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  1. Winterpool

    Western Digital Red 2 TB drive $109.99 at Amazon

    Looks like Amazon is matching Newegg's discount on 2 TB WD Reds. http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...dp/B008JJLZ7G/ Qualifies for free postage [2-day if you're Prime]; also, may be tax-free in certain states where Newegg levies sales tax. Seriously tempted to buy a couple more for...
  2. Winterpool

    Minimum requirements for a ZFS file server?

    I've seen this guideline for a GB of memory for every TB of disk storage, but where does this relationship derive from? If I'm randomly reading/writing, and the data in question is not repeated, how does caching help [it's 'brand new' data each transaction]. I suppose I'm asking what does all...
  3. Winterpool

    Minimum requirements for a ZFS file server?

    I should like an archival file server -- data integrity, not speed, is the paramount goal. ZFS seems like the optimal foundation for such a server, but I've a number of concerns. Foremost are the hardware requirements. Most enthusiasts will urge a capable cpu and 8+ GB of memory to run ZFS...
  4. Winterpool

    how far away are we from (AM?)OLED computer monitors?

    No one should wait for OLED. Unless they're young and poor. Life is short. The expected period till affordable OLED TVs/monitors is about the lifespan of a typical monitor anyhow. I too hunted for the perfect screen, but there is none. IPS panels are probably best overall, but very few...
  5. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    SquareTrade is probably the biggest name in third-party warranties, at least in electronics. I've never bought one from them, but I've considered it, especially for TVs. I personally wouldn't buy additional warranty because a netbook-ish computer, to me, is semi-disposable, in the sense that...
  6. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    Now $440 -- yes, $10 cheaper! Also, correctly identified as EC1458u (black). Photo remains incorrect. I believe the Google Checkout discount has expired, else one could take an additional $5 off.
  7. Winterpool

    Computer longevity -- is no protection better than cheap protection?

    Jah, generally, if I know an electrical storm is en route, I disconnect vulnerable kit from the mains. As to UPS, thanks, mfenn, for clearing up 'line-interactive' v 'online'; I had thought they might be the same. As to offline/standby, this is the category most often cited as useless...
  8. Winterpool

    Computer longevity -- is no protection better than cheap protection?

    Thinking 'way too hard'? I wonder if you're right. Westom brings in lots of thought and detail to seemingly conclude abandon hope all ye who ponder this!
  9. Winterpool

    Firefly $25 on Blu-ray

    That's right! Christina Hendricks played Mal's ex-wife Saffron, or Bridget, or... Besides the principal cast, Firefly did seem to pull some great guest stars. I really wish we had got some closure or resolution to Mal and Inara's love/hate relationship. Was Inara really dying...?
  10. Winterpool

    Firefly $25 on Blu-ray

    As this is a geek forum, I expect there will be plenty of punters interested in Firefly: The Complete Series on Blu-ray $25 Personally I had awfully mixed feelings about the series. I loved the aspect of Han Solo and his motley crew going on random jobs and adventures. The actors were...
  11. Winterpool

    Computer longevity -- is no protection better than cheap protection?

    First, my apologies if this is the wrong forum. I opened here because 'General Hardware' gets much more traffic than 'Power Supplies', and it's a topic beyond PSUs per se. Translocate if necessary... Black Friday often brings deals on cheap UPS, which reawakens in me every year 1.) the...
  12. Winterpool

    Looking for notebook with HDMI, 13-14", 4-5lbs.

    Jah, the resolution is going to be the obstacle here. MacBook Pro 15" meets the criteria more or less (with video adapter), though it's of course 15 inches. There aren't any ThinkPads in this size with higher resolution? Oh wait--what's a WWAN card? Does that mean mobile telephony (eg...
  13. Winterpool

    [Retired] The LCD Thread

    Ha! I'm almost anal/obsessive enough to qualify, but I frankly don't give a dang about the fast TN / gaming side of the monitor market. I'd only be able to update the 'IPS snob' options. I do wish XTKnight good luck on his studies... even if they negatively affect this thread.
  14. Winterpool

    Discover card double/triple cashback 11-15 thru 12-31

    Mmm, so did the 5 per cent on fashion / restaurants apply only to B&M sales? I rarely read the fine print but had presumed it would apply to online clothing retailers eg Banana Republic. Mmm. Thankfully I dined out a lot this autumn. Though if it did apply to online retailers, it might...
  15. Winterpool

    Any PC laptops with the practical styling of the Air?

