The point is that you can get far better value and performance even in the world of prebuilt than the nonsensical Alienware offerings.
Personally, I'm happy with my *year and a half old* Dell system that I got for €1450, including four-input 20" ultrascan flat panel (1600x1200 native), Geforce 6800, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, in a stylish, well-cooled and compact midi-tower (with spare slots for expansion). I recently availed of 3 years more warranty for €94 including *replacement* of the flat panel if it acts up (admittedly unlikely). Incidentally, the derided Dell allow in their warranty (at least the one I got) the modification of my system (obviously only their components remain covered).
Not bad for prebuilt.
My current intention is to buy a 512MB graphics card for €300; the x1900xt is now (finally) at that price in Europe. But actually, I'm content enough to wait longer and see how things evolve with the release of the x1950xtx.
I'm shopping for a laptop though - and for that I haven't seen a good Dell offer yet (have been shopping for maybe 8 months). But many of the alternatives, while cheaper, are less flexible and not what I want. Actually, I did recently get a cheaper Dell system specced that matches what I can get with say, Acer, but really I want upgraded resolution (not just WXGA) at the same price (€1200-€1400). I'll keep shopping, checking and waiting, which is really what is most needed in getting good value.
Northern Ireland has over 99% availability of DSL (that's as close to universal as you will get). The mind boggles as to how or why, but at least that's one thing people up there don't have to worry about.
Why the emotional attachment to the concept of Pluto as a planet? There was clearly a problem once something bigger than Pluto was found, unless you consider it sensible to add a whole bunch of things better classified as dwarf planets to the category of just "planets".
The numeric keypad is invaluable for fast number entry - even if you aren't a hardcore data inputter. Seriously, try it next time you have need to enter a number string. The row of numbers at the top of the keyboard is only useful for inserting the odd number or two into non-numeric strings. The operator keys are exceptionally useful when dealing with spreadsheets, on-the-fly calculations (why would you go take out a calculator when sitting in front of a PC?), etc.
That said, I'm not so sure of the need to have the alternative functions for the numeric keypad - perhaps Num Lock could indeed be done away with. But the layout of the arrows, home, end, page up, page down on the numeric keypad looks more logical - perhaps such a layout should replace the inverted T of arrow keys, and the 6 keys above them.
But for the fact that keyboards are cheap generic things, one could have a removable numeric keypad (for those happy to get by without one - and consider the space more convenient than the additional functionality).
Personally, I use the SysRq/Print Screen key regularly enough (for the latter purpose); certainly more often than the Caps Lock key. I have yet to use scroll lock, pause/break, "context menu" or indeed the Windows keys.
I find the numeric keypad handy on occasion, and I can see it being of use for many business tasks, but I seldom use the operator keys, and never the alternate functions (num lock off).
Also, although I use the occasional function key for application shortcuts; I really don't make good use of all 12 of them.
What I would like is more modifier keys, to allow me to type non-English words. As I'm in Ireland, I've UK keyboards, and set up as "Irish" layout (this means Alt Gr plus aeiou gives áéíóú). I'd like to be able to do àèìòù in a similar fashion (as opposed to the "backtick" key followed by letter), as well as other characters used in German, Spanish, etc. I'm not a fan of the "international" layout (i.e. logical not physical layout) though.
Yes, a TV channel that started up here in Ireland used billboard adverts to mock various other activities such as those you describe. Now whatever I think about TV stations trying to get people off healthy activities, I think it's fair enough for computer game publishers to be concerned about getting potential customers off playing pirated games.
I do not think your dismissal of the "time spent playing pirated games is a problem" is warranted.
Not necessarily. If we had the UK and other EU countries in the Eurozone also, then possibly more worldwide commodities (including oil) would be traded in Euro. After all, the EU as a whole accounts for more trade than the US.
If it is a Christian-run state, then how is it that the state acts in the most un-Christian of ways?
