You do realize that you don't need to run Windows to run those apps right?
Except for gaming, Mac's are great. And the only reason why they aren't great for gaming is because they lack the games, not the hardware. Mac's are well designed for exactly what you're looking for.
If you are going to narrow it down between Dell and HP, I'd recommend HP. HP has a very long history of business class machines between its own HP-UX servers and the former Compaq company on the Wintel side. Despite what others may say, it isn't just about support. HP's machines are engineered better from the start, so you don't need to call support as often. The technical knowledge level of both phone support and field support techs/engineers who come onsite are also a lot better than Dell's when you do need their help. Dell just isn't a mature company when it comes to enterprise support.
Whatever vendor you go with, always opt for the extra support contract.
Dell's Gold support sucks compared to most other vendors. I don't have recent experience with their desktop support but have had to deal a lot with their servers over the last 2 years. I don't do day to day sysadmin stuff anymore as I focus on DR/backups but I see all of the mess my customer goes through to get Dell to fix problems. If its not an obvious issue like HDD failure then it may takes days or weeks to fix issues. Their first response to anything other than blatant hardware failure is to update the firmware and BIOS. They would rather spend days and weeks on the phone gathering logs instead of sending out a technician (who when does show up, is only trained in hardware swapping, no clue on how to do anything at the OS level) or running specialized diagnostic software. I'm constantly having to run full server restores of Dell systems due to complete hardware failure or data corruption.
HP on the other hand has caused very little trouble. The customer standardized on HP desktops just as I started working onsite in their office and am quite impressed with their desktop line. Their servers also very rarely have issues. I've only had to call support for the HP-UX and HP based Linux machines I'm responsible for a couple times, but every time I have it has been a major ordeal to get a case opened. They've told me I couldn't open a case with just the company name and serial number of the unit, despite Platinum support. They made us track down our support contract # or they wouldn't talk to me. WTF? Once they opened the case though the folks on the other end of the phone were very knowledgeable. They sent engineers onsite right away. Not technicians who came out to swap hardware, but an engineer to help diag the problem.
Dell really screams "consumer level" to me. HP is about business systems. On the flipside though HP's consumer level desktops are crap.
I have a Lenovo ThinkPad and I'm quite happy with it. I have a tendency to be rough with my laptops and I haven't managed to break anything or crack the screen yet. If their consumer line is half as good you're still better off than if you went with some other low end brand name.
Gas mileage is also heavily affected by gasoline quality. My '07 Prius is rated 70 city / 51 highway. Typically with a better brand name gasoline vendor I am getting an average somewhere between 49MPG and 52MPG on each fill up. If I use a less quality gasoline my mileage drops noticeably.
In *real* war, the sniper is also the most hated enemy soldier. And like in Doom or whatever game you're playing, your best bet for survival is to gang up on the sniper to eliminate him/her.
"Pretexting" aka social engineering aka phishing aka identify theft. RIAA/MPAA should be treated like the criminals they are.
2)
Wouldn't it make it easier for anyone to legally commit "pretexting" by simply filing a copyright or patent? Seems like a legal loophole like this would give too much leeway to would-be professional identity thieves who already out there today.
From my personal experience driving a Prius for a couple months now it is best to leave it on cruise control during highway driving, unless of course it is rush hour in which case you will naturally pulse and glide as traffic ebbs and flows. The Prius gets significantly better gas mileage at these lower speeds as long as traffic isn't coming to a complete or near stop and then speeding up quickly again repeatedly. Cruise control set for 70MPH will not get as good MPG as 65MPH, but you would probably do better than pulse and glide at 70MPH.
My best average to date has been 54MPG on a single tank of gas, traveling during the beginning or ending of rush hour (i.e. not actual peak rush hour) with cruise set to 63MPH for the majority of my commute. Initially I was getting about 45MPG for the first few weeks but since then I'm averaging around 47-49MPG for any given fill up.
Nomenclature aside, Hummer (H1) is the same car as a military Humvee. The only difference is that instead of armor plating, weapon systems, 24V power system, the civilian version includes a more comfortable trim package, AC, stereo, and a 12V power system. The frame and moving parts are the same.
A civilian H1 costs around $149k, and gets a reported 10MPG.
My 2007 Prius cost me $22k, and gets a reported 51MPG.
150k-200k seems more reasonable lifespan of the Prius without having to do any major work like replacing the HSD batteries, from what I've read on the prius group I belong to. The HSD system is warranteed for 100k miles, which is also the most expensive part of the car to repair.
I could see the Hummer last 300-400k miles, if it were maintained in military service. I couldn't see the Hummer last that long without a lot of repairs though, especially if it were civilian owned.
