Jump to content
miffy495

Compy emergency

Recommended Posts

Fun times abound. Last night my desktop (and oddly enough, only computer) suddenly stopped recognizing that it had an HDD. This means that at the moment I am entirely without computer. Luckily for me, this happens a week after the Wii got keyboard support for it's internet browser (which is what I'm using as I type this) so I'm not completely SOL for internet access. I do however have essays coming due soon and living sans computer is completely infeasible at this point so the time for a new purchase has come. This is the motivation for me to finally get off my ass and buy that laptop I've been wanting for a while. I'm not very well-versed in the ways of the lappy though, so I'm putting the question to you guys. Remembering that I'm on a pretty constricted budget, what do you recommend for a new laptop purchase that will probably become my primary computer? First question: Macbook or PC? Second question, which type of either? I'm leaning towards a reasonably (read: $1,000 - $1500 range) priced Acer laptop right now, but I'm definitely in the market for advice. Thanks all.

(P.S. - The thumb looks really weird on my TV... :getmecoat)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you are going for a Mac, then it's either Macbook or Macbook Pro. If you are planning to use your laptop for gaming, then your only choice is Macbook Pro. It's a bit expensive, but you should be able to get two hundred dollars (or something like that) off as a student. Standard Macbook is very powerful too, except for the graphics card..

I bought a Macbook Pro a while ago and haven't regretted it at all. I have found that I can get things done a lot more efficiently on OS X than on XP (or Vista, but I really haven't fiddled with it enough to say anything). I have XP installed as well and I use it for gaming. It boots up fast as it isn't filled with all the crap that comes pre-installed with most laptops, and games like Company of Heroes and Team Fortress 2 run smoothly.

For some people Windows machine will suit much better, however, and that's why I'm not trying to push you into buying a mac. For example, if you play games all the time you probably don't find that much use for OS X or get tired of switching between different operating systems. Some just plain prefer Windows to OS X. Macbook Pro is also outside the price range you mentioned (I think it costs 1800 dollars or something with student discount).

I don't really know much about other laptops so I can't help you there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm in a similar position as my Powerbook G4 just died due to a little... unfortunate accident.

Thank you for mentioning that Wii thing. I didn't know that and it's just what I need right now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Speaking of conversions... I finally did it. Today, I swore off Internet Explorer forever and am now the happy user of Firefox. The last thing that held me off until now was the lack of cheery icons in the bookmarks, that I always use to navigate them very swiftly. I discovered they are there, you just have to revisit every site you've imported from IE once. It may seem inconsequential, but it is exactly the little touches that withheld me from using Firefox.

Conversely, what pulled me over was the handful of glitches in IE that, for instance, wouldn't let me save images as anything else than bitmaps :( So goodbyeeeee Explorer, hellooooo firefox.

(Also, the Adblock plug-in is bliss)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Are you telling me it's my moral imperative to watch ads? Not watching ads is like piracy; you steal money from the poor sites who need them for revenue?

This world is getting wackier by the minute!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't think it really matters seeing as they're typical Google ads. I'm guessing the click rate of regular members sits somewhere around the high end of nothing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

While the click rate of pokemon friend codes sharers must be astronomical.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Are you telling me it's my moral imperative to watch ads? Not watching ads is like piracy; you steal money from the poor sites who need them for revenue?

This world is getting wackier by the minute!

Not watch, click. And not poor sites ladidaa, the Thumb. Of course you can do whatever you want, but these people you actually know.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How many cents do they get per click? Is it really going to make such a difference? Is it not already enough that I contribute with intelligent thoughts and prose to a homely community?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Is it not already enough that I contribute with intelligent thoughts and prose to a homely community?

Your thoughts are costing the thumb in bandwidth costs! They really are worth two cents. Or, more likely, .002 cents. Thoughts come cheap on the internet. :buyme:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

if it wasn't for the average scam/spam/cram ads ...

"Fix Idle.dll"

"Free Download"

"Forget Your Password"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Talking of adblock, does anyone know how to block flash ads? I never want to hear that mosquito again!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I thought adblock plus automatically blocks all the elements that match the filter criteria. If you mean that you can't add a filter for flash ads because there is no context menu, just enable "Show tabs on Flash and Java" on adblock plus options.

Or am I missing something here?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe I'd click the ads if it didn't keep showing some gay relationship thing. :tdown: :tdown: :tdown: :tdown: :tdown:

I'm not even kidding.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dan gets that on Facebook. Then, after he'd set his status to "Dan is wondering why Facebook directs so many gay dating ads at him" and it showed up in my newsfeed, it started happening to me too.

Hmm.. viral mis-targeted ads, I guess.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe the clever computer thinking thingy knows something that you and Dan haven't figured out yet.

Plus if u use facebook you are automatically gay.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have an Acer travel mate 55210 (I think can't really be bothered to look it up). It works fine for college although with shared graphics it sucks for gaming. It also comes with a lot of rubbish pre-installed, rubbish which you can remove, but rubbish nonetheless.

Unless you're planning on doing really arty stuff like video editing, graphics design etc then the Mac probably isn't a good choice. Most games at the moment are designed around Windows and Direct X so a Windows operating system would be required for most games, either that or an emulator which can be an ass to set up. Or a dual boot, but if you aren't going to use OS X for arty stuff then there really isn't much point in having it.

One thing with Acers, they come with Norton. It will slow your PC down and I suggest you uninstall it when you get it (along with the other rubbish).

Anywho, that's my take on it. The other thing is, laptops aren't very good when it comes to upgrading them at the moment. If you aren't planning on using it outside of your house and going loads of places and using it, you'd be best to buy a new PC.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×