The computer and electronics super geek superthread...

[azrael]

The Dimension I have has the easy-remove side panel, but that didn't really help the GPU (I crashed with thermal artifacting even with it open...) and theDimension doesn't actually HAVE a fan... just some stupid giant CPU heatsink assembly that takes up more space than the hard-disks and optical drives... adding an actual case fan should alleviate the problem I'm told by ACTUALLY ADDING an airflow.

Yep, sounds like a Dell. Even if it did have a fan, it would have only been blowing air at or away from the CPU. As suggested, you may want to consider an after-market GPU cooler. In your case, I doubt 1 case fan is going to help, especially when you play for a long duration. Crysis is a heavy GPU-using game. I don't know if that 1 case fan will be able to keep up.

And for those of you that didn't know, normal Dells come with only 1 case fan or don't have any fans in their cases. Reduces noise greatly considering that the only fan running would be the PSU fan. Many Dell systems now come with fans, but like their predecessors, those fans are moving air to or from the CPU. The only exception to the rule are the XPS systems, which actually do have decent cooling. However, most Dell systems are likely to never see heavy gaming usage so that's the idea behind the lack of fans.

[promethuem5]

Thing is there's not enough room in the case for a different on-the card GPU cooling solution, so an actual case-fan and increased GPU fan-speeds are going to have to suffice... with the fan set to 75% with RivaTuner today I did manage to play Crysis for a good long time without any problems, so I figure an actual case-fan should help enough, seeing as the problem clearly isn't a gigantic one... more like it just reaches unacceptable temps bc/ of the cramped circulation-less interior of the case.

[mikeszekely]

Wow, thanks Mike. So 15-20 is all I need for the OS and some other stuff? I'm gonna' give that a try. I tend to format my HD's every 6 months or so, and this procedure might make it easier...

A quick tip before you get started, if you know the manufacturer of the hard drive, go to their website (of if you've bought a hard drive recently, you might already have a disc with it), download their "Data Lifeguard Tools" (or whatever they use, I know that's what Western Digital uses), and burn it to a disc. Back your data up, and then start the computer from the disc you burned. You'll totally reformat the hard drive, but the tools included will partition the disc for you. Then, when you reinstall Windows, just pick the C:\ partition. Works like a charm.

[mikeszekely]

OK, here's my situation. I've been downloading C&M's Gundam 00 fansubs, and I'm bored, so I figured I'd give Kissdum a try while I'm there (if it's holding up Frontier, might as well see what the fuss is). Now, apparently Kissdum is Vorbis audio and video in an mkv container, which for all Mastroka's grandiose posturing about how it's aiming to be the new standard in video, DivX (or Xvid) video in an avi container is still pretty much the default. Now, I'm not saying that DivX is better, but it is definitely more convenient. My DVD player has a DivX decoder, in fact, and the PS3 is getting one (I've heard rumors that DivX and Apple might even be playing nice, and the Apple TV and iPods may play DivX in the future... same goes for Microsoft and the Xbox 360).

So, while I have everything necessary to play an mkv file on my Windows PC with VLC (haven't bothered to try on my Mac), I prefer to watch videos on my DVD player (it can even read from a USB flash drive), so I strongly prefer avi. And while Gundam 00 is delivered in both mkv and avi formats, Kissdum is mkv only. So I've spent the better part of the day trying to convert mkv to avi, and while I've had great success creating an avi file my DVD player likes, I cannot find a way to keep the subtitle track. I mean, an avi with an srt file still wouldn't help my DVD player, but I'm not even getting an srt file.

Which brings me to why I'm posting in this thread: HELP! Does anyone know of any software I can use to convert an mkv with a video, audio, and subtitle stream to avi with subtitles that I can eventually watch on my DVD player?

[Gunbuster]

do you have the phillips 642? if you do, it does take STR files for the AVI files. you have to first tag the STR, then play the AVI and press the subtitle button

you can rip the subs from the mkv file into the STRs

[Hiriyu]

Today was official release day for Crysis in the US. Ran out and picked up my copy this afternoon, and have been playing since. It's a fantastic game, and it scales well enough even to play on my older single-core P4 system. Anybody else playing?

