The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

is it really necessary to have a big CPU in a laptop? heres why I'm asking. my wife wants to get my oldest son one of the mini notebooks anywhere from $299-$429 the price difference is mainly manufacture they have the same things in them on the majority. but for $429 i can get him a a full size lappy with a low end C2D or a high end duel core cpu in it. usage is mostly net surfing info gathering stuff and emailing. heres where my conflict comes in..me myself i want the best biggest cpu you can get...lmaobut in all reality for him is a duel core good enough ????
take in mind he is only 11 but is a smart fella honor role kinda guy. he will be in JR Hi next year i do kinda want it to be a little future proof

 

constructive criticism is always welcomed..
and you are right he is only 11 not like he is encoding videos and such..lol but he does want me to show him how to burn/make CD's the only thing about the minis they dont have a cd/dvd drive in them and i do want that so he can watch movies and such on it.

 

I tried reading the story on the 3 srikes link, it keeped frezzing on me, maybe good it did, my neck viens started to sweel.

Russ your points were right on the money, I feel your passion, but I don't think many really get it, please do not anybody get offended when he mentioned us a sheep, I did not see it pointed to anybody, it's like he said just a metahpor, the sad thing is though it's the truth, I myself to am guilty, now that I'm just an old fart I have gotten lazy, in the 60's even though I did not agree about every protest the young one's did help change many things including getting us out of that war my butt included, two years there was enough for me, we did shake things up though didn't we lol.

I think we all have gotten to confortable with our lives, it's let the others get involved mentality, the proplem when we all think that there is no others, but the rich just keep on moving forward, they don't have to do thier own dirty work, they hire others to get in the trenches and do it for them.

Sad as it is I don't think people will get on the bandwagon like Russ says should be done till many start losing thier shelter and food on the table, ever chase a rat, it runs from you, ever corner one, it will leap at you, in other words I don't think this generation will move till the s#@t hits the fan unfortunatly, some times it takes one really to get pissed off to create desire and passion.

 

Creaky,
This isn't a reference to Sheep, but can we Clone you?

 

Creaky,
Because you've rediscovered Practicality, and proudly demonstrate it's advantages in a world full of Excess!

You've made good use out of computers that the average person would throw in the trash as useless! Good for you!

Warmest Regards,
Russ

 

Meh, I've met your type. Plenty to go around LOL! Totally joking.

 

-edited-

Haha point taken friend! I myself am running 3 PCs + my parents' laptop. The price is ludicrous I agree.

Microsoft has had questionable business practices from the very start so I don't see why you would expect any customer loyalty. To them you are just a serial number and nothing else! I also have paid for every version of Windows I have ever used bar a short trial with pirated Windows Vista which went unused anyway and thus would have been a waste of my money. I have paid the very same $99 as you for several copies of XP Pro. I understand why the price for this new OS is absolutely retarded and will hurt business for Microsoft in the long run. It is not good to increase the price of your products when people are struggling to afford it already!

And AFAIK Bill Gates is still worth about 65 billion last time I checked! Can you provide your source for the 10 billion? I would be very interested to read it.

I DO pay for something if it's reasonably priced and worth the cost. I buy games if they're programmed and supported properly and the same applies for Windows! I like to support developers who do good work! I don't think Windows 7 is anywhere near worth the price but it does offer benefits! Admittedly I actually obtained my copy legally but upon seeing the prices I had initially planned to obtain it through other means. If the price isn't justified even slightly then simply don't pay the price!

I keep a dedicated torrenting machine with 2.5TB of storage and that is storge for roughly 500GB of games and the rest is fansubbed Japanese animation and literature that will probably never see an English translation or release!

By national copyright laws the anime/manga I have is even legal because it is not reasonably obtainable in this country or practical to obtain. I would have pay huge shipping fees to import it and not only is it regional(PAL), but it's still in the original Japanese with no subtitles or official translation(books). And even then some of it just isn't available in a hard copy at all.

What is available I have most definitely purchased and I have another separate bookcase just dedicated to my DVD collection! AND FTR a lot of my manga is already openly distributed on the web through direct download on sites acknowledged by their respective governments.

Yes you heard me right guys I COLLECT A LOT OF ANIME AND MANGA. I'm not a total freak like some might be but I am fond of the medium

Also FTR I keep my huge collection of books in boxes in my closet because I'm out of shelf space

I hate piracy of quality material and I will always try to buy something if it is worth the purchase.

I would be interested to see what it's like remembering my past experiences with Win 95. What in your eyes makes it superior?

Alas the release of Windows 95 is far before my time. Not before my birth, but way before I ever started building PCs as a hobby.

