The computer and electronics super geek thread

[Dante74]

There really isn't a game out there more stressing than Crysis, including Crysis Warhead.

F.E.A.R. 2 requires 1GB of RAM, a GeForce 6800 or better, and a 2.8P4 or better. For reference, those are the minimum requirements for Crysis as well.

Like Crysis, though, the question is, what hardware does it run well on. I only have data for the minimums for F.E.A.R. 2. I do know that I cranked everything up to max, with a 1680x1050 resolution. I've got 3GB of RAM, a GeForce 9800GTX+, and a 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo. And for the record, despite the fact that my rig exceeds the recommended requirements for Crysis, I was actually playing the game with a mixture of maximum and next-to-maximum settings for most of the game, until late in the game. Particle effects were beginning to drag everything down, and I had to switch to more middling performance.

I've got a Q9550 core2quad, 8 gigs RAM, and a Quadro FX 3700 card and Crysis slows down to a crawl on the snow levels with everything set to maximum. I have to set everthing down to medium and disable antialiasing to get a decent framerate at 1920x1200.

[azrael]

I've got a Q9550 core2quad, 8 gigs RAM, and a Quadro FX 3700 card and Crysis slows down to a crawl on the snow levels with everything set to maximum. I have to set everthing down to medium and disable antialiasing to get a decent framerate at 1920x1200.

Crysis makes every machine into its b*tch. There hasn't been a setup out there that hasn't cried when playing Crysis (pun intended). If you want to really test out your system's graphics and CPU power, play Crysis.

[MDP310]

Crysis makes every machine into its b*tch. There hasn't been a setup out there that hasn't cried when playing Crysis (pun intended). If you want to really test out your system's graphics and CPU power, play Crysis.

I can play Crysis on Medium with basically no slowdowns, or on High with just enough of a framerate drop to frequently get you killed. Pretty much anything else, like FEAR 2 or Bioshock, I can play totally maxed out at 1680x1050.

Here's what I got:

4 gigs RAM

3.0GhZ dual-core AMD (I forget which exact model and I'm on my laptop right now)

Nvidia 8800GT

...that's what I can remember off the top of my head. I have a pretty much standard HP desktop that I threw a good video card at.

[505thAirborne]

Hey guys, Hope this kinda question is ok to ask here?? I've seen this thread many a time and thought I would ask away, You guys seem really seem knowledgeable on your Computer parts and hopefully what software to use.

Currently I have a Dell - Studio XPS Desktop / Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor Features 4 processing cores, 8MB L2 cache and 2.66GHz processor speed per core.

Anyways, I've been pondering on the idea of making my own website for my Business and a few others I want to start up. I know in 2009 how do you run a business without your own website, well its called Ebay for now and it blows!!!! And over the years I did have 2 websites for my Artwork and Anime projects, which have all gone under as the people who made them for me over the years either ran off with my $$$ or decided they would not maintain or Host them for me any longer. So with my new PC, I'm hoping I have enough RAM and Gigs to make it on my own..... yes the old saying is very true.

Is there any soft ware out there you would recommend on how build, make, construct a website. Functional with videos, downloads, all that good stuff.

Any helpful hints would be great!!

[yellowlightman]

Hey guys, Hope this kinda question is ok to ask here?? I've seen this thread many a time and thought I would ask away, You guys seem really seem knowledgeable on your Computer parts and hopefully what software to use.

Currently I have a Dell - Studio XPS Desktop / Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor Features 4 processing cores, 8MB L2 cache and 2.66GHz processor speed per core.

Anyways, I've been pondering on the idea of making my own website for my Business and a few others I want to start up. I know in 2009 how do you run a business without your own website, well its called Ebay for now and it blows!!!! And over the years I did have 2 websites for my Artwork and Anime projects, which have all gone under as the people who made them for me over the years either ran off with my $$$ or decided they would not maintain or Host them for me any longer. So with my new PC, I'm hoping I have enough RAM and Gigs to make it on my own..... yes the old saying is very true.

Is there any soft ware out there you would recommend on how build, make, construct a website. Functional with videos, downloads, all that good stuff.

