Computer advice needed

[grumman581]

The performance gap of top of the line CPU 2 years ago and today is minmal. So a few generations behind might still be just as good. Just have to double check the specs. The CPU game has changed A LOT since sandy bridge

The biggest change was from the 8088 to the 80286 as far as I'm concerned. The 80286 was something like 6 times faster. Since then, the increase in speed between generations has been a LOT less spectacular.

[MtGun44]

+1 on grumman581.

Most people have ZERO need for a computer, they want a game/ video/ picviewer/phone/netbrowser thingamabob - and have used a computer to
do that job for some time. They are leaving PCs for phones and all these
other tools - which are NOT computers.

Those of us that earn a living creating content, designing, making, shipping and such NEED a REAL
PC that can do a lot of standard software like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, various databases and
lots of specialized applications like engineering simulation. These silly little Win8 toys are not
business tools, and a big chunk of the market is for business tools. Win8 is/was never a viable
business tool. It is a phone OS and intended to do a few simple things more easily for a person
that does NOT want to use "computer stuff", they want to do game/video/picviewer/phone/netbrowser
stuff. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these needs, it is just that an OS optimized for
them is worthless for the business market. This was the whole point - that Microsoft really
needed to have TWO "tools" - heck, they might have a 80-90% software functionality under the
skin, but they need fundamentally different USER INTERFACES and conceptual design.

I think this MIGHT be dawning on the bozos in charge. Maybe not, too.

An iPad is NOT a substitute for a business computer, but a business computer CAN
be made to replicate all the functions of an iPAD, but likely with package and interface
inconveniences that make the iPad, etc very viable tools for folks that need what it
offers. Frankly, a lot of folks would not even understand that an iPad class device
"isn't a computer" because it does everything THEY ever did with a computer. (and
likeley MORE!)

Alot of the misunderstanding here is because different groups see a computer as
ENTIRELY different things. Most of what I do with a computer at work would be
complete gibberish to a large part of the "computer" market. So when someone
here says "My iPad is the most fantastic computer I ever had." and another
person says "An iPad is a worthless piece of junk toy." - They are just talking past
each other - both are RIGHT - the problem is that they have completely different
functional needs.

Bill

[lars1367]

http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ Check it out for yourself. Once you go Mac, you'll never look back. I know they are expensive, but you can either pay for the computer upfront or over time with visits to the Freak-squad!
-Lars

[grumman581]

http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ Check it out for yourself. Once you go Mac, you'll never look back. I know they are expensive, but you can either pay for the computer upfront or over time with visits to the Freak-squad!
-Lars

Yeah, 128G makes for a good media player, but it doesn't make it a good REAL PC. If I was buying a laptop right now, 500G would be the minimum amount of secondary storage that I would find acceptable.

http://www.frys.com/product/7532966?...%20date:062413

So, $1K or an Apple with an 11" screen and 128G of secondary storage OR $358 for a PC laptop with a 15.7" screen and 500G of secondary storage... Take your pick...

If you find people are always warning you that you shouldn't run around with sharp pointy objects or you might hurt yourself, definitely you need an Apple and should be allowed nowhere near a PC (much less a UNIX / Linux box).

[Jammersix]

Ignorance.

An Apple is a UNIX-Linux box.

[grumman581]

Ignorance.

An Apple is a UNIX-Linux box.

And then they take all the useful features out of it so that you don't hurt yourself with it.

[H.Callahan]

Ignorance.

An Apple is a UNIX-Linux box.

And then they take all the useful features out of it so that you don't hurt yourself with it.

Amen, grumman581! Apple's OS may have started out life as Linux, but Apple gutted it in an attempt to prevent end-users from actually being able to do anything that Apple doesn't want you to. Kinda like liberals with gun control.

MTGun44 totally nailed the difference between a PC and a mobile device. Mobile devices are for content consumers. PCs are for content creators.

