The Computer Thread

Okay where do I start?...

Would this be the proper place to discuss how the iPhone 5s doesn't have jack on iOS 4.2.1, with its perfected, native home button controls with THREE preset commands AND the amazing left swipe search function?

But serously, assistance in setting up Need for Speed Pro Street in HD on a homebuilt B120 clocking out @1.5Ghz in 32 bit. It was tempting even at $5, for $3 I just had to have it, even if it was obviously not going yo install on my "rig". If you could even call it that.

Is this that kind of place?

edited 7th Feb '14 3:46:31 PM by Paktra

Yes.

Retro-gaming...so much this...

I hate that the "Iphone" is a computer....I just wanted a phone.

However the new iOS makes better use of the platform...but battery life still sux...

Thanks! Duly noted and have added this to my watch list.

What what kind of phone if not a smartphone? My grandma had one of these and I always wanted unfortunately no service. ^note  the review was from 2001 and it was of the upgraded model seen on the right.

This was one of my favorite phones. The Kyocera Marbl◊ tumbler switches were oh so handy and the form factor was amazing!

Unfortunately a dead pixel lead to the entire screen burning out and turning orange.

I read you like to ramble, yes? Why not take a look at my page tell me what you think yes. Feel free to add any additional protocols you see fit to my current list of bylaws!

edited 7th Feb '14 5:21:08 PM by Paktra

My phone is used for calls, texts, and music. As such, I'm on a simple prepaid phone from Tracfone, an LG 500G.

I use mine for internet, and calls....

Thats still not coputer replacment.

I've always had prepaid dumb phones usually in bar form, but I've have had a few flip phones very nice.

I've always liked the flip phone its just its so cool. Even now all the giant smartphones don't hold a candle to a phone that flips open. And the Chinese have a Samsung Galaxy flip phone that has screens on the front and back! It kind of looks steampunk-ish with two rectangular slabs with the big brass hinge the middle.

My very first phone had a built in flashlight with a button on the top right underneath the antenna!

edited 7th Feb '14 7:47:53 PM by Paktra

I've had phone crash....it's a phone! I don't need it to work π to a thousand places.

I like apps and music but I still want a phone that works.

One of the more disturbing trends on the console that has yet to hit PC is the lack of backwards compatibility.

Now when the proto-Pentium III/P4 chips were first out they are server chips. The Itanium chips gave Intel lots of ideas that made their way into the chips and salsa we use today...

...and they were almost 64-bit only.

Some writers (looking at you Alice Hill) were all "Cool! I love buying new software!". Others pointed out that it was passing lots of cost to the consumer. Intel didn't screw over their users and now we have 64-bit computing but we have backwards compatibility.

Execpt Micro$oft didn't get that memo. Windows 7 and Windows 8 broke a lot of 16 and 32 bit proggies and Windows 8 ruined the UI.

16 bit programs were broken by XP.

on the topics of bones crashing minecraft the least maybe 3 times a day.

If you can translate that through my dragon and then your phone is better than mine.

Apparently the voice recognition on Android is only as good as the network it is connected to.

It doesn't even initialize until the connection is established, you see I have no service, and apparently since my phone is defective I got it $free.99

I suppose that ideally, I'd have a rugged, dependable prepaid Dumbphone for my phoning needs (something with good reception and robust battery life), and a phablet with a 4G SIM card for my email, facebook, occasional word processing (I actually ended up using my phone to do some editing on a story I was writing last night, out of sheer boredom and difficulty staying awake). The downside is that I end up carrying two gadgets, which is somewhat inconvenience depending on my choice of attire. It gets worse if I want to take my Kindle along so I can read a book without having to drain my smartphone battery. Becomes a problem of having one gadget that does all, or having multiple gadgets that each do some specific thing better.

Now, if I were to make a habit of carrying a camera bag with me everywhere, I could find room for the phablet and such easily. Plus, then I can bring my camera, which takes far better photos than my smartphone does.

personally I love my phone for use as an internet enabled device, as well as some very casual gaming. But I'd never give up a dedicated desktop setup, even for a top-of-the-line tablet. The 4G and Wifi is incredibly useful, and I'd not go traveling without it because of its GPS.

Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy using my modern smartphone for casual web surfing such as being on here and You Tube, even if that's all it can do. Especially since my current computer is not capable of much more than that anyway.

