Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[shadowplay]

Do some microSD cards not work in certain devices? The guy at Staples was going on about how the cheaper microSDs are for mobile phones and won't work properly on tablets.

 

[cardgame]

A microSD is a microSD.

Some tablets don't have slots for them.

The only thing price affects in SD cards is write/read speed, with Class 4 being the typical, Class 1-2 the cheap crap and Class 10 being top class.

 

[Red Door]

Hey guys -

A quick question of a potentially brilliant idea I just came up with in my head.

Some background first. I have a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop that due to wear and tear, does not take a charge and is essentially a mobile desktop at this point. I run Windows 7 on it.

Recently, I moved back to my parent's house (Hooray for post-college funemployment!) and have my 22-inch tv that's essentially worthless since I don't have a cable box in my room. I have had it connected to my laptop via VGA for all of school. I always just coped my screen.

My question is pretty simple. Is there a way (display setting) that I could keep this connection through VGA while my laptop screen would be closed. (Keeping the computer running while closed, similar to how Macs can function.)

This would save space on my desk where I could potentially bring my XBox to my room and truly never have to deal with anyone outside my bed ever again.

Thanks for the help, hopefully it can be done.

 

[Michkov]

How to I extract the audio track from a mp4 file. Preferably not via a website.

 

[Mise]

@Red Door: I can't think of a display setting, but there may be a low-tech solution... Remove the pin from the mechanism that detects whether the screen is down or something?

 

[bhsup]

There should an option, maybe in power settings, that asks "what to do when you close lid" and one of the options is to do nothing. I did that all the time with my Dell E1505 if I wanted to plug in another monitor. It is in the same area where it asks how to handle you pressing the power button (hibernate, sleep, etc..)

 

[cardgame]

How to I extract the audio track from a mp4 file. Preferably not via a website.

You can convert it to mp3 via Miro, and probably Handbrake as well.

 

[Red Door]

@Red Door: I can't think of a display setting, but there may be a low-tech solution... Remove the pin from the mechanism that detects whether the screen is down or something?

There should an option, maybe in power settings, that asks "what to do when you close lid" and one of the options is to do nothing. I did that all the time with my Dell E1505 if I wanted to plug in another monitor. It is in the same area where it asks how to handle you pressing the power button (hibernate, sleep, etc..)

VRWC's solution is what I ended up doing. It works fine. I had to buy a wired keyboard, but it was all of 5 bucks.

 

[timtofly]

If you start getting overheating issues, like the computer turning off for no reason , you may want to open the lid a little, or make sure there is good air circulation. Some laptops cool by moving air through the keyboard.

 

[cardgame]

Just prop it up on some kind of stand – hell, four bottle lids will do – to get airflow underneath it.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

I've also got a network issue.. I've got 10Mbit fiber, one gaming PC and one mac laptop. So far I've switched the cable between the computers when needed. This requires two IP-addresses, which seems to cause some issue for the internet provider every now and then. To cut it short - I'm thinking of getting a router. The mac has wifi, I'm not sure about the pc (it's a Realtek PCIe GBE family controller), but probably not. It doesn't seem to be able to find my phone through wifi.

Is there anything to be wary of? Would a router be a good idea? What kind of router should I be looking for?

Thanks for any assistance!

 

[Zelig]

This requires two IP-addresses, which seems to cause some issue for the internet provider every now and then.

That doesn't make much sense, so probably isn't the problem.

Is there anything to be wary of?

Not really. Buy router, plug cables from router to both computers, set up phone on wifi.

Would a router be a good idea?

Yes.

What kind of router should I be looking for?

Any kind that isn't awful. At the moment Asus is my go-to brand, next up TP-Link, avoid D-Link. More expensive routers will generally be faster and have more features. Cheapo Asus runs $50, top-end runs $180, if you want to save a few more dollars looks like you can get a solid Rosewill for $25.

 

[Mise]

If you lived close to me you could come over and take one of the 3 or 4 routers I currently have sitting unused in my cupboard. One of your more computery friends ought to have one lying around somewhere?

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Thanks to both of you. I've found some Asus routers that look good, so I'll probably go with either of those. No real computery friends here.


edit: regarding the two IP-addresses, I think they restrict the number of IP-addresses to the households. I admit my knowledge of this is very restricted, but for some reason this has been a problem before also. I've had access to internet on one computer but not the other. After contacting the support, their technician has fixed it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How to I extract the audio track from a mp4 file. Preferably not via a website.

You can just demux the audio and transcode it to MP3, but if you're lazy give this a try:
http://skwire.dcmembers.com/fp/?page=video-2-mp3

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Is it possible to install a graphics-intensive game such as The Sims (2 or 3) onto an external hard drive and run it on a laptop from that?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Depends. Some games don't react well onto being installed onto external media, and you can expect some data bottlenecks with the transfer speed of USB and such. But I have run installer-games off of USB drives, though not those ones in particular.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Is it possible to install a graphics-intensive game such as The Sims (2 or 3) onto an external hard drive and run it on a laptop from that?

Depends. Some games don't react well onto being installed onto external media, and you can expect some data bottlenecks with the transfer speed of USB and such. But I have run installer-games off of USB drives, though not those ones in particular.

Yeah, what Aimee said. I was able to run Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 decently well off of an external drive, but the USB transfer speed is a real bottleneck. I think Sims 2 or 3 will probably be ok. It's worth a shot in any case.

 

[Synobun]

Anyone have a recommendation for a forum that is pretty good with resolving vague problems where the user is a bit less than capable of debugging properly (for example, switching parts out to test which ones are working or not)?

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with my old PC but am not having much luck.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Question: So I'm going to be buying parts for my new computer sometime next month, most likely around the middle of it. My question is, will there be any big sales, new parts, price changes, etc. in between now and then? Or would it be safe to start searching for parts and pricing them out now?