Last time I checked, most every drive out there is a 7200RPM drive. Even in some of the crappy low end computers out there. I'm kind of bummed about this, as I actually like getting large 5400RPM drives as secondary hard disks because they are quiet, reliable, and don't make a lot of heat. In other words, they are perfect for mass storage of media files that I don't need to access very quickly anyway. But they are getting really hard to find now.
ID3v1 tags are stored at the end of the mp3 file, and Winamp can usually modify those while playing without a problem. ID3v2 tags are stored at the beginning of the file, hence Wimamp skips when you modify it.
Another annoyance is older versions of Winamp didn't like it when you deleted a file that it had in a playlist, but it wasn't playing. Windows Media Player is the same way though.
That would be the number one way to waste cycles on any low end system nowadays. I swear, I've seen P4's with Intel graphics run slower than PIII's with even a mediocre card in it.
Note how he says workstations. Sure, his PIII can be tied up all day encoding a video, but what does he care when he can move over to the next workstation and keep working?
I agree. Honda's have great engines in them, but the rest of the car is crap. Cheap, flimsy construction that just falls apart. Not to mention a lot of things that just don't seem to be made to be replaced. But hey - when the car's time is up, you'll probably be able to drive it to the junkyard.
Your best bet for something cheap yet powerful yet upgradeable is a NForce2 chipset board with the built in Ge4MX graphics and an AGP slot. You get a Socket A motherboard with OK built in graphics, and an AGP slot so you can later upgrade it easily. I think you can get one for about $75 US on newegg. A Duron for it costs about $40-$50US, and will work great with the NForce2. Later, you can upgrade to an Athlon XP really easily. So far it's about $125 for a chip and board. Throw in a decent amount of memory, an optical drive, HD, and a case and power supply, and he'll have a pretty decent box for around $300 or so.
I just bought a new computer from Dell, and, since I am a California resident, $8 was added to the price for the environmental impact fee. This fee was from just the LCD monitor I bought, which was $700 or so. That's a 1.1% fee
What's really strange is that is for a LCD screen too. Compared to a CRT, a LCD has very little toxic material in it - it's basically a hunk of plastic. And that's not counting all the energy saved during the screen's lifetime vs. a CRT.
Most Dells, Compaqs, eMachines, and other cheap computers that make heavy use of integrated graphics use propriety motherboards (or in other words - they aren't some standard like ATX). Most of these motherboards do not have AGP slots either, which makes upgrading the video that much harder. The better ones integrate something like a GeForce 4MX with its own memory though, which might be OK. Most cheap computers are a dead-end in terms of upgrading, except maybe one PCI card, a bigger harddrive, or whatever you can hook up with USB.
My advice would be a cheap whitebox computer, (either build it yourself or let a shop do it). That way, you can easily upgrade it. Or just get something cheap for him anyway, with the expectation that you'll just replace the whole thing when it's time to "upgrade".
The insurance companies base their rates off a statistical analysis which, frankly, trumps your anecdote.
It's possible that both are correct - that women drive faster and more recklessly - but somehow end up in less accidents.
My theory is that women have more accidents, but they tend to be minor ones from not paying attention or not understanding how large their vehicle is. Many of these cause less damage than the deductable - hence they cost the insurance company very little. Guys have fewer accidents, but those accidents usually result in the car(s) involved being totalled because the guy driver was doing something incredibly stupid.
Truck drivers with radios are distracted when they use them, or when they are fumbling around with the controls for the radio. The difference is that they have a purpose when they get on the radio - and when they are done they get off of it, and they are usually fairly efficient about this. They don't (usually) chat endlessly about absolutely nothing like most cell phone drivers.
How many of those pre-ipod models had the market share the iPod does?
I'm not sure who the first one to the market was with a HDD based MP3 player, but I'm pretty sure they had 100% market share for atleast a little while.
NONE of them can make a good profit because they entered into competition prematurely and with a Microsoft product (WMA).
Do you seriously believe that the reason the iPod has a large market share is because it can't play WMA? Most people are buying MP3 players. They really don't care if they can/cannot play WMA, OGG, AAC, etc.
