OT-Need to buy new desktop ASAP. What to buy?

[scaredyclassic]

i would buy an ipad and a really expensive squat rack.

however, i have neither.

i have a cheap squat rack, champion step barbell. $300 shipped from amazon.

but i love it!

it’s a great rack. took literally 20 minutes to assemble.

rock solid.

but i will be needing an upgrade when i am squatting 500-600 lbs.

my kid said he could see my bar visibly flexing a little with just 175. that pleases me.

the 3 year old mac we have is still good. am i really a sucker for buyign MAC products?

it just seems like less of a hassle.

[paramount]

[quote=squat250]
the 3 year old mac we have is still good. am i really a sucker for buyign MAC products?

it just seems like less of a hassle.[/quote]

I don’t know about sucker, but the hassle factor/gap between mac and windows has really closed.

Windows 7 is VERY GOOD.

[sdrealtor]

Have ipad and a laptop but no squat rack.

[fat_lazy_union]

[quote=AN]flu, I agree that SSD hasn’t been out long enough to test their reliability, but according to their MTBF data, it “should” last. However, I do agree that if you have important data, you have 2 options, get a standard mechanical drive to store it in (I have a couple 300GB sitting around if you want it for free sdr). Standard HDD are dirt cheap again, so for ~$100, you can get > 1.5TB.

The reason why I’m so positive on SSD for everyone is because it improve speed on the part where people will notice the most, which is boot up & launching apps. Due to the speed of SSD, you might not need to get more memory, because even if you start paging due to low memory, SSD should be fast enough for you not to notice a performance hit due to paging.

If sdr want to wait for W8, I would suggest get the SSD and reinstall Vista on it too.

My personal computer isn’t nearly as swanky as yours flu. I’m still running on an overclocked Core 2 Duo. I’m just waiting for the day when I can get 64GB of RAM for a reasonable price, then I’ll upgrade :-). Compiling code isn’t the only thing that make you need a faster computer. Photo and Video editing will do that too. If you do a lot of photo & video editing, then it’ll be a good idea to get a few 3TB HDD to store those HUGE files on as well. SSD can’t help you there.

WRT Dinan chip, I think they’re over priced for what you get. I’d probably get the Vishnu chip or the countless other chips out there that make more power for less. The chips are quite easy to install and remove, so if something happen, you can always remove it and bring it to the dealer :-D.[/quote]

AN, you have to understand. I hate upgrading a PC. Because I immediately think cash in the trash. My last PC upgrade was about 5-6 years ago, before my kid was born. I usually go dumpster diving and get the PC’s that my friends don’t want because they always want the latest and greatest, and so would give them to me or give them at a really dirt cheap price.. Or if I get a different project/assignment, the company got me a computer to my spec as part of the deal… The MAC thing I got out out necessity recently because I needed to get something that had iOS at the time…And while I was at it, wanted something that was fast enough to build linux kernels and Android from source…My mac partition is exactly 20gb, the smallest I can make it because I really don’t use it. I probably won’t be upgrading for another 5-6 years.

Regarding photos. I’ve recently started to take 18mp pictures with a camera I also got recently (after using a Digital Rebel XT for 6 years too)…And I total agree, it chews up storage space like there’s no tomorrow, especially if you shoot raw….Recently, I caved in and got the picasa updated storage…Aside from picasa, it also increases your gmail and google docs storage, so for raw images that I can’t upload to picasa, I store it in google docs.

WRT Dinan: Dinan chips are definitely overpriced. But for folks still under warranty, i think it’s worth it…Most other chips don’t have a drivetrain warranty. Last week, i was excited to see that they finally released one for my truck…

http://www.dinancars.com/shop/index.aspx?series=X-Series&model=X5-xDrive35i#page=1

Lol… I know I’m crazy, but if I’m going to be tooting around in an SUV, it’s gonna be chipped and or turbo’ed up the ying yang!… I’m going to track the X5 one of these days :)….So… idiot me decides maybe I can try to do a few trades last week since it was so volatile. Big mistake. $3500 loss later, I’m going WTF was I thinking…So….Anyone says they’re a stock market expert. I’m pretty confident they’re only telling half truths….Me? I don’t mind talking about when I do something stupid… But anyway, I digress….

Interesting side note.
The stage 1 N54 chip produces 360hp/373 lbs tq…
The state 2 N54 chip produces 378/415 lbs t q.
The N55 chip is a stage 2 and produces 355hp/401 lbs tq.

I always said the N54 were better engines from a tuning perspective. Too bad that you need a fuel pressure reg upgrade too though..

[an]

flu, you also have to understand that I don’t upgrade my computers that often. The last time I upgraded was over 4 years ago. I don’t intend to upgrade again probably for at least another 2-4 years. When I do upgrade, I don’t upgrade everything at once either. The case, the power supply, the hard drive, etc. tend to be carried over and I just upgrade the motherboard/CPU/memory. I also don’t upgrade to the top of the line stuff. I just upgrade to the 2nd tier, so I’m OK with throwing away $300-400 every 6-8 years or so on the computer. Hell, I’m throwing away much more money than that in gas.