[grumman581]

Amen, grumman581! Apple's OS may have started out life as Linux, but Apple gutted it in an attempt to prevent end-users from actually being able to do anything that Apple doesn't want you to. Kinda like liberals with gun control.

MTGun44 totally nailed the difference between a PC and a mobile device. Mobile devices are for content consumers. PCs are for content creators.

Take something as simple as a web page like this one. If you want to go to the next page, you need to zoom into the area with the page numbers until the boxes with the numbers are nearly the size of your fingertip and then press the area with your finger. And then there are some web pages that refuse to cooperate and won't zoom. And I've had web pages where when you tried to do that, the Apple browser would crash. So, you think that you'll get around it by adding a mouse to your iPad, right? You even go buy a genuine Apple Bluetooth mouse. Nope, wishful thinking... Apple intentionally lobotomized the O/S by removing pointer support from it. Whereas with the Mac, they figured that their users were too stupid to handle more than one button on a mouse, with the iPad users, they figure that their users are too stupid to even be able to handle a SINGLE button.

It's an overpriced DVD player... Well, except for the fact that you can't actually play DVDs on it...

[Jammersix]

Apple envy is a terrible thing.

[grumman581]

Apple envy is a terrible thing.

Didn't know you were an Apple fanboy, Jammer...

[Jammersix]

Yup. Apple all the way, baby.

You still diving?

[grumman581]

Yup. Apple all the way, baby.

You still diving?

Not anywhere worth mentioning... I'm in Texas and even our best lakes are still crappy... How about you?

[Dale in Louisiana]

Not anywhere worth mentioning... I'm in Texas and even our best lakes are still crappy... How about you?

where in texas? I get around that state...

dale in Louisiana

[grumman581]

where in texas? I get around that state...

dale in Louisiana

Fort Bend County.

[Moonie]

Actually Apple left everything from BSD in, you just have to know where to get to it, as far as OS X is concerned. IOS is a different beast. I'm a UNIX/Linux security admin and I do enjoy OS X, but then I know how to get to the command line AND how to use it in OS X.

I haven't gotten into this discussion up to now as I have a different need in a machine, my laptop is a quad core (8 logical processors) with 2x500GB hard drives and 32GB of ram and runs Linux, but then I do alot of virtualization and programming. It also weighs about 9lbs...

[Jammersix]

Not anywhere worth mentioning... I'm in Texas and even our best lakes are still crappy... How about you?

Not so much. Age is taking a serious toll.

[Mal Paso]

This was the whole point - that Microsoft really
needed to have TWO "tools" - heck, they might have a 80-90% software functionality under the
skin, but they need fundamentally different USER INTERFACES and conceptual design.
Bill

As I understand it Microsoft is including the Old Start Menu in the first major update of Win 8. They might have heard you.

[MtGun44]

Me and a million other dissatisfied paying customers!

This article doesn't give me much hope that they have actually fixed much.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/26/tech...iew/index.html

Bill

[Moonie]

I'm not really liking win8 but thankfully up until now I hadn't had to worry with it. I've volunteered to be in charge of our church's computers, we use a check in system for our childrens church that runs on a couple of the new all-in-ones with touch screens. Great system but for the win8 they are running.

[grumman581]

Not so much. Age is taking a serious toll.

"We come into this world "bald, drooling, and incontinent" ... and we leave the same way..."

Just got back from a bit over a week in South Korea... Went there for other reasons, but I hauled all my dive gear with me (other than tanks) since I figured that I could rent a car, drive around the coast, and do some shore dives and maybe catch a ferry from the southern tip to Jeju island. That did not work out anyway close to that plan.

Turned out that you need an "international driving permit" to drive there. You can get one at AAA and it is just a multi-language translation of your existing driving license with no test or anything. You can ONLY get it from your home country while you are there, not once you have reached your destination country. Also, according to one of the dive shops that I approached to ask about renting tanks, they said that you need a permit from the Korean Coast Guard to do shore diving and the places that you can do it are extremely restricted.

So, I hauled my dive gear to Korea and back for nothing...