Any helpful hints would be great!!

You really don't need a powerful computer to make a website, for starters.

But if you're serious about making a professional looking business website, you're probably a lot better off going to someone with actual experience making websites. It's a bit more complicated than just throwing stuff together in an editor, especially if you're trying to do online shopping and that kind of stuff.

If you're insistent on doing it yourself, I'd recommend taking some classes at a local community college to cover the basics.

[azrael]

You really don't need a powerful computer to make a website, for starters.

But if you're serious about making a professional looking business website, you're probably a lot better off going to someone with actual experience making websites. It's a bit more complicated than just throwing stuff together in an editor, especially if you're trying to do online shopping and that kind of stuff.

If you're insistent on doing it yourself, I'd recommend taking some classes at a local community college to cover the basics.

Agreed. You do not need a powerful computer. If you are in the market for hardware, I would suggest external hard drives for backup as you will need to backup your site and contents routinely if you decided to run the site on your own hardware. Since you are most likely to run the site from a webhosting company, I would suggest you spend some time and research web hosting companies and compare rates and features. If you are planning on running your own hardware for your business, I would suggest you look at Dell's Server sales site.

As for designing, I would suggest taking courses in Adobe Dreamweaver. I would recommend you look at content site managers and/or e-store software if your business sells any products.

[Dante74]

Crysis makes every machine into its b*tch. There hasn't been a setup out there that hasn't cried when playing Crysis (pun intended). If you want to really test out your system's graphics and CPU power, play Crysis.

Which makes me wonder if its developers were just being lazy when they made it. It's over two years old, from what I can tell it doesn't have that much more polygons than Warhead and yet, it's a nightmare for most systems when you get to the snow levels. My quadro FX's specialty is antialiasing but there's no way it can even handle 4x anitaliasing on the snow levels.

[mikeszekely]

Which makes me wonder if its developers were just being lazy when they made it. It's over two years old, from what I can tell it doesn't have that much more polygons than Warhead and yet, it's a nightmare for most systems when you get to the snow levels. My quadro FX's specialty is antialiasing but there's no way it can even handle 4x anitaliasing on the snow levels.

Maybe. But for what it's worth, I had the same problems with Warhead. Everyone was making a big deal about how it's easier to run than the original, but it went exactly the same for me, they just came up with new names for the settings. I still ran it on high settings most of the game, and turned it down when it snowed.

[505thAirborne]

Agreed. You do not need a powerful computer. If you are in the market for hardware, I would suggest external hard drives for backup as you will need to backup your site and contents routinely if you decided to run the site on your own hardware. Since you are most likely to run the site from a webhosting company, I would suggest you spend some time and research web hosting companies and compare rates and features. If you are planning on running your own hardware for your business, I would suggest you look at Dell's Server sales site.

As for designing, I would suggest taking courses in Adobe Dreamweaver. I would recommend you look at content site managers and/or e-store software if your business sells any products.

Thanks Azrael & Yellowlightman, sounds like good simple advice and it gives me a better idea where to start from. If I do decide to take some classes on how too to do the basics, what does sometime like Adobe Dreamweaver cost??

Thanks, 505th!!

[emajnthis]

dreamweaver is 400 new 200 upgrade if you want CS4, you can get CS3 for 150 or so, so it might even save you money to buy CS3 and then upgrade to CS4 for 200.

[yellowlightman]

Honestly, I absolutely hate Dreamweaver. I think its a terrible piece of software that can be incredibly frustrating with most things and sort of helpful once in a while. I used it for a while and then finally gave up on it, as it just wasn't worth the headaches.

505thAirborne: One of the benefits of starting from scratch at a community college class (or own your own, with a basic HTML tutorial in a plain text editor) is that you can get a feel for the basics without having to worry about learning a new piece of software while at the same time having to learn about HTML and CSS and PHP. After a bit of practice you'll be able to get a feel for what you want to do and what works with you, and then once you have the fundamentals is a good time to start learning Dreamweaver.