Between my pictures and home videos, I already have 300GB worth of data. It’s only growing from there, and most of those pictures were from my lowly XTi. I recently upgrade to a XSi, so my photo collections will only grow that much faster. Which is why I LOVE flickr. For a pro account, you get unlimited space AND you get to upload your RAW. It’s also much much cheaper than any other solutions out there right now. For docs and other misc, I just use the 25GB free space from Skydrive and that is way more than enough for me for all non-media related files.

Can BMW tell if you had chipped your car even if you remove it before you bring it in for service? AFAIK, they should be able to tell. If they can’t, then they shouldn’t be able to void your warranty. But I agree that if you want to have that peace of mind, Dinan is the way to go.

Upgrading fuel pressure regulator and adding oil cooler shouldn’t be “that” expensive. You gotta pay to play :-D. I’m pondering between a 535 wagon or a M5 as my next car (used of course). I’m glad BMW went with 4.4L Turbo V8. Too bad it doesn’t have a wagon variant. That’d be my choice.

[paramount]

[quote=flu][quote=paramount]I wouldn’t buy Windows 7, just run the Windows 8 Beta/preview – it’s free and by now very stable.[/quote]

That’s why I would just not bother to upgrade a PC right now…

Paramount. Do you have an MSDN account?[/quote]

Nope…

[paramount]

I was considering installing a BMS Powerbox in my 328i; remaps the throttle and provides 10hp extra.

About 300 bucks.

Even if I don’t, the 328i is still plenty fast.

I’m often surprised on the freeway though when ‘lesser’ cars are handily passing me up.

The left lane on the I-15S going into and through San Diego is 90MPH+ minimum during morning rush.

[an]

Just saw this video on the drop test of a Thinkpad: Linky. Water test: linky. This is why I won’t buy any laptop other than Thinkpad. Try doing that to any Mac and tell me what happen :-).

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]Just saw this video on the drop test of a Thinkpad: Linky. Water test: linky. This is why I won’t buy any laptop other than Thinkpad. Try doing that to any Mac and tell me what happen :-).[/quote]

AN. I would have to disagree with you somewhat.
When Thinkpads were still owned by IBM, yes I thought they were rock solid…But ever since Lenovo took over, the brief Lenovo laptops I used weren’t really reliable.

I think by far the most reliable solid laptops I’ve used were Sony Vaio …

I use to think Dell was junk…But their quality has gotten better imho…

I really liked the Panasonic toughbook concept…
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/fully-rugged-laptop.asp

[an]

[quote=flu]AN. I would have to disagree with you somewhat.
When Thinkpads were still owned by IBM, yes I thought they were rock solid…But ever since Lenovo took over, the brief Lenovo laptops I used weren’t really reliable.

I think by far the most reliable solid laptops I’ve used were Sony Vaio …

I use to think Dell was junk…But their quality has gotten better imho…

I really liked the Panasonic toughbook concept…
http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/fully-rugged-laptop.asp%5B/quote%5D
I don’t have any Lenovo Thinkpad, so I can’t attest to their quality. But I did read from a couple of different sources that they’ve maintained if not improved on IBM’s quality.

Did you use the Lenovo Thinkpad or their other line? My brother got their Ideapad, because it’s cheaper, but it’s definitely wasn’t to the same quality as the Thinkpad.

I’m currently using the Dell Latitude E6400 and the quality is pretty so-so. The paint is chipping and the laptop itself overheats.

The Toughbook is definitely tough, but it’s too bulky for my taste.

[barnaby33]

You do realize if you don’t clean the fan every so often the computer will heat up, then slow down right? Defrag the disk, clean the fans and cull your registry. If that is too technical then just call dell and have them ship you a new one.
Josh

[Coronita]

[quote=barnaby33]You do realize if you don’t clean the fan every so often the computer will heat up, then slow down right? Defrag the disk, clean the fans and cull your registry. If that is too technical then just call dell and have them ship you a new one.
Josh[/quote]

I just use a garden hose and spray mine out every so often.

[an]

[quote=barnaby33]You do realize if you don’t clean the fan every so often the computer will heat up, then slow down right? Defrag the disk, clean the fans and cull your registry. If that is too technical then just call dell and have them ship you a new one.
Josh[/quote]
You’re telling this to someone who have been building his own computer for over a decade. Yes, I’m aware of keeping fan clean and I’m also aware of the latitude E6400 overheating issue. It’s well documented on the net. I haven’t needed to cull the registry for a long time. Maybe because I don’t do a lot of install of junk apps anymore. My computer have the MS dev suite, ms office, android dev suite, and adore suite. It’s when you do a lot of install and uninstall that make your registry a mess. Before, when that happen, I just format and reinstall everything. That does a better job than culling registry.

[an]

[quote=flu][quote=barnaby33]You do realize if you don’t clean the fan every so often the computer will heat up, then slow down right? Defrag the disk, clean the fans and cull your registry. If that is too technical then just call dell and have them ship you a new one.
Josh[/quote]

I just use a garden hose and spray mine out every so often.[/quote]
I use my Dyson and a can of air pressure.

[ifyousayso]

Just install ubuntu and it runs better than new. Doesn’t cost anything.

[Author]

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