This◊ may very well be an exaggeration but it almost sums up the trade off in features.

A dumbphone would be good for calls. A tablet for everything else? Yes. Because backpacks are cheap and tablets are shriking.

If I must have a smartphone, stop pretending it's a computer. Computers go up, down, crash, reset and software will rot (lookup software rot in The Other Wiki). On a computer that's expected. On a phone that I might need to dial emergency services? That's shameful.

One of my most fav phones was a Motorola clam-shell that had limited MP 3 playback. It was small enough for a pocket, but tough enough to survive a drop off a 5-ton truck. It just worked. I've seen so many smartphone crash or with spiderweb cracks on the screen.

Agreed. I had a Razr which would occasionally decide it wanted to reset itself or be incredibly slow at points. My Galaxy S4 is much better, but it chews through battery like a rabbit through lettuce when I have the Wi Fi off for some reason. Really seriously thinking about getting a back up wall AC outlet for it and stuffing it in my truck for when I need a charge.

On another note, I just recently got my tax refund and I'm looking to do my first build. Problem: I want to keep it under $500 if at all possibly, but I'm bad at actually picking the cheaper stuff.

I do know what I want.

• I don't need a wireless connection cause I'm planning to directly wire it to the internet.

• I want it to run good settings on World Of Warcraft and Minecraft with minimal fps drops.

• Possibly a CD drive (I use it to watch some of the movies I have), but am willing to skip over it and wait to get it.

Any good part suggestions?

Any video card will do, WoW and Minecraft will run with a good connection and a good midrange video card. Now, if you want to play high FPS games latter, you can splurge.

A passively cooled card. For movies, WoW and stuff where the "wurrrrr" of fans would be a buzzkill.

CPU: quadcore or higher.

Motherboard: get one that takes many times and has enough ports to support many drives.

RAM: 4 GB of Corsair or Kingston at a minimum, leave slots free so you can add more latter (say X2 two gigabyte sticks on a 4 slot MB).

Drive: some like the SSD, I don't since it can crash wiff your data. That said, they are fast yet expensive. Again, you can buy a cheapie 500GB-700GB drive and replace latter. My lappy have a 500gb dirve and I haz teh external 2TB drive on USB 3.0.

Optical: If you can buys the Blu-Ray do it. If not, Newegg has cheapie fast DVD burners. Many proggies will come on DVD. There are external Blu-ray players.

Ports: USB (natch) at least 4 with headers for your case. SATA should be at least 4. If you want to add drives or do a raid go for 6 SATA ports (if it comes on the Mo Bo).

Ob-board sound vs a Sound Blaster: again do what your budget can handle. On board sound has gotten better. You can buy a card latter.

Powersupply: Corsair or Thermaltake. At least 750 Watts. All good cards need input from the Powersupply.

Good brands: Asus and Gigabyte.

Caterpillar sells an android smartphone, Taira. Might be worth a look.

...Fuck.

Sure you can skimp, but if you want to upgrade?

You can meet the requirements, buy a generic PS but at the cost of stability.

If you system needs 500 watts and you put in a 500 watt supply, you're stuck if a new card pushes it to 550+ watts. And if the CPU or GPU starts to stuggle under the load, no power headroom can cause the BSOD's.

@AFP: I got an otterbox for my phone. B Ut it's worth looking at.

edited 8th Feb '14 3:45:32 PM by TairaMai

Apparently my build plan was running at 300 which is why I brought a 500 to start with.

I'm thinking my computer budget is about $500, but I'm pretty flexible.

Never buy a generic PSU. And a 500W PSU (like maybe a CX 500 from Corsair) is enough to power an i5 Haswell system with a GTX 760. Both of which are not really "midrange" in price and performance.

Kyocera torque rugged smartphone

For that budget you could pick up a Dell Inspiron B120 for $500 in 2006 money.

Of course you probably have to rebuild the whole thing just to run Windows seven or Vista for that matter, but it's a start.

In fact if you really desperate you could go on a thrift store run, and pick up a couple of Compaqs and Gates from 1997, and get to stripping.

I'm done that with all my computers for years, what can I say? That was course I could barely run Monster Truck Madness 98 on them... and I was limited to 360p for videos.

edited 8th Feb '14 7:09:46 PM by Paktra

Okay, do you have a moniter?

Also, I now have 16 gigs of ram, any sugestions on what to use it for. >.<

Could record video and stuff.