[kensei]

I've been playing this games as well. AND I ONLY PLAY IT DURING THE DAY SINCE I SCARE PRETTY EASY.

I had the fright of my life when I was about to go down a ladder when all of a sudden ALMA appears and I go HOLY S**T I can't fire at her in this position.

BTW..you mentioned something about an old rig...can you post the specs?

I've only played this game on the following (1280x1024 med to high settings & 1024x768 High Settings):

Athlon X2 4000+ (2.1Ghz) ==> Just upgraded to a C2D E6420 in Feb.

MSI K9N Neo-F V3 ==> Moved to a Gigabyte G31-based mobo in Feb.

2GB DDR2-533 (2x1GB)

256MB GeForce 7300GT DDR3

80GB W.D. SATA

The reason I'm asking is I wanted to try in an older rig of mine that I recently re-assembled:

P4 2.6Ghz with HT

865GBF

1GB RAM (2x512MB)

64MB Radeon 9000

40GB Seagate IDE

Sorry it is not that old, well, unless you think that 3 years is old. It's a Toshiba Tecra M7 Tablet PC.

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz

2 GB of RAM

80 GB 7200 RPM HDD

128 MB Dedicated NVIDIA Graphics Card

It still manages Battlefield 2 on Medium settings. It just wasn't designed for gaming, its a tablet for work.

[kensei]

Anyone know of a good RealPlayer video converter to a format like avi? I want to use Sony Vegas Pro, but the thing is, just like the crappy piece of software Microsoft Movie Maker, it cannot use realmedia files, and all of the phones that I will be potentially using will record in RealPlayer format.

Kate's Video Converter left a lot to be desired.

[mikeszekely]

Anyone know of a good RealPlayer video converter to a format like avi? I want to use Sony Vegas Pro, but the thing is, just like the crappy piece of software Microsoft Movie Maker, it cannot use realmedia files, and all of the phones that I will be potentially using will record in RealPlayer format.

Kate's Video Converter left a lot to be desired.

It's not freeware, but try Xilisoft. I've never tried converting any Real media files, but I use their stuff to convert mp4 and mkv files to avi all the time. And, .rm is listed among the formats it supports.

[kensei]

It's not freeware, but try Xilisoft. I've never tried converting any Real media files, but I use their stuff to convert mp4 and mkv files to avi all the time. And, .rm is listed among the formats it supports.

Thanks mate. I got it for free when it wasn't suitable for a friend when he bought it. Will try it out soon.

Who here keeps up to date with Mobie Phones? I'm look seriously at the upcoming phones of the Nokia N97, Sony Ericsson Idou (not final name) and Samsung Omnia HD. Man they all look so good. I'm going for these cause they have all the features of Smartphones but all have A2DP Bluetooth and also good video quality. All have Symbian OS 6th edition and all are touchphones. I think the only one that doesn't have a capacitive touchscreen is the Sony. All have REAL GPS unlike the iPhone, high storage and expandable memory, and removable batteries.

I'm eager to have the quick and eassy typing with the flick up keyboard with the N97, and am happy with the 5 MP camera recording quality, but Sony's Idou has the Cybershot package which helps take wikkid photos. I think that the 12 MP is a bit excessive though, as high MPs do not = photo quality. But it at least has a shutter and Xenon flash, the only one in the group.

The Samsung Omnia HD looks cool though. Looks way better than the Omnia but it records in HD!!! 720 P!!! Would be good for recording my training sessions, but no cover for the lens and also the Omnia touchscreen (let's face it) wasn't the best really.

I think in the end i might go with the Samsung, but if it takes crap pics, then I will go back to the Idou. The design of the Idou is really really cool.

I wish that they recorded in formats other than rm. Seriously, who uses RM nowadays? Do mp4 dammit! There's hardly a size difference, and I can work with it for once in Sony Vegas Pro 8.

I'm going to hunt down a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to try out the OS. I wish that there was a way to install Android on those phones, but too often I heard of people bricking them. I'm not tech savvy enough to handle that risk. My friend's got an HTC, an it works really well, and he can't wait for Cupcake.