Most aspects of the way American society and economics work should be abhorrant to Christians. It is "survival of the fittest" and believing in a lie that anyone can make it to the top (in order to placate those at the bottom).
I'd like if there was a simple button to switch the text entry field between "URL processing" and "searching". I don't want some bizarre search just because I mistyped a URL.
And I *certainly* don't want the search to default to bringing me to the first result automatically.
You'd think so... but no, the monitor resamples using some algorithm where 800x600 does not just display with 2 for 1 pixels - it's still all blurred.
Also, on a 20" screen - if a direct rescale *was* used, the dots would appear huge.
My graphics card does much nicer rescaling than the monitor, I use that for most games (especially older ones); the overhead isn't that huge. But I can't spare the overhead with Oblivion.
I don't see the cause for the uncertainty as to what will happen with the PS3. Sure the Xbox360 has been out a while now, but nevertheless, there are many parallels with the PS2 launch.
People seem to have short memory spans in recollecting how much the release price of the PS2 seemed when it came out, how limited the games were at the beginning, how it was probably a less powerful console than the Xbox, etc.
It's pretty much a direct replay. The PS3 will sell about the same numbers, it'll go well over in Japan, and do OK elsewhere until Sony can decrease the prices due to cheaper components. And there'll be more games by then.
As for DVD with PS2, and Blu-ray with PS3. Again, I'd still say it's a rerun. There's not as much incentive on the face of it for consumers to go from DVD to Blu-ray, but the clincher is HDTV. People are slowly but surely switching to HDTV, and as such, it is inevitable that there will be a migration from DVDs. What they'll migrate to is still an open question, but having Blu-ray on PS3 (and again, cheaper than or comparable to standalone players) does give that format a leg up over HD-DVD (and encourages faster migration from DVD).
Anyways, it'll be fun to watch. I'll happily take a PS3 if given one, but unlike last time, I don't have a 21st birthday in hand. I suppose I could get married and put it on the wedding list this time round.
"Gamers are quickly approaching audiophiles in my book in terms of their level of insanity."
The reviewing/benchmarking systems may be rubbish. But there's nothing silly about wanting to have the most powerful graphics out there.
I have a game called "Oblivion" - the thing eats GPU for breakfast (and incidentally, is reasonably CPU heavy too at times - yay for AI and CPU-based Havoc physics). Also, I have a lovely 20" LCD flat panel, 1600x1200 native res.
I think in two years time, it would still cost a small fortune just to have the game running smoothly (and by that, I don't mean insane FPS - I mean about 30 consistent without cell-loading stutter) with the default graphics settings, at the native resolution of my monitor. At present I've 1024x768 running - and the monitor does a really poor job of the resampling (and I can't spare GPU time on my GeForce 6800 for selecting it to do the job instead).
And do you know, it really does look astounding the more you crank it up. It also makes a huge difference just to have 2xAA (again, nothing overboard or "gamerphile"), and high resolution textures (by default - the game has "blur" in the distance).
No - even without even expecting "all settings on with 16xAA super-maniacal lighting uber graphics", there is no way that demand for increased FPS is overboard.
Yes, but the end of the black stuff is not an overnight thing. Some people might convert (and the cost reflects the labour expense, the physical resources and energy of the new parts isn't as substantial), others would simply switch to a diesel car when upgrading. In any case, an instant switch is possible with diesel vehicles, thus taking the pressure off requirements for black stuff, and a phased changeover can easily be done with petrol cars.
Besides, a large quantity of people have diesel cars already (at least here in Europe). They are more economical to run even on diesel; than a petrol car is to run.
Of course, probably different in the US. The government there ensures absurdly cheap petrol, so historically people don't care as much about mpg. Now that even in the US petrol has gone up in price a fair bit (still way cheaper than here in Ireland), I really hope Ford and GM crash and burn soon for encouraging "gas-guzzlers".
"3) We have no oil eqivalents yet that can take it's place. Nuclear isn't good for small vehicles."