    Remember that the MacBook Air has something like a real graphics chip (nVidia GeForce 320M), which I'm sure helps to run down the battery a bit more quickly. The difficulty of fitting both an 'Arrandale' cpu and an nVidia graphics chip on the same tiny board has kept Apple from using the Core...
  16. Winterpool

    Help me find good games that justify better GPUs

    I salute all of your valiant attempts to stimulate demand in this stagnant economy. Would that our political and financial overlords matched your efforts. (I excuse here Ben 'Money for nothing and the chicks for free' Bernanke.) Despite being an exceedingly casual first-person gamer (I played...
  17. Winterpool

    So the guy at Best Buy says,

    I recently obtained an 11.6-inch CULV notebook from Gateway. The screen reminds me of something from the '90s. And it's LED-backlit. Was using it at my ex-girlfriend's flat recently, and her 4-year old depleted CCFL-lit MacBook screen still offered a superior, more accurate image...
  18. Winterpool

    laptop market rant - price vs product baffles me

    As everyone is pointing out, it's not just about specs, or at least not just 'technology' specs in terms of processors, MHz, etc. There's a reason why Apple and ThinkPad dominate notebooks above $1000...
  19. Winterpool

    which dual core netbook should I buy?

    Mmm, at this price, I'd have had a tough time deciding between the ThinkPad and the Gateway. $341?! The Neo X2 L335 seems almost identical save for a slower memory controller...?
  20. Winterpool

    which dual core netbook should I buy?

    It seems a little peculiar that battery life wouldn't figure into the purchase of an ultraportable (the point of having a notebook this small is mobility, no?), but if that is indeed the case, I suspect the ThinkPad will beat the Gateway in almost every other aspect, especially if the Turion Neo...
  21. Winterpool

    Looking for options on a WHS build

    For anyone else who was interested in this topic, the HP Storage Works X310 Windows Home Server is available for $350 on Newegg. It's similar in design to a MediaSmart, comes with a dualcore Atom, 2 GB memory, 4 drive bays, and--in this Newegg deal--two Samsung TB drives. If you figure a TB...
  22. Winterpool

    How cool would it be to own a netbook 50 years from the future?

    Sometimes I have fantasies of travelling to my childhood a couple of decades ago with a computer from AD 2010. But I realise I'd have to bring at least a garage-full of kit with me. Without any modern WWW and everything out there in the Cloud, any important files would have to be locally saved...
  23. Winterpool

    How cool would it be to own a netbook 50 years from the future?

    Ha ha, Dave is right. Translocate a modern ASUS eee PC to 1960. How useful is it? There's no Intarweb, not even ArpaNet. Certainly no 802.11 wireless! You can type on the thing, but you can't email the docs anywhere, transfer them by Flash drive to your local vacuum tube, punch-card...
  24. Winterpool

    Looking for options on a WHS build

    Recently found this HP ProLiant 'MicroServer' on Newegg. I find the form factor rather appealing, but I wish it were $100 cheaper, especially since it doesn't come bundled with an OS or hard drives. It is 10.5x8.3x10.2 inches. Uses Athlon II NEO rather than Atom. There does seem to be a VGA...
  25. Winterpool

    which dual core netbook should I buy?

    By the way, it took over 3 hours of watching fullscreen Flash video on Hulu to run down the battery. I feel reasonably confident I could get 5 hours with normal web browsing and typing.
  26. Winterpool

    which dual core netbook should I buy?

    If you can find a shop (say, a Best Buy, Micro Centre, Fry's) with a Gateway EC1400/1800 series or an Acer Aspire 1400/1800, they're all essentially the same chassis. It weighs slightly over 3 lb. I'm bringing my Gateway EC1458u to Boston with me this afternoon, and it didn't add noticeable...
  27. Winterpool

    So whats the next best thing to an iPad?

