Some of my friend's make fun of my taste in movies. The reason is because I like action flicks and don't ask for too much as far as story goes. As long as I am entertained, I am satisfied. For example Ong Bak was a movie about a thai warrior who goes after a statue that was stolen and has to fight a bunch of thugs on the way. There is not much story there, but the fight scenes are amazing and it is therefore one of my favorite movies. Another example is the Transporter, while some find it too far fetched, I still found it entertaining.
The point is, I don't ask for too much of a movie and rarely ever actually hate or regret watching a movie. Infact I never thought I would hate any movie until I saw Bruno. That movie was so bad, so pointless, so disgusting, that it was the first movie I actually regretted watching and made me wish I could get those 83 minutes of my life back.
Bruno is my inspiration for this post. I am starting a list below of movies that I actually wish I never wasted my time watching:
#1 Bruno
#2 Jennifer's Body - Asides from Megan Fox being incredibly hot, I was extremely bored.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Dell Latitude E6400 vs Lenovo ThinkPad T400
I have come across these two laptops and used them quite heavily and thought I would share my quick thoughts and comparison of the two. I am not going write an in depth review of either as you can already find many of those on the internet, but just a quick summarized comparison based on my experience with them.
Configurations:
Dell Latitude E6400 around $1848 with the following specs:
Windows 7 Pro
Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU (2.4Ghz 3MB Cache)
4GB DDR2 RAM
160GB HD 7200 RPM
8X DVDRW
6Cell battery
3 year NBD on site service
Backlit keyboard
5300 wireless card
dell 370 bluetooth
Lenovo ThinkPad T400 around $1097 with the following specs:
Windows 7 Pro
Core 2 Duo T9600 CPU (2.8Ghz 6MB Cache)
4GB DDR3 RAM
160GB HD 7200 RPM
8X DVDRW
6Cell battery
1 year NBD on site service
Thinklight for keyboard
5300 wireless card
dell 370 bluetooth
Noteable differences are:
Lenovo has DDR3 RAM vs Dell's DDR2
Dell has 3 year NBD warranty vs Lenovo's 1 year
Lenovo has T9600 CPu vs Dell's P8600
Dell has an ESATA/USB combo port which could be used for a usb powered external SATA hard drive.
From a value standpoint, the Lenovo wins since it is approximately $800 less than the Dell even though the Lenovo has higher specs. From using both however, if money is not a main concern, I would go with the Dell, see why below.
Other comparisons:
- I do prefer the backlit keyboard over Lenovo's thinklight which is a white LED at the top of the screen which shines down on to the keyboard.
- The Lenovo has really good durability features such as a drain which will channel any spilled fluids on the keyboard right through the bottom, and they are just plain known for their durability.
- I prefer the look of the Dell, the ThinkPads haven't changed much at all and are really starting to look dated.
- The screen on the Dell is much sharper, brighter, and more vivid then the Lenovo
- Although the Lenovo should be much faster due to it's specs, the Dell just seems faster. The first Lenovo I worked with had Vista, and I blamed that, but I worked on another Lenovo with the same spec and Windows 7, and the Dell still feels faster. I didn't actually do any benchmarks, but just using them I noticed the difference.
- I really like the bios on the Dell much more than the Lenovo as it is very well laid out, has lots of configurable options and is very user friendly. One example is, in the BIOS of the Dell (which is more GUI like and uses the mouse BTW), you can set the physical wireless switch to control bluetooth WWAN, and Wifi in any combination by using check boxes. The Lenovo's wireless switch just controls wifi and there was no way in the BIOS or OS to configure this.
Bottom line, in my opinion:
If you want the best specs for the best value, get the Lenovo T400 (14" screen) or T500 (15" screen). I would upgrade the screen to one with LED backlight and higher resolution though. Also if you go with discrete video (separate video card as opposed to integrated) one really cool thing about the Lenovo is it uses both onboard and discrete to balance battery/performance. It will default to discrete when plugged in and onboard when battery operated.
If money is not an object, then I would go with the Dell and even upgrade it to match the specs of the Lenovo (bringing it over $2000). With Dell I feel you get better performance, better looks, better screen, and better warranty. Also, a solid State drive would complement either system very well.
Configurations:
Dell Latitude E6400 around $1848 with the following specs:
Windows 7 Pro
Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU (2.4Ghz 3MB Cache)
4GB DDR2 RAM
160GB HD 7200 RPM
8X DVDRW
6Cell battery
3 year NBD on site service
Backlit keyboard
5300 wireless card
dell 370 bluetooth
Lenovo ThinkPad T400 around $1097 with the following specs:
Windows 7 Pro
Core 2 Duo T9600 CPU (2.8Ghz 6MB Cache)
4GB DDR3 RAM
160GB HD 7200 RPM
8X DVDRW
6Cell battery
1 year NBD on site service
Thinklight for keyboard
5300 wireless card
dell 370 bluetooth
Noteable differences are:
Lenovo has DDR3 RAM vs Dell's DDR2
Dell has 3 year NBD warranty vs Lenovo's 1 year
Lenovo has T9600 CPu vs Dell's P8600
Dell has an ESATA/USB combo port which could be used for a usb powered external SATA hard drive.
