The computer and electronics super geek thread

[azrael]

Found out about a new problem, certain sites were getting blocked or never got connected to them, I thought all the time it was something about my country ISP which is why I had a VPN client to access them, turns out I can access those sites trough my other pc's with no problem, there's something really screwed up about my pc, I'm gonna reformat the HDD, thanks for the help azrael.

Before you do that, are you routing through a proxy?

Control Panel-> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings

(Firefox) Tools->Options->Advanced->Network->Settings

[Valkyrie addict]

Nope, not routing trough a proxy. Internet problems happen while using internet explorer, firefox or chrome.

Even while only streaming music with MPC or itunes.

The thing that I hate is that sometimes, I get no disconnections for a long time, and other times it keeps getting disconnected every damn minute and there's no time of day relation, it just happens whenever it feels like it.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Valkyrie addict

[Valkyrie addict]

f*ck me! I fixed the wireless disconnection issue, deleted a shitload of things I didn't need (old games and programs), fix some drivers that were still conflicting, change wifi channel and DNS numbers, stable signal, but still a bit laggy but barely noticeable.

Guess I won't have to reformat after all, will continue to troubleshoot and see.

[pfunk]

What a dumb A$$, I was doing a fresh install of W7 for a friend and forgot to get the network drivers from HP, glad the optical drive works fresh off the press

[ron5864]

What's with Windows Media Player and their "Server Execution Failed" problem. I can't open the Media Player or play any song/video on my new laptop. Thanks Microsoft.

[mikeszekely]

People still use Windows Media Player?

Well, the best suggestion I can make is to not use Windows Media Player. Try something like VLC. It's light, and it'll play just about any media file you can throw at it without the need to download any extra codecs.

If you're set on WMP, though, try this.

Click on the start menu, and search for "cmd". Right-click on it, and select "Run As Administrator". On the command prompt window that will open, type the following:

net localgroup "Administrators" "NT Authority\Local Service" /add

Then hit enter, and restart your computer.

[ron5864]

People still use Windows Media Player?

Well, the best suggestion I can make is to not use Windows Media Player. Try something like VLC. It's light, and it'll play just about any media file you can throw at it without the need to download any extra codecs.

If you're set on WMP, though, try this.

Click on the start menu, and search for "cmd". Right-click on it, and select "Run As Administrator". On the command prompt window that will open, type the following:

net localgroup "Administrators" "NT Authority\Local Service" /add

Then hit enter, and restart your computer.

Ok. Thanks mikeszekely. I will try that.

I bought this cheapy 15.6" Lenovo laptop for $299 for work travel. I was just setting it up out of the box when the Media Player failed. Maybe I should have bought an Asus Transformer, but then it does not run MS Powerpoint, Projects, Excel and Word on a big 15.6" screen.

[mikeszekely]

More seriously thinking about replacing my laptop with a better gaming one. I'm pretty set on iBuyPower's Valkyrie CZ-17... it's a little pricier than most of the other laptops I've been looking at, but you really seem to get a lot of bang for your buck.

I was already thinking to order one with a bigger hard drive than the default 500GB 5400RPM drive (initially I was thinking 1TB 5400RPM, but the 750GB 7200RPM drive is on sale right now). But now I see they're offering a choice of graphics card. The default option, which I figured I'd be fine with, is a GTX 670M, but for about $80 more I can get a GTX 675M. From what I'm reading, the 675M does offer, at least on paper, better performance than the 670M, but the 670M is quite competent (indeed, perhaps better than the GTX 465 I'm running in my desktop).

So I want your opinions... is max performance worth the extra money? Or can I save the $80 and order the laptop that much sooner?

[azrael]

The 675 probably is the better choice if you want performance. If you're worried about power usage, the 670 would be the better choice.

If you can, I would get the 750GB Hybrid HD (from Seagate) either from them or from Newegg (they have been on sale or reduced priced via coupon lately). It's a little more expensive than regular HDs for the same amount of storage but it doesn't break the bank like SSDs. I've been using them in my desktop and MBP and it's worked out really well cutting boot and some program launch times by half or better.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, I'm honestly not sure which I prefer. A little research says that I can actually run most of the games I have/want on high, if not maximum settings, with even a 660M. Which has the advantage of being readily available in an Asus laptop at my local Best Buy, in my price range. The difference between the 660M and the 670M doesn't seem as great as the difference between the 670M and the 675M. Decisions, decisions...

