Sure it vibrates and it can be noisy in the library (though not rivaling the sound of air conditioning) but Windows will treat as a removable drive with full read write abilities.
Media is cheap too, $50 Cdn. for 2 40 MB disks.
Gotta love it.
I've got a Dell 5000 (factory recalled battery still hasn't blown up) and I have to say that I love it. I play CS and UT both with moderate detail, CS at 640x480 and UT at 800x600 and I can get about 32 to 35 fps (unless someone throws a smoke grenade). All I have is an ATI Rage Mobility with 8MB but its great already.
Point being, I use it for everything. Gaming is just part of it. I have a 15.1 inch screen and I use it for business presentations. I go to University and I bring it with me so I can work in the library. We have stations everywhere so I can plug in power and ethernet or serial. Seriously, its great being able to put down 2-3 grand (CANADIAN!) and get something that can do that and still have power left over for some 3D design (only tried Bryce 4 so far, but it works OK) I've got a PIII 750 with 128 mb RAM and 12 GB of drive space. Oh, and I just used it at a LAN party two days ago.
Man, if quality is such an issue just buy a turntable and get LPs. For top-notch mp3s you can hook it up to you computer with maybe $15 worth of cables. Mp3s and Ogg music just lets you listen to the song before you go out to buy it. Since you don't want it badly enough to pay money for it just be happy with what you've got.
Incidentally is it really that much of a surprise that you get artifacts in compressed music? I mean, an average mp3 will get you a 9:1 or 10:1 compression ratio. Regardless quality still depends on the encoder and setup of the person ripping the CD.
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Sure it vibrates and it can be noisy in the library (though not rivaling the sound of air conditioning) but Windows will treat as a removable drive with full read write abilities. Media is cheap too, $50 Cdn. for 2 40 MB disks. Gotta love it.
Point being, I use it for everything. Gaming is just part of it. I have a 15.1 inch screen and I use it for business presentations. I go to University and I bring it with me so I can work in the library. We have stations everywhere so I can plug in power and ethernet or serial. Seriously, its great being able to put down 2-3 grand (CANADIAN!) and get something that can do that and still have power left over for some 3D design (only tried Bryce 4 so far, but it works OK) I've got a PIII 750 with 128 mb RAM and 12 GB of drive space. Oh, and I just used it at a LAN party two days ago.
Man, if quality is such an issue just buy a turntable and get LPs. For top-notch mp3s you can hook it up to you computer with maybe $15 worth of cables. Mp3s and Ogg music just lets you listen to the song before you go out to buy it. Since you don't want it badly enough to pay money for it just be happy with what you've got. Incidentally is it really that much of a surprise that you get artifacts in compressed music? I mean, an average mp3 will get you a 9:1 or 10:1 compression ratio. Regardless quality still depends on the encoder and setup of the person ripping the CD.