The PokéCommunity Forums

The PokéCommunity Forums (https://www.pokecommunity.com/index.php)
-   Internet & Technology (https://www.pokecommunity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=57)
-   -   Chit-Chat Developers, developers, developers, developers (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=306434)

donavannj March 13th, 2014 5:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Fail (Post 8141540)
No, by going into the help pages, you can redirect yourself back to the main Google page, where from there, you can search for videos on Google to watch. If you find a way to pull up a custom URL bar, you can direct yourself to watch videos hosted on your computer.

Oh, I see. Still has to be hosted through a web server running on your computer, I suppose?

Legendary Silke March 13th, 2014 9:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8141438)
I can't remember, but did the laptop originally come with Windows 8.x? If it did, then that's really weird that it's acting up in such a manner.

It came with 7. I took advantage of the early upgrade offer. (I can jump between them as I please, and I think 7 is more stable on my laptop, given Reliability Monitor statistics.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zet (Post 8141453)
If it's still under warranty, contact the manufacturer and see if they can fix whatever is wrong with it.

It's not even their problem when it's no longer the original OS ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Candy Cane Forest Elf. (Post 8141524)
Always RMA before taking drastic measures yourself. Always.

Thing is, my laptop is already out of warranty, and this isn't even one of these things that you can RMA even if it's within warranty.

Aeroblast March 13th, 2014 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8141168)
For one reason or another, turns out a lot of background processes were crashing on the 8.1 installation for some reason. While it doesn't really affect day-to-day use, I'd have reservations using a PC like that.

I went back to 7. Again. I think I'll just use 8.x or 9 with a new PC at this rate...

Welcome to the "I downgraded to Windows 7" club. Smart decision.

Tsutarja March 13th, 2014 10:24 AM

My laptop is fine with Windows 8.1 on it.. I've considered putting Windows 7 on it, but then it'd be useless because my laptop didn't come with restore media, and there's no product key sticker on the laptop, either.

Alexander Nicholi March 13th, 2014 5:27 PM

Windows 8 has been a really great experience for me on my IdeaPad, and I put 8.1 onto my old eMachine, and albeit the screen is really fuzzy (it always has been), I've had little complaints with it and the machine, which has 2GB of DDR2 RAM at 800MHz and a single-core AMD Sempron processor @ 2.9GHz. Old and cheap, but still no issues with it and 8.1 so far. :3

I'm probably going to keep 8.0 on my laptop for the time being, so as to keep the mass amounts of tweaks and changes I've made to the inner workings of the OS (not to mention all of my file associations). Is there even a worthwhile reason to get 8.1 at this point?

Legendary Silke March 14th, 2014 2:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeroblast (Post 8141863)
Welcome to the "I downgraded to Windows 7" club. Smart decision.

It's not even "I downgraded to Windows 7" when the laptop came with Windows 7 to begin with. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex (Post 8142428)
I'm probably going to keep 8.0 on my laptop for the time being, so as to keep the mass amounts of tweaks and changes I've made to the inner workings of the OS (not to mention all of my file associations). Is there even a worthwhile reason to get 8.1 at this point?

You really shouldn't go tweaking the OS itself if you don't really know what you're doing. Anyway, 8.1 should make your life much easier when it comes to working in both desktop and Windows Store environments. (They've made major usability improvements in 8.1 for non-touchscreen users in both environments.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeroblast (Post 8141863)
Welcome to the "I downgraded to Windows 7" club. Smart decision.

It's not even "I downgraded to Windows 7" when the laptop came with Windows 7 to begin with. ;)

Tsutarja March 14th, 2014 3:44 AM

I honestly feel bad for not taking full advantage of Metro apps. The most I've done with Metro apps so far is just watch Netflix and maybe use the weather app once or twice, and nothing more. I dislike the Skype app and prefer it to the desktop app as well.

Also, I thought there was an app for Internet Explorer as well in a fullscreen metro UI, alongside the traditional desktop UI in Windows 8. Did they get rid of the metro IE version? The one in the start menu opens up the desktop version now.

Legendary Silke March 14th, 2014 6:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8143008)
I honestly feel bad for not taking full advantage of Metro apps. The most I've done with Metro apps so far is just watch Netflix and maybe use the weather app once or twice, and nothing more. I dislike the Skype app and prefer it to the desktop app as well.

The thing about the things that came with Windows 8.x is that the tiles on the Start screen can be useful if you know what you're doing. Set them up right, and as soon as you log into your PC, you can see what you want at a glance. Modern UI stuff tends to be less useful when you don't have the right kind of input (a capacitive multi-touch touchscreen), but things should be better with Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Update 1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8143008)
Also, I thought there was an app for Internet Explorer as well in a fullscreen metro UI, alongside the traditional desktop UI in Windows 8. Did they get rid of the metro IE version? The one in the start menu opens up the desktop version now.

It never disappeared. Is the default browser Internet Explorer? (Only one Immersive Browser may exist at any given time, and it's the current system default browser.) Check Internet Options and see whether it's set to always open web pages in Internet Explorer on the desktop, too.

Also, feel free to chop up the deleted double post next time if you see it pre-emptively merged

Aeroblast March 14th, 2014 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8142945)
It's not even "I downgraded to Windows 7" when the laptop came with Windows 7 to begin with.

You still took the action to downgrade it, though.

