, which means I'm schlepping the damned thing around when I'm using it. If you're a desktop tinkerer, I'm guessing you've already got a machine that's good enough for your day-to-day needs sitting on your desk?
I have absolutely no experience with HP notebooks, but the first desktop I ever had that was actually mine was a HP. By the time I was done with it, the damned thing looked like Frankenstein's monster with hard drives bolted on in places they had no business being and shit hanging out all over the place. It ran like a champ the whole time, though.
Vulash
15 years ago
So since the one you linked is about the same price as the one I linked what would make you consider the HP? It has weaker processing, less memory, and no Blu-Ray. Is is the size, portability, longer battery life, and the fact that is runs cooler? I think part of my problem is I've always used desktops - where power is king. I have a desktop at home so I won't need anything here. I will be using my laptop most of the time at a desk in my office, but portability is nice for conferences etc.
Wystro
15 years ago
Holy Shit! I'm in the market for a laptop in a couple of months, and this looks like a winner.
...whether I get a laptop or a new desktop, I'll wait til Oct. -- I've been hearing from different people that the "Back to School" business is awful and that there are going to be some insane deals on computers for the holiday season.
Vulash;100714
I've had a lot of success with ASUS MBs.
Ok so look at this motherfucker:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115823
So far ACER has by far the best bang for buck on newegg. The only issue with the one above is it might have so much power that I'm not sure how the battery could possibly hold on - that and overheating. There are some other models with the i5 and 4 GB of RAM that don't seem to have heating issues though
Holy Shit! I'm in the market for a laptop in a couple of months, and this looks like a winner.
...whether I get a laptop or a new desktop, I'll wait til Oct. -- I've been hearing from different people that the "Back to School" business is awful and that there are going to be some insane deals on computers for the holiday season.
Gongaa
15 years ago
Sorry, I hadn't seen the Acer link yet.
After looking at it, about the only thing that would make me consider the HP over the Acer you linked would be the processor* - and that would be dependent on the simulations you run. The i5 only has 2 cores running at a base 2.4GHz compared to the i7's 4 cores @1.66Ghz. If the simulations you run are able to support 4 or more threads, the i7 would complete them faster. It would be a close race with 3 threads, with the i7 squeaking by. On two or less threads over a sustained period of time, the i5 would clobber the i7. The hyperthreading stuff could throw the numbers off a bit (in the i5's favor up to 4 threads, then shifting back to the i7) depending on how much I/O the simulations do compared to just raw processing.
For day to day use, I honestly doubt you'd see much of a performance difference between the two, since they both have Intel's temporary "overclock" feature, where a core or combination of cores can go over its base clock speed for a few seconds to hammer out a sudden wave of work you throw at it. Like with the simulations, if you typically do a bunch of stuff in a bunch of applications all at once, the i7 will get it done faster - otherwise there shouldn't be any appreciable difference, as the processors will spend most of their time idling while you're typing / reading.
The memory could also factor in on the simulations if they use some kind of wild dynamic programming stuff that eats up assloads of memory. Otherwise, I doubt you'd see much of a difference. I have 4GB in both my desktop and my laptop and only ever page out to disk when I've fucked something up. I seriously think the only time I've ever used up all my RAM "on purpose" was when compiling an entire toolchain to use for compiling other shit for another architecture. It's a whole lot of stuff, and I almost never have to do it. I should say, though, that besides compiling shit, I don't do anything incredibly memory intensive (aside from creating memory leaks).
I don't watch movies or play games on my laptop, so uber resolution, BlueRay drives, and the like don't factor into my reasoning there at all. I can definitely say that I'd much rather carry around a 14" laptop than a 17"! If you go with the Acer though - which is definitely a good machine - you might want to look for a case that you can wear on your back or a backpack that can hold your case.
(* And definitely the size!)
Vulash;100717
So since the one you linked is about the same price as the one I linked what would make you consider the HP? It has weaker processing, less memory, and no Blu-Ray. Is is the size, portability, longer battery life, and the fact that is runs cooler? I think part of my problem is I've always used desktops - where power is king. I have a desktop at home so I won't need anything here. I will be using my laptop most of the time at a desk in my office, but portability is nice for conferences etc.
Sorry, I hadn't seen the Acer link yet.
After looking at it, about the only thing that would make me consider the HP over the Acer you linked would be the processor* - and that would be dependent on the simulations you run. The i5 only has 2 cores running at a base 2.4GHz compared to the i7's 4 cores @1.66Ghz. If the simulations you run are able to support 4 or more threads, the i7 would complete them faster. It would be a close race with 3 threads, with the i7 squeaking by. On two or less threads over a sustained period of time, the i5 would clobber the i7. The hyperthreading stuff could throw the numbers off a bit (in the i5's favor up to 4 threads, then shifting back to the i7) depending on how much I/O the simulations do compared to just raw processing.