As for the hybrid drive, I'll keep it in mind. After I have a computer in hand, I can think about upgrades. Most of the computers I've been looking at have two hard drive bays anyway...

[BeyondTheGrave]

@ Mikeszekely

What would you recommend for a light gaming laptop?

Also is it wrong to think about building anew system even though this is only about 1 year old?

Edited July 1, 2012 by BeyondTheGrave

[azrael]

@ Mikeszekely

What would you recommend for a light gaming laptop?

Budget, screen size, other uses, etc?

Also is it wrong to think about building anew system even though this is only about 1 year old?

Depends. If you're an enthusiast, then no. If you under spec'd the computer when you originally built it and now regret the choices, no. If the thing is FUBAR and is cheaper to build a new system than repair the old one, then no.

[mikeszekely]

@ Mikeszekely

What would you recommend for a light gaming laptop?

As Az is hinting at, it's hard to say. What kinds of games do you want to play? Do you demand maximum performance, or are you ok with putting things on Medium? Do you plan on traveling with it? What else do you plan on using it for? Hardcore gaming laptops tend to be much bigger than regular laptops, even if they have the same screen size.

For a starting point, I've used and liked Asus in the past, and MSI seems to be of similar quality. I've been looking at iBuyPower lately because they seem to offer a lot for the price, but they're a smaller company, and I've noticed some complaints about them.

Also is it wrong to think about building anew system even though this is only about 1 year old?

Kinda depends. I mean, my desktop's got a first-gen Core i7, 12GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 465. It's about two years old. While I'd love to build a new one every time new tech comes out, realistically I'd maybe upgrade the graphics card and run it for at least another year or two. In general, if I've spent more than $1000 on something, I expect to get at least three years out of it.

That said, if it's not doing what you want, or you got the money to burn, go for it. I'm at a point in my life right now where I can afford to buy decent electronic toys, but I gotta take care of it and get some use before I can upgrade it. Actually, I think I should try to get a little more use out of my current laptop, but my situation's changed a bit... used to be I only needed it to play a few games when I traveled, but now I expect to use a laptop as my main device, so I need more power. But believe me, if I had more disposable income, I'd be upgrading constantly.

[myk]

As Az is hinting at, it's hard to say. What kinds of games do you want to play? Do you demand maximum performance, or are you ok with putting things on Medium? Do you plan on traveling with it? What else do you plan on using it for? Hardcore gaming laptops tend to be much bigger than regular laptops, even if they have the same screen size.

For a starting point, I've used and liked Asus in the past, and MSI seems to be of similar quality. I've been looking at iBuyPower lately because they seem to offer a lot for the price, but they're a smaller company, and I've noticed some complaints about them.

Not a fan of the Toshiba laptops? Just curious because I'm still sniffing around...

[Chewie]

The new Asus G55s are available now. 15.6" form factor. The new models were slimmed down quite a bit over last years. Running a 3rd gen i7 with a 660M. Just under $1400.

I'd be very wary of IBuypower. My buddy, at my behest =(, ordered one of them through Best Buy. The first one came riddled with problems stemming from the video card and a bad OS install. Ultimately stopped booting up about 3 hours out of the box. Returned it, reordered. The second one is now having the same video card issues the first had. I'm going to take it into work tomorrow and see if we can't swap out the video card and solve the problem but so far I'm not impressed with what that company (ibuy) has to offer.

I read a bunch of reviews on Newegg about them and cyberpower pc awhile back and a lot of times people were getting DOA systems due to the shoddy and hasty way they were built.

[mikeszekely]

Not a fan of the Toshiba laptops? Just curious because I'm still sniffing around...

I honestly hadn't considered them. I'd found their Qosimo series to be kind of ugly and plasticky, but this one looks pretty sharp, if a bit more expensive than I'd like.