Edited March 27, 2009 by kensei

[mikeszekely]

Thanks mate. I got it for free when it wasn't suitable for a friend when he bought it. Will try it out soon.

Who here keeps up to date with Mobie Phones? I'm look seriously at the upcoming phones of the Nokia N97, Sony Ericsson Idou (not final name) and Samsung Omnia HD. Man they all look so good. I'm going for these cause they have all the features of Smartphones but all have A2DP Bluetooth and also good video quality. All have Symbian OS 6th edition and all are touchphones. I think the only one that doesn't have a capacitive touchscreen is the Sony. All have REAL GPS unlike the iPhone, high storage and expandable memory, and removable batteries.

I'm eager to have the quick and eassy typing with the flick up keyboard with the N97, and am happy with the 5 MP camera recording quality, but Sony's Idou has the Cybershot package which helps take wikkid photos. I think that the 12 MP is a bit excessive though, as high MPs do not = photo quality. But it at least has a shutter and Xenon flash, the only one in the group.

The Samsung Omnia HD looks cool though. Looks way better than the Omnia but it records in HD!!! 720 P!!! Would be good for recording my training sessions, but no cover for the lens and also the Omnia touchscreen (let's face it) wasn't the best really.

I think in the end i might go with the Samsung, but if it takes crap pics, then I will go back to the Idou. The design of the Idou is really really cool.

I wish that they recorded in formats other than rm. Seriously, who uses RM nowadays? Do mp4 dammit! There's hardly a size difference, and I can work with it for once in Sony Vegas Pro 8.

I'm going to hunt down a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to try out the OS. I wish that there was a way to install Android on those phones, but too often I heard of people bricking them. I'm not tech savvy enough to handle that risk. My friend's got an HTC, an it works really well, and he can't wait for Cupcake.

Not sure about the Omnia HD, since it's not actually out yet, but I have the original i910 Omnia. I decided to go with it because I wouldn't have to switch carriers to get it (in fact, my carrier was heavily subsidizing the Omnia, so I got it dirt cheap), and because it's one of the few modern-looking Windows Mobile phones out there.

I'll start by saying that every gripe I have with the phone is directly linked to Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile 6.1 is still actually Windows CE 5, which means that underneath Samsung's slick TouchWIZ interface, the phone's OS looks ancient and can be difficult to navigate with a finger, as it was meant to be used with a stylus. The Omnia does come with a stylus, BTW, but the only way to carry it with the phone is tie it to the phone (sorta like a Wii wrist strap connects to a Wiimote). The result is that it looks really feminine, so I just leave my stylus at my desk. The touch screen complaints are also due to the fact that phones like the iPhone or any Android phone likely uses a capacitive touchscreen, while Windows Mobile only supports resistive ones, which again means that it was designed to be used with a stylus, not a finger, and absolutely no multi-touch (here's hoping that Windows Mobile 7 will be a little more modern). Oh, and the best Windows Mobile web browsers are almost painful to use, and certainly don't come close to the experience that Safari offers on the iPhone.

That said, there are some pros to Windows Mobile. The biggest pro is that it's an open platform. Other phone OSes might do some things better than Windows Mobile, but Windows Mobile is ultimately more versatile. And if you don't like the default applications, chances are you can find a replacement, often for free, on the internet. For example, instead of converting my videos, which are mostly DivX/Xvid avi files, into mp4 files that are a particular resolution, I can just drag and drop the avi files I already have directly to the phone. Also, a big reason I went with Windows Mobile and the reason that I bought a Dell Axim in the past is that I have a very large collection of ebooks in the Microsoft Reader format. To read my books on an iPhone would require me to download an app for the iPhone, download an matching app for the desktop, create an account at the website associated with those apps, download an app to covert my books into a format that the other apps like, use the desktop app to upload the converted books to my web account, then use the app on the iPhone to download the book from the account and read it. With the Omnia, I installed Microsoft Reader, then drag and drop my books in a "My Books" folder on the phone.