For day to day use, I honestly doubt you'd see much of a performance difference between the two, since they both have Intel's temporary "overclock" feature, where a core or combination of cores can go over its base clock speed for a few seconds to hammer out a sudden wave of work you throw at it. Like with the simulations, if you typically do a bunch of stuff in a bunch of applications all at once, the i7 will get it done faster - otherwise there shouldn't be any appreciable difference, as the processors will spend most of their time idling while you're typing / reading.
The memory could also factor in on the simulations if they use some kind of wild dynamic programming stuff that eats up assloads of memory. Otherwise, I doubt you'd see much of a difference. I have 4GB in both my desktop and my laptop and only ever page out to disk when I've fucked something up. I seriously think the only time I've ever used up all my RAM "on purpose" was when compiling an entire toolchain to use for compiling other shit for another architecture. It's a whole lot of stuff, and I almost never have to do it. I should say, though, that besides compiling shit, I don't do anything incredibly memory intensive (aside from creating memory leaks).
I don't watch movies or play games on my laptop, so uber resolution, BlueRay drives, and the like don't factor into my reasoning there at all. I can definitely say that I'd much rather carry around a 14" laptop than a 17"! If you go with the Acer though - which is definitely a good machine - you might want to look for a case that you can wear on your back or a backpack that can hold your case.
(* And definitely the size!)
Vulash
15 years ago
Thanks! I have a quad core in my desktop, and some of the simulations I was running last semester were written by people - and I think that will be a common trend - so that it couldn't use more than one core. So mine actually didn't perform as well as my prof's dual core computer even though my specs were superior.
As far as memory: I have 8 GB of RAM on this one, and I've pushed it a few times running 4 EQ accounts at once, but that is the only time I think. I also have DDR2. I'm guessing 4GB of DDR3 will perform better than my 8GB of DDR2 in all situations where I'm not eating up all of the memory? Is that true?
I would like to be able to play games/watch movies etc, but that isn't the primary purpose for the laptop - and I do have a nice desktop for that. I did find that my desktop was far superior using GIS than a machine at the USGS that was built specifically for that. They had several processors, but didn't have memory like mine, and they didn't have a graphics accelerator. Does the 3d-card matter for rendering things like GIS files? Often I'm using high quality aerial photography/DEMS - though I may not as much in the future. The real issue is I don't know what all I'll need it too do, but I want it to have a shot at doing it. The only other thing I could think of is once I had 20-25 highly detailed figures I had created using illustrator that I had to manipulate.
Gongaa;100737
Sorry, I hadn't seen the Acer link yet.
After looking at it, about the only thing that would make me consider the HP over the Acer you linked would be the processor* - and that would be dependent on the simulations you run. The i5 only has 2 cores running at a base 2.4GHz compared to the i7's 4 cores @1.66Ghz. If the simulations you run are able to support 4 or more threads, the i7 would complete them faster. It would be a close race with 3 threads, with the i7 squeaking by. On two or less threads over a sustained period of time, the i5 would clobber the i7. The hyperthreading stuff could throw the numbers off a bit (in the i5's favor up to 4 threads, then shifting back to the i7) depending on how much I/O the simulations do compared to just raw processing.
For day to day use, I honestly doubt you'd see much of a performance difference between the two, since they both have Intel's temporary "overclock" feature, where a core or combination of cores can go over its base clock speed for a few seconds to hammer out a sudden wave of work you throw at it. Like with the simulations, if you typically do a bunch of stuff in a bunch of applications all at once, the i7 will get it done faster - otherwise there shouldn't be any appreciable difference, as the processors will spend most of their time idling while you're typing / reading.
The memory could also factor in on the simulations if they use some kind of wild dynamic programming stuff that eats up assloads of memory. Otherwise, I doubt you'd see much of a difference. I have 4GB in both my desktop and my laptop and only ever page out to disk when I've fucked something up. I seriously think the only time I've ever used up all my RAM "on purpose" was when compiling an entire toolchain to use for compiling other shit for another architecture. It's a whole lot of stuff, and I almost never have to do it. I should say, though, that besides compiling shit, I don't do anything incredibly memory intensive (aside from creating memory leaks).
I don't watch movies or play games on my laptop, so uber resolution, BlueRay drives, and the like don't factor into my reasoning there at all. I can definitely say that I'd much rather carry around a 14" laptop than a 17"! If you go with the Acer though - which is definitely a good machine - you might want to look for a case that you can wear on your back or a backpack that can hold your case.
(* And definitely the size!)
Thanks! I have a quad core in my desktop, and some of the simulations I was running last semester were written by people - and I think that will be a common trend - so that it couldn't use more than one core. So mine actually didn't perform as well as my prof's dual core computer even though my specs were superior.