Burakki Tsuki March 14th, 2014 2:03 PM

I recently got back into PC gaming and wanted to build a great PC for music production/recording as well. I was using a Macbook for DJing and Production but needed to upgrade obviously. I will spare you the parts for now, unless your interested but it was over $1200. Bought at TigerDirect store on a whim instead of waiting for NewEgg to ship.

I bought Windows 8 for it and was really positive going forward. Yet I did little to no research on the feedback, just the data on how it stack up against 7 number wise. It was a horrible decision and money poorly spent.

Cons: I had to boot to app screen for months until 8.1 was released and it felt like a computer not a xbox or tablet.

I had blue screens related to my motherboard, ASUS Sabertooth, due to driver issues. Completely updated and no resolution was ever found.

I had to use workaround for many programs running in Admin or Windows 7 compatibility mode just for them to run. If they would even work.

The Pro: Slightly faster booting and file transfers.

Well I'll stop ranting now.

Zet March 14th, 2014 5:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8143008)
I honestly feel bad for not taking full advantage of Metro apps. The most I've done with Metro apps so far is just watch Netflix and maybe use the weather app once or twice, and nothing more. I dislike the Skype app and prefer it to the desktop app as well.

Also, I thought there was an app for Internet Explorer as well in a fullscreen metro UI, alongside the traditional desktop UI in Windows 8. Did they get rid of the metro IE version? The one in the start menu opens up the desktop version now.

Before I downgraded to 7(I'm back on 8.1 now), skype desktop would not work for me unless I disabled one of the .net x files. Has this been fixed yet?

Tsutarja March 14th, 2014 5:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zet (Post 8144153)
Before I downgraded to 7(I'm back on 8.1 now), skype desktop would not work for me unless I disabled one of the .net x files. Has this been fixed yet?

I guess it has been. I downloaded the latest version of the Skype desktop version as soon as I got my laptop and it's been running fine.

Legendary Silke March 14th, 2014 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeroblast (Post 8143598)
You still took the action to downgrade it, though.

The thing is that can you call it a downgrade when the laptop runs 7 for most of its life?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zet (Post 8144153)
Before I downgraded to 7(I'm back on 8.1 now), skype desktop would not work for me unless I disabled one of the .net x files. Has this been fixed yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8144178)
I guess it has been. I downloaded the latest version of the Skype desktop version as soon as I got my laptop and it's been running fine.

Usually, when something doesn't work, try updating the non-functional application itself first before resorting to workarounds. Multiple .NET Framework versions are designed to co-exist on the same computer, and you should leave them as is.

Tsutarja March 15th, 2014 5:00 AM

Hmm, my desktop did a CHKDSK on its own moments ago, and it found some corrupt and misplaced things apparently. Hopefully it smooths the little chokes I've been having recently.

Zet March 15th, 2014 5:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8144513)
Usually, when something doesn't work, try updating the non-functional application itself first before resorting to workarounds. Multiple .NET Framework versions are designed to co-exist on the same computer, and you should leave them as is.

It was the latest version at the time. I had to google search about the problem, and someone posted the .NET Framework workaround.

Legendary Silke March 15th, 2014 5:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8144781)
Hmm, my desktop did a CHKDSK on its own moments ago, and it found some corrupt and misplaced things apparently. Hopefully it smooths the little chokes I've been having recently.

It's a good thing that NTFS is self-healing since Vista, no? (It got enhanced as time went on, and in Windows 8, it should be able to handle most file system errors without requiring a restart to run an offline CHKDSK.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zet (Post 8144789)
It was the latest version at the time. I had to google search about the problem, and someone posted the .NET Framework workaround.

Cool. Sometimes, when you have a new OS, compatibility can be a strange thing, even though Microsoft and the Windows team do take pains to ensure as many as possible apps can run in the new Windows version. (Hopefully, by now, you've undone the workaround.)

Alexander Nicholi March 15th, 2014 1:11 PM

Hard disk errors? Boy those were fun. Last time I had one of those was when I broke my 1.5TB WD MyBook and my old 320GB MyBook. Good times.

Also, I did some calculations and discovered 64-bit operating systems can handle around 2,822PB of immediate memory. Not that that's ever going to be feasible in the near future, but hey. We won't have to make 128-bit operating systems for a good while. :P

Legendary Silke March 15th, 2014 11:39 PM

*is setting up a Windows 98 Second Edition virtual machine now that he finally got access to the CD itself in his old home*

*is stuck with a VMware virtual machine with no networking or audio*

(Hey, at least it's enhanced and sorta seamless.)

(Turns out you just have to install the missing drivers (Windows Driver Model, to boot) for the audio devices and explicitly set up a working Internet connection using the provided wizard.)

Alexander Nicholi March 16th, 2014 1:14 AM

I had Windows 2000 and Windows XP set up on two virtual machines. 2000 was my work PC and XP was my play PC. Things were simpler back then, what with the seamless ISO loading and ready availability of floppy input. I loved to keep all my documents in WordPad RTFs, since I have a weird nostalgia for working without office on Windows Classic PCs, ever since I read a Windows 98 manual in "Living Color" that I got from a recycling center. Ah, the nostalgia. :P

In fact, I remember writing up fake letters to Bill Gates on the production progress of a new Windows operating system that never got finished. I also wrote flyers for company picnics. What a remembrance, hah! My 10-year-old self in hindsight. So cute :3

Legendary Silke March 16th, 2014 1:24 AM

It's kind of a shame that Windows Update stopped functioning on Windows 98, though. I had to rely on a site dedicated to providing older versions of software to reinstall... things that might come in handy. (Think DirectX 9.0c versions that still fully support Windows 98, IE6 and Opera 10, KeePass 2.x (score one for something that still supports Windows 98 natively), .NET Framework 2.0... my gosh.)

