Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

There are a lot of horizontal entries (53, to be exact).

Do you have a large printer? Can you print it horizontal to A3 paper size?

What do I do if I suspect someone has been hacking into my computer while I sleep, turning it on and deleting stuff, then turning it back off before I wake up?

That is one strange problem! Don't sleep. :lol:
Or disconnect power if you think it's over the network. Or wipe and reinstall to an encrypted disk.
 
That is one strange problem! Don't sleep. :lol:
Or disconnect power if you think it's over the network. Or wipe and reinstall to an encrypted disk.
Yeah, that question probably came from me watching too many spy and conspiracy movies. :blush: :lol:
 
What do I do if I suspect someone has been hacking into my computer while I sleep, turning it on and deleting stuff, then turning it back off before I wake up?

Unplug it?
 
Go here, tell it what video card you have in the drop down menu, and under "details" it should list "OpenGL compliance".
My card's not listed. :(

It's a Nvidia GeForce GT 130M

On the side, new question: Are there any plug-ins for Gimp that will take two images, mix them while applying randomization(?), and apply it to, say, a greyscale image, with the darker colors being one image, gradually transitioning into the other image with that other image being used for the lighter colors?

inb4 someone accuses me of being "vague" again. :trouble:

Don't you people DARE call my question vague! :mad:
 
So I've been shopping around for a new laptop and while I've narrowed down the field a little bit, I'm also looking for recommendations.

I'm looking for a decent 15" all-purpose-type laptop; netbooks and those other tiny ones won't cut it, and I don't want some massive 10 pound machine to lug around all the time. As far as gaming goes, I only need something that will run Civ4, Paradox games, and stuff like that--no FPS or anything that will be extremely taxing. Last machine was a Dell I got through my department, and I'm not too satisfied with them from a reliability perspective, and I've heard several people with HPs have similar problems. I've heard good things about Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Asus (but Asus' website sucks and I can't figure out how to narrow down or search for a good machine).

I'm looking for something in the $1,200-$1,800 sticker range, but that's a little flexible (especially if I can get a good discount--I have time so I'm waiting for a good sale).

Currently, I'm leaning towards this Sony 15.5" Vaio with an Intel i7 quad core, 8 or 12 GB RAM, 640 GB (7200 rpm) hard drive, and a GeForce® GT 640M LE (2 GB) graphics card. 12 GB seems like more than I need on RAM, but I figure if its still in my price range, then I might as well get it. Does this sound like a machine that fits the above specs? Is there anything else on the market that comes close to these specs and is reliable?
 
Toshiba's always a good bet. Have had 3 Toshiba laptops, and non have broken down. In fact, I still have my first one that I got 7 years ago.
 
Fooled around with the sliders a little bit, but I'm also looking for advice on brands, reliability, etc. that I've been cobbling together from a variety of sources, some of which I consider questionable.
 
Last machine was a Dell I got through my department, and I'm not too satisfied with them from a reliability perspective, and I've heard several people with HPs have similar problems. I've heard good things about Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Asus (but Asus' website sucks and I can't figure out how to narrow down or search for a good machine).

Asus makes quality hardware, but they cut corners in other areas to be able to offer the kind of prices they do. Pray to god nothing you get from them is defective, because I swear their customer service department is located in hell: http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Asus
 
Asus makes quality hardware, but they cut corners in other areas to be able to offer the kind of prices they do. Pray to god nothing you get from them is defective, because I swear their customer service department is located in hell: http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Asus

Good to know. I've just heard a horror story about Sony, so now I've officially heard an unexpected computer failure story about every major brand I was looking into.

Is it possible to replace processing units in a computer? I have a single core AMD Sempron 140 Processor and would maybe like to upgrade.

Desktop or laptop? Generally, you can in desktops so long as the motherboard supports the new processor.
 
Is it possible to replace processing units in a computer? I have a single core AMD Sempron 140 Processor and would maybe like to upgrade.
Yes, I think this should do nicely, it is 3.2GHz (500MHz faster) and is dual core instead of single core. this also works, 300MHz faster and quad core



I tried changing my graphics card on a dual monitor set up, changed it and when I plugged it in I got blinking underscores on both screens, when I changed the card back I got the same problem.
 
So I've been shopping around for a new laptop and while I've narrowed down the field a little bit, I'm also looking for recommendations.

I'm looking for a decent 15" all-purpose-type laptop; netbooks and those other tiny ones won't cut it, and I don't want some massive 10 pound machine to lug around all the time. As far as gaming goes, I only need something that will run Civ4, Paradox games, and stuff like that--no FPS or anything that will be extremely taxing. Last machine was a Dell I got through my department, and I'm not too satisfied with them from a reliability perspective, and I've heard several people with HPs have similar problems. I've heard good things about Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Asus (but Asus' website sucks and I can't figure out how to narrow down or search for a good machine).

I'm looking for something in the $1,200-$1,800 sticker range, but that's a little flexible (especially if I can get a good discount--I have time so I'm waiting for a good sale).

Currently, I'm leaning towards this Sony 15.5" Vaio with an Intel i7 quad core, 8 or 12 GB RAM, 640 GB (7200 rpm) hard drive, and a GeForce® GT 640M LE (2 GB) graphics card. 12 GB seems like more than I need on RAM, but I figure if its still in my price range, then I might as well get it. Does this sound like a machine that fits the above specs? Is there anything else on the market that comes close to these specs and is reliable?

Dell, HP, and all tend to make excellent business laptops but junky consumer models.

Get a SSD for your laptop (or get a laptop with a SSD), the difference in performance is huge.

I'd probably aim for a laptop without an optical drive, I use it rarely enough that it's wasted size/weight on a laptop.

Is it possible to replace processing units in a computer? I have a single core AMD Sempron 140 Processor and would maybe like to upgrade.

I probably wouldn't risk trying to put a higher TDP part in a Dell machine.

Best AM3 CPU you can get at 45W TDP is the Athlon II X4 620e. Easiest place to grab it is probably ebay, there's a seller offering them new at $90 for "buy it now" prices.
 
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