Random Question Thread: Tech

[Wetticus]

(Copypasta from laptop thread. As comprehensiver as it is I may have a better shot at someone seeing it here. Hope that's kosher...)

After fiddling with my desktop for weeks to no avail, I'm ready to move in a different direction. That shit's going to a shop and if it comes out okay, great. If not, I still want something new. Also I realize I really miss my old laptop.

Looking for something in the $1k-ish range. Wouldn't be adverse to swinging over or under that if the bang-for-the-buck is there though. Screen size is a bit of a concern but I can work with smaller. My old laptop was a m9700 beast so I'd really like something with a 17" if possible, but if it's cost-prohibitive to the point of making it totally not worth it then so be it. I can totally work with a 15". Nothing super tiny though.

No real brand preference. Heard good things about Asus and I've looked at bit into those. Alienwares seem to be on sale right now. Mainly it'll be used for WoW, maybe some older games but nothing too terribly taxing, and (possibly if I don't get a new desktop in the next year) Diablo 3.

[Franzer]

As far as laptops go, asus does a wonderful job, and the price is very good. I would take a look on newegg. Its a little more than the 1k mark you're shooting for, but this is what i use. As far as gaming goes, anything i throw at it, it chews up np. It also has some of the best heat management and cooling i've ever seen on a laptop. Battery life is another story, but honestly if you plan on gaming on a laptop and battery life is your concern, i wouldn't be gaming on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220834

[Cephius]

(Copypasta from laptop thread. As comprehensiver as it is I may have a better shot at someone seeing it here. Hope that's kosher...)

After fiddling with my desktop for weeks to no avail, I'm ready to move in a different direction. That shit's going to a shop and if it comes out okay, great. If not, I still want something new. Also I realize I really miss my old laptop.

Looking for something in the $1k-ish range. Wouldn't be adverse to swinging over or under that if the bang-for-the-buck is there though. Screen size is a bit of a concern but I can work with smaller. My old laptop was a m9700 beast so I'd really like something with a 17" if possible, but if it's cost-prohibitive to the point of making it totally not worth it then so be it. I can totally work with a 15". Nothing super tiny though.

No real brand preference. Heard good things about Asus and I've looked at bit into those. Alienwares seem to be on sale right now. Mainly it'll be used for WoW, maybe some older games but nothing too terribly taxing, and (possibly if I don't get a new desktop in the next year) Diablo 3.

HP has a pretty good deal right now. Can find it here.

Core i5 processor, HD5470, free upgrade to 8gb ram, 640gb hdd, 17.3" screen. HP support is crap, but so is Asus. The build quality is pretty good. That standard build is only $900, plus you can always find coupon codes for HP on the web.

EDIT: Ha, I was just toying with the configuration and coupon codes. Try upgrading the processor to the i7 720QM and the graphics card to the 1GB 5650. Then apply coupon code NB747235 and it'll knock $350 off the price. Final total is $949. That is an amazing deal.

[Caiyuo]

Taking Boyiee's suggestion here, not sure whether to just add a question identifier or bold the entire thing.

Question: Is there any danger to eliminate the ground from my laptop's AC adapter by using a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter? I've been trying like mad to eliminate the hiss and static from my laptop's audio when using the headphone/mic ports and so far this seems to be the solution most are pointing to.

[Senji]

Taking Boyiee's suggestion here, not sure whether to just add a question identifier or bold the entire thing.

Question: Is there any danger to eliminate the ground from my laptop's AC adapter by using a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter? I've been trying like mad to eliminate the hiss and static from my laptop's audio when using the headphone/mic ports and so far this seems to be the solution most are pointing to.

Laptop will be fine, ground is basically there to protect you in this case. Your getting a short somewhere, and its a fairly common problem with audio. Did you try different outlets and/or circuits?

[mootsfox]

Taking Boyiee's suggestion here, not sure whether to just add a question identifier or bold the entire thing.

Question: Is there any danger to eliminate the ground from my laptop's AC adapter by using a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter? I've been trying like mad to eliminate the hiss and static from my laptop's audio when using the headphone/mic ports and so far this seems to be the solution most are pointing to.

Static and hiss is more bad circuit, not a ground loop, which would be a hum.

[Caiyuo]

Laptop will be fine, ground is basically there to protect you in this case. Your getting a short somewhere, and its a fairly common problem with audio. Did you try different outlets and/or circuits?

I haven't tried out outlets, but it also seems to lessen, not disappear entirely, when the laptop is unplugged and running on battery power if that helps. What do you mean by other circuits? Like a location besides my home to pinpoint the problem or different circuits within the house?

Static and hiss is more bad circuit, not a ground loop, which would be a hum.

Is there anything I can do about it? Using a regular 2.1 speaker setup with the laptop causes the static to lessen a bit, but if I'm using headphones either directly through the headphone port or using headphones routed through a port provided by the speakers, the static is still incredibly prevalent.

Thanks for the help.

[tonyg]

Alright so my birthday is coming up in April, and I just bought Rift, and since I'm really not that good at finding deals, I was wondering what would be a good desktop to buy. Budget is around 1200$, and I'll surely only be using it for gaming, as I have a fairly good laptop for my schoolwork.

Come to think of it, I'll ask you tech guys what my problem would be with my laptop, since I don't find it normal to have a 1400$ laptop be completely useless in gaming one year after buying it.

Specs :
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.101014-0432)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
System Model: F50Sf
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 2032MB used, 6375MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode

My laptop is COMPLETELY useless in gaming now, it lags like a motherfucker and I can't seem to find the problem. I've tried defragmenting and uninstalling everything useless on my computer, but this shit just gets so hot and so slow after a few minutes of gaming. I'm really a complete idiot at fixing stuff like this so any help is appreciated.

