General Computer Chat

[Archer]

I'm just cautious since this is my first time buying an external HD, and I tried to look thru as many reviews as I could, and this seemed to be better than all the other types of external HD's and one of the cheaper ones.

Yeah, they basically work like a giant Flash Drive. Keep in mind that the larger drives that have 3.5" disks inside will need mains power from the wall. It makes them difficult to use on the run, but if it's always staying at a desk, it's not a huge issue.

If you want to save some money, have a look at the WD Elements range or the Samsung Story range. If you want the portability, you need to start looking at 1TB or smaller 2.5" drives, which are USB-powered.

There is one other massive difference between external HDDs and Flash Drives - durability. Hard drives have spinning platters, so if you drop them onto a hard surface from even 10cm while running or a little more when stationary, you risk damaging the drive and losing data. Whereas flash drives use NAND-based transistors, so they cope with impact much better. No need to freak out, just be careful and always store super-important data on more than one HDD.

 

[Gerri Shin]

Just replaced the optical dvd drive in my MacBook Pro with my original 200GB HDD, this allows me to use the 40GB SSD for boot and apps and keep my files local. \o/

in other news, should be receiving my Intel 320 Series SSD for my Mac Pro tomorrow, now the decision is whether to install Snow Leopard and simply wait out the GM of Lion, or just go ahead and install Lion DP4 like I've got on my MacBook Pro....

 

[Archer]

Just replaced the optical dvd drive in my MacBook Pro with my original 200GB HDD, this allows me to use the 40GB SSD for boot and apps and keep my files local. \o/

in other news, should be receiving my Intel 320 Series SSD for my Mac Pro tomorrow, now the decision is whether to install Snow Leopard and simply wait out the GM of Lion, or just go ahead and install Lion DP4 like I've got on my MacBook Pro....

I guess that depends on whether you can upgrade from the Lion DP or not.

 

[Gerri Shin]

I guess that depends on whether you can upgrade from the Lion DP or not.

I went ahead and put Snow Leopard back on it, I suppose I can live with SL for another month until the Lion GM is released. I'll just do an in-place upgrade when Lion comes out on my Mac Pro and save the Clean install for the MacBook Pro since it's still running Lion DP4.
I gotta say, launchpad is addictive, I miss it already.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Right now I'm trying to figure out why Winamp does the "CD-skipping effect" where the music stops for a few seconds, and occasionally it makes that loud, piercing buzzing noise and locks up.

I tried Googling it but to no avail.

 

[Archer]

Right now I'm trying to figure out why Winamp does the "CD-skipping effect" where the music stops for a few seconds, and occasionally it makes that loud, piercing buzzing noise and locks up.

I tried Googling it but to no avail.

Hmmm, what OS are you running? That doesn't sound much like a Winamp problem to me. It's more likely to be a drive if it's program-specific, or the hardware otherwise.

I went ahead and put Snow Leopard back on it, I suppose I can live with SL for another month until the Lion GM is released. I'll just do an in-place upgrade when Lion comes out on my Mac Pro and save the Clean install for the MacBook Pro since it's still running Lion DP4.
I gotta say, launchpad is addictive, I miss it already.

Do you find that clean installs make a big difference on Macs? I haven't had them/dealt with them long enough to know, whereas you have. I'm looking forward to changing. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs on release, but it would be unfair to expect perfection. :D

 

[Gerri Shin]

Do you find that clean installs make a big difference on Macs? I haven't had them/dealt with them long enough to know, whereas you have. I'm looking forward to changing. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs on release, but it would be unfair to expect perfection. :D

It really depends on what OS your using/upgrading to. I know that for the upgrade from Tiger, a clean install was definitely a best way to go, since there were so many changes no matter which version,Leopard or snow leopard, you were upgrading to. to go from Leopard to Snow leopard, it wasn't as large of a deal, since Snow Leopard wasn't doing much adding of features, but refining what was already there. Lion, however seems to be a different cat altogether. from the get-go, it's different. The fact that the installation is in the form of an app that you download from the Mac App Store, it's meant to specifically upgrade a previous version rather than clean install. That being said there is a way to clean install, but at this point I don't think it's an Apple approved way, since you have to delve into the Lion Installer app, extract the install DMG and restore it to a flash drive or optical disc.