I'd be very wary of IBuypower. My buddy, at my behest =(, ordered one of them through Best Buy. The first one came riddled with problems stemming from the video card and a bad OS install. Ultimately stopped booting up about 3 hours out of the box. Returned it, reordered. The second one is now having the same video card issues the first had. I'm going to take it into work tomorrow and see if we can't swap out the video card and solve the problem but so far I'm not impressed with what that company (ibuy) has to offer.

I read a bunch of reviews on Newegg about them and cyberpower pc awhile back and a lot of times people were getting DOA systems due to the shoddy and hasty way they were built.

That's really disappointing, since they were offering a GTX 675M, 17", and backlit keyboard for the price you're suggesting for Asus. My biggest gripe with Asus right now is that they don't have backlit keyboards anymore. I can understand skipping it on their $400 entry-level computers (although my wife's current laptop has it), but it's a shame they took it off of their RoG series laptops.

For the same price, I'd rather go with MSI's GE70 series, which trades a little RAM for a backlit keyboard. Or spend the extra cash on a GT70.

EDIT: Despite what Best Buy put down for the specs on their site, the GE70 series does NOT have a backlit keyboard.

Edited July 2, 2012 by mikeszekely

[BeyondTheGrave]

As Az is hinting at, it's hard to say. What kinds of games do you want to play? Do you demand maximum performance, or are you ok with putting things on Medium? Do you plan on traveling with it? What else do you plan on using it for? Hardcore gaming laptops tend to be much bigger than regular laptops, even if they have the same screen size.

For a starting point, I've used and liked Asus in the past, and MSI seems to be of similar quality. I've been looking at iBuyPower lately because they seem to offer a lot for the price, but they're a smaller company, and I've noticed some complaints about them.

Movie playback dvd or br, And running an OBDII scanner which i cant find any specs on.

So portability would be since and screen size max 17"

Kinda depends. I mean, my desktop's got a first-gen Core i7, 12GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 465. It's about two years old. While I'd love to build a new one every time new tech comes out, realistically I'd maybe upgrade the graphics card and run it for at least another year or two. In general, if I've spent more than $1000 on something, I expect to get at least three years out of it.

That said, if it's not doing what you want, or you got the money to burn, go for it. I'm at a point in my life right now where I can afford to buy decent electronic toys, but I gotta take care of it and get some use before I can upgrade it. Actually, I think I should try to get a little more use out of my current laptop, but my situation's changed a bit... used to be I only needed it to play a few games when I traveled, but now I expect to use a laptop as my main device, so I need more power. But believe me, if I had more disposable income, I'd be upgrading constantly.

Idk. Partially disposable income and keep me busy.

Edited July 3, 2012 by BeyondTheGrave

[mikeszekely]

Anyone here have any experience ordering from Toshiba Direct? Looks like I can order a Qosmio X870 with a Core i7-3610QM (Ivybridge), 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, backlit keyboard and GeForce GTX 670M for around $1240 right now. You can actually get it for $1200 if you want to step down to a 750GB drive. Or, if you prefer, you can add a second drive, make one (or both) SSDs (or hybrids), bluetooth, or Blu-ray for additional fees. Only thing I'm not really digging is a 1600x900 resolution, but at that price that seems like a workable compromise.

Edited July 5, 2012 by mikeszekely

[myk]

I've been spending some time on that site as well. Like you said I'm not sure about the Qosmio's looks and like I said earlier the 1600x900 resolution bothers me also, even though it "shouldn't." The 3D units have a higher resolution but they're in the $2K range...

[Archer]

A little off topic to the discussion at hand, but my Retina Macbook Pro came in today. For those wondering about how it stacks up, here are some of my thoughts:

-It's REALLY REALLY thin. Pictures made it seem thin, but when I got it in hand, I was still blown away by how thin it was. My old HP HDX 16 laptop is laughably thicker than this thing.

-With all the electronics stuffed inside (I got the lower end version with upgraded 16 GB RAM), it is pretty fast while retaining cool temperatures. I did notice that the mac began to heat up to the touch as I pushed the limits with upper boundaries on more graphic intensive games (which also promptly drank the battery life).

-The Retina display, more than anything else, is the reason to buy this thing. If you think a 1080p HD resolution screen looks good, than wait till you see a retina screen. It's almost as if the images are painted onto the screen. Also, there is actually noticably less glare on the screen compared to other laptop screens that I own.