Samsung also went out of their way to make the most out of Windows Mobile. They replaced the traditional Windows Mobile Today screen with their TouchWIZ interface. This is basically a "shelf that can be opened or closed (I usually leave mine opened) with a variety of finger-friendly apps on it. To use an app, you slide it off the shelf onto the main area. In some cases, like for Opera, this will just leave an icon on your screen that you can use to open the app (or to open a folder, in the case of the game icon). But in most cases, the icon will expand, giving you two levels of functionality. The phone book app is a great example. On the shelf, it's a box with a picture of a person. Off the shelf, it'll expand so that it says "Phonebook", and under it will be whatever pictures you assigned to four contacts. If you tap the word "Phonebook," it'll take you to a list off all your contacts, but if you touch one of the pictures, it will take you directly to that contact with four options; to call their mobile, to call their work, to call their home, or to send a text message.

As far as the hardware itself, I don't really have any complaints. One great thing is that, in addition to the 8GB of internal memory, there's a microSD slot under the battery cover, and the Omnia supports MicroSDHC cards up to 16GB, so there's plenty of room for media. The camera lacks any zoom, but it takes 5MP pictures on par with my wife's dedicated camera. There's no standard headphone jack, and Samsung had to go and give it a proprietary port instead of mini-USB, but they make up for it by throwing in a data cable, an adapter for using wired headsets, and an adapter for regular headphones that includes an FM antenna. It has an elegant black, gunmetal, and chrome design that's a little taller and thicker than an iPhone, but a little narrower and lighter than my iPod touch. There's the call and end buttons common to cell phones on the front, and on the side there's dedicated volume buttons and two buttons that you can assign different functions to. One I have set to turn on the camera if you press and hold it, or to switch from portrait to landscape mode manually if you just click it. The reason I do that is because the Omnia's motion sensor seems a little flakey and either wouldn't turn the screen when I wanted to, or would turn the screen when I didn't want it to. I don't see this as a huge problem, since most of the apps work best in portrait mode for me, and several apps like the camera or the Core Video Player will automatically switch to landscape. The only other button is a touch-sensitive device. You can either set it to work like a mouse, with a pointer on the screen, or as a button. Swiping your finger along it works as a directional button, and clicking it works as the enter button on other WinMo devices. (The Omnia HD doesn't seem to have that, but the only app I've found it necessary for is Microsoft Reader.)

One thing that's big for me is that the messaging app can handle both your text messages, your MMS messages, and your email. This is big for me, because I use Yahoo mail, and a lot of apps like Windows Live Mail and Outlook don't play nice with Yahoo, but the Omnia does.

Oh, call quality and battery life are both great. At first I was charging it every day or every other day, but I think that's just because I was playing with it a lot. Once I had it set up the way I wanted it, I'm finding that I charge it probably twice a week. Mind you, that's using it as my sole phone, so that's usually a few short calls every day, a few texts, maybe check my email once or twice, and reading for a half hour to an hour, every day.

Ultimately, it's not perfect, nor is at as user-friendly as, say, an iPhone. You will have to get apps from the net to tweak it until you have everything the way you want it. But once you do, the added versatility that Windows Mobile brings to the phone make up for the problems that Windows Mobile brings, at least in my opinion, and I find myself absolutely loving the Omnia. Unlike my previous mobile, which sat on my desk unless I went out, I carry the Omnia with me everywhere, even around the apartment.

Edited March 27, 2009 by mikeszekely

[azrael]

Who here keeps up to date with Mobie Phones? I'm look seriously at the upcoming phones of the Nokia N97, Sony Ericsson Idou (not final name) and Samsung Omnia HD. Man they all look so good. I'm going for these cause they have all the features of Smartphones but all have A2DP Bluetooth and also good video quality. All have Symbian OS 6th edition and all are touchphones. I think the only one that doesn't have a capacitive touchscreen is the Sony. All have REAL GPS unlike the iPhone, high storage and expandable memory, and removable batteries.

I'm eager to have the quick and eassy typing with the flick up keyboard with the N97, and am happy with the 5 MP camera recording quality, but Sony's Idou has the Cybershot package which helps take wikkid photos. I think that the 12 MP is a bit excessive though, as high MPs do not = photo quality. But it at least has a shutter and Xenon flash, the only one in the group.

