Computers and Related Hardware/Software

xploring wrote:http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=PSU_Recommendations
Here it says the most important thing is the power from the 12V rail, not the overall wattage of the power supply. They seem to know their stuff.


There is a power calculator which seems to be saying the same thing.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Okay. :victory:

BMW

I broke my PC. I'm not sure what I did but I suspect it has something to do with one of the display drives.

Anyway... I'll be calling in a repair guy tomorrow... but this business of not having a back up computer is no longer tolerable. I break these things too often.

So a lap top. And if it's to be a lap top I might as well get something that can do almost everything my desk top can do.

After looking around I'm considering the Toshiba Satellite A355-s6929.

Loads of ram and loads of storage.

But you're right. I'll go out and see them in the real world before making an impulse buy. I just don't want to go out and buy something because it's shiny, only to find out that the cool kids think that brand is crap.

Kijinnmaru

Excellent points. The only problem is, half the time I have no idea what I'll use. Not too long ago all I used my computer for was word, email, and of course porn. But I seem to be evolving.

Cerebus

Samsung NC10. I'll look, thanks. Yeah, I don't play comp games. But I want to make sure I can watch my videos. Portability isn't really a problem for me. But the one deal breaker would be too small a screen. I can't abide them.

Thank you guys. And any other opinions would be appreciated. I just won't be able to respond until tomorrow night when I get to borrow my sister's lap top again. Until then I'm back living in the 1950s.

^ 2GB should be enough, I think... Of course, I'm still running XP, not Vista.

Not sure what's the largest laptop HDD you can buy... Maybe 640GB... I don't think there are 1TB laptop drives available... You might wanna consider a large external drive for backup/storage.

If weight isn't an issue, go for the biggest screen you can get. :)

I second beem here: Don't worry about a huge HD on a laptop, just buy an external and transfer stuff across. If you're downloading series, even at 5G for a series it will take a long time to fill a 1TB drive. And once it's full, you just buy another.

I read somewhere about the number of external drives Groink has: It's phenomenal :sweat:

Anime Dad wrote:I read somewhere about the number of external drives Groink has: It's phenomenal :sweat:

More like insane. :beaten:

BMW & A.D.

I became an external HD nut about a year ago. I've got a couple of Seagate 300g boxs full of video and assorted computer files, and truth to tell... I don't know how I lived without them before.

I'd already decided to get at least one of the big new external HDs before I made the decision to get a laptop.

I did the phone repair try with Dell today and they are sending a tech to my house in a couple of days to install a new video card, so the desk top should sort itself out.

Amazing how cool I can be with all this... now that I know I'm still under warrenty, and all of my important stuff is backed up on the Seagate HD.

Now back to studying Consumer reports. They seem most impressed with HP's Pavilion series. And Toshiba' Satellite series. (They like the Apple MacBook Pro best... but I won't hold that against them. I figure Jobs paid them off.)

^ One thing I particularly despise about laptops is the touchpad mouse: it's awkward to use and not very user-friendly for sustained computer use... Be sure to get a REAL mouse for it. :victory:

since i live in japan, i can get some pretty hefty drives for cheap. i recently bought a seagate 1.5TB drive for about $110 or so plus another $15 for the case to turn it into an external drive. gonna use this drive as my "drama drive" since the dvds i backed up dramas on aren't as reliable...

i also bought a 500GB 2.5" bus powered laptop drive to use as my portable media drive.

those new drives are both in addition to my two 500GB WD my book drives.

i love cheap electronics in akihabara.

^ Not bad... Fry's has been selling 1TB Hitachi SATA drives for about $90... :victory:

Geez, you might wanna consider this laptop: http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/23/toughbook-tiger-elephant-technology-personal-test.html?partner=yahoobuzz :)

I need to get a cable/dsl router too, with firewall if possible. Wired or wireless, doesn't matter. Been looking for an hour but still don't know what to get... :bleh: Any help would be much appreciated.

Here are the choices I have
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^ Doesn't your DSL modem have a built-in hardware firewall?

If so, all you really need is an Ethernet switch.

My DSL modem has a built-in firewall, but Verizon didn't tell me that, so I bought a router (Netgear RP614?) and now I have TWO hardware firewalls... It made it a bit more complex to set up for BitTorrent. :sweat:

I only have a cable modem, but I may change to ADSL2+ later so it would be good to have a router that works for both cable and ADSL. My cable modem doesn't have a firewall built in.

Linksys WRT54G2 seems to be really popular but I couldn't work out whether it works for cable connection. If not, maybe I will get the Netgear one then... Hope I can work out the set up. :sweat:

xploring wrote:I only have a cable modem, but I may change to ADSL2+ later so it would be good to have a router that works for both cable and ADSL. My cable modem doesn't have a firewall built in.

Linksys WRT54G2 seems to be really popular but I couldn't work out whether it works for cable connection. If not, maybe I will get the Netgear one then... Hope I can work out the set up. :sweat:

I would think that once you're past the modem, everything is Ethernet so cable/DSL doesn't matter anymore...

bmwracer wrote:
I would think that once you're past the modem, everything is Ethernet so cable/DSL doesn't matter anymore...

Really?

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/Routers
But here there are some titled as cable/dsl router and some not, so I figure those that aren't can't work for both cable and dsl...

EtherFast Cable/DSL Firewall Router with 4-Port Switch/VPN Endpoint
(BEFSX41) looks good but no one is selling it in my state.

Hmm.

From that site, it looks like all the wireless routers aren't labeled Cable/DSL whereas the wired routers are...

That said, all the wired routers are listed as Cable/DSL... And most likely their connectivity switches are all Ethernet.

Can't say that I've EVER encountered a DSL or Cable modem that did not have Ethernet on the output side... But I'm in the U.S.... Don't know how it is in Australia. :sweat:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=838849#r2
Here it says that adsl router can't be used with cable modem, but
Linksys WRT54GL, not labelled as a "cable/dsl router", can be used for both cable or dsl connection.

I think I will get this one then. Thanks for your help.
Now to set up and find out about softwares to secure the wireless network. :sweat:

xploring wrote:http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=838849#r2
Here it says that adsl router can't be used with cable modem, but
Linksys WRT54GL, not labelled as a "cable/dsl router", can be used for both cable or dsl connection.

Confusing, ain't it? :sweat:

I think I will get this one then. Thanks for your help.
Now to set up and find out about softwares to secure the wireless network. :sweat:

Good luck. :victory:

I think most wireless hardware has some kind of built in security (ID codes or similar) to prevent external hacking...

They are MUCH easier to set up now than they used to be. I have a modem/router with wireless capability at home, works like a charm and was very easy to set up, even the wireless part. I just can't remember what brand/model it is ATM :sweat:

That's good to hear. Hopefully I can set it up too.

Could someone explain briefly what's so good about installing third party firmware on the router? People kept saying WRT54GL is preferred over WRT54G2, that it adds lots of features, but I haven't been able to find out what they are about it and whether I need them. I guess it's only $30 difference, maybe I will find out after I buy it...