[mikeszekely]

do you have the phillips 642? if you do, it does take STR files for the AVI files. you have to first tag the STR, then play the AVI and press the subtitle button

you can rip the subs from the mkv file into the STRs

I have the Phillips 5960. I don't know if it takes str files or not, but I guess if the 642 does, it might. But I still haven't figured out how to get an str file from the mkv's subtitle stream. I've been messing around with Video Cleaner Pro. Can you suggest a software I should try?

[Gunbuster]

I have the Phillips 5960. I don't know if it takes str files or not, but I guess if the 642 does, it might. But I still haven't figured out how to get an str file from the mkv's subtitle stream. I've been messing around with Video Cleaner Pro. Can you suggest a software I should try?

yes, the 5960 does take SRT files as well. Have you tried "MKVEXtract" to extract the ASS file out of the MKV files and then use Subtitle Workshop 2.51 to convert it into a SRT?

Edited November 18, 2007 by Gunbuster

[mikeszekely]

yes, the 5960 does take SRT files as well. Have you tried "MKVEXtract" to extract the ASS file out of the MKV files and then use Subtitle Workshop 2.51 to convert it into a SRT?

No, great, I'll look for those programs later and I'll see what I can do with them.

EDIT: Well, it's a bit round about to download a file, convert it to avi, rip the subs, then convert the subs...

...but it works smashingly! Thanks a million!

Edited November 18, 2007 by mikeszekely

[David Hingtgen]

A little OT but close enough:

Suggestions for a new printer? My current printer is years (and years) old. (HP 832C) It still works perfectly, it just isn't really capable of printing photos well (nor at all quickly). And since I haven't had a film camera in years, my printer's the only way to get hard copies of my pictures without heading down to Wal-Mart.

Budget? 200 bucks maybe? 150'd be better, but if 200 gets way better photo abilities, that'd be worth it. Speed isn't TOO much of a concern, anything's faster than what I have now when it comes to printing a photo. (All inkjets print out reports and spreadsheets equally well and fast IMHO, how they print photos is the real test) I like to print BIG though if I'm printing a hard copy, full 8.5x11 sheets when possible. Not a bunch of litle 3x5's.

I have a couple requests/requirements:

1. Not very tall. My printer's in a sliding drawer, so it can't be more than 7.5 inches tall. (And it can only be 16 inches front to back--but most printers are fine in that dimension)

2. If it could scan, that'd be nice, but most "all-in-one" things are quite tall and deep.

3. Separate ink for each color would save me money. For as long as I've printed in color, I've only ever had "CMY" cartridges that run out of yellow, but red and blue are still half-full. I'm always buying new catridges that are still half-full, but out of yellow. Don't know why, but I go through yellow way faster than the others.

4. Good with printing envelopes. Some printers are very finicky, I like a dedicated envelope slot or tray spacer or something that's quick and easy to have it print envelopes without a fuss.

PS---I still like big parallel cables on LPT1 for printers. USB-only is ok, but not preferred.

[azrael]

It's going to be a tad hard to find a printer with a LPT port.....

Try the Epson Stylus All-In-One CX8400 (or the CX9400) or a Canon PIXMA MP210 All-In-One (or the MP470).

[mikeszekely]

It's going to be a tad hard to find a printer with a LPT port.....

Try the Epson Stylus All-In-One CX8400 (or the CX9400) or a Canon PIXMA MP210 All-In-One (or the MP470).

I had a Stylus a few years back. Granted, it was CX3200, but I absolutely do NOT recommend them. The ink cartridges were some of the more expensive at the time, and it went through said ink like green beer through a lightweight on St. Patty's. It wound up being an expensive stand to elevate my newer Samsung.

EDIT: And LPT ports? The 90's called, David, and they want their tech back. Next you'll be telling me you back your data on ZIP drives...

Edited November 27, 2007 by mikeszekely

[David Hingtgen]

Hey, I like having all the cables look different--makes it easy to track them when hooking and unhooking things. Plus even new PC's only have so many USB ports. (though all my Firewire ones are unused)

This PC's old, it'll be replaced in a year or two. Might be my longest-used PC ever. Almost nothing'll work with the motherboard anymore. Hard enough to find AGP graphics cards...

I plan to re-use this one's new DVD-ROM and possibly power supply in the new one, but probably nothing else.

[David Hingtgen]

Ok, maybe a stupid question, but as you can tell I haven't even looked at printers in many years.