The Samsung Omnia HD looks cool though. Looks way better than the Omnia but it records in HD!!! 720 P!!! Would be good for recording my training sessions, but no cover for the lens and also the Omnia touchscreen (let's face it) wasn't the best really.

I think in the end i might go with the Samsung, but if it takes crap pics, then I will go back to the Idou. The design of the Idou is really really cool.

I wish that they recorded in formats other than rm. Seriously, who uses RM nowadays? Do mp4 dammit! There's hardly a size difference, and I can work with it for once in Sony Vegas Pro 8.

I'm going to hunt down a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic to try out the OS. I wish that there was a way to install Android on those phones, but too often I heard of people bricking them. I'm not tech savvy enough to handle that risk. My friend's got an HTC, an it works really well, and he can't wait for Cupcake.

Guess I'm speaking for the Symbian OS community...

The S60 OS is a pretty solid OS. There's nothing really bad about it but at the same time, it's definitely not as user friendly like the iPhone's OS. The Symbian web browser is pretty fast and loads fairly quickly so it doesn't feel like you're waiting for it to load. Alternatively, if you don't like the Symbian browser, you can download and install Skyfire and/or Opera Mini for free. If you are brave enough, you can download Mozilla Fennec Beta and test that out on the S60 in the coming months. So you are definitely not limited in browser choices. I haven't use the mail client since I don't check e-mail on my phone, yet. There are also plenty of free apps out there which you can download and install on the Symbian OS. So if you want a certain feature or app, like Google Maps, you can download an install that. You can do a lot with the Symbian S60 OS and that's what made me want to try it. And I've been pretty happy with it so far. So give the 5800 XpressMusic a look at. So far, I've heard it's a pretty good phone, after installing the firmware update which fixes an issue that came out during the launch in some areas. I've heard that the 5800 XpressMusic feels a bit flimsy since the casing is plastic so that would be a personal gripe with that model. I have a Nokia E66 (it's a E71 without the QWERTY keyboard).

[Dante74]

My contract will end in August and I'm hoping the Palm Pre will be available here in Europe by then. It doesn't do video but it from what I've read/seen, it does EVERYTHING else. You can even charge it without having to plug it in!

[kensei]

Hey Omnia supports/records in WMV and mp4!!!

Video: Recording HD 720p(1280 x 720) @ 24fps, DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MPEG4 / RV Player

Another tick for this phone. Now there are rumours that the Idou can also record in 720 p and also 1080 p, which is absolutely nuts.

Touch functionality has to be really bad to make me choose the Nokia N97. Sony can use a stylus, but Omnia HD has capacitive touch screen.

So my first preferences are between Omnia HD and Idou, it'll be pretty much final when the Idou full specs are released. Part of me really wants the Idou to win out, cause I want the Bluetooth watch and Street Style Bluetooth Headphones with it too. But in the end, if Omnia does want I want, it's Omnia.

Sales are apparently going well in Australia for the XpressMusic 5800, I've booked in tomorrow to try it out for a test run finally. Very eager.

Edited March 31, 2009 by kensei

[azrael]

Sales are apparently going well in Australia for the XpressMusic 5800, I've booked in tomorrow to try it out for a test run finally. Very eager.

Word of warning: From the reviews I've seen, the 5800 XM isn't up to the build quality that many other Nokia phones are built up to, i.e. there's too much plastic in there.

[kensei]

Word of warning: From the reviews I've seen, the 5800 XM isn't up to the build quality that many other Nokia phones are built up to, i.e. there's too much plastic in there.

Yeah I noticed that lately. That's the only gripe I have with my N96. The E series are a lot better in that respect, i have no idea why Nokia still uses all plastic designs in what I would call their flagship N series range. I've got dust under my screen too, WTH, I have no idea how that happened. I'm thinking of getting a service soon and also get the firmware update, too afraid of bricking my phone.

