Computer: what should I buy? :D
Nov. 23rd, 2011 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusHellooooooo, techies! I'll trade you a drabble for advice.
It is time.
The laptop I have on indefinite loan fromgblvr (hi! *waves*) is now sadly out of date. I can't upgrade from Firefox 2.0.
Slowly over the last few months Gmail, YouTube, Pandora, Twitter, Facebook, have all either stopped working or informed me they're running stripped down versions so "please upgrade your browser!"
AO3 informed me the reason I can't reply to comments is that I'm running Firefox 2.0 so "please upgrade your browser!"
Evernote doesn't work, Flash doesn't work.... This month, Pandora stopped working entirely.
That's it. I'm not going through the holidays without my music.
I'm poking at www.newegg.com to see what I can get torope my ex into build my own system.
My requirements:
- Ridiculous amounts of hard drive space for downloaded eps and gazillions of copies of novel-length fics (draft 1, draft 23...) and all that music
- The standard USB and HDMI ports
- CD burner
- Decent (but not gamer level) video card
- As upgradeable as possible (which usually means the fastest possible chip) since, as you can tell, I hang on to computers for a while.
- I never take the laptop anywhere, so a desk system is fine.
Two questions.
Firstly: What video card should I get? The ex is used to gamer video cards and has no idea what to get for someone who doesn't need to run, say, WoW.
Secondly: What chip should I get? The ex says that the rate of change is so steep these days, it makes no difference, it's out of date in two years. True. But people who keep up with technology don't understand -- you really can push it. And I do.gblvr's laptop was new in 1999.
And here's your drabble:
Aliens For Thanksgiving
by Icarus
"More Tavaa bean pilaf?" John offered, raising a spoonful. He was met with eager nods, and to save time, plates were passed up the table to him.
Every American who wasn't essential personnel or on a gate team had gated back to earth for the holiday. The rest, well, that was the good part of being an international team. They took any holiday they could get, but mostly as a day off. It left an intimate table of die hards (and interested aliens) for a real Thanksgiving meal.
Sort of. Ronon had shot the Uruk buck (with an arrow), but John figured it counted as venison. And based on the popularity of the Tavaa pilaf, it was about as tasty as venison too.
"Our people have many feasts of giving thanks. Which one is this?" Teyla asked with polite interest.
"Which one?" Rodney scowled.
John intercepted quickly. "We have only the one in our country -- but we say thank you a lot," he explained. The airman mumbled thanks as he passed the plate back. "See?"
Rodney added, "Mmmm. Thank you for pie, thank you for no emergencies--"
"No jinxing," John said.
"--and thank you for the fact that the Pegasus Galaxy hasn't discovered tofurkey."
Radek interjected, "Thank you that Rodney's simulation program failed. Otherwise most of the science team would still be in the labs."
Rodney pointed at him with a fork and said around a mouthful, "Due to tampering, no doubt. Don't think I won't check."
"I admit nothing."
"Is there a particular purpose or reason for this feast of thanksgiving?" Teyla pressed. Times like these John wished Carter were here.
"Well, I don't know about a purpose, beyond stuffing ourselves, visiting friends and family and all that. But there is a history, sure. I mean, it's either, well." John restarted. He sucked at this. "See. There were these colonists--"
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother, here comes revisionist valorized American history 101. That's not really what happened."
"Hang on, I'm not done yet. There were these colonists who were starving to death...."
"Moon colony?" Ronon said. "Those are tough."
"No, it was just a bad winter," John said.
"Then why didn't they go back through the gate?" Ronon asked.
"We didn't have a gate back then. It was buried under a pyramid at Giza," John said.
Radek held up a forefinger. "Technically not under a pyramid."
"Then how did they get there?" Ronon asked, ignoring Radek.
"By ship. They were from England," John said.
"Isn't England on your planet?" Ronon puzzled.
John frowned at him. Of course it was. Ronon had even been there.
"Yes," Teyla agreed. "I believe so. Lewis in biomechanics is from England."
Then John understood.
"Ships. Sailing ships. Not space ships."
"Ah," Teyla said. "So this was long ago."
John took a deep breath, marshaling his patience. "Yes. Several hundred years." He couldn't keep the bite of sarcasm out of his voice.
Ronon commented with a smirk, "Sateda had guns and machines back then. We wouldn't have starved."