Why would one buy a printer that's not a photo printer? Photo printers seem capable of printing "normally" as well and don't seem to inherently cost any more. Or do cheap photo printers suck? (Because the high-end ones greatly surpass normal printers in price)

Or, since photos are the only "upgrade" I'm looking for, should I just buy a small, cheaper photo printer and only hook it up on the occasions I need it, rather than buying an all-new printer for everything?

PS---a lot of time I'm just looking more for "raw ink/color density" than "smooth glossy finish"---as in printing a photo as best I can on normal cheap paper. Are any printers especially good at that?

PPS--I do have a ZIP disk here somewhere, leftover from college.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, maybe a stupid question, but as you can tell I haven't even looked at printers in many years.

Why would one buy a printer that's not a photo printer? Photo printers seem capable of printing "normally" as well and don't seem to inherently cost any more. Or do cheap photo printers suck? (Because the high-end ones greatly surpass normal printers in price)

Or, since photos are the only "upgrade" I'm looking for, should I just buy a small, cheaper photo printer and only hook it up on the occasions I need it, rather than buying an all-new printer for everything?

PS---a lot of time I'm just looking more for "raw ink/color density" than "smooth glossy finish"---as in printing a photo as best I can on normal cheap paper. Are any printers especially good at that?

PPS--I do have a ZIP disk here somewhere, leftover from college.

Are we talking about the difference between photo and photo quality? Most of the dedicated photo printers I've seen print paper that's the same size as you'd get if you had Konica develop your film at Giant Eagle.

As much as I do know about computers, printers aren't really an area of expertise for me. I'd been without a printer for a long time, since I didn't feel like replacing the ink the the Epson, and I bought the printer I have now because I wanted a color laser, and Staples had a good Black Friday deal. But it's a low-end printer, and it does a pretty lousy job printing photos, but it made me a nice cover for my copy of Wii Sports.

[azrael]

Why would one buy a printer that's not a photo printer? Photo printers seem capable of printing "normally" as well and don't seem to inherently cost any more. Or do cheap photo printers suck? (Because the high-end ones greatly surpass normal printers in price)

Or, since photos are the only "upgrade" I'm looking for, should I just buy a small, cheaper photo printer and only hook it up on the occasions I need it, rather than buying an all-new printer for everything?

PS---a lot of time I'm just looking more for "raw ink/color density" than "smooth glossy finish"---as in printing a photo as best I can on normal cheap paper. Are any printers especially good at that?

PPS--I do have a ZIP disk here somewhere, leftover from college.

Photo printers are glorified color printers. Photo printers allow for more colors to be used and reproduced. Some HP photo printers use 6 colors instead of the standard 4. The question you should ask yourself is, do you want your pictures to print out as best as they can or is standard good enough. If you want to have your picture looking it's best, consider using photo paper instead of standard paper. The thickness and density of photo paper is designed to take large amounts of ink. On standard paper, a page full of ink would soak through.

[1 VF-1 2NV]

Can anyone recommend a great dvd and video to ipod software? If so, what are it's computer/technical requirements?

Also, performance wise which setup is better assuming all is identical except the following:

1GB MEMORY/7200 RPM HARD DRIVE OR 2GB MEMORY/5400 RPM HARD DRIVE

[mikeszekely]

Can anyone recommend a great dvd and video to ipod software? If so, what are it's computer/technical requirements?

Also, performance wise which setup is better assuming all is identical except the following:

1GB MEMORY/7200 RPM HARD DRIVE OR 2GB MEMORY/5400 RPM HARD DRIVE

Are you talking laptop or desktop? I don't see any reason to go with a 5400 RPM hard drive in a desktop, but the speed gain in a laptop is, IMHO, trivial, and the slower hard drive will give a laptop better battery life.

As for RAM, the OS has a lot to do with it, as well as what you want to do with your computer. If you're running Linux, Windows XP, or Mac OS X Tiger, and you're doing mostly web browsing and what not, you can get by with a gig, but that's become the new comfortable minimum. If you're running Windows Vista or Mac OS X Leopard, or you do a lot of gaming or multitasking, you're going to want 2. Honestly, if you can afford to pay a little more, RAM is a low-cost way of getting solid all-around performance gains.

If you're looking at laptops, it's worth noting that it's often cheaper to buy a laptop in the default configuration and buy RAM later. I think it would have cost over $200 more to go from 512MB to 2GB in my MacBook if I would have ordered it that way from Apple, but I replaced the RAM myself for around $70.