We don't need oil equivalents. You can use vegetable oil rather than the black stuff though. This will "just work" in new diesel vehicles. Old ones require some cleaning out (if you just put the veg oil in, it'll loosen sediments collected from the diesel, and muck up the engine). Petrol cars, well, you can spend a couple grand converting them. Not perfect, but not an "end of the world" scenario. The big stuff (artic lorries) already uses diesel, so no problems there.
As for aircraft, well, their form of "oil" is practically lamp oil, I'm guessing there's a ready replacement from the plant world for that too (of course, the refining process needs power).
So there you go, no end of transport as we know it.
I've visited the US. The whole "stockpiling" grocery shopping mentality is frightful. You people have bread that lasts more than a few days... that's just not right. Most of the stuff in the shops in the US is atrocious "long life" processed rubbish.
People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food.
Buying fresh produce is a delight. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat from a butcher counter, warm freshly baked bread. You just can't expect to buy that in bulk weekly/fortnightly.
Besides, you can have a car too, or take a taxi, if you have a big family or genuinely need to stock up for some big meals.
I'm tempted to buy a laptop from someone else (they seem cheaper), but to be honest, most people I know who have laptops have had "issues", and there's no way you want to just rely on one year's collect and return. If I can find a retailer I trust (a lot of other brands aren't "buy direct" it seems), I'll consider it if I can get an upgraded warranty.
Still, I've seen Dell's on-site service in action - actually really good. Also, for all their equipment I've seen malfunction, I've seen other stuff that just keeps on going and going, and some really nicely designed stuff too.
Plus, Dells are pretty configurable when purchasing, even if there are limitations. Throw in some special offers and a level of quality and service that while not great, is OK relative to some of the true muppets out there (Apple in particular seem like a world of pain, and expensive pain at that).
The US is the oldest surviving presidential republic in the world.
The complete change of form of governance that most if not all European countries have had in the last century is indeed an entirely different matter to the addition of states to the federal USA.
I stand by my claims that European countries today are completely different to 100 years ago. Mine is - it's quite some difference being under British rule or not. France and Germany and all of Europe involved in World War II in particular is a different place.
Yes many things remain the same, but its not comparable to the USA, which is indeed a truly old country stuck in its ways.
> We're still behind Europe in some sense, but we're also a quarter as old as most European countries.
Actually, the USA is far older than most modern European states. Many were part of larger states until the last century. The larger states have been involved in the World Wars and earlier conflicts, and lost various places to independence, and so have been through (several) major incarnations since the USA was established. Even some places on the periphery like Sweden and Norway have changed a lot in just the last 200 years (the US is older than that) - they used to be in a Union.
My particular country in "Old Europe", Ireland, is only 84 years old (and the UK not only changed when we left, but changed subsequently with the British Commonwealth and loss of colonies/empire). France and Germany are even younger (the fifth Republic, and re-unified Germany - even West Germany wasn't even 50). Spain and Portugal were fledgling democracies only 20 years ago. The Italian Republic is only 60 years old. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is only 52 years old. Belgium is one of the few states independant nearly as long as the USA, from 1830, but it is a very different constitutional structure now, and a federal state.
The USA, although changing in size, has been pretty much the same government structure for far longer than even the western European countries.
Slashdot Mirror
The point is that you can get far better value and performance even in the world of prebuilt than the nonsensical Alienware offerings.
Personally, I'm happy with my *year and a half old* Dell system that I got for €1450, including four-input 20" ultrascan flat panel (1600x1200 native), Geforce 6800, P4 3GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, in a stylish, well-cooled and compact midi-tower (with spare slots for expansion). I recently availed of 3 years more warranty for €94 including *replacement* of the flat panel if it acts up (admittedly unlikely). Incidentally, the derided Dell allow in their warranty (at least the one I got) the modification of my system (obviously only their components remain covered).