[Kerberoz]

First, learn to give proper specs. Second, learn to assemble a desktop.

[tonyg]

Yea, as said, I have no fucking clue how to do either, hence my random question in the random question thread. But hey, thanks for trying!

[Isiolia]

My laptop is COMPLETELY useless in gaming now, it lags like a motherfucker and I can't seem to find the problem. I've tried defragmenting and uninstalling everything useless on my computer, but this shit just gets so hot and so slow after a few minutes of gaming. I'm really a complete idiot at fixing stuff like this so any help is appreciated.

Well, it -is- a laptop, so if you're buying current games, it may just be having a hard time running them.

That aside, check to make sure your fan(s) aren't clogged with dust bunnies n' crud, run some malware scans, check for updated drivers/BIOS, and so on.

Or just clean the fans/vents out, back your stuff up, and reformat it.

For a desktop...build one. Seriously. You'll get a lot more for your money that way.

[tonyg]

Well, it -is- a laptop, so if you're buying current games, it may just be having a hard time running them.

That aside, check to make sure your fan(s) aren't clogged with dust bunnies n' crud, run some malware scans, check for updated drivers/BIOS, and so on.

Or just clean the fans/vents out, back your stuff up, and reformat it.

For a desktop...build one. Seriously. You'll get a lot more for your money that way.

Alright, so by building you mean purchasing the parts and assembling them myself I guess or would I be better off buying the parts and bringing them to the store for them to build it so I don't mess it up. If it's some really dumbed down stuff I guess I could do it, but otherwise I'm scared of breaking something lol. Guess I'll go ahead and get informed on this stuff before I get another rager on my case.

[Isiolia]

Buying parts and building it yourself. It's honestly not that difficult. If you're familiar enough with PCs to put a new HDD or video card in, reinstall Windows, that kind of thing, then it's not a huge step up from that.

[Omniyoji]

I think it's the huge selection of options/manufactures in individual parts that scares most people from building a PC, but yeah it's pretty much LEGO with electricity. On the plus side everything comes with instructions nowadays and there's a tonne of info/guides online too~

[tonyg]

Alright so I have a good idea of how to build the pc, but as for the parts, there are so many reviews and comparisons on each and every one of them, with so many different technologies that I absolutely have no clue on what to look out for in terms of future modifications on the pc. Basically I want to build a good desktop with a budget of 1.2-1.4k and finding cheap parts isn't the problem, since I can clearly see how good they are, but I want this to be the first part of my investment towards a monster pc, since I'm in university and don't have much spare cash, but when I finish my degree and get a good paying job, I'll gladly shell out 3-4k to upgrade it to monster-scale.

tl;dr Need advice on what technologies will stay for the next 2-3 years to invest in.

[Cephius]

Alright so I have a good idea of how to build the pc, but as for the parts, there are so many reviews and comparisons on each and every one of them, with so many different technologies that I absolutely have no clue on what to look out for in terms of future modifications on the pc. Basically I want to build a good desktop with a budget of 1.2-1.4k and finding cheap parts isn't the problem, since I can clearly see how good they are, but I want this to be the first part of my investment towards a monster pc, since I'm in university and don't have much spare cash, but when I finish my degree and get a good paying job, I'll gladly shell out 3-4k to upgrade it to monster-scale.

tl;dr Need advice on what technologies will stay for the next 2-3 years to invest in.

Rule of thumb when buying computer parts: as soon as you buy it, it's outdated. You can't future-proof unless you shell out thousands of dollars, and even then it still gets outdated quickly.

Anyway, my advice would be to start with the motherboard, since it determines what kind of processor you can use and what kind of memory you need. I like EVGA as a brand, but ASUS and Gigabyte are solid too. Most newer mobos will support the i-series processors and DDR3 triple channel memory, which is probably what you'll want to go with. Try putting together a build on newegg and then posting it here and we can advise on what you should change/upgrade/scrap/whatever.

[Isiolia]

Alright so I have a good idea of how to build the pc, but as for the parts, there are so many reviews and comparisons on each and every one of them, with so many different technologies that I absolutely have no clue on what to look out for in terms of future modifications on the pc.

Well, partly my opinion, but honestly, a lot of the time you really don't need to worry too much about future modifications. For some enthusiasts, sure, they're swapping out parts all the time 'cause they enjoy tweaking and tuning things. The majority of people will put together a machine and pretty much leave the core of it as-is until they build a new machine. If you're upgrading maybe every 2 years or more, chances are that a new CPU socket will be out, requiring a new motherboard, which will probably use different/faster RAM as a standard, and so on.
With a machine you build, you will likely be able to just swap out the CPU/motherboard/RAM later if you want to...though most of the time for me, I leave machines intact and just repurpose them.

As mentioned, just start with determining the platform you want to use and things will tend to fall into place from there. If you're not familiar with the market or what different parts cost, just start putting together a list and seeing what the total is. If it exceeds your budget, find where you can best compromise.

[Anso]

Is there a variable in excel for sheet title? I'd like to put the sheet title in the header of each sheet, workbook has quite a few sheets and it would be a pain to do it 1 by 1

[Caiyuo]

As an add-on to the questions about building a computer, I really like the guides Tom's Hardware comes out with every so often that break down the best builds they can make for different price points, like $500 and $1000.

[Purrrfect]

Is there a variable in excel for sheet title? I'd like to put the sheet title in the header of each sheet, workbook has quite a few sheets and it would be a pain to do it 1 by 1

Found this in the vba help, might be useful:

For Each ws In Worksheets
MsgBox ws.Name
Next ws

Just change the middle line to ws.Name="whatever" and it will rename all the tabs for the sheets.