This is exactly why people are fed up with the government. I'm not the only person who is sick of the government trying to dictate what should or shouldn't pass as scientific knowledge. Funding science is one thing, but passing laws to counter what scientific knowledge comes about is another.
Besides that, shouldn't New Mexico be more concerned with illegals and their detrimental impact to the local area?
You see this type of idea in a lot of major metro areas that have very compact urban areas. It can be a win-win-win situation. Employees have less travel to work, so less stress. Less people driving/taking mass transit for long distances so the infrastructure costs become more manageable. Increased population density so there is a reduction in urban sprawl while still letting the local tax base grow.
When I was in school, homework would only account for 25% or less of your grade. If you cheated on your homework, you'd be more likely to flunk the test, which was a much higher percentage of your grade. If you got 100% on your homework but failed the quiz and tests, the teacher knew what was really going on.
I had the opposite problem. In classes where I understood the subject, I wouldn't bother with the homework all the time. I'd get marked down for not turning in anything, but I'd get A's and B's on the tests, so my average was decent.
On the gripping hand, we'd have some teachers who'd assign reading assignments so that we'd have a basic understanding of what we'd be discussing the next day. That way we'd spend class time doing what other teachers would assign as homework.
One of the Japanese places back in my home town had flying fish eggs mixed with wasabi powder, enough to make 'em bright green. Surprisingly, I was one of the few people who ever ordered them.:)
Actually, AC units just transfer the heat from one spot to another. You actually add heat to the mix from the electric motors in the units as well, making things even worse for those "outside".
It has been my experience that you have to set their expectations. Emergency on-call means someone picks up the phone and CALLS me if an emergency comes up. Don't expect me to answer your email outside of office hours, don't expect me to answer my phone if I'm not on-call, and don't expect me to be nice to you if you call me in the middle of the night with a non-emergency even if I am on-call.
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That's just what the CIA wants you to believe.
Uh, you are aware of Apple and OSX right?
You do realize that you don't need to run Windows to run those apps right?
Except for gaming, Mac's are great. And the only reason why they aren't great for gaming is because they lack the games, not the hardware. Mac's are well designed for exactly what you're looking for.
If you are going to narrow it down between Dell and HP, I'd recommend HP. HP has a very long history of business class machines between its own HP-UX servers and the former Compaq company on the Wintel side. Despite what others may say, it isn't just about support. HP's machines are engineered better from the start, so you don't need to call support as often. The technical knowledge level of both phone support and field support techs/engineers who come onsite are also a lot better than Dell's when you do need their help. Dell just isn't a mature company when it comes to enterprise support.
Whatever vendor you go with, always opt for the extra support contract.
Dell's Gold support sucks compared to most other vendors. I don't have recent experience with their desktop support but have had to deal a lot with their servers over the last 2 years. I don't do day to day sysadmin stuff anymore as I focus on DR/backups but I see all of the mess my customer goes through to get Dell to fix problems. If its not an obvious issue like HDD failure then it may takes days or weeks to fix issues. Their first response to anything other than blatant hardware failure is to update the firmware and BIOS. They would rather spend days and weeks on the phone gathering logs instead of sending out a technician (who when does show up, is only trained in hardware swapping, no clue on how to do anything at the OS level) or running specialized diagnostic software. I'm constantly having to run full server restores of Dell systems due to complete hardware failure or data corruption.
HP on the other hand has caused very little trouble. The customer standardized on HP desktops just as I started working onsite in their office and am quite impressed with their desktop line. Their servers also very rarely have issues. I've only had to call support for the HP-UX and HP based Linux machines I'm responsible for a couple times, but every time I have it has been a major ordeal to get a case opened. They've told me I couldn't open a case with just the company name and serial number of the unit, despite Platinum support. They made us track down our support contract # or they wouldn't talk to me. WTF? Once they opened the case though the folks on the other end of the phone were very knowledgeable. They sent engineers onsite right away. Not technicians who came out to swap hardware, but an engineer to help diag the problem.
Dell really screams "consumer level" to me. HP is about business systems. On the flipside though HP's consumer level desktops are crap.
I have a Lenovo ThinkPad and I'm quite happy with it. I have a tendency to be rough with my laptops and I haven't managed to break anything or crack the screen yet. If their consumer line is half as good you're still better off than if you went with some other low end brand name.
Oh please, how could you forget boso.ms?
Gas mileage is also heavily affected by gasoline quality. My '07 Prius is rated 70 city / 51 highway. Typically with a better brand name gasoline vendor I am getting an average somewhere between 49MPG and 52MPG on each fill up. If I use a less quality gasoline my mileage drops noticeably.