Overall, after a quick day of use (not tooo much time to mess around with it), I'm REALLY happy to have it. My older laptops are a joke compared to this thing, and I urge anyone who is into apple products, powerful laptops, or just a great design aesthetic coupled with a GREAT screen to buy this thing. It's not cheap, but I'm fairly happy in my purchase. As a notable PC owner (with few apple products), this is one of the few apple products that I own where I don't feel gutted for something just for the brand name.

[azrael]

-The Retina display, more than anything else, is the reason to buy this thing. If you think a 1080p HD resolution screen looks good, than wait till you see a retina screen. It's almost as if the images are painted onto the screen. Also, there is actually noticably less glare on the screen compared to other laptop screens that I own.

Overall, after a quick day of use (not tooo much time to mess around with it), I'm REALLY happy to have it. My older laptops are a joke compared to this thing, and I urge anyone who is into apple products, powerful laptops, or just a great design aesthetic coupled with a GREAT screen to buy this thing. It's not cheap, but I'm fairly happy in my purchase. As a notable PC owner (with few apple products), this is one of the few apple products that I own where I don't feel gutted for something just for the brand name.

Is there any noticeable upscaling with images on the screen at any resolution lower than the actual screen resolution? I know this has been a complaint since software hasn't caught up to the hardware, but I want to know if it's noticeable. I probably won't go for one since software hasn't caught up. It might take a year or 2 for that to happen.

[Archer]

Is there any noticeable upscaling with images on the screen at any resolution lower than the actual screen resolution? I know this has been a complaint since software hasn't caught up to the hardware, but I want to know if it's noticeable. I probably won't go for one since software hasn't caught up. It might take a year or 2 for that to happen.

The way apple does it is with an "optimal screen" setting which automatically adjusts the screen to blow up any non-retina images to take up the same screen area as if on any other notebook. Therefore, the same images are blown up across more pixels which ultimately makes non-retina programs like google chrome, etc. look edgy and jagedy. Putting the notebook in "actual pixel" setting eliminates this problem by giving the images the same amount of pixels as on any other laptop, but this makes the images really tiny on the screen, so it's really not that great of a solution.

So yeah, you are really kind of stuck with Apple's retina optimized programs such as Safari at the moment. With Mountain Lion and retina optimized games like Diablo III coming out soon though, it looks bright in terms of future progression.

And for people like me, who have needs limited to web browsing, image editing, word processing, and gaming from time to time, it's perfect. If you are a program wiz that tends to use stuff all over the board, then you might want to wait till third party developers start converting to retina tech..

[Ghost Train]

A bit off-topic but I started the Hulu+ free 1 week trial today.

Good selection of TV series (all 4 seasons of BSG!), and some newer shows. Very impressed with the anime selection, with some very recent anime and shows that are currently broadcasting, I just scrolled through and saw Fate Zero, Accel World, and Kore wa Zombie... also classic anime ... like the original SDFM.

A lot of Korean Dramas, though I'm not too much into that .

The movies selection is not as appealing to me. A lot of samurai and kung-fu flicks, not many recent movies.

[mikeszekely]

Hulu+ is supposed to be really good for TV shows, but don't feel like paying for it and Netflix. Netflix wins for me because they have Star Trek and no commercials.

[myk]

I caved and bought this....THING from ebay: http://laptop-infomation-247.blogspot.com/2010/11/toshiba-qosmio-x505-q898-laptop-blu-ray.html

I had no idea this machine would be so freaking huge. I don't even know how I'm going to find a laptop back pack big enough to hold it; hell even the power supply rivals the brick of the Xbox 360. On the bright side, canirunit believes that I can run just about any game with high settings, so I guess I'm stoked, lol...

[mikeszekely]

I caved and bought this....THING from ebay: http://laptop-infoma...op-blu-ray.html

I had no idea this machine would be so freaking huge. I don't even know how I'm going to find a laptop back pack big enough to hold it; hell even the power supply rivals the brick of the Xbox 360. On the bright side, canirunit believes that I can run just about any game with high settings, so I guess I'm stoked, lol...

Let me know how you like it. I'm considering a Qosmio for my next laptop.