All of this being said, it doesn't matter what OS you use, you are going to see slightly better performance from a clean install, whether that performance increase is noticeable is personal preference. This is mostly due to leftover preferences folders and/or Applications that haven't been updated to take advantage of the new OS.
(for my money, I don't think most users will notice a drop in performance with the Lion upgrade)

Many professionals I talk to , simply won't even try the x.0 releases of products, they usually wait until x.2 or even x.3 release before they actually upgrade, unless they've had access to the betas and a spare machine and have confirmed upon the x.0 release that everything they need the system for is able to be used.

 

[Archer]

Many professionals I talk to , simply won't even try the x.0 releases of products, they usually wait until x.2 or even x.3 release before they actually upgrade, unless they've had access to the betas and a spare machine and have confirmed upon the x.0 release that everything they need the system for is able to be used.

As you said, though - professionals. There's a good reason they don't deploy new releases into the workspace. For people like us, the new OS is half of the fun. It also helps that, with Mac being such a controlled/small environment, there's fewer possible scenarios that would have avoided testing. Hardware support shouldn't be an issue, everyone sticks to the newer versions of an already smaller pool of programs... you get where I'm going. I'll be jumping straight on the bandwagon, purely because at that point in time, I will be able to afford downtime, should it occur. Businesses/people who rely entirely on the stability/usability of their devices obviously need to tread with caution.

Plus, I get a kick out of bleeding-edge, as we all do.

My iPhone is the only thing that gets treated with the utmost caution in that regard - it's a phone, so I need the software to be as robust as possible. Hence the lack of a Jailbreak. Would it have been merely an iPod Touch, things may be very different.

Some time next week, I'll be getting a new case and cooler, so stand by for rebuild pics. :D

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Hmmm, what OS are you running? That doesn't sound much like a Winamp problem to me. It's more likely to be a drive if it's program-specific, or the hardware otherwise.

It's a netbook with Windows 7 but only 1GB of memory and a pretty crappy processor (Intel Atom)... I have a feeling the limited memory/processor is the cause, but I'm hoping there's a way to solve the issue without spending too much on upgrades (I don't think netbooks can be updated easily anyway).

 

[Buoysel]

It's a netbook with Windows 7 but only 1GB of memory and a pretty crappy processor (Intel Atom)... I have a feeling the limited memory/processor is the cause, but I'm hoping there's a way to solve the issue without spending too much on upgrades (I don't think netbooks can be updated easily anyway).

Most netbooks can have their RAM upgraded. As for whether it's a computer bottle neck you can look at the task manager (keyboard shortcut ctrl+shirt +escape) and check the performance tab. If the charts are all maxed out then its your computer. However if they are not pegged out, then it could be a file issue. Try playing music using windows media player.

 

[donavannj]

Most netbooks can have their RAM upgraded. As for whether it's a computer bottle neck you can look at the task manager (keyboard shortcut ctrl+shirt +escape) and check the performance tab. If the charts are all maxed out then its your computer. However if they are not pegged out, then it could be a file issue. Try playing music using windows media player.

For most netbooks, RAM isn't the bottleneck. It's the processor. So a RAM upgrade can only do so much.

 

[Archer]

For most netbooks, RAM isn't the bottleneck. It's the processor. So a RAM upgrade can only do so much.

As much as I have a burning hate for Atoms, that depends. Windows 7 really should have 1.5->2GB ram, so too little (even if it doesn't appear to fill) is going to mean page file thrashing - the performance slump of all slumps. It's not going to bring it up to the speed of a proper CPU, but it will help nonetheless.

If they're not doing much in the way of calculation, it will help multitasking, which is an area where Atoms actually cope relatively okay thanks to their Hyperthreading (hell, it's the only thing that makes them more usable than an 800MHz Pentium 3, lol)

BTW, 2GB is fine. Many netbooks don't support 4GB, nor can their 32-bit OSs use more than 3ish.