That's not Bill in a Borg suit. That's his rubber dominatrix outfit.
In *real* war, the sniper is also the most hated enemy soldier. And like in Doom or whatever game you're playing, your best bet for survival is to gang up on the sniper to eliminate him/her.
1)
"Pretexting" aka social engineering aka phishing aka identify theft. RIAA/MPAA should be treated like the criminals they are.
2)
Wouldn't it make it easier for anyone to legally commit "pretexting" by simply filing a copyright or patent? Seems like a legal loophole like this would give too much leeway to would-be professional identity thieves who already out there today.
From my personal experience driving a Prius for a couple months now it is best to leave it on cruise control during highway driving, unless of course it is rush hour in which case you will naturally pulse and glide as traffic ebbs and flows. The Prius gets significantly better gas mileage at these lower speeds as long as traffic isn't coming to a complete or near stop and then speeding up quickly again repeatedly. Cruise control set for 70MPH will not get as good MPG as 65MPH, but you would probably do better than pulse and glide at 70MPH.
My best average to date has been 54MPG on a single tank of gas, traveling during the beginning or ending of rush hour (i.e. not actual peak rush hour) with cruise set to 63MPH for the majority of my commute. Initially I was getting about 45MPG for the first few weeks but since then I'm averaging around 47-49MPG for any given fill up.
If you let up on the gas, regenerative breaking kicks in, so even when you aren't breaking, it "sips" some of the kinetic energy for battery charging.
Nomenclature aside, Hummer (H1) is the same car as a military Humvee. The only difference is that instead of armor plating, weapon systems, 24V power system, the civilian version includes a more comfortable trim package, AC, stereo, and a 12V power system. The frame and moving parts are the same.
A civilian H1 costs around $149k, and gets a reported 10MPG.
My 2007 Prius cost me $22k, and gets a reported 51MPG.
You do the math.
150k-200k seems more reasonable lifespan of the Prius without having to do any major work like replacing the HSD batteries, from what I've read on the prius group I belong to. The HSD system is warranteed for 100k miles, which is also the most expensive part of the car to repair.
I could see the Hummer last 300-400k miles, if it were maintained in military service. I couldn't see the Hummer last that long without a lot of repairs though, especially if it were civilian owned.
asshat!
This is exactly why people are fed up with the government. I'm not the only person who is sick of the government trying to dictate what should or shouldn't pass as scientific knowledge. Funding science is one thing, but passing laws to counter what scientific knowledge comes about is another.
Besides that, shouldn't New Mexico be more concerned with illegals and their detrimental impact to the local area?
SCO is a bunch of whiny babies that can't get ahead on their own merit, so they want to take it from someone else.
We'd all be better off if we follow the advice given on this website.
You see this type of idea in a lot of major metro areas that have very compact urban areas. It can be a win-win-win situation. Employees have less travel to work, so less stress. Less people driving/taking mass transit for long distances so the infrastructure costs become more manageable. Increased population density so there is a reduction in urban sprawl while still letting the local tax base grow.
At least they can all share in laughing at the SCO employees riding the short bus.
That's where Pixar puts its out takes.
When I was in school, homework would only account for 25% or less of your grade. If you cheated on your homework, you'd be more likely to flunk the test, which was a much higher percentage of your grade. If you got 100% on your homework but failed the quiz and tests, the teacher knew what was really going on.
I had the opposite problem. In classes where I understood the subject, I wouldn't bother with the homework all the time. I'd get marked down for not turning in anything, but I'd get A's and B's on the tests, so my average was decent.
On the gripping hand, we'd have some teachers who'd assign reading assignments so that we'd have a basic understanding of what we'd be discussing the next day. That way we'd spend class time doing what other teachers would assign as homework.
One of the Japanese places back in my home town had flying fish eggs mixed with wasabi powder, enough to make 'em bright green. Surprisingly, I was one of the few people who ever ordered them. :)
I've consumed quite a bit of spicy food in my day including wasabi, but I've never had wasabi "punish" me beyond the initial sinus flash.
And trust me, I've eaten so much wasabi in one sitting that my taste buds went numb for 2 days, with no further punishment.
Excellent point. I forgot about the noise pollution too!
Actually, AC units just transfer the heat from one spot to another. You actually add heat to the mix from the electric motors in the units as well, making things even worse for those "outside".
It has been my experience that you have to set their expectations. Emergency on-call means someone picks up the phone and CALLS me if an emergency comes up. Don't expect me to answer your email outside of office hours, don't expect me to answer my phone if I'm not on-call, and don't expect me to be nice to you if you call me in the middle of the night with a non-emergency even if I am on-call.