Alexander Nicholi March 16th, 2014 1:27 AM

So tell me, is there a reason you're installing 98 on a VM?

Legendary Silke March 16th, 2014 1:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex (Post 8146617)
So tell me, is there a reason you're installing 98 on a VM?

Seeing as I do have a bunch of things that don't work really well in Windows 7 due to their age despite them being Win32...

Windows 98, you're not supposed to work on the modern web! Go back to 1998!

Zet March 16th, 2014 3:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex (Post 8146617)
So tell me, is there a reason you're installing 98 on a VM?

Because Win 98 is best OS.

Tsutarja March 16th, 2014 4:37 AM

Ah, Windows 98. That was my favorite operating system growing up, no joke. I liked all of the sounds it came with for one, and it was the operating system I remember first using when I first touched a computer, before Windows XP came out.

Legendary Silke March 16th, 2014 4:42 AM

Messing around with Opera 10 just made me realize that even a Windows 98 PC could do something today... as long as you're prepared for it being Swiss cheese in terms of security.

Ooka March 16th, 2014 6:00 AM

Anybody here have experience with changing the Windows shell to something different? I'm interested in trying it but I'd like to know which ones are best and if it even works well/is worth it.

Legendary Silke March 16th, 2014 6:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ooka (Post 8146928)
Anybody here have experience with changing the Windows shell to something different? I'm interested in trying it but I'd like to know which ones are best and if it even works well/is worth it.

First things first: why? You'd probably want to evaluate why you want to change the Windows shell from Windows Explorer to something else first, seeing as you may or may not have something that relies on it. (It's probably a very good idea to make a backup in case anything goes wrong, and said shell replacement does something with the system files. Things could have changed at this point, though.)

Ooka March 16th, 2014 7:19 AM

Specifically customization. I don't really care about the functionality of a shell as long as it works.

Tsutarja March 16th, 2014 7:41 AM

I've never really bothered to even change the Windows shell at all. I've seen people that do it successfully, but what would the purpose really be other than to allow for extra customization?

Also, bonus points to who can guess what my user title is.

Ooka March 16th, 2014 8:55 AM

That's specifically the reason I want to change it. :3

Hiatus March 16th, 2014 2:25 PM

You could try Cairo shell. It might not be in development anymore, but you should still be able to download and install. LiteStep's pretty good, too. This one's got tons of themes available for you to choose; just head over to deviantART, and pick a favorite. :] Don't really know how they work, though, because personally, I've used neither of them.

Tsutarja March 16th, 2014 3:29 PM

Cairo shell looks pretty interesting, actually. Though I'm really in no mood to change my Windows shell even if I wanted to, because I like explorer as is. :p

One thing I wish Microsoft would just fix though is the taskbar glitch in Windows 7/Windows 8 where sometimes when you hover over an icon, it stays highlighted. It's annoying enough having to either restart explorer.exe to fix it, or to hold down shift and right click to fix it.

Hiatus March 16th, 2014 4:59 PM

I do remember running into this glitch before, but it wasn't very common, though; I'd encounter it only once in a blue moon. xD" Personally, I haven't found it to be that troublesome. It was sort of annoying, but I would simply ignore it and keep doing my own thing.

Legendary Silke March 16th, 2014 9:45 PM

Speaking of shells and glitches, I personally find the Ubuntu shell to be less reliable than either the Windows or OSX shells. (Ah, strange behaviour...)

Tsutarja March 17th, 2014 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peitharchia (Post 8148773)
I do remember running into this glitch before, but it wasn't very common, though; I'd encounter it only once in a blue moon. xD" Personally, I haven't found it to be that troublesome. It was sort of annoying, but I would simply ignore it and keep doing my own thing.

When you leave a computer running all the time (such as myself), it tends to be a major quirk. :p but I've never experienced it on my laptops that run Windows 7/Windows 8 as I shut those down after use.

Hiatus March 17th, 2014 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8149145)
Speaking of shells and glitches, I personally find the Ubuntu shell to be less reliable than either the Windows or OSX shells. (Ah, strange behaviour...)

Yeah, I have to agree; Ubuntu is pretty unreliable. d: When I'd first installed it with Windows Installer, it'd always give errors when downloading a certain group of apps. It was fixed, however, once I had a proper CD install. Now, though, whenever I connect to my phone's Internet via Bluetooth, the computer crashes itself from time to time and forces me to shut it down.

Zet March 17th, 2014 2:24 AM

It sounds like you should get rid of it if something like that is going to crash your computer.

Legendary Silke March 17th, 2014 3:04 AM

Sometimes, I do suspect that what works best with a given computer is what the computer came with ;)

I noticed that restricting background data usage with Data Sense in a Windows Phone 8 phone pretty much makes the phone use mobile data connections only when necessary (e.g. web browsing). Any activity involving background data usage, like push email, are stopped; location services do it the slow, non-assisted way that also doesn't use any data.

Tsutarja March 17th, 2014 5:19 PM

Hmm, I wonder what's draining my tablet battery down so quickly, even if I'm not using it.. it went down to 83% at 10am this morning after being unplugged since 6am but it's had no use on it whatsoever.

Would slipping it into airplane mode only until I need to use it help?

Brane March 17th, 2014 8:12 PM

Maybe background tasks? You're probably on top of that but leaving apps open in the background might drain it. Airplane mode would probably help because it turns off certain features (mainly wireless etc).

