Random Question Thread: Tech

[hey]

Plenty of laptops offer dedicated video, as well as as a seperate shit onboard video that can be switched to save battery life. I spent $700 on black friday last year for my laptop which has a dedicated video card, and can still get a bit over 5 hours on battery if i need to.

[Niya]

Long battery life and decent graphic power can be combined, but not at the same time. I have a sony vaio 13" with i5 (integrated HD3000 GPU) plus a Radeon HD6630M that can be turned on via HW switch.
When running on the HD3000 and low system load the battery can last for 7-8h, i could even double that time with a 2nd battery that gets clipped to the bottom of the notebook.
The HD6630M offers better graphic performance but shortens battery endurance quite a bit (haven't tried it out yet, but i'd guess ~2-3h max depending on load)

The HD3000 in Sandy bridge i5/i7 is enough for games that don't need too much GPU power, but you will probably have to turn details down on most of them.

Hybrid GPU notebooks can offer both long battery times and decent graphics, but they get expensive quite easy when you want good parts in them. Mine was ~1100€ (>1400$) half a year ago. 14"+ might be a bit cheaper, but they often have weaker batteries on them.
nVidia optimus has its problems like already mentioned. The HW switch setup with AMD chips has the downside that you get a flickering screen for ~10sec every time you turn the extra GPU on/off and some programs like Firefox (probably because of the HW acceleration) can hang/crash during the switching.

[Julian]

Like I said (I think I did, anyway) I only need a good battery life when I'm doing random school related shit. Firefox, lightish programs like quartus, modelsim, vmware, etc. I don't really plan on playing games on the battery. (Except maybe some emulators or light stuff if im really bored in a class <_< Which... will be over in one more semester. Surely I wont be playing full fledged games during a job? lol)

Thanks for the advice so far, got a bit more stuff to research. Still welcome any more advice/etc anyone might have :D

[Isiolia]

Thanks for the advice so far, got a bit more stuff to research. Still welcome any more advice/etc anyone might have :D

If you aren't already referencing it, Notebook Check's GPU guide is good if you care about laptop gaming performance. 'course, the site in general has a lot of laptop info.

[Ivve]

Random question: I've been given my choice of tablets (up to $500) as a birthday/Xmas gift. Yeah, I got one of those birthdays. Anyway, I looked at a few and I have pretty much settled on the Asus Transformer TF101 model. Well, when I went to pick it up from Best Buy, I came across various news/reviews announcing the impending arrival of the nexgen version of this same tablet. The main difference, as I understand it, is that the one currently available contains a dual core processor and the upcoming release (TF201) has a quad core processor. Now, I get which one is better. My question is, for a person who will probably use a tablet mainly for basic internet browsing, a few games, possibly taking pictures/video, and ebooks, is it a wise decision to wait for the release of the newer, more powerful, and slightly more expensive tablet? Or is it a better choice to go with the previous (currently available and ~$100 cheaper) release? I'm hesitant to buy the less powerful, less expensive tablet mainly because it seems silly to me to buy older technology, and having never owned a tablet, I'm not sure if there are more things that I will use it for in the future, where I'll regret not having the quad core. At the same time, I am super fucking frugal and I don't want to waste money on features that I will never notice I don't have. Any suggestions/opinions? Any current tablet owners/users that wish they had greater processing power, and if so, what for?

[Caiyuo]

Anyone have a guide handy for the google voice obihai process, specifically porting a landline to a mobile and then porting to google voice? Just saw that GV is staying free through 2012.

[Caiyuo]

Random question: I've been given my choice of tablets (up to $500) as a birthday/Xmas gift. Yeah, I got one of those birthdays. Anyway, I looked at a few and I have pretty much settled on the Asus Transformer TF101 model. Well, when I went to pick it up from Best Buy, I came across various news/reviews announcing the impending arrival of the nexgen version of this same tablet. The main difference, as I understand it, is that the one currently available contains a dual core processor and the upcoming release (TF201) has a quad core processor. Now, I get which one is better. My question is, for a person who will probably use a tablet mainly for basic internet browsing, a few games, possibly taking pictures/video, and ebooks, is it a wise decision to wait for the release of the newer, more powerful, and slightly more expensive tablet? Or is it a better choice to go with the previous (currently available and ~$100 cheaper) release? I'm hesitant to buy the less powerful, less expensive tablet mainly because it seems silly to me to buy older technology, and having never owned a tablet, I'm not sure if there are more things that I will use it for in the future, where I'll regret not having the quad core. At the same time, I am super fucking frugal and I don't want to waste money on features that I will never notice I don't have. Any suggestions/opinions? Any current tablet owners/users that wish they had greater processing power, and if so, what for?

Have never used any tablets, but from reading, for a $100 difference it seems like the Transformer Prime is a p. significant upgrade and is considered to be the best Android tablet on the market now, competing well with the iPad 2. Have you checked out any of the reviews for the Prime yet? I get the reservations about extra cost you might not need, but the improvements seem beneficial across the board and beyond that, tablets are becoming so ubiquitous that even if the differences don't seem super distinct now, I'd imagine the age will start to show on the original Transformer over time.

That said, I'd definitely wait for more input, that's just what I've glossed from passively paying attention to this shit

[Ivve]

Yeah, I compared user reviews to decide between this, the Samsung Galaxy, or an actual iPad. I've read some pretty terrible things about the camera in the iPad, and I don't own any other Apple products because I just generally do not prefer them. What I've read about the Prime (Transformer 2? idk what exactly people are going to be calling it) is that the apps and games don't necessarily utilize the quad core even though it's there. I expect that's something that will be addressed in the future, but maybe not all that quickly -- at least until other tablets bring their specs up to a comparable level. That also puts the hesitation in my bones, but in terms of everything else I've read, it seems like most people give it high praise. The reviews I read from people who own multiple devices have said that this outperforms even the iPad2 in many respects. Everything has been very positive. Another difference between this newer tablet and the previous version, is that people complained a bit about the TF101 not feeling "solid," and having some undesirable flexibility issues. That's apparently been corrected, and reviewers are saying it's superior to the iPad2 in that respect as well. It's also the thinnest tablet out currently. Basically this tablet is getting fellated like a judge at the blow job olympics. It's pretty much god tier, but the next step down is still tits.