As far as memory: I have 8 GB of RAM on this one, and I've pushed it a few times running 4 EQ accounts at once, but that is the only time I think. I also have DDR2. I'm guessing 4GB of DDR3 will perform better than my 8GB of DDR2 in all situations where I'm not eating up all of the memory? Is that true?
I would like to be able to play games/watch movies etc, but that isn't the primary purpose for the laptop - and I do have a nice desktop for that. I did find that my desktop was far superior using GIS than a machine at the USGS that was built specifically for that. They had several processors, but didn't have memory like mine, and they didn't have a graphics accelerator. Does the 3d-card matter for rendering things like GIS files? Often I'm using high quality aerial photography/DEMS - though I may not as much in the future. The real issue is I don't know what all I'll need it too do, but I want it to have a shot at doing it. The only other thing I could think of is once I had 20-25 highly detailed figures I had created using illustrator that I had to manipulate.
Vulash
15 years ago
While I'm picking some brains here. It seems like everyone talks about the HP Envy (including most of the laptop review sites I've found), but I'm able to customize the dv6 series and get everything I want cheaper. Is this a lesser series in quality? I know that I can have high specs, but if the quality of the components/power supply suck it would be an inferior computer.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do
Also - how useful is touchscreen? :D
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do
Also - how useful is touchscreen? :D
ROzbeans
15 years ago
Touchscreens would only be useful to me if Batman is my install guy.
pharren
15 years ago
I don't think the video card has any part in rendering things like that, or Poser, or anything else. I think it's all done by the software and your processor. I could be wrong though!
Does the 3d-card matter for rendering things like GIS files?
I don't think the video card has any part in rendering things like that, or Poser, or anything else. I think it's all done by the software and your processor. I could be wrong though!
Eve
15 years ago
I don't think the video card will affect the actual rendering, but I know I've had them go wonky while working within Poser. I'm definitely no techie, I leave that to the hubby and Vex :D
KaAnna
15 years ago
I'm pretty sure the video card is only for the OpenGL of your rendering (what you see before you render).
Gongaa
15 years ago
Both correct!
ATI and nVidia have both developed APIs to let programmers use the zillion cores on users' video cards to help out with stuff like this. I'd love to see a standard get hammered out in a few years so that getting the idling vid card processors into the mix when you're doing multithreaded processor-heavy stuff becomes second nature.
pharren;100744
I don't think the video card has any part in rendering things like that, or Poser, or anything else. I think it's all done by the software and your processor. I could be wrong though!
KaAnna;100747
I'm pretty sure the video card is only for the OpenGL of your rendering (what you see before you render).
Both correct!
ATI and nVidia have both developed APIs to let programmers use the zillion cores on users' video cards to help out with stuff like this. I'd love to see a standard get hammered out in a few years so that getting the idling vid card processors into the mix when you're doing multithreaded processor-heavy stuff becomes second nature.
Kelefane
15 years ago
I hate understaffed ERs.
I went to the ER two weekends ago around 9am thinking my appendix was about to burst or something. I had a bad sharp pain in my tummy and it felt like someone was driving rusty steak knives into my gut.
anyway
Me and my father sit in the fucking wait room for a goddamn hour while I was in some pretty agonizing pain. I was all doubled over and shit.....then after an hour, they brought me some paper work to fill out.....i just handed it to my dad and told him to fill it out because writing a bunch of bullshit was the last thing on my mind at that time...
I finally get called to the back.......into a cold ass office.......only to wait another 30 minutes........i felt like dying at one point
then after another 30 minutes or so of pain, the pain started to subside.....so i had some kind of gas pocket......i just said fuck this, i feel better now...lets get the fuck out of here.....without even seeing a goddamn Dr. I could have had something seriously wrong with me...
oh well.
I hate Drs.
I went to the ER two weekends ago around 9am thinking my appendix was about to burst or something. I had a bad sharp pain in my tummy and it felt like someone was driving rusty steak knives into my gut.
anyway
Me and my father sit in the fucking wait room for a goddamn hour while I was in some pretty agonizing pain. I was all doubled over and shit.....then after an hour, they brought me some paper work to fill out.....i just handed it to my dad and told him to fill it out because writing a bunch of bullshit was the last thing on my mind at that time...
I finally get called to the back.......into a cold ass office.......only to wait another 30 minutes........i felt like dying at one point
then after another 30 minutes or so of pain, the pain started to subside.....so i had some kind of gas pocket......i just said fuck this, i feel better now...lets get the fuck out of here.....without even seeing a goddamn Dr. I could have had something seriously wrong with me...
oh well.
I hate Drs.