If you're going to do anything you may as well just turn it off when you're not using it unless you have a reason to keep it on. But 17% for 4 hours of idle doesn't sound too crazy, might just be a few small things like it loading notifications while it's not being used (twitter, emails etc).

Legendary Silke March 17th, 2014 8:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8150917)
Hmm, I wonder what's draining my tablet battery down so quickly, even if I'm not using it.. it went down to 83% at 10am this morning after being unplugged since 6am but it's had no use on it whatsoever.

Would slipping it into airplane mode only until I need to use it help?

There should be a menu option in the Settings app of most Android devices that shows battery usage statistics. Start your investigation there.

Airplane mode helps, as does closing apps before idling, though the latter shouldn't do too much if the apps are well-behaved. (Also, if you are running some sort of task killer/optimizer/anti-malware solution and aren't sideloading from untrustworthy sources, feel free to uninstall them all. You shouldn't need any of them on a modern Android tablet.)

Tsutarja March 18th, 2014 3:17 AM

1 Attachment(s)
Here's what I found about my tablet's battery usage, and fully charged. Apparently it is normal for the battery to drain down like that, with only a 16-hour battery life.

Legendary Silke March 18th, 2014 3:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8151551)
Here's what I found about my tablet's battery usage, and fully charged. Apparently it is normal for the battery to drain down like that, with only a 16-hour battery life.

The OS itself seems to be draining an unusual amount of battery charge. Have you restarted the tablet? Some battery life issues can be easily solved with a simple reboot.

Tsutarja March 18th, 2014 4:17 AM

2 Attachment(s)
Unless the OS is being vague about what it handles, a restart didn't change the values. I'll attach more screenshots below.

Also, my tablet had an uptime of 647 hours, which is roughly 27 days. I've reset that though :P

Legendary Silke March 18th, 2014 4:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8151588)
Unless the OS is being vague about what it handles, a restart didn't change the values. I'll attach more screenshots below.

Also, my tablet had an uptime of 647 hours, which is roughly 27 days. I've reset that though :P

I do not expect any values to change when the tablet is reset ;)

I do expect anything that was hogging up resources to be cleared away when the system is shut down, though.

Tsutarja March 18th, 2014 4:55 AM

Weird, then. Because there is no official "reboot" on my tablet, it's either start up or shut down. How long should I keep the tablet off then for it to clear away the resources?

Legendary Silke March 18th, 2014 5:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8151638)
Weird, then. Because there is no official "reboot" on my tablet, it's either start up or shut down. How long should I keep the tablet off then for it to clear away the resources?

A cold boot is as good as any, but just to be safe, 10 seconds after the screen turns off after a shut down attempt.

donavannj March 18th, 2014 6:26 AM

I'd personally recommend closer to a minute, but that's based on what I have to do with desktops, not tablets.

Legendary Silke March 18th, 2014 7:45 AM

I'm thinking what kind of laptop I should get this August, seeing as it's my birthday. I'm also wondering whether I should get rod of the Surface if I get a touchscreen ultraportable laptop. Hmm...

I suspect that by then the next generation of Intel processors would be out. The new Intel processors and a 8xx series mobile GeForce GPU would make things real peachy.

countryemo March 18th, 2014 10:49 PM

Well I done did messed up.. I'm starting to theme windows, made a windows 8 like desktop, then download a windows 8 theme, all was good. Decided to do a mac theme next, it was a installer, had a feeling it was bad idea. Well I stopped it, unistalled it, and now my taskbar is gone, windows button dosent work, and desktop icons are gone, widgets and wallpaper are still there, but its not even right-clickable. URGENT. I could restart it, and see if that works. but it was in middle of a scan, sigh.

Legendary Silke March 18th, 2014 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryemo (Post 8153329)
Well I done did messed up.. I'm starting to theme windows, made a windows 8 like desktop, then download a windows 8 theme, all was good. Decided to do a mac theme next, it was a installer, had a feeling it was bad idea. Well I stopped it, unistalled it, and now my taskbar is gone, windows button dosent work, and desktop icons are gone, widgets and wallpaper are still there, but its not even right-clickable. URGENT. I could restart it, and see if that works. but it was in middle of a scan, sigh.

CONTROL-SHIFT-ESC to open Task Manager. (You may need to show more details.)

Run Explorer from there. It should bring the desktop back. (I suspect the installer killed the Explorer process without restarting it.) (Let's hope nothing changed with regard to running applications from Task Manager in Windows 8.)

countryemo March 18th, 2014 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8153332)
CONTROL-SHIFT-ESC to open Task Manager. (You may need to show more details.)

Run Explorer from there. It should bring the desktop back. (I suspect the installer killed the Explorer process without restarting it.) (Let's hope nothing changed with regard to running applications from Task Manager in Windows 8.)

Its still Win7, but themed. Anyways I chose to restart anyways, everything seems back to normal, but I'm worried it might still cause me trouble it the future.

Kakarot1212 March 19th, 2014 1:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryemo (Post 8153350)
Its still Win7, but themed. Anyways I chose to restart anyways, everything seems back to normal, but I'm worried it might still cause me trouble it the future.

If you will still encounter this on the future, all you have to do is open the task manager(ctrl+shift+esc). Then click "new task..." and type in "explorer.exe" :)

Tsutarja March 19th, 2014 1:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countryemo (Post 8153350)
Its still Win7, but themed. Anyways I chose to restart anyways, everything seems back to normal, but I'm worried it might still cause me trouble it the future.