"We did too, and this isn't a competition!" John said. "Anyhow, bad winter, these colonists were starving to death when either these Indians saved them or else the colonists slaughtered the Indians, depending on who you talk to." John gave Rodney a pointed glare.
"Thank you," Rodney said. "But let us not forget the millions of First Nations' people you killed by disease."
"That wasn't our fault," John insisted. He turned to Teyla for support, "It's like Kirsan fever. We had it, they didn't, and they all got sick and died. Or a lot of them did."
"And you celebrate this with a feast of thanksgiving?" Teyla blinked.
"Ironic, isn't it?" Rodney said, grinning.
"The saving story, not the other one. That came out later."
"Legends do have a tendency to make heroes of the participants, Rodney," Teyla pointed out.
"Look." John said, setting down his fork, "The legend is that we were on our last legs, and the Indians -- who weren't our friends -- came and rescued us. We sat down and had a big feast when we thought we were goners. It's about enemies coming together in extreme circumstances, that some things are more important -- like not letting your neighbors starve to death just because you don't like them."
"That's a good legend," Ronon said. "You remember the dead with a meal."
John cringed. "Kinda."
"It's an admirable sentiment," Teyla said. "Much like our own feast of remembrance, where we recall all those whom we have lost in the last year."
Radek tipped his head. "Except mostly right now it's celebrated as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season."
"It's an annual market?"
"Advertisements everywhere." Radek nodded. "I did my graduate work in the US."
John turned helplessly to Rodney.
"Don't look at me," Rodney said with a smug smile. "Your Thanksgiving doesn't make sense to us Canadians either." And he stuffed a large piece of Uruk in his mouth.
It is time.
The laptop I have on indefinite loan from
gblvr (hi! *waves*) is now sadly out of date. I can't upgrade from Firefox 2.0. Slowly over the last few months Gmail, YouTube, Pandora, Twitter, Facebook, have all either stopped working or informed me they're running stripped down versions so "please upgrade your browser!"
AO3 informed me the reason I can't reply to comments is that I'm running Firefox 2.0 so "please upgrade your browser!"
Evernote doesn't work, Flash doesn't work.... This month, Pandora stopped working entirely.
That's it. I'm not going through the holidays without my music.
I'm poking at www.newegg.com to see what I can get to
My requirements:
- Ridiculous amounts of hard drive space for downloaded eps and gazillions of copies of novel-length fics (draft 1, draft 23...) and all that music
- The standard USB and HDMI ports
- CD burner
- Decent (but not gamer level) video card
- As upgradeable as possible (which usually means the fastest possible chip) since, as you can tell, I hang on to computers for a while.
- I never take the laptop anywhere, so a desk system is fine.
Two questions.
Firstly: What video card should I get? The ex is used to gamer video cards and has no idea what to get for someone who doesn't need to run, say, WoW.
Secondly: What chip should I get? The ex says that the rate of change is so steep these days, it makes no difference, it's out of date in two years. True. But people who keep up with technology don't understand -- you really can push it. And I do.
gblvr's laptop was new in 1999. And here's your drabble:
Aliens For Thanksgiving
by Icarus
"More Tavaa bean pilaf?" John offered, raising a spoonful. He was met with eager nods, and to save time, plates were passed up the table to him.
Every American who wasn't essential personnel or on a gate team had gated back to earth for the holiday. The rest, well, that was the good part of being an international team. They took any holiday they could get, but mostly as a day off. It left an intimate table of die hards (and interested aliens) for a real Thanksgiving meal.
Sort of. Ronon had shot the Uruk buck (with an arrow), but John figured it counted as venison. And based on the popularity of the Tavaa pilaf, it was about as tasty as venison too.
"Our people have many feasts of giving thanks. Which one is this?" Teyla asked with polite interest.
"Which one?" Rodney scowled.
John intercepted quickly. "We have only the one in our country -- but we say thank you a lot," he explained. The airman mumbled thanks as he passed the plate back. "See?"
Rodney added, "Mmmm. Thank you for pie, thank you for no emergencies--"
"No jinxing," John said.
"--and thank you for the fact that the Pegasus Galaxy hasn't discovered tofurkey."
Radek interjected, "Thank you that Rodney's simulation program failed. Otherwise most of the science team would still be in the labs."
Rodney pointed at him with a fork and said around a mouthful, "Due to tampering, no doubt. Don't think I won't check."