Not bad for prebuilt.
My current intention is to buy a 512MB graphics card for €300; the x1900xt is now (finally) at that price in Europe. But actually, I'm content enough to wait longer and see how things evolve with the release of the x1950xtx.
I'm shopping for a laptop though - and for that I haven't seen a good Dell offer yet (have been shopping for maybe 8 months). But many of the alternatives, while cheaper, are less flexible and not what I want. Actually, I did recently get a cheaper Dell system specced that matches what I can get with say, Acer, but really I want upgraded resolution (not just WXGA) at the same price (€1200-€1400). I'll keep shopping, checking and waiting, which is really what is most needed in getting good value.
Northern Ireland has over 99% availability of DSL (that's as close to universal as you will get). The mind boggles as to how or why, but at least that's one thing people up there don't have to worry about.
You forgot to mention irrational traditionalists.
Why the emotional attachment to the concept of Pluto as a planet? There was clearly a problem once something bigger than Pluto was found, unless you consider it sensible to add a whole bunch of things better classified as dwarf planets to the category of just "planets".
The numeric keypad is invaluable for fast number entry - even if you aren't a hardcore data inputter. Seriously, try it next time you have need to enter a number string. The row of numbers at the top of the keyboard is only useful for inserting the odd number or two into non-numeric strings. The operator keys are exceptionally useful when dealing with spreadsheets, on-the-fly calculations (why would you go take out a calculator when sitting in front of a PC?), etc.
That said, I'm not so sure of the need to have the alternative functions for the numeric keypad - perhaps Num Lock could indeed be done away with. But the layout of the arrows, home, end, page up, page down on the numeric keypad looks more logical - perhaps such a layout should replace the inverted T of arrow keys, and the 6 keys above them.
But for the fact that keyboards are cheap generic things, one could have a removable numeric keypad (for those happy to get by without one - and consider the space more convenient than the additional functionality).
Personally, I use the SysRq/Print Screen key regularly enough (for the latter purpose); certainly more often than the Caps Lock key. I have yet to use scroll lock, pause/break, "context menu" or indeed the Windows keys.
I find the numeric keypad handy on occasion, and I can see it being of use for many business tasks, but I seldom use the operator keys, and never the alternate functions (num lock off).
Also, although I use the occasional function key for application shortcuts; I really don't make good use of all 12 of them.
What I would like is more modifier keys, to allow me to type non-English words. As I'm in Ireland, I've UK keyboards, and set up as "Irish" layout (this means Alt Gr plus aeiou gives áéíóú). I'd like to be able to do àèìòù in a similar fashion (as opposed to the "backtick" key followed by letter), as well as other characters used in German, Spanish, etc. I'm not a fan of the "international" layout (i.e. logical not physical layout) though.
Internet users + English language + dictionaries != world
Yes, a TV channel that started up here in Ireland used billboard adverts to mock various other activities such as those you describe. Now whatever I think about TV stations trying to get people off healthy activities, I think it's fair enough for computer game publishers to be concerned about getting potential customers off playing pirated games.
I do not think your dismissal of the "time spent playing pirated games is a problem" is warranted.
Not necessarily. If we had the UK and other EU countries in the Eurozone also, then possibly more worldwide commodities (including oil) would be traded in Euro. After all, the EU as a whole accounts for more trade than the US.
If it is a Christian-run state, then how is it that the state acts in the most un-Christian of ways?
Most aspects of the way American society and economics work should be abhorrant to Christians. It is "survival of the fittest" and believing in a lie that anyone can make it to the top (in order to placate those at the bottom).
I'd like if there was a simple button to switch the text entry field between "URL processing" and "searching". I don't want some bizarre search just because I mistyped a URL.
And I *certainly* don't want the search to default to bringing me to the first result automatically.
You'd think so... but no, the monitor resamples using some algorithm where 800x600 does not just display with 2 for 1 pixels - it's still all blurred.