On the note of netbooks, AMD's C-50 have a lot more grunt when it comes to single threaded stuff, plus they can offload video playback to the reasonably-decent on-die graphics.

 

[Buoysel]

As much as I have a burning hate for Atoms, that depends. Windows 7 really should have 1.5->2GB ram, so too little (even if it doesn't appear to fill) is going to mean page file thrashing - the performance slump of all slumps. It's not going to bring it up to the speed of a proper CPU, but it will help nonetheless.

If they're not doing much in the way of calculation, it will help multitasking, which is an area where Atoms actually cope relatively okay thanks to their Hyperthreading (hell, it's the only thing that makes them more usable than an 800MHz Pentium 3, lol)

BTW, 2GB is fine. Many netbooks don't support 4GB, nor can their 32-bit OSs use more than 3ish.

I have an Acer Aspire One 532H-2588 Adam N450. The maximum supported RAM is 2GB, it only has one DDR2 SODIMM slot.

While running Windows 7, I have watched 720p videos okay with out skips. The thing (surprisingly enough) will push a 1600 x 900 monitor okay, but video playback at that resolution is a little much.

I wonder what Intel's 3D transistors could to do for the Adam?

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

My CPU usage hovers between 40% and 60% with the periodic spike to 90 or 100%. Media Player Classic is my backup player; the music halts and freezes less often on that but it still occurs.

Mine has the godawful "Starter" version of Windows 7 (the one where you can't even change the desktop normally). Would having Starter Edition affect performance?

 

[Archer]

My CPU usage hovers between 40% and 60% with the periodic spike to 90 or 100%. Media Player Classic is my backup player; the music halts and freezes less often on that but it still occurs.

Mine has the godawful "Starter" version of Windows 7 (the one where you can't even change the desktop normally). Would having Starter Edition affect performance?

Can you see what's actually using all of that CPU time? You might have to click "show processes from all users" or something to that effect.

Also, the starter version is actually cut down to improve performance. I wouldn't bother putting a higher version on it to be honest. If you want to change the wallpaper, there's ways around it.

 

[Charizard★]

Quick Question: How do you know what kind of Ethernet cable you have? Do you need to call the providers or is there another way to check?

 

[donavannj]

Quick Question: How do you know what kind of Ethernet cable you have? Do you need to call the providers or is there another way to check?

You'd either need a wire tester or to just plug it in to your computer, turn off any wireless adapters for the computer, and then see if you still have an internet connection. It'll also usually say this in print on the side of the cable.

Most likely, if you're using the cable to access the internet as it is, you have a Cat5e straight-through Ethernet cable.

 

[Charizard★]

You'd either need a wire tester or to just plug it in to your computer, turn off any wireless adapters for the computer, and then see if you still have an internet connection. It'll also usually say this in print on the side of the cable.

Most likely, if you're using the cable to access the internet as it is, you have a Cat5e straight-through Ethernet cable.

Oh okay, but aren't there different types like 1000Mb connections or something like that? I remember someone telling me that.

 

[Buoysel]

Oh okay, but aren't there different types like 1000Mb connections or something like that? I remember someone telling me that.

What your referring too is the speed of the connection, which is usually determined by NIC (Network Interface Card) on the computer. That is unless your cable is like from the 80's or something.

Cat5e can also do 1Gb (1000Mb) speeds, I'm not entirely sure the differences between 5e and 6 but a quick Wikipedia check and I noticed that 6 has a higher frequency.

 

[Charizard★]

What your referring too is the speed of the connection, which is usually determined by NIC (Network Interface Card) on the computer. That is unless your cable is like from the 80's or something.

Cat5e can also do 1Gb (1000Mb) speeds, I'm not entirely sure the differences between 5e and 6 but a quick Wikipedia check and I noticed that 6 has a higher frequency.

How do you know what the speed of your connection is? Is there some way to check it?