Edit: though your point with the original Transformer showing its age over time is something that's also a concern to me. I don't want to buy something today that's a dinosaur in a week. Technology doesn't have exceptionally long life now anyway for the most part, so I'm not looking to go out of my way to shorten the lifespan it does have. Though, again, that may not ever become an issue for me if I personally don't need any of the new-fangled fanglry. OH CHOICES.

[Caiyuo]

I think it's commonly just the transformer and transformer prime, that both somehow have nothing to do with actual fucking robots or make the noise.

I'd seen some comparison videos of the original ipad vs ipad 2 and the differences of what they were tested on seem really slight so it's a legitimate concern, my thinking is just that a.) like you've said, tablets don't seem like they'll have super long life-cycles for use given how fast the platform is moving and b.) with shit you have no ability to change or upgrade in the future with a platform that's sort of attracting everything right now, it seems like a good idea to spring for the extra that might last a bit longer and won't have you wanting to buy a new tablet that soon since holy fuck these things are expensive. Considerations for new-fangled shit just seem way too hard to make since who knows what that could end up being at this point.

I don't imagine the original Transformer will just up and shit its pants trying to load some random app a year from now or anything, though, but saying that is probably just making the decision harder. I am legitimately cheap as shit though so it's easy to give that advice when it's not my money.

If you've got time and don't get anymore replies I'd maybe try making a separate thread, I remember a few people being pretty active with tablets here.

[Mikus]

I'm having a bit of a graphics issue. I installed W7 after uninstalling Vista, downloaded up to date driver for my HD Radeon 4830, downloaded the thing for w7 from POL's website, installed all ffxi, installed windower, and made sure all of my resolutions are the same in windower gui, regedit, and windower launcher. Background resolution is set high too.

My problem is, if I try to do anything but 1440x900, which makes the game full screen, then all text is mooshed together and blurry. Menus are small and for any equipment that's white box, you can barely even tell that it's white box.

The main thing with the text, it's most clear on the letter O. It appears like an outline of another O is on top of the letter. I prefer playing using 1200x800 or 1200x768, I always forget which it was, and maximizing the screen. The text is so bad the game just isn't playable to me. Has anyone ran into this problem and/or know how to fix it?

Bumping this as I haven't received any feedback. I'm installing FFXI again in hopes maybe I had a corrupt file or something wacky. When loading from my disc, I clicked on the "View System Information" and it came up I'm running Vista service pack 1. If I go to Computer>Properties it shows I'm running W7 SP1. Would this by chance have anything to do with my issue?

[Caiyuo]

No idea on it, have you tried posting in Randon Question thread for XI? Seems like you'd have a much better shot

[Mikus]

Yeah I did. No response. So far, POL looks better though. Hopefully it works out.

[Purrrfect]

Is that a laptop you're using? I'd assume at any rate its a lcd screen, and when you try to use resolutions other than the native (likely 1440x900) they don't scale well like old crt monitors. Fonts and thin lines typically look blurry/fuzzy. Have you tried running windower in windowed mode and let windows stay at 1440x900? The game won't be full screen but it should show up right. Maybe you can try various resolutions that have the same 16:10 aspect ratio. Try 1200x750, and I think its probably good to make your background the same aspect as your foreground, but I'm just guessing there.

[Mikus]

I'll play with it. It's a LCD monitor. It's just weird because when I was using Vista on the same computer, I didn't have this problem.

[Salodin]

What do people use to download music? Don't want to look for discographys on demonoid all the time. ty

[hey]

what.cd is apparently one of the best.

[Qeomash]

So, as I appear to have lost my SNES->USB and GCN->USB adapters and I just realized how epic it would be if someone made a computer case front panel that included NES/SNES/Sega/PS2/N64/GCN controller ports.

[hey]

So, as I appear to have lost my SNES->USB and GCN->USB adapters and I just realized how epic it would be if someone made a computer case front panel that included NES/SNES/Sega/PS2/N64/GCN controller ports.

Considering all three current gen controllers connect via blue tooth, i'd have to question the need for such a thing. Does it really bother you that much to just use a ps3/x360 controller?

I mean, it's a cool idea and all, but...why?

[Qeomash]

Considering all three current gen controllers connect via blue tooth, i'd have to question the need for such a thing. Does it really bother you that much to just use a ps3/x360 controller?

I mean, it's a cool idea and all, but...why?

Don't own a PS3, and I'm pretty sure the 360 is not bluetooth. Mostly I think it would be awesome, but also because I have plenty of old controllers for old systems and being able to use them is pretty awesome.

[Caiyuo]

trying to sort this out on paper and looking for another set of eyes to see if I'm not over-complicating cables and adapters:

[PS3] 
(video) HDMI Female slot => HDMI Male cable end <-> HDMI Male cable end => HDMI Female/DVI Male adapter => DVI Female port

(audio) AV cable with RCA audio male ends => RCA L/R Female to 3.5mm Male cable => 3.5mm 2 Female into 1 Female adapter => 3.5mm Male computer speakers

The 2 female to 1 Female adapter is to have both the PS3 and Computer audio into the same source so I wouldn't need to switch the cables every time. Can try to write it in plain english if it helps.