If you worry that it's going to cause trouble in the future, then I really suggest you revert any changes now to prevent further corruption inside your system, now that you've had that experience.

Kakarot1212 March 19th, 2014 1:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8153412)
If you worry that it's going to cause trouble in the future, then I really suggest you revert any changes now to prevent further corruption inside your system, now that you've had that experience.

Or you could simply uninstall them.

Tsutarja March 19th, 2014 1:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiroshi Kaede (Post 8153418)
Or you could simply uninstall them.

That's exactly what I said, just worded more complex.

countryemo March 19th, 2014 2:00 AM

Yeah I unistalled everything, I think, I'll go through again later and a power clean (maybe, that messed me up a bit last time).

Spoiler:

My purty desktop, haha.
http://i.imgur.com/N0wuCHX.png


And twiggy, isn't Surface pretty much a laptop anyways? (if you got the pro version).

Tsutarja March 19th, 2014 3:25 AM

The Surface Pro does run Windows 8 instead of Windows RT, but I guess it's just his preference :P In other words, the Surface Pro is pretty much a tablet that runs Windows 8 that can be converted into a laptop with the extra keyboard accessory.

Legendary Silke March 19th, 2014 3:31 AM

Just remember to not run Explorer from an elevated Task Manager, or everything launched by the newly-instated Explorer will run elevated. ;)

The RT Surface variants are more tablets than laptops, even when you account for the keyboard covers. Still, one can get quite a lot done in the desktop with just Microsoft Office, OneNote (I'm now counting it as a separate app), and Internet Explorer, as well as various Windows apps that come with any Windows installation. Things should be quite better in Windows 8.1 Update 1, too, seeing as Modern UI... er, Windows Store apps will gain some usability enhancements while using a PC like a desktop or laptop.

Terabyte March 19th, 2014 3:34 AM

I will say, I noticed that Microsoft ditched the UAC requirement to run Windows apps from the start menu. Back when Windows 8.1 first went into a release preview I downloaded it, installed it to a spare computer, and disabled UAC only to find that the apps (such as the weather app) wouldn't work without UAC enabled. But now that I have an actual Windows 8.1 laptop, I disabled UAC and the weather app still works.

blue March 19th, 2014 7:58 AM

Need some advice, I'm planning on buying a new Laptop and I'm quite set on getting an Apple Mac. I know the price tag for these things are very steep but I assume that's for the sole reason is because the performance is outstanding, does anybody own a Mac Book that would recommend buying one? My prioritized use would be for gaming, and there is another reasonably similar priced Laptop that is more tailored to gaming specifically which is this one. Any recommendations from personal experience with either Laptops? I wouldn't be too bothered but with such a high price tag I wanna make sure I'm getting the most out of my money. ;3

Legendary Silke March 19th, 2014 8:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat (Post 8153885)
Need some advice, I'm planning on buying a new Laptop and I'm quite set on getting an Apple Mac. I know the price tag for these things are very steep but I assume that's for the sole reason is because the performance is outstanding, does anybody own a Mac Book that would recommend buying one? My prioritized use would be for gaming, and there is another reasonably similar priced Laptop that is more tailored to gaming specifically which is this one. Any recommendations from personal experience with either Laptops? I wouldn't be too bothered but with such a high price tag I wanna make sure I'm getting the most out of my money. ;3

Don't get a Mac for gaming.

Stick with Windows laptops - you'll save a lot in terms of both hardware and OS prices. (Games are still Windows territory.)

Many laptop manufacturers make gaming laptops and/or high-performance multimedia laptops. (Take Toshiba, for example - a Satellite P-series (high-performance standard multimedia) or a Qosmio (gaming) would do for them. Most other manufacturers have similar line-ups.)

What settings do you intend to target (in terms of quality and resolution)? What will you be playing? I would strongly suggest that you look at laptops from at least three brands. Do you want to factor in portability?

Keep in mind of this: price, graphics performance, portability. Pick two.

donavannj March 19th, 2014 8:18 AM

Hardware-wise, the Lenovo IdeaPad you're looking at is dramatically better than the MacBook Pro, just looking at raw specs. Even with BootCamp, the IdeaPad is probably going to be dramatically more cost-effective for gaming power. You get 8GB right out of the box with the IdeaPad you're looking at for $1200 USD, while you have to pay $1500 to get up to that amount with a dramatically smaller display and still only have 1/4 the storage space of the Lenovo (granted, the cheapest MBP with 8GB of RAM is using an SSD). It's also worth nothing that a Windows install itself takes up between 20 GB and 40 GB of hard drive space, so you won't have much space for anything at all on the cheapest MBP option if you have both OSes installed.

Here's the US Lenovo page for a comparison of the options for each potential option of the Y510P out of the box:
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/

Here's the US Apple page for the MBP for the comparison of each specs available:
http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs-retina/

Some other questions that may influence my recommendation:
Are you a Mac user or a Windows user? Would you be comfortable learning Windows 8 on the fly? Do you mind a 13 inch display? Is a 15 inch too big of a display (most laptops of the past decade have used 15 inch displays, for reference)?

Displays are measured by the diagonal distance between opposite corners if you need some means of getting perspective on how big the displays will be.

Also, like Twiggy said, look at more than just Lenovo and Apple if this is going to be your primary gaming rig.