[myk]

Let me know how you like it. I'm considering a Qosmio for my next laptop.

Mike, maybe I've lived with hand-built, scotch-taped desktop units for too long, but this thing is nice. Now, keep in mind that the X505 is an older model from 2011, but if the newer Qosmio's are anything like this I'd recommend it. Reviewers from Amazon and Newegg have nothing but great things to say about these units, asides from the occasional lemon. The only nitpick for the new ones is what we discussed earlier, which was the newer Qosmio's only having a resolution of 1600x900 unless you buy the more expensive, 3D models; this may have changed for the NEXT group of laptops but for 2012 that was the case and it had me looking at ASUS, and....these older Qosmio's. Another thing I might mention is the SSD that comes standard with the X505 but doesn't seem to be available on the newer ones; I may have that wrong so don't quote me on it though. Currently, the OS is on the 64G SSD (small, I know) and everything else is on a standard 500G 7200 RPM secondary drive.

Honestly though, I wish you were closer so someone who actually knows about laptops could evaluate it and maybe even put it through its paces, but for the moment, I'm enjoying it, despite the 1.5 hour battery life under moderate use lol...

Edited July 24, 2012 by myk

[VF-19]

I've been looking at getting a new laptop for a while now, and I've been looking hard at the Asus UX21 ultrabook. It's small (what I want), and light (what I also want). However, I'm very picky when it comes to keyboards. Anybody here have had some hands on experience with it?

[mikeszekely]

I've been looking at getting a new laptop for a while now, and I've been looking hard at the Asus UX21 ultrabook. It's small (what I want), and light (what I also want). However, I'm very picky when it comes to keyboards. Anybody here have had some hands on experience with it?

Not that model specifically, but most of the laptops I've had have been Asus, and they've all had some great keyboards.

Honestly though, I wish you were closer so someone who actually knows about laptops could evaluate it and maybe even put it through its paces

Ha ha, if I ever find myself on the West Coast, maybe I'll look you up!

Edited July 24, 2012 by mikeszekely

[VF-19]

I'd rather not spend $1000+ and find out I can't live with the keyboard. I'd like to try it out in store, but nobody around here has a demo model out...

[myk]

You can always return it?

[Roy Focker]

Why is it so hard to get proper help?

My Toshiba laptop is still cover by warranty till December. Recently the screen has been shutting off on its own. I Googled and it is a semi-common problem. I tried all the simple tips that people recommend online. Those usually involve change this or that setting, update the latest of blank and then wait to see if the problem shows up again. Well the problem shows up again and that might mean it is a problem beyond simple trouble shooting. Since I'm still under warranty I called Toshiba.

How do they help me?

First Guy tell me to unplug everything (cord & battery) & hold the power botton. Plug it all back in and turn the computer back on. Then call them back. - All steps I told them that I did already.

Called them back talked to girl this time. Told her everything. Here's how she helped me. She had me restart the computer enter maintaince screen to make sure I had the current Bios. Which I had. Then she had me check to make sure I had the correct power settings. Which I had. Then she gave me referral number if the problem shows up again. Of course it is gonna show up again! She didn't do anything. She just verified that everything was up to date and in the right settings. If those things were all correct then maybe there's another reason for this problem. Duh.

[mikeszekely]

Toshiba has a reputation for having some of the worst support.

[myk]

Hey laptop guys, I got a question for you. I've had my Toshiba Qosmio X505 for about a week now. Although used, when I received it the unit looked like it had just been plucked from the factory. After a week of ownership it doesn't look so new anymore; I'm sure it doesn't help that I take this thing EVERYWHERE-home, work, dinner, movies, everywhere. What do you guys use to clean the screen, keyboard, casing, etc? I'm assuming that things like glass cleaner are too harsh for these surfaces? I read somewhere that any sort of household cleaner could cause harm to the finish, and this Qosmio is all shiny-piano-black. What about the keyboard? A vacuum, canned air or something to get the particles out of the keyboard? I'm also still searching for a backpack not just big enough to hold this thing but hold it safely too. Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated, thanks guys...

Edited August 1, 2012 by myk

[Chewie]

As long as the cleaner is ammonia free, it should be fine. Compressed air is perfect for the keyboard.