Vex
15 years ago
Vulash - If you're going to be working with photoshop and 3d programs, I would pass on a laptop and buy a desktop. My macbookpro is so grossly underpowered for the simplest 3d stuff I do, and its not that old or outdated. Actually I only ever use my laptop for internet, music, coding, chatting, and in-a-pinch work. Its great for portability and being able to quick-fix problems my clients have while I'm out. Since i moved to WA and haven't travelled I don't even need it tbh. Its a glorified media center now, plugged into TV lol.
I have photoshop installed and photoshop works ok, but the screen size (15" / 1440x900) is fucking frustrating. I guarantee you will be sick of working on a laptop inside of a month if you're going to be using graphically intensive programs, or programs with a lot of knobs and dials and buttons/bulky interfaces.
I don't know about ATI but nVidia has this awesome thing called "Cuda" that will enable GPU to share the workload of the CPU. I know Photoshop is being tested with it. Been awhile since I read about it, at least a year =x
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home_new.html
Largely you need 64bit, googles of RAM and the fastest CPU you can get. Even if you can spend enough money to get this monster laptop, its gonna suck because it will be flipping hot and the monitor will be too small to feel comfortable in your app's workspace.
Get a nice desktop + ikea desk + nice chair for the same price as a laptop.
I have photoshop installed and photoshop works ok, but the screen size (15" / 1440x900) is fucking frustrating. I guarantee you will be sick of working on a laptop inside of a month if you're going to be using graphically intensive programs, or programs with a lot of knobs and dials and buttons/bulky interfaces.
I don't know about ATI but nVidia has this awesome thing called "Cuda" that will enable GPU to share the workload of the CPU. I know Photoshop is being tested with it. Been awhile since I read about it, at least a year =x
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home_new.html
Largely you need 64bit, googles of RAM and the fastest CPU you can get. Even if you can spend enough money to get this monster laptop, its gonna suck because it will be flipping hot and the monitor will be too small to feel comfortable in your app's workspace.
Get a nice desktop + ikea desk + nice chair for the same price as a laptop.
Vulash
15 years ago
I've been debating that actually, but it leaves me high and dry at conferences and during presentations. I was considering getting a nice monitor for my desk and just plugging my (monster) laptop in for 80% of my work. Will the laptop not do that efficiently?
Vex;100760
Vulash - If you're going to be working with photoshop and 3d programs, I would pass on a laptop and buy a desktop. My macbookpro is so grossly underpowered for the simplest 3d stuff I do, and its not that old or outdated. Actually I only ever use my laptop for internet, music, coding, chatting, and in-a-pinch work. Its great for portability and being able to quick-fix problems my clients have while I'm out. Since i moved to WA and haven't travelled I don't even need it tbh. Its a glorified media center now, plugged into TV lol.
I have photoshop installed and photoshop works ok, but the screen size (15" / 1440x900) is fucking frustrating. I guarantee you will be sick of working on a laptop inside of a month if you're going to be using graphically intensive programs, or programs with a lot of knobs and dials and buttons/bulky interfaces.
I don't know about ATI but nVidia has this awesome thing called "Cuda" that will enable GPU to share the workload of the CPU. I know Photoshop is being tested with it. Been awhile since I read about it, at least a year =x
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home_new.html
Largely you need 64bit, googles of RAM and the fastest CPU you can get. Even if you can spend enough money to get this monster laptop, its gonna suck because it will be flipping hot and the monitor will be too small to feel comfortable in your app's workspace.
Get a nice desktop + ikea desk + nice chair for the same price as a laptop.
I've been debating that actually, but it leaves me high and dry at conferences and during presentations. I was considering getting a nice monitor for my desk and just plugging my (monster) laptop in for 80% of my work. Will the laptop not do that efficiently?
Gongaa
15 years ago
vvv :lick ATI Stream, yo! :lick vvv
Also, since I mentioned it later in the same post...
...it looks like the world is a step ahead of me - again: OpenCL. Worrrrd.
Vex;100760
I don't know about ATI but nVidia has this awesome thing called "Cuda" that will enable GPU to share the workload of the CPU. I know Photoshop is being tested with it. Been awhile since I read about it, at least a year =x
vvv :lick ATI Stream, yo! :lick vvv
Gongaa;100751
ATI and nVidia have both developed APIs to let programmers use the zillion cores on users' video cards to help out with stuff like this.
Also, since I mentioned it later in the same post...
Gongaa;100751
I'd love to see a standard [...]
...it looks like the world is a step ahead of me - again: OpenCL. Worrrrd.
Kelefane
15 years ago
Actually, ATI is ahead of nVidia these days in terms of a better quality high end Video card. Go google it.
Vulash
15 years ago
I don't know if I agree with that - they seem to flip flop rather consistently with Nvidia holding a slight edge throughout the years