Legendary Silke March 19th, 2014 8:30 AM

Also, I think it would be wise to remind that almost every Intel CPU (aside from CPUs based on Bay Trail, but I'm sure you're not looking at below Core i5 series, right?) out there is fast enough for anything but Company of Heroes 2 (ULV processors cry at that). (If you're looking for gaming laptops, make that fast enough for anything, period.)

The more important part is the GPU - you want as much GPU as possible, but don't neglect the existence of an integrated Intel GPU, too - you want to have Optimus, if only to prevent the battery from behaving more like a glorified UPS that can't protect against unstable AC power supply.

If you intend to game, it'd be also wise to have at least one HDD in the laptop you're going to buy. Games take up a lot of space, and some tiny SSDs might leave you up and cold if you factor in Windows, system files, and common applications. (If I were you, I'd set things up so that any discrete SSD that's less than 120 GB large is configured as a cache. You won't have to shuffle items if need be.)

There are also certain things that you can't check by looking at the specifications - display brightness, display colour temperature (not as important, as it's easily fixed in software), display colour gamut, keyboard feel, touchpad feel, speaker quality, and noise. I would suggest that you demo a laptop if you're able to.

Tsutarja March 19th, 2014 5:29 PM

I didn't demo my laptop when I got it, but luckily for the price I got it for, it has good speakers and a decent built-in microphone, unlike my previous laptop, which had a confirmed hardware flaw with its built-in microphone, and it was acknowledged by HP as well.

Brane March 19th, 2014 5:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cat (Post 8153885)
Need some advice, I'm planning on buying a new Laptop and I'm quite set on getting an Apple Mac. I know the price tag for these things are very steep but I assume that's for the sole reason is because the performance is outstanding, does anybody own a Mac Book that would recommend buying one? My prioritized use would be for gaming, and there is another reasonably similar priced Laptop that is more tailored to gaming specifically which is this one. Any recommendations from personal experience with either Laptops? I wouldn't be too bothered but with such a high price tag I wanna make sure I'm getting the most out of my money. ;3

Alright well here's where we're going to need a bit more info.

As far as laptops go, MacBooks may not have the raw specs of some other companies but the build, battery life and portability is why they're definitely some of the best going around even if they're slightly overpriced. I've got one of the new MacBook Pros as a support device for my PC and I couldn't be happier with it.

Windows Laptops generally have better specs, but in my experience they aren't as finetuned as Apple's portable devices are, but great nonetheless. But if you're going to look at any, make sure to check out ASUS, Dell and Acer as well.

Is there a reason you want a laptop? In all honesty if you're going to use it primarily for gaming, I would just go straight for a custom PC build and easily save yourself anywhere between 500-1000 dollars. Where if you're hell bent on a Laptop, like others have said it's best you get a hands on feel with something first, pictures online can be deceiving.

donavannj March 19th, 2014 7:09 PM

If he's going to be gaming, though, the cheapest MacBook's SSD simply will not cut it in terms of disk capacity, like I said before. Heck, you'd be cutting it close on space with anything less than 500 GB of space. I remember basically filling up 160 GB of data with games and game mods even back in 2007, and that was on a Windows XP build!

Brane March 19th, 2014 8:23 PM

Depends a lot on what games and how many games. My PC hasn't even been filled with 500GB of files, it is a lot of space. But if he is buying a lot of next gen games over a few he will be playing a lot (such as strategy or mmo's etc) then 500GB might get filled up. And a good MacBook will set you back a lot if you go the SSD route.

But at the same time I would definitely go for a PC build over a laptop for gaming unless a laptop is for some reason a necessity.

Legendary Silke March 19th, 2014 10:34 PM

I'll just say that having an SSD and nothing else is asking for trouble if you're a gamer ;)

One thing about gaming laptops - they might be expensive, but they're also significantly more mobile than a desktop that's tethered to an AC power outlet.

Brane March 19th, 2014 10:54 PM

I don't understand how. SSDs are much faster and generally more durable then a HDD, but a bit more expensive too haha.

Laptops do have the advantage of being mobile, but this comes at the cost of performance and functionality. If you're fine with gaming on a laptop props to you, but I honestly think you cannot get much of an experience out of one unless you aim for something high end. But at that stage you may as well invest in a PC.

As great as my laptop is, I will almost never play any regular games on it, maybe some indies but not much more. But that's just me, I simply believe the performance you get for your money is much better put into a PC.

Omicron March 19th, 2014 11:03 PM

I have to agree with Brane. If you want a gaming station, a custom built PC is the best option by far. If you really want a laptop, then buy a Windows laptop. Macbooks aren't very game friendly. They are great in many aspects and niches, but gaming is definitely not one of them.

I have a custom built PC and couldn't be happier with it.

Legendary Silke March 19th, 2014 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brane (Post 8155269)
I don't understand how. SSDs are much faster and generally more durable then a HDD, but a bit more expensive too haha.

Games eat up space quickly, especially today's games that can come in up to 50 GB, and you'd wish you had an internal HDD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brane (Post 8155269)
Laptops do have the advantage of being mobile, but this comes at the cost of performance and functionality. If you're fine with gaming on a laptop props to you, but I honestly think you cannot get much of an experience out of one unless you aim for something high end. But at that stage you may as well invest in a PC.

As great as my laptop is, I will almost never play any regular games on it, maybe some indies but not much more. But that's just me, I simply believe the performance you get for your money is much better put into a PC.

You might have not realized it yet, but a PC is a PC, be it desktop, tablet, or laptop. When to comes to gaming, a desktop PC is the best option when it comes to performance-per-dollar, but I'd suspect that "good enough" is an option. One probably doesn't need to blow cash on the best if we know a target.

