Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

I'm looking to replace my 4 and a half year old Surface RT tablet. What tablet would give me the best bang for the buck? I don't particularly care about the brand, though I'm most comfortable in the Windows ecosystem. I'll mostly use it for web browsing and sending email.

I have been using the iPad Air 1 for about 5 years now and it is working great. Since you don't need a lot of advanced features or gimmicks then you can get Air 1 instead of Air 2.
 
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Why not just get a USB Bluetooth dongle to go with that AC card?
Because I'm all out of USB ports and I'm not all out of PCI-E slots. :mischief:

I guess I could get one of those janky 1xusb3 -> a bunch of usb2 port hub adaptor things but that isn't as elegant.
 
True.

Did you have a looksie at the widget I linked? It might suit your purposes, and it's a card... :)
 
PCI cards are better than USB as a rule of thumb, but if you're really out of USB ports you might also want a PCI->USB hub
 
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I can't seem to rename my user account folder on Windows 10. Right now it's [first initial, middle initial, first three of last name], but I want it to be [first name] instead. I can't just go into C:\Users to rename it, and if I create a second account and try to change it from there, it seems to forget my profile. How do I fix this problem?
 
PCI cards are better than USB as a rule of thumb, but if you're really out of USB ports you might also want a PCI->USB hub

Depends a bit on the application. PCIe tends to be better for storage or network I/O (and for wireless, it's iffy, PCIe is the more appropriate electrical connection, but USB solutions often have better antennas/positioning), but in the case of say, sound cards, all the best options are USB.
 
Here's how to do it safely, without screwing up your computer:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/89060-change-name-user-profile-folder-windows-10-a.html

Just make sure to follow the directions exactly.

I did that, but now I get the error: "C:\Users\[first initial, middle initial, first three of last name]\OneDrive\Desktop is unavailable" and then goes on from there about making sure the device or drive is connected and the disk is inserted. If I try to open any documents in Microsoft Office, I just get a blank gray screen.
 
I did that, but now I get the error: "C:\Users\[first initial, middle initial, first three of last name]\OneDrive\Desktop is unavailable" and then goes on from there about making sure the device or drive is connected and the disk is inserted. If I try to open any documents in Microsoft Office, I just get a blank gray screen.
You followed the directions exactly?
 
Sound cards are obsolete regardless :p

Not really, onboard sound can't do Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive for surround over digital connections (so if you've got a laptop, you can only do digital surround output bundled in HDMI/DP, and no analog surround) and onboard DACs are pretty potato quality for analog connections, and don't have the voltage to drive many higher end headphones.
 
Unless you're using a bottom of the barrel hunk of junk, onboard sound is just as good as any sound card, that's why nobody uses them anymore. If you want high end headphones you get an external DAC/AMP entirely and still skip the sound card.

Although my DAC/AMP is powered through USB. Is that what you meant? Would that qualify?
 
Unless you're using a bottom of the barrel hunk of junk, onboard sound is just as good as any sound card

No, I literally just listed a bunch of ways in which onboard sound is not as good as any sound card:

"Onboard sound can't do Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive for surround over digital connections (so if you've got a laptop, you can only do digital surround output bundled in HDMI/DP, and no analog surround) and onboard DACs are pretty potato quality for analog connections, and don't have the voltage to drive many higher end headphones."

that's why nobody uses them anymore.

Well I use several (Xonar U3 for DDL over S/PDIF, Xonar U7 for analog 5.1, DragonFly Red for headphones), that's an infinite number of times more than would be used by nobody.

If you want high end headphones you get an external DAC/AMP entirely and still skip the sound card.

Although my DAC/AMP is powered through USB. Is that what you meant? Would that qualify?

The only difference between a USB DAC/AMP and a USB soundcard is whatever the marketing team felt like labeling it as.

edit: Not saying everyone needs a soundcard. Most people don't, but there are real use cases for them still.
 
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