As far as software for copying DVDs to iPods, are you using Windows? If you are, try Videora iPod Converter. You can even download model-specific versions. You'll need another program, DVD Decrypter, to convert a DVD, but links and instructions come with the software. I couldn't find minimum requirements, but it's worth trying, since it's free.

If you're a Mac user, try Handbrake.

[1 VF-1 2NV]

Thanks. I am currently shopping for a new laptop. I have a 4-5 yr old Pentium 4 laptop/win xp/1gb ram/40gb hd. I'll probably wait till the end of the year to buy a new one. I understand that there Intel is going to release a new chip next year so I may wait even longer for a discount on the current crop of laptops. Leaning toward a windows computer, but may be swayed to try an apple if the price is right.

I spend alot of time on airplanes. I have the ipod touch. I want to convert my dvd library so that I can watch it on my pod. What about Cucusoft, Avex, PQdvd? ANyone try these software titles.

[emajnthis]

Are you talking laptop or desktop? I don't see any reason to go with a 5400 RPM hard drive in a desktop, but the speed gain in a laptop is, IMHO, trivial, and the slower hard drive will give a laptop better battery life.

Agreed; I'm going to assume you're discussing laptops too since i doubt you'd be between these two speeds in a desktop. If it's a desktop replacement laptop and you're going with a high end processor, you can go short on the RAM only (like Mike said) if you have prospects to upgrade for cost savings. If this is your run of the mill entertainment PC and battery life is somewhat important, then go with the 5400rpm.

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

the only thing you have to remember is (most of the time) larger plates on a 5400rpm HDD will access just as fast as most 7200rpm HDD's... So if you need space, then go w/ space over the rpm of the actual HDD...

also, I bought a new 120gb Seagate from CompUSA on their Thanksgiving Day sale...It's in my laptop now. My laptop is a second gen centrino running at 1.6ghz w/ 1.5gb of ram and XP Pro...I noticed it runs a lot faster than it's original 60gb 4200rpm drive and I got better battery life...my only grip is that it runs really hot while the old one ran super cool to almost no heat at all...my laptop's also around 2.5 yrs old now too..

btw, I was thinking of possibly getting a 2.13ghz Pentium M processor for my laptop, any of you think it's enough of a leap from 1.6ghz to be worth upgrading? I've started to do a lot of photo editing and music editing....I figured I might as well try to get as much out of it as I can...I still love this thing...

[emajnthis]

the only thing you have to remember is (most of the time) larger plates on a 5400rpm HDD will access just as fast as most 7200rpm HDD's... So if you need space, then go w/ space over the rpm of the actual HDD...

also, I bought a new 120gb Seagate from CompUSA on their Thanksgiving Day sale...It's in my laptop now. My laptop is a second gen centrino running at 1.6ghz w/ 1.5gb of ram and XP Pro...I noticed it runs a lot faster than it's original 60gb 4200rpm drive and I got better battery life...my only grip is that it runs really hot while the old one ran super cool to almost no heat at all...my laptop's also around 2.5 yrs old now too..

btw, I was thinking of possibly getting a 2.13ghz Pentium M processor for my laptop, any of you think it's enough of a leap from 1.6ghz to be worth upgrading? I've started to do a lot of photo editing and music editing....I figured I might as well try to get as much out of it as I can...I still love this thing...

I don't have personal experience judging between the 1.6 and 2.13 M, but i do with the core 2 duo (company laptop is a 1.6, i personally own a 2.33) and it's leaps a bounds faster. In fact, an upgrade that dramatic is definitely going to be leaps and bounds faster regardless of what type of processor it is.

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

I just know the 1.6ghz Pentium M is rated to be as fast as a 2.39ghz Pentium 4...

btw, I have a Toshiba Tecra A4...

do you think I'd need to update the bios also for a cpu upgrade?

Edited November 28, 2007 by Dat Pinche Haro!

[mikeszekely]

I just know the 1.6ghz Pentium M is rated to be as fast as a 2.39ghz Pentium 4...

btw, I have a Toshiba Tecra A4...

do you think I'd need to update the bios also for a cpu upgrade?

Hard to say. One of the primary reasons I still use Windows on my desktops is because they're easy to pick apart, but laptops are a huge pain. I'll do hard drive and RAM upgrades, but if it needs more than that, I'm off to the Apple Store for a new Mac notebook.