Brane March 20th, 2014 12:11 AM

Yes I know, but you guys get my drift anyway :P. That's where it depends on what games he is playing. Even though games can run up to 50GB, it depends on whether they will even be playing those games. I have still yet to download a game over 10GB honestly.

Well it all has to fit within the budget. You don't need to spend 4k on the latest ultimate gaming rig, just as much as you currently see fit. For 1.5k you can easily build a PC that will run modern games very well. But as I was saying before if they're buying it solely for gaming the same amount you would spend on a laptop will get you much lower performance than a PC.

But yeah it all just comes down to budget and what you need.

Tsutarja March 20th, 2014 2:27 AM

My recently-purchased Toshiba laptop isn't really meant for gaming (Intel i5 with 8GB DDR3 and mostly shared video memory), but with some lowered settings inside the games themselves, the games run flawless.

Brane March 20th, 2014 2:55 AM

Well it's really up to preference I guess, if you don't mind gaming on a laptop then all the better haha.

Does anyone have any wireless hard drives? I'm looking into getting one that is kind of like a cheap server I can use as a work hub. I've only really heard of the SeaGate and Apple Airport but the Apple won't be interchangeable with my Windows desktop.

Hiatus March 20th, 2014 3:07 AM

Games work in neither of my laptops, unfortunately. Regardless of what settings I have on them, they always seem to lag. Well, I guess some do work, actually, but not the ones I'd possibly be interested in. :(

Legendary Silke March 20th, 2014 3:08 AM

Wireless hard disk drives?

Do you mean network-attached storage? They can be accessed over the network. (I prefer directly-connected external HDDs, if only because they're very speedy, and can be accessed with standard backup utilities.)

Tsutarja March 20th, 2014 3:20 AM

My high school utilized NAT for the non-default student accounts and staff accounts inside their domain. Teachers had to be wired up to the network to access and sync their files between computers, and same with individual student logins as well.

Legendary Silke March 20th, 2014 3:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8155528)
My high school utilized NAT for the non-default student accounts and staff accounts inside their domain. Teachers had to be wired up to the network to access and sync their files between computers, and same with individual student logins as well.

NAT = network address translation. Think of it as "many computers in a local network sharing an external (to the Internet) IP address - stuff's managed by something else so packets go in and out to the right computers".

NAS = network-attached storage, which I've just described..

Synching files between computers can be achieved using various methods, and may involve none of the above ;)

Tsutarja March 20th, 2014 3:32 AM

Whoops, I fumbled on the terminology there XD

All I can remember is that one time, one of my teachers from high school logged into the presentation computer in the classroom (the one that's hooked up to the projector), and it wasn't connected to the network (because you had to run a wire across the floor). The teacher tried accessing their My Documents folder, but couldn't, so that's how I figured out that the teacher accounts used network attached storage.

Legendary Silke March 20th, 2014 4:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8155540)
Whoops, I fumbled on the terminology there XD

All I can remember is that one time, one of my teachers from high school logged into the presentation computer in the classroom (the one that's hooked up to the projector), and it wasn't connected to the network (because you had to run a wire across the floor). The teacher tried accessing their My Documents folder, but couldn't, so that's how I figured out that the teacher accounts used network attached storage.

That's not what they meant by network-attached storage ;) (NAS is a single unit of storage that can be accessed over the network. The on you're describing is "accessing a network folder over a network connection", which might be in an actual computer.) /tryingtokeepthings simple

*starts planning about getting a 4 TB external*

Brane March 20th, 2014 2:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twiggy (Post 8155518)
Wireless hard disk drives?

Do you mean network-attached storage? They can be accessed over the network. (I prefer directly-connected external HDDs, if only because they're very speedy, and can be accessed with standard backup utilities.)

Ahh how did I slip up on this. We run them at work all the time. I guess I was more looking at just wireless drives. Something similar to this, but I don't know if you have to use the software or not.

Not having to use usb and drag and drop all my projects from laptop to drive, drive to pc, pc to drive etc etc is my main reason. But I don't think there are many on the market at the moment. But using an NAS would mean it's not as portable as I'd like (I have to travel a lot). Welp, you can't win them all.

Tsutarja March 21st, 2014 4:44 AM

Did I ever tell y'all about my old laptop's battery going bad? Well I had to boot it up yesterday to retrieve a file off of it, and I watched it go from 12% to 100% lmao

I just hope that my new laptop's battery doesn't wind up like that soon

Legendary Silke March 21st, 2014 6:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8157530)
Did I ever tell y'all about my old laptop's battery going bad? Well I had to boot it up yesterday to retrieve a file off of it, and I watched it go from 12% to 100% lmao

I just hope that my new laptop's battery doesn't wind up like that soon

Most current-generation laptop batteries are rated for at least 800 full discharge (100% to emergency hibernation) cycles. You'll be fine - it's probably more likely that some other component fails first, or the laptop itself becomes obsolete.

Tsutarja March 22nd, 2014 4:58 AM

Sometimes I wish my phone had a notification for when it goes into battery saver mode, that way I'd at least know to charge it.

Legendary Silke March 22nd, 2014 5:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8159445)
Sometimes I wish my phone had a notification for when it goes into battery saver mode, that way I'd at least know to charge it.

Your phone does have a critical battery notification. It's just that it's set at 10% of full capacity. (It's a much better idea to charge your phone whenever you can.)