A next gen dvd player, IMHO, should play DVD's, CD's, be combined with a PVR, network with computers in the home, play music, photo slideshows, play games, support 7.1 surround sound, HD-DVD, Blue-Ray, and more. Of those technologies that currently available, the only thing the Mac Mini can't do right off the bat is PVR capability (you need to buy a firewire TV-Tuner for that).
What you describe is not a DVD player, though it does happen to play DVDs.
The demand for pre-1980 houses or custom built houses is much smaller than for new run-of-the-mill houses, so you may end up with a house you can't sell when you need to.
From what I have seen of the build quality of the newest cookie-cutter houses, no one is going to want one once it's more than a few years old.
The NES controllers never bothered me, though they weren't as nice as the SNES. The worst I think is the N64 with the analog joystick. After some really long Perfect Dark/Goldeneye sessions, my left thumb would be throbbing.
If only there were an open source graphics card of worth it would be apple-like in it's hardware compatibility
It probably won't surprise you that Intel's graphics chips seem to be well supported in Linux. Though they won't do if you need anything with any power.
I saw a laptop the other day that had an Intel Prescott 3.8Ghz desktop chip crammed into it. If you can put one of those into a laptop, you can put a G5 in one too.
Though I must admit, the laptop was far larger than anything Apple currently makes.
A 486 with 16MB of RAM may be about worthless as used systems go, but if you wanted to manufacture new ones, even mass produced - it would probably be pretty tough to break $100 for a complete system (monitor, keyboard, etc.)
Person One was paying less than he should have for insurance, and helping to drive up the prices for the other people with that insurance. No sympathy.
I suppose you'll feel the same way when they jack up your insurance rates because they feel you bought too much aspirin, or too much beer, or too much chocolate Ben & Jerry's?
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Maybe he still has OS9 on it, which multitasks about as well as Windows 3.0.
Last time I checked, most every drive out there is a 7200RPM drive. Even in some of the crappy low end computers out there. I'm kind of bummed about this, as I actually like getting large 5400RPM drives as secondary hard disks because they are quiet, reliable, and don't make a lot of heat. In other words, they are perfect for mass storage of media files that I don't need to access very quickly anyway. But they are getting really hard to find now.
ID3v1 tags are stored at the end of the mp3 file, and Winamp can usually modify those while playing without a problem. ID3v2 tags are stored at the beginning of the file, hence Wimamp skips when you modify it.
Another annoyance is older versions of Winamp didn't like it when you deleted a file that it had in a playlist, but it wasn't playing. Windows Media Player is the same way though.
That would be the number one way to waste cycles on any low end system nowadays. I swear, I've seen P4's with Intel graphics run slower than PIII's with even a mediocre card in it.
can you explain how iPod is "form over function"?
How about not including a panel you can open to get to the battery so it can be replaced?
Note how he says workstations. Sure, his PIII can be tied up all day encoding a video, but what does he care when he can move over to the next workstation and keep working?
I agree. Honda's have great engines in them, but the rest of the car is crap. Cheap, flimsy construction that just falls apart. Not to mention a lot of things that just don't seem to be made to be replaced. But hey - when the car's time is up, you'll probably be able to drive it to the junkyard.
Your best bet for something cheap yet powerful yet upgradeable is a NForce2 chipset board with the built in Ge4MX graphics and an AGP slot. You get a Socket A motherboard with OK built in graphics, and an AGP slot so you can later upgrade it easily. I think you can get one for about $75 US on newegg. A Duron for it costs about $40-$50US, and will work great with the NForce2. Later, you can upgrade to an Athlon XP really easily. So far it's about $125 for a chip and board. Throw in a decent amount of memory, an optical drive, HD, and a case and power supply, and he'll have a pretty decent box for around $300 or so.
I just bought a new computer from Dell, and, since I am a California resident, $8 was added to the price for the environmental impact fee. This fee was from just the LCD monitor I bought, which was $700 or so. That's a 1.1% fee
What's really strange is that is for a LCD screen too. Compared to a CRT, a LCD has very little toxic material in it - it's basically a hunk of plastic. And that's not counting all the energy saved during the screen's lifetime vs. a CRT.