"I admit nothing."
"Is there a particular purpose or reason for this feast of thanksgiving?" Teyla pressed. Times like these John wished Carter were here.
"Well, I don't know about a purpose, beyond stuffing ourselves, visiting friends and family and all that. But there is a history, sure. I mean, it's either, well." John restarted. He sucked at this. "See. There were these colonists--"
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother, here comes revisionist valorized American history 101. That's not really what happened."
"Hang on, I'm not done yet. There were these colonists who were starving to death...."
"Moon colony?" Ronon said. "Those are tough."
"No, it was just a bad winter," John said.
"Then why didn't they go back through the gate?" Ronon asked.
"We didn't have a gate back then. It was buried under a pyramid at Giza," John said.
Radek held up a forefinger. "Technically not under a pyramid."
"Then how did they get there?" Ronon asked, ignoring Radek.
"By ship. They were from England," John said.
"Isn't England on your planet?" Ronon puzzled.
John frowned at him. Of course it was. Ronon had even been there.
"Yes," Teyla agreed. "I believe so. Lewis in biomechanics is from England."
Then John understood.
"Ships. Sailing ships. Not space ships."
"Ah," Teyla said. "So this was long ago."
John took a deep breath, marshaling his patience. "Yes. Several hundred years." He couldn't keep the bite of sarcasm out of his voice.
Ronon commented with a smirk, "Sateda had guns and machines back then. We wouldn't have starved."
"We did too, and this isn't a competition!" John said. "Anyhow, bad winter, these colonists were starving to death when either these Indians saved them or else the colonists slaughtered the Indians, depending on who you talk to." John gave Rodney a pointed glare.
"Thank you," Rodney said. "But let us not forget the millions of First Nations' people you killed by disease."
"That wasn't our fault," John insisted. He turned to Teyla for support, "It's like Kirsan fever. We had it, they didn't, and they all got sick and died. Or a lot of them did."
"And you celebrate this with a feast of thanksgiving?" Teyla blinked.
"Ironic, isn't it?" Rodney said, grinning.
"The saving story, not the other one. That came out later."
"Legends do have a tendency to make heroes of the participants, Rodney," Teyla pointed out.
"Look." John said, setting down his fork, "The legend is that we were on our last legs, and the Indians -- who weren't our friends -- came and rescued us. We sat down and had a big feast when we thought we were goners. It's about enemies coming together in extreme circumstances, that some things are more important -- like not letting your neighbors starve to death just because you don't like them."
"That's a good legend," Ronon said. "You remember the dead with a meal."
John cringed. "Kinda."
"It's an admirable sentiment," Teyla said. "Much like our own feast of remembrance, where we recall all those whom we have lost in the last year."
Radek tipped his head. "Except mostly right now it's celebrated as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season."
"It's an annual market?"
"Advertisements everywhere." Radek nodded. "I did my graduate work in the US."
John turned helplessly to Rodney.
"Don't look at me," Rodney said with a smug smile. "Your Thanksgiving doesn't make sense to us Canadians either." And he stuffed a large piece of Uruk in his mouth.
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Date: 2011-11-24 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-24 11:12 pm (UTC)As for the video/graphics card, I play games so I don't know about this.
I had googled "laptop buying guide" and found a site where this guy had given loads of advice depending on if you were average home user, student or business user. He believes that the speed of the harddrive is a more important factor than the size. He recommended 5400RPM or 7200RPM for harddrive speed and a processor speed of minimum 2.2 Ghz. And 4GB RAM. If you have loads of videos, music, etc. he recommended 500GB harddrive min.
But the above is all for a laptop. If you want a desktop, I guess you should check if these same specs are appropriate for a desktop or not.
2. Drabble: Haha, these guys are so cute.
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Date: 2011-11-24 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-25 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-25 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-25 01:36 pm (UTC)LOL. John fails at explaining Thanksgiving. And Rodney should probably stop talking, because Canada's record over their First Nations people isn't all that sparkling either.
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Date: 2011-11-25 05:20 pm (UTC)sludge oilTar Sands pipeline.But it's haarrrd explaining things to aliens. They have no context, and then they redefine according to what's familiar.
I, unfortunately, seem to have the beginnings of a cold, so at most I'm going out for orange juice today. (I forgot to disinfect the Rockville tutoring table on Wednesday and was probably exposed to the Wootton cold.)