Tsutarja March 22nd, 2014 7:13 AM

Oh, it does then? I've had it die on me without a notification in the past, but maybe because I just had it on vibrate only at the same time. Other than that, I think I saw it sitting at 20% last night when I caught it in Battery Saver mode. I don't charge it every night just to exercise the battery.

Legendary Silke March 22nd, 2014 11:54 PM

Thing is, you probably shouldn't worry about exercising the battery during normal use for a modern lithium-ion battery. Just use it without worrying too much about its state. Your battery and your sanity will thank you for it.

Hiatus March 23rd, 2014 4:31 AM

Speaking of phone batteries, sometimes, mine would just randomly overheat itself and lose charge completely. Used to think that Skype was the cause of it, but I no longer have it installed on my phone, though, and the issue keeps popping up again every once in a while. :( Should probably consider getting this battery replaced.

Tsutarja March 23rd, 2014 4:36 AM

That reminds me, but somehow my mother's PS4's battery also seems to have expanded past its contraption and doesn't fit into the console anymore :p she's looking to replace it sometime in the future though.

Onto another topic, though: does anyone have any LCD devices with dead pixels? My mother's Nintendo DS (that I am currently borrowing for the GBA part of it) has several dead pixels.

Starry Windy March 23rd, 2014 4:48 AM

If I recall correctly, my GBA SP have around 3 black pixels in the screen, but I haven't used it as much nowadays.

Legendary Silke March 23rd, 2014 6:41 AM

None of the devices I currently on have any dead pixels.

I think I probably should get the laptop serviced anyway once I get back. The rubber sealing around the screen bezel edge and the top lid edge managed to come off.

Tsutarja March 23rd, 2014 6:55 AM

Ugh, found out this morning that my iHome no longer wishes to charge either of my iPods -.- it will still time-sync between the devices and play music off of them, just not charge them

Legendary Silke March 23rd, 2014 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terabyte (Post 8161577)
Ugh, found out this morning that my iHome no longer wishes to charge either of my iPods -.- it will still time-sync between the devices and play music off of them, just not charge them

By "no longer wishes to charge", do you mean that it doesn't supply power, or do you mean that the devices are stuck in "Not Charging" (a state where power goes to the device, but there isn't enough of it to charge the battery)? (I suspect it's the latter.)

Tried rebooting all involved devices?

Tsutarja March 23rd, 2014 10:34 AM

For one, it's happening on all of my iPods, and my parents' iPhone 4s (not 4Ss) as well, so I doubt it's the devices. It has to be the dock jack, I'm sure.

Zet March 25th, 2014 6:06 AM

Malwarebytes V2 has officially been released sporting a new UI, and a few other features. In-app update will be released next week, or you can download the installer and install it on top of your current installtion(it's new path gets rid of the ' from the previous folder, and it will move all the settings over to the new folder, and remove the old folder).

Something else to note; it's now a subscription module, but previous users who have the lifetime license will get to keep their lifetime.

Alexander Nicholi March 25th, 2014 8:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Fail (Post 8165250)
It's probably a loose cable in the dock. It's those loose cables that tend to put an early end to a dock's life.

And that's Apple for you, pretty much.

I like how my Samsung Galaxy Reverb (SPH-M950) is oddly resilient with those sorts of things. My father, being an overall lunatic, stomped on it with his boot and it almost stopped holding a charge (not to mention a huge crack in the screen), but it's been fine as of recent. And the screen's not got one of those cutting cracks, so it's safe to roll over with your finger. ;)

Legendary Silke March 25th, 2014 8:19 AM

Apple makes durable laptops. I once accidentally sat on a classmate's MacBook Air while sitting on a chair because everyone forgot about the laptop in a group outing.

Phones, not so much. :3

Cordelia March 25th, 2014 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peitharchia (Post 8161347)
Speaking of phone batteries, sometimes, mine would just randomly overheat itself and lose charge completely. Used to think that Skype was the cause of it, but I no longer have it installed on my phone, though, and the issue keeps popping up again every once in a while. :( Should probably consider getting this battery replaced.

My phone battery is a beast. I am using a ZeroLemon 9300 mAh replacement battery/rugged case combination and it easily lasts two to three days under pretty consistent usage. One day around when I first got it, I got 14 hours of screen on time XDD

donavannj March 25th, 2014 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peitharchia (Post 8161347)
Speaking of phone batteries, sometimes, mine would just randomly overheat itself and lose charge completely. Used to think that Skype was the cause of it, but I no longer have it installed on my phone, though, and the issue keeps popping up again every once in a while. :( Should probably consider getting this battery replaced.

Which phone model? The HTC Sensation has a known issue with the drivers for the battery failing after a period of time, causing the phone to constantly report it is low on power and shut down even though the battery itself is perfectly functional. I had to RMA my phone for this exact issue last summer. Actually still using that battery with no such issues anymore to this point.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:38 PM.


Like our Facebook Page Follow us on Twitter © 2002 - 2018 The PokéCommunity™, pokecommunity.com.
Pokémon characters and images belong to The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo. This website is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK, The Pokémon Company or The Pokémon Company International. We just love Pokémon.
All forum styles, their images (unless noted otherwise) and site designs are © 2002 - 2016 The PokéCommunity / PokéCommunity.com.
PokéCommunity™ is a trademark of The PokéCommunity. All rights reserved. Sponsor advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service. User generated content remains the property of its creator.

Acknowledgements
Use of PokéCommunity Assets
vB Optimise by DragonByte Technologies Ltd © 2023.