Most Dells, Compaqs, eMachines, and other cheap computers that make heavy use of integrated graphics use propriety motherboards (or in other words - they aren't some standard like ATX). Most of these motherboards do not have AGP slots either, which makes upgrading the video that much harder. The better ones integrate something like a GeForce 4MX with its own memory though, which might be OK. Most cheap computers are a dead-end in terms of upgrading, except maybe one PCI card, a bigger harddrive, or whatever you can hook up with USB.
My advice would be a cheap whitebox computer, (either build it yourself or let a shop do it). That way, you can easily upgrade it. Or just get something cheap for him anyway, with the expectation that you'll just replace the whole thing when it's time to "upgrade".
The insurance companies base their rates off a statistical analysis which, frankly, trumps your anecdote.
It's possible that both are correct - that women drive faster and more recklessly - but somehow end up in less accidents.
My theory is that women have more accidents, but they tend to be minor ones from not paying attention or not understanding how large their vehicle is. Many of these cause less damage than the deductable - hence they cost the insurance company very little. Guys have fewer accidents, but those accidents usually result in the car(s) involved being totalled because the guy driver was doing something incredibly stupid.
Truck drivers with radios are distracted when they use them, or when they are fumbling around with the controls for the radio. The difference is that they have a purpose when they get on the radio - and when they are done they get off of it, and they are usually fairly efficient about this. They don't (usually) chat endlessly about absolutely nothing like most cell phone drivers.
How many of those pre-ipod models had the market share the iPod does?
I'm not sure who the first one to the market was with a HDD based MP3 player, but I'm pretty sure they had 100% market share for atleast a little while.
NONE of them can make a good profit because they entered into competition prematurely and with a Microsoft product (WMA).
Do you seriously believe that the reason the iPod has a large market share is because it can't play WMA? Most people are buying MP3 players. They really don't care if they can/cannot play WMA, OGG, AAC, etc.
A next gen dvd player, IMHO, should play DVD's, CD's, be combined with a PVR, network with computers in the home, play music, photo slideshows, play games, support 7.1 surround sound, HD-DVD, Blue-Ray, and more. Of those technologies that currently available, the only thing the Mac Mini can't do right off the bat is PVR capability (you need to buy a firewire TV-Tuner for that).
What you describe is not a DVD player, though it does happen to play DVDs.
You read wrong. The iPod shows up as a standard USB or FireWire hard-drive.
But you can't put music on it that way.
The demand for pre-1980 houses or custom built houses is much smaller than for new run-of-the-mill houses, so you may end up with a house you can't sell when you need to.
From what I have seen of the build quality of the newest cookie-cutter houses, no one is going to want one once it's more than a few years old.
Only if we disregard the fact that the 1984 Macintosh has nothing, apart from the name, to do with the current models.
That's not true! They both have a one button mouse! *ducks*
The NES controllers never bothered me, though they weren't as nice as the SNES. The worst I think is the N64 with the analog joystick. After some really long Perfect Dark/Goldeneye sessions, my left thumb would be throbbing.
If only there were an open source graphics card of worth it would be apple-like in it's hardware compatibility
It probably won't surprise you that Intel's graphics chips seem to be well supported in Linux. Though they won't do if you need anything with any power.
I saw a laptop the other day that had an Intel Prescott 3.8Ghz desktop chip crammed into it. If you can put one of those into a laptop, you can put a G5 in one too.
Though I must admit, the laptop was far larger than anything Apple currently makes.
Every P2P program I know of likes to have ports open. Some can get by without it, but you either lose speed, features, or both.
A 486 with 16MB of RAM may be about worthless as used systems go, but if you wanted to manufacture new ones, even mass produced - it would probably be pretty tough to break $100 for a complete system (monitor, keyboard, etc.)
Remember, the Dell crams a a few things into that space that the Mac Mini doesn't. Like a screen and a keyboard.
Person One was paying less than he should have for insurance, and helping to drive up the prices for the other people with that insurance. No sympathy.
I suppose you'll feel the same way when they jack up your insurance rates because they feel you bought too much aspirin, or too much beer, or too much chocolate Ben & Jerry's?
Though I must admit, #2 is pretty funny.