My suggestion of piracy isn't far from that. Do you have any idea what percentage of DIY Windows Vista installs were pirated? Piracy contributed significantly to its demise because people simply refused to pay for it! This is also a problem for quality software devs but I can proudly say I support the people who deserve the money.

This isn't to me but I thought it deserved comment. I also didn't grow up in the most ideal of conditions. My family has been driven to bankruptcy more than once because of my mother's gambling addiction(which she has thankfully shaken for good after 20+ odd years and therapy). And at the same time the vast medical bills from my dad's gauntlet of surgeries including removal of a brain tumor, removal of his left eye after a lifetime of being blind in it and open-heart to replace a leaking valve and the entire aorta.

The only reason we are not a homeless or broken family today is largely due to inhuman tolerance and love on the part of my father and ingenius financial maneuvering the credit for which admittedly goes to my mother.

I never had to quite fend for myself and have always had a roof over my head, but from when I was 14-17 I was giving up almost every single cent of my paychecks to buy groceries and pay bills when rightly I shouldn't have had to. My father is currently badly disabled, unemployed and still fighting for disability.

Never forget that you are not alone Russ. I know full well what limited or no money is like. There were times where I would have considered my family absolutely dirt poor and there were even a few eviction notices that we just barely escaped because I gave up my own spending money. We even spent a long time in 2006 with no internet or phone service and we have had our water and lighting cut more than once as well.

Only in the last 2 years or so have I really started to build PCs and buy all those other electronic sins. Even then there is a large proportion of my possessions which I probably should never have bought just because I could be doing better things with my money. And what's more I've got a slowly growing savings in the bank. I am feeling the economic squeeze just as bad as everyone else except I finally have enough income to fuel my hobbies. Things have gotten a bit better for my family financially after our bankruptcy last year. My mother's paycheck now covers the bills and house payments if just barely. Luckily we can cover our home because my parents can probably never get a loan again :S

So when you make your point, Russ, that Windows 7 is too expensive, I stand behind you 100%. $300 is an extortionate amount of money to pay for a piece of home software especially when it costs MS about $3 worth of materials to produce. At even $100 it would still be expensive but at the very least reasonable.

Sorry if this is a bit long winded but I feel it is important you understand what kind of person I am and where I am coming from. I may be just a young kid to you but I've aged beyond my years. I understand the plight of this world and its failing economy better than first impressions might imply. Hell, some people even take me as stupid because of some of my quirks. But when I can take the time and get my thoughts down in writing people are surprised. So when I say something please don't take my first impression as who I am or how I think because I'm much deeper than that.

 

The thing is we will readily pay that much for a CPU/GPU etc, but in the end after a year we will upgrade those, the OS stays for atleast 3 years, and probably is the most important part, like the PSU.

 

You convey my feelings and describe the reasons I lurk more than post...I thought this was a hobby at first but as I became the one to fix my friends machines and make a side business in this corner of the world I decided to see where it could take me and now have CompTIA A+, Network+ certifications along with server management experience and thats before having any formal training or real job in the IT industry.
Keep it up Estuansis because your not the only one to have something inside thats hard to convey to others...

 

Deadrum33,
It's refreshing to see to these old eyes! I applaud both of you for your passion and dedication to your goals!

Warmest Regards,
Russ

 

I already have my A+ and I'm going for an Associates Degree in IT Networking. Luckily school is only a few hours a day so I can work early in the morning, go school in the afternoon, and have most of the afternoon and the evening to do whatever I want. I do make some decent money especially when the cranberry marshes are going. I was able to add a lot to my savings this year and I don't need to upgrade any of my PCs yet so I'm sitting alright now. I was able to qualify for the Pell Grant which completely paid for school and then some.

 

Shaff,
The thing is you do pay that much for a CPU/GPU, but neither of them dictate how you can use it, or what you can do with it. GM just sent me an attached bios flash for a DVD burner! I can't download it because Microsoft has deemed it potentially unsafe, and blocked it permanently. This is an email from a trusted contact! They won't even give me the option of deciding whether it is safe or not. There's such a thing as being ridiculously overzealous, with the power to deny you anything you want to do! It's my money that bought the OS and it's my money that paid for the computer! What gives them the right to make this decision for me? Next thing they will be blocking is something I want to download but can't because they won't let me! How far away is it, where Microsoft decides what websites we can visit? Just remember one thing! Absolute power corrupts, and Bill Gates wants absolute power!

Russ

 

IICR bill gates stepped down.

Thats windows live that wont let you send .zip/.rar files, NOT the OS. There isnt much that a windows OS doesnt allow you to do.

If you really dont like them, why not just use linux or mac then?