Edited March 31, 2009 by kensei

[kensei]

Alternatively, if you don't like the Symbian browser, you can download and install Skyfire and/or Opera Mini for free. If you are brave enough, you can download Mozilla Fennec Beta and test that out on the S60 in the coming months. So you are definitely not limited in browser choices. I haven't use the mail client since I don't check e-mail on my phone, yet.

I just tried the Skyfire browser, and it's good. I was waiting for it for a long time due to the fact that you can't download it unless you were in America.

[kensei]

Tried the Xpressmusic 5800 today. Touchscreens have come a long way. I love the tactile feedback, and the interface was really smooth. I love the fact that it can also use a stylus, and how its packed, unlike the little dongle thing that the Omnia has. It's a touch thicker than what I expected, but I don't like super slim phones, and this one could have given up 2-3 mm for me to like it more. GPS worked wikked. Can't wait for the Idou and Omnia. I hope that what happened to the Xperia X1 will not happen to the Idou.

[Dante74]

Tried the Xpressmusic 5800 today. Touchscreens have come a long way. I love the tactile feedback, and the interface was really smooth. I love the fact that it can also use a stylus, and how its packed, unlike the little dongle thing that the Omnia has. It's a touch thicker than what I expected, but I don't like super slim phones, and this one could have given up 2-3 mm for me to like it more. GPS worked wikked. Can't wait for the Idou and Omnia. I hope that what happened to the Xperia X1 will not happen to the Idou.

What happened to the Xperia X1?

[kensei]

What happened to the Xperia X1?

Touchscreen issues gave it a 4 month delay in being released. Even still, a lot of the X1s and the C905 (unfortunately) are being returned. Which is easy enough to do, but most have had to be replaced several times over.

[Dante74]

Touchscreen issues gave it a 4 month delay in being released. Even still, a lot of the X1s and the C905 (unfortunately) are being returned. Which is easy enough to do, but most have had to be replaced several times over.

Thanks.

I guess that takes it off my short list then.

[kensei]

Thanks.

I guess that takes it off my short list then.

Although as I said, the Nokia 5800 was great, an alternative with QWERTY would be the HTC Touch Pro. I've been shown it by a friend, friggin sweet. The only disadvantage with it is that the ringtone isn't that loud, he has it in a phone pouch, which then goes in his pocket, and after that almost no hope of hearing it. Vibration alert wasn't that strong either. But the Android OS was awesome. So smooth.

[Dante74]

I currently own an HTC Touch and it's ok, but I'll never get another phone that doesn't have a real key pad. Oh, and Windows Mobile sucks ass btw.

[kensei]

Oh, and Windows Mobile sucks ass btw.

Amen. Had an 02, and all I'll say is never again.

[mikeszekely]

Oh, and Windows Mobile sucks ass btw.

I wouldn't go that far. It's not as user friendly, but if you're willing to mess with it, I think it's more versatile, being that it's an open platform, and you can get new apps without some shitty app store. It's just sorely in need of an update, since Windows Mobile 6.1 is really Windows CE 5.2.2. HTC and Samsung put a nice layer of gloss on the Today screen, but it looks positively ancient once you start going into any menus... when you bother to go into them, since WinMo is still designed with a stylus in mind.

6.5 looks like 6.1 with a layer of Zune, which doesn't help. Here's hoping Windows Mobile 7 will actually be a real upgrade with finger-friendly multi-touch support for capacitive touch screens.

[kensei]

I went and upgraded to a Nokia Xpressmusic 5800 on a new contract with the same company. 3 Hutchinson and Vodafone have done a merger, so network coverage is 96% of Australia now. Plus, with the loyalty credits I have, I only pay 5 dollars more with my current cap. Which is a bargain, considering I'm still paying $14 dollars on top of my N95 Handset monthly repayments, and this phone is a touchscreen phone that is pretty much just as good as an N95, save for the camera. The camera is the only let down on the phone.

The feel of the phone is indeed plastic, but solid. There is no weaknesses to worry about even though there is no metal. The reason why I got this phone is cause I really don't see any other phone that I like currently available and also it'll be at the end of the year before the Idou, Omnia HD and N97 are ALL fully available in Australia for me to decide, play with and eliminate down to one choice. Getting it after Easter long weekend on Tuesday.