Also, on a 20" screen - if a direct rescale *was* used, the dots would appear huge.
My graphics card does much nicer rescaling than the monitor, I use that for most games (especially older ones); the overhead isn't that huge. But I can't spare the overhead with Oblivion.
I don't see the cause for the uncertainty as to what will happen with the PS3. Sure the Xbox360 has been out a while now, but nevertheless, there are many parallels with the PS2 launch.
People seem to have short memory spans in recollecting how much the release price of the PS2 seemed when it came out, how limited the games were at the beginning, how it was probably a less powerful console than the Xbox, etc.
It's pretty much a direct replay. The PS3 will sell about the same numbers, it'll go well over in Japan, and do OK elsewhere until Sony can decrease the prices due to cheaper components. And there'll be more games by then.
As for DVD with PS2, and Blu-ray with PS3. Again, I'd still say it's a rerun. There's not as much incentive on the face of it for consumers to go from DVD to Blu-ray, but the clincher is HDTV. People are slowly but surely switching to HDTV, and as such, it is inevitable that there will be a migration from DVDs. What they'll migrate to is still an open question, but having Blu-ray on PS3 (and again, cheaper than or comparable to standalone players) does give that format a leg up over HD-DVD (and encourages faster migration from DVD).
Anyways, it'll be fun to watch. I'll happily take a PS3 if given one, but unlike last time, I don't have a 21st birthday in hand. I suppose I could get married and put it on the wedding list this time round.
"Gamers are quickly approaching audiophiles in my book in terms of their level of insanity."
The reviewing/benchmarking systems may be rubbish. But there's nothing silly about wanting to have the most powerful graphics out there.
I have a game called "Oblivion" - the thing eats GPU for breakfast (and incidentally, is reasonably CPU heavy too at times - yay for AI and CPU-based Havoc physics). Also, I have a lovely 20" LCD flat panel, 1600x1200 native res.
I think in two years time, it would still cost a small fortune just to have the game running smoothly (and by that, I don't mean insane FPS - I mean about 30 consistent without cell-loading stutter) with the default graphics settings, at the native resolution of my monitor. At present I've 1024x768 running - and the monitor does a really poor job of the resampling (and I can't spare GPU time on my GeForce 6800 for selecting it to do the job instead).
And do you know, it really does look astounding the more you crank it up. It also makes a huge difference just to have 2xAA (again, nothing overboard or "gamerphile"), and high resolution textures (by default - the game has "blur" in the distance).
No - even without even expecting "all settings on with 16xAA super-maniacal lighting uber graphics", there is no way that demand for increased FPS is overboard.
Yes, but the end of the black stuff is not an overnight thing. Some people might convert (and the cost reflects the labour expense, the physical resources and energy of the new parts isn't as substantial), others would simply switch to a diesel car when upgrading. In any case, an instant switch is possible with diesel vehicles, thus taking the pressure off requirements for black stuff, and a phased changeover can easily be done with petrol cars.
Besides, a large quantity of people have diesel cars already (at least here in Europe). They are more economical to run even on diesel; than a petrol car is to run.
Of course, probably different in the US. The government there ensures absurdly cheap petrol, so historically people don't care as much about mpg. Now that even in the US petrol has gone up in price a fair bit (still way cheaper than here in Ireland), I really hope Ford and GM crash and burn soon for encouraging "gas-guzzlers".
"3) We have no oil eqivalents yet that can take it's place. Nuclear isn't good for small vehicles."
We don't need oil equivalents. You can use vegetable oil rather than the black stuff though. This will "just work" in new diesel vehicles. Old ones require some cleaning out (if you just put the veg oil in, it'll loosen sediments collected from the diesel, and muck up the engine). Petrol cars, well, you can spend a couple grand converting them. Not perfect, but not an "end of the world" scenario. The big stuff (artic lorries) already uses diesel, so no problems there.