    What, you don't fancy a JooJoo Pad? ;) If you require 'netbook-like usage', why not get a netbook? A very light, thin model... 'Manipulating office docs' would be 10x more productive with a proper keyboard. As Teh Steve is denying me a 7-inch iPad, I've begun looking more seriously at...
  28. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    13 inches is, I think, the transitional size. On a conventional notebook, 13 inches can feel plenty big. On something like the MacBook Air or ThinkPad X300, you definitely feel you're getting an ultraportable, owing to the sleekness and low weight. It's still far bigger than a 9 or 10-inch...
  29. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    I followed dualcore CULV subnotebook prices very closely last year, after they were introduced, and I only recall the Acer 1410 with SU2300 (dualcore 1.2 GHz Celeron) ever falling below $400 (though there were a few special deals involving Bing that worked out to < $400). I prefer the more...
  30. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    Received the notebook. It's black, the EC1458u (which is almost impossible to Google, by the way), essentially a black EC1457u: SU 4100, 4 GB, 320 GB hard disk. I've only charged it up and powered it on. Haven't done anything serious on it yet, not even watching a Flash video. On the Slick...
  31. Winterpool

    Need help picking out a netbook

    Jah, one of the reasons I skipped the 11.6 MacBook Air is the usual Apple 1st-gen issues. That, and it seemed like 'Arrandale' would be extremely helpful for these machines.
  32. Winterpool

    Why is everything x1080 now?

    You may want to read this thread. Short answer: it's cheaper. Also, it matches the 1080 resolution people associate with HDTV. Most people who actually do work (or a lot of reading) on their monitors prefer more vertical pixels, but as you've noticed, even 16:10 is becoming rare outside...
  33. Winterpool

    Need help picking out a netbook

    Nick, does your girlfriend work at a salon? Shouldn't there be mains to plug in a notebook, or are they all taken up by hair-dryers, etc? For work purposes, it does sound as if all she'll be doing will be data entry, in which case a single-core Atom might be sufficient. I've no experience...
  34. Winterpool

    11.6"-13.3" replacement for a first gen netbook

    Have you looked at this Gateway CULV subnotebook? It has a 1.3 GHz 'Penryn' cpu, dualcore. If you can wait, the Core i3s should get cheaper (Black Friday? after the holidays?). Also, a future 11.6 MacBook Air with 'Arrandale' and 4 GB memory should be very nice (though that would probably...
  35. Winterpool

    Need help picking out a netbook

    Another option might be an Intel CULV subnotebook. I've found that an 11.6 or 12-inch machine doesn't practically result in much more encumbrance than 10-inch netbooks. The newer 'Arrandale' Core i3 models are still rather costly ($600-700+), but Buy.com has a previous-gen 'Penryn' model for...
  36. Winterpool

    Need help picking out a netbook

    Nick, if this is going to be your girlfriend's primary computer, I suspect she may require more power than an Atom. Zap's comparison of the Atom to a Pentium 4 may be, if anything, an overestimate (I've read a Pentium M -- remember those? -- may be more accurate comparison). On the other hand...
  37. Winterpool

    WD 2TB $80 shipped AC

    Transmuted a Visa rebate card into a Newegg gift card yesterday, before I read about this deal. Decided to use my forthcoming Newegg card towards the purchase. Few hours later, Newegg card order still hasn't been completed -- they're certainly not Amazon (bear this in mind, those of you...
  38. Winterpool

    [Retired] The LCD Thread

    Would you say your total hardware budget must fall below 700 euros? Because in that case you may want to buy a Dell U2410 and a good display calibrator. Otherwise, you'll definitely appreciate the additional pixels of the Dell U2711 when displaying and editing pictures. Both the Dell U2410...
  39. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    Helas, like many thin / small notebooks, the Gateway 14s and 18s seem to exhibit somewhat more flex than many typists find optimal. On the other hand, Computer Shopper (remember them?) found the keyboard 'springy, responsive, broad, and quiet'. I tried one of the Gateway EC14s (1430? 1435?)...
  40. Winterpool

    Gateway 11.6-inch EC1457u dualcore CULV subnotebook $450

    Note that, if you look round the Web, you'll see the EC1457u is a cherry-red version, yet Buy.com claims it is in black. Punters who've ordered previously seem to be receiving the black EC1458u instead. If I don't get black, I shall not be best pleased.