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

The way my laptop was designed gives access to the parts that you'd want to upgrade...I have easy access to the RAM, HDD, CPU, ethernet/wireless cards....it's a pain to upgrade the drive tho...I took mine almost all apart, and before I realize it, i had parts all over the place...and the DVD burner I bought didn't even fit...it stuck out about half an inch so I'm kind of stuck with this combo drive til I come across something that could fit...

[mikeszekely]

The way my laptop was designed gives access to the parts that you'd want to upgrade...I have easy access to the RAM, HDD, CPU, ethernet/wireless cards....it's a pain to upgrade the drive tho...I took mine almost all apart, and before I realize it, i had parts all over the place...and the DVD burner I bought didn't even fit...it stuck out about half an inch so I'm kind of stuck with this combo drive til I come across something that could fit...

Honestly, even with a BIOS update, the voltages on Pentium 4/M/D chips are slightly different from the Core Duo/Core 2 Duo lines, so at best your processor is going to be a faster version of what you've already got, but still a significant step down from a Core 2 Duo (and Intel's still got some pretty sweet processors debuting in 2008). And while HDDs are pretty standardized, opticals aren't. My honest advice? Think carefully about what you want your laptop to do. If what you got works, add some RAM and maybe a new processor for some extra speed. But if you think you need the upgrades to get the laptop to where you want to be, you're really better off buying a new laptop.

Oh, something I forgot to mention before...

Leaning toward a windows computer, but may be swayed to try an apple if the price is right.

The price probably isn't. If you're looking for serious gaming on your laptop, I think the MacBook Pros hold up favorably to anything Dell or HP is offering, but for the basics, you can buy a Windows unit for $500-$700 on any given day, and I've seen sales as low as $230. Apple's pricing is pretty much set in stone, and the cheapest laptop they sell is the $1100 MacBook. IMHO, though, the MacBook is totally worth it. After using mine for about almost a year and a half now, pretty much all other laptops look chunky to me. OS X (yes, I did upgrade to Leopard) is cleaner, neater, more polished, and easier to use than Windows without being too restrictive or dumbed down. If it wasn't for the fact that Mac gaming is very sparse (although Boot Camp in Leopard fixes that issue) and the fact that Apples are designed to work with specific parts and pretty much need to be serviced by Apple Geniuses when something needs fixed, I would have totally abandoned Windows by now. As it is, since laptop parts are fairly proprietary anyway, I'll never buy another Windows laptop. But I like poking around inside my desktops, and the Mac Pro is really out of my price range, so I'm stuck building Windows desktops.

Yeah, yeah, I know there's Linux, and I've tried a few distros, but it seems like each distro has its own set of standards that make installing new software a pain in the ass. And as much as I adore open source software, I'm not big on open-source formats like Vorbis. That wouldn't be such a big deal if getting new codecs was simple (there are a few good tricks for Ubuntu), but installing new codecs can be as painful as installing new software.

[azrael]

OS X (yes, I did upgrade to Leopard) is cleaner, neater, more polished, and easier to use than Windows without being too restrictive or dumbed down.

I will say this about Leopard, at least most settings have stayed where they should have compared to Vista. I didn't feel like I was trying to find a needle in the haystack with Leopard compared to Vista. The time I spent configuring Leopard with settings I prefer was much less than the time I spent configuring Vista preferences.

[Dangard Ace]

<Snip>

Oh, something I forgot to mention before...

The price probably isn't. If you're looking for serious gaming on your laptop, I think the MacBook Pros hold up favorably to anything Dell or HP is offering, ...

<snip>

I found this question and answer really ironic, especially when you consider the source of the answer.

What is the fastest Vista laptop (as of Nov.7, 2007) as reported by PC World? Mac Book Pro.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-p...ks/article.html

Fastest: Apple MacBook Pro

The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows.

Further in in the article they compare gaming on an Alienware laptop and the MBP comes out something like 10-15frames faster.

[mikeszekely]

I found this question and answer really ironic, especially when you consider the source of the answer.

What is the fastest Vista laptop (as of Nov.7, 2007) as reported by PC World? Mac Book Pro.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-p...ks/article.html

Fastest: Apple MacBook Pro

The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows.

Further in in the article they compare gaming on an Alienware laptop and the MBP comes out something like 10-15frames faster.