Getting more updates on the phones, the Idou has an expansion slot for a MicroSD Card. Which is amazing, I thought Sony would force you to use their stupid M2s. They still have that retarded fast port audio jack, but at least the phone will have A2DP, so that is not a worry with my Sony DRTB30QS Bluetooth Headphones. Managed to convince the dude at Sony Central to knock off $40, as they sell it at retail, and he was only too happy to do it. I'll be picking it up on Wednesday. They might make me look a bit princess Leia-ish, but at least I'll be stylin. Next is a Bluetooth watch, but I can't decide which one. They are relatively cheap for high tech watches, and i'll definitely get the Executive one, but can't decide whether my second one should be the Music edition (rubber strap) or the other leather band one.

Edited April 9, 2009 by kensei

[VFTF1]

PROBLEM SOLVED.

Question to the experts:

I'm doing my taxes now and therefore my guard was down and I got dupped by a rougue spyware program called "Personal Antivirus." I don't know why I let it onto my computer, I didn't give them credit card info or anything like that - but I can't erase the thing from my computer because it's gone and hidden itself somewhere and keeps telling me that unless I pay them NOW my super infected computer will blow up due to viruses that don't exist.

How can I get rid of Personal Antivirus?

Help,

Edit: ok - I'm downloading this in the hopes of getting rid of this crap:

http://remove-malware.net/how-to-remove-pe...e-anti-spyware/

Still - any advise would be useful.

Edit 2: Ah flying frickin flamable frgrrmerger grah...

That thing also wants my money

Now I'm installing a trial norton antivirus...hopefully it'll get rid of this crud

Pete

PROBLEM SOLVED

Edited April 14, 2009 by VFTF1

[DJ Loe Kee]

old pc build:

amd athlon xp 2700+ thoroughbred 2.167ghz mildly overclocked to 2.2ghz processor

soyo kt880 dragon2 v2.0 motherboard

corsair xms 1gb (2 x 512mb) ddr 400 (pc 3200) memory

ati radeon 9600pro video card

western digital 160gb ide hard drive

plextor 16x dvd burner, dual layer, slot loading

yamaha 20x cd burner

cooler master praetorian case

4 zalman 80mm quiet case fans

antec true control 500w power supply

thermaltake extreme volcano 12 cooling fan/heatsink

my new pc:

intel core 2 quad q9550 yorkfield 2.83ghz quad-core processor (not overclocked, yet...)

asus p5q pro motherboard

corsair dominator 2gb (2 x 1gb) ddr2 sdram 1066 (pc2 8500) memory

xfx pvt88gydf4 geforce 8800gts (g92) video card

seagate barracuda 500gb sata2 3.0gb/sec hard drive

seagate barracuda 1.5tb sata2 3.0gb/sec hard drive

lg 22x dvd burner, dual layer

samsung 22x dvd burner, dual layer

antec three hundred black computer case

2 antec tri-cool fans (4 fans total)

antec tpq-850 850w power supply

arctic cooling freezer 7 pro cooling fan/heatsink

samsung 2253bw 22in widescreen lcd monitor

m-audio axiom 49 key midi keyboard

i kept my old pc as a backup instead of parting it out like i usually do.

here's an update. my cpu is now overclocked to 3.4ghz

also, the lg drive died on me so i now have two samsung ide dvd burners.

i do music production but i went with the quadcore so that i can dabble in video editing & production.

Edited April 14, 2009 by DJ Loe Kee

[azrael]

Now I'm installing a trial norton antivirus...hopefully it'll get rid of this crud

PROBLEM SOLVED

You may want to try AVG Free and run a scan. Additionally, you might want to run Adaware or Spybot because you may not have removed all associated files and registry keys.

[VFTF1]

You may want to try AVG Free and run a scan. Additionally, you might want to run Adaware or Spybot because you may not have removed all associated files and registry keys.

Thanks for the pointers. I'll do that.

Pete