As for aircraft, well, their form of "oil" is practically lamp oil, I'm guessing there's a ready replacement from the plant world for that too (of course, the refining process needs power).
So there you go, no end of transport as we know it.
Not to mention the one or two games that without major effort, only work on the original PS2 (with hard drive add on).
Sure you can modify the slim-line PS2s to have HDD, but I believe with the newest ones even this isn't possible!
Meh - they just need to spend more on the artists.
I've visited the US. The whole "stockpiling" grocery shopping mentality is frightful. You people have bread that lasts more than a few days... that's just not right. Most of the stuff in the shops in the US is atrocious "long life" processed rubbish.
People in sensible countries just take a walk down the street to a local shop, or at most, hop on a bus or train to the city centre, market, or supermarket for a couple of bags of food.
Buying fresh produce is a delight. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat from a butcher counter, warm freshly baked bread. You just can't expect to buy that in bulk weekly/fortnightly.
Besides, you can have a car too, or take a taxi, if you have a big family or genuinely need to stock up for some big meals.
Yeah, but Vista is playing catch-up to OSX, and is behind by almost half a decade.
It merely makes it more laughable when one points out the flaws of OSX.
Indeed - the warranties are worth every euro.
I'm tempted to buy a laptop from someone else (they seem cheaper), but to be honest, most people I know who have laptops have had "issues", and there's no way you want to just rely on one year's collect and return. If I can find a retailer I trust (a lot of other brands aren't "buy direct" it seems), I'll consider it if I can get an upgraded warranty.
Still, I've seen Dell's on-site service in action - actually really good. Also, for all their equipment I've seen malfunction, I've seen other stuff that just keeps on going and going, and some really nicely designed stuff too.
Plus, Dells are pretty configurable when purchasing, even if there are limitations. Throw in some special offers and a level of quality and service that while not great, is OK relative to some of the true muppets out there (Apple in particular seem like a world of pain, and expensive pain at that).
Nevertheless, one of the major features expected of Vista was WinFS, which originally was part of the Cairo development (early/mid 1990s).
Interestingly, it won't actually be in Vista at launch. Making Vista seem even more as to XP, what ME/98 was to 95.
See my comment above. The current "Kingdom of the Netherlands" includes Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, and is a federation from 1953.
However, I'll admit this is pretty pedantic.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, comprising Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba is a federation established 1953.
OK, perhaps that is a *bit* pedantic. Even so, the Netherlands has been a parliamentary democracy since 1848. The US is still older.
The US is the oldest surviving presidential republic in the world.
The complete change of form of governance that most if not all European countries have had in the last century is indeed an entirely different matter to the addition of states to the federal USA.
I stand by my claims that European countries today are completely different to 100 years ago. Mine is - it's quite some difference being under British rule or not. France and Germany and all of Europe involved in World War II in particular is a different place.
Yes many things remain the same, but its not comparable to the USA, which is indeed a truly old country stuck in its ways.
> We're still behind Europe in some sense, but we're also a quarter as old as most European countries.
Actually, the USA is far older than most modern European states. Many were part of larger states until the last century. The larger states have been involved in the World Wars and earlier conflicts, and lost various places to independence, and so have been through (several) major incarnations since the USA was established. Even some places on the periphery like Sweden and Norway have changed a lot in just the last 200 years (the US is older than that) - they used to be in a Union.
My particular country in "Old Europe", Ireland, is only 84 years old (and the UK not only changed when we left, but changed subsequently with the British Commonwealth and loss of colonies/empire). France and Germany are even younger (the fifth Republic, and re-unified Germany - even West Germany wasn't even 50). Spain and Portugal were fledgling democracies only 20 years ago. The Italian Republic is only 60 years old. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is only 52 years old. Belgium is one of the few states independant nearly as long as the USA, from 1830, but it is a very different constitutional structure now, and a federal state.
The USA, although changing in size, has been pretty much the same government structure for far longer than even the western European countries.