Yeah, at times I really wish I would have waited a little longer for the Pro, but on the other hand, I don't game much (I bought but never got around to Neverwinter Nights 2), and I think the white MacBook looks better than the bigger aluminum Pro. Considering that I could have bought two MacBooks for the price of one Pro, it was too hard to justify the extra price. If you're looking for a desktop replacement, the MacBook Pro is definitely a good choice (and $2500 is a fair price for a desktop replacement). But if you just need a multimedia and web browsing notebook, the regular MacBook is still a great choice.

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

well, windows decided to take a dump on itself and took the harddrive with it...i feel stupid that i didn't install xp myself when i first got it...now i'm stick with a brick that'll load but won't let me open internet explorer or even allow me access to the task bar...i'm really really super pissed off...right now, i'm in the middle of backing everything up...all i was doing was reading an article about a missing kid (who ended up being a porn star) and yeah, it crashed on me...i can't even copy anything over...it's really annoying i guess i'll have to get another external to back my stuff up...it's really a pain to do too...even with all it's flaws, i still liked this desktop...if i can't repair it, i'll just sell the damned thing... i think i'll keep my laptop configured as it is now...at least that way i don't run into fear of it ever messing up on me...altho, the heat from the new harddrive still bothers me...but at least it's whisper quiet as the old one...

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

so I can't take the password off my profile...right now, I'm using the useless HDD as an external to copy everything I can.... I'm just pissed off that I can't access the My Documents folder...I've looked around online to try to find a solution or a workaround to get all my photos...from that friggin' folder... if anyone has a tip or could direct me in the right direction, let me know!

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

well, i found a little work around...i'm still able to archive files...so i've been archiving all my pictures into files on my thumbdrives and externals...hopefully i can do a full system recovery within a couple days...yay!! i have about 5gb or more in the my documents folder... well, at least part of the headache is over!!

Edited November 30, 2007 by Dat Pinche Haro!

[emajnthis]

well, i found a little work around...i'm still able to archive files...so i've been archiving all my pictures into files on my thumbdrives and externals...hopefully i can do a full system recovery within a couple days...yay!! i have about 5gb or more in the my documents folder... well, at least part of the headache is over!!

i just noticed your situation; use puppy linux, burn it to a CD (it's an ISO) and then pop it into your CD drive. It works like a charm. I'll get links for it later, i'm at work and being lazy

Edited November 30, 2007 by emajnthis

[David Hingtgen]

I've been checking printers, and the problem is, almost none will physically fit where it has to. Of those that do, the text quality sucks, or the photos aren't good enough to make it worth buying a new one. Arrrgh. And a new desk costs more than any printer, plus it'd be a heck of a lot of work to disassemble and haul away the old one. (Big old oak desk from my parents) Plus you just don't see ones with slide-away printer drawers any more.

There does seem to be a "superior in every way" pinter out there. Canon's ip5300. But it's only sold in Europe, India, Australia, and Canada. WTF? I may import it, seems many people in the US do. But it won't fit anyways, it's a top-loader.

Current "most likely, if any" ones are HP's 7x60 series, (they fit, and have the absolutely-required separate tank for each ink color feature, but the text quality seems poor from the initial demo tests---which is bad when 80% of what I print is pure text), and HP's 43xx series---which while having good text and decent photos, has the "all in one" color ink tanks, which will cost me the cost of the printer in sheer wasted ink in just 2 refills. My #1 requirement probably is "separate tanks for each ink color". I've wasted hundreds of dollars over the years (OLD printer, but still as good as it gets for raw text from an inkjet--and very fast and reliable) of 2/3 full cyan and magenta ink, because yellow ran out. It's always yellow, regardless of design. People with the printers I'm interested in with separate ink tanks have reported buying 2 replacement tanks of yellow, yet cyan and magenta are still 1/2 full.

Annoyingly, the HP C8180, while costing more, has good quality and speed in all aspects, and separate ink tanks (6 of them) but is just one-half inch too tall. (And I seriously considered chopping out my lower shelf's upper layer to lower the printer drawer, but it won't work---there's nothing left).

(Only HP seems to make bottom-loaders any more, every top-loader is WAY too tall when the paper's loaded)

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

I was wondering if anyone here uses a UI theme changer like StyleXP, WindowBlinds, or just a UX theme changer...

I have a lot of visual styles that I've downloaded in the past... just never used them...

any ideas of what's worth getting?