From a value standpoint, the Lenovo wins since it is approximately $800 less than the Dell even though the Lenovo has higher specs. From using both however, if money is not a main concern, I would go with the Dell, see why below.
Other comparisons:
- I do prefer the backlit keyboard over Lenovo's thinklight which is a white LED at the top of the screen which shines down on to the keyboard.
- The Lenovo has really good durability features such as a drain which will channel any spilled fluids on the keyboard right through the bottom, and they are just plain known for their durability.
- I prefer the look of the Dell, the ThinkPads haven't changed much at all and are really starting to look dated.
- The screen on the Dell is much sharper, brighter, and more vivid then the Lenovo
- Although the Lenovo should be much faster due to it's specs, the Dell just seems faster. The first Lenovo I worked with had Vista, and I blamed that, but I worked on another Lenovo with the same spec and Windows 7, and the Dell still feels faster. I didn't actually do any benchmarks, but just using them I noticed the difference.
- I really like the bios on the Dell much more than the Lenovo as it is very well laid out, has lots of configurable options and is very user friendly. One example is, in the BIOS of the Dell (which is more GUI like and uses the mouse BTW), you can set the physical wireless switch to control bluetooth WWAN, and Wifi in any combination by using check boxes. The Lenovo's wireless switch just controls wifi and there was no way in the BIOS or OS to configure this.
Bottom line, in my opinion:
If you want the best specs for the best value, get the Lenovo T400 (14" screen) or T500 (15" screen). I would upgrade the screen to one with LED backlight and higher resolution though. Also if you go with discrete video (separate video card as opposed to integrated) one really cool thing about the Lenovo is it uses both onboard and discrete to balance battery/performance. It will default to discrete when plugged in and onboard when battery operated.
If money is not an object, then I would go with the Dell and even upgrade it to match the specs of the Lenovo (bringing it over $2000). With Dell I feel you get better performance, better looks, better screen, and better warranty. Also, a solid State drive would complement either system very well.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Useful Links
Awesome utility to create a bootable USB Flash drive to install Most Windows OS (XP/Vista/7/2003/2008)
http://wintoflash.com
Excellent for netbooks with no DVD Drive!
Here's another very good, clear, easy to follow guide to do it manually if the above utility doesn't work:
http://blogs.technet.com/jeffa36/archive/2009/04/22/windows-7-setting-up-a-usb-bootable-device-for-installs.aspx
http://wintoflash.com
Excellent for netbooks with no DVD Drive!
Here's another very good, clear, easy to follow guide to do it manually if the above utility doesn't work:
http://blogs.technet.com/jeffa36/archive/2009/04/22/windows-7-setting-up-a-usb-bootable-device-for-installs.aspx
Friday, October 9, 2009
MSI-G41TM-E43 Motherboard.. no AHCI
I was recently building a budget computer for a friend of mine and I wanted to get good specs. I ended up getting:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor with 6MB cache
WD Black 640 GB HD
Samsung DVD writer
Corsair 4B RAM
MSI-G41TM-E43 motherboard
CoolerMaster Elite 330 case
As for the Cooler Master case, I found it to be a little flimsy and cheaply made. In a previous budget system I used an INWIN case (EA013) which ws the same price and had a far superior build quality in my opinion.
Back to the motherboard though, I chose the MSI because it had the most onboard options for video (HDMI, VGA, and DVI) at a low price.
However, to my very disappointing surprise, the board does not support AHCI for SATA.
What is AHCI? To make a long story short, it allows you to take full advantage of the performance SATA has to offer over Parallel IDE such as NCQ.
I didn't even check if it supported AHCI because I have not seen a board in so long that doesn't and thought it was now standard. Now that I know this particular board doesn't support AHCI, I wouldn't recommend it and will check next time buying a motherboard.
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor with 6MB cache
WD Black 640 GB HD
Samsung DVD writer
Corsair 4B RAM
MSI-G41TM-E43 motherboard
CoolerMaster Elite 330 case
As for the Cooler Master case, I found it to be a little flimsy and cheaply made. In a previous budget system I used an INWIN case (EA013) which ws the same price and had a far superior build quality in my opinion.
Back to the motherboard though, I chose the MSI because it had the most onboard options for video (HDMI, VGA, and DVI) at a low price.
However, to my very disappointing surprise, the board does not support AHCI for SATA.
What is AHCI? To make a long story short, it allows you to take full advantage of the performance SATA has to offer over Parallel IDE such as NCQ.
I didn't even check if it supported AHCI because I have not seen a board in so long that doesn't and thought it was now standard. Now that I know this particular board doesn't support AHCI, I wouldn't recommend it and will check next time buying a motherboard.
Random thught about Real Estate add
As I was driving today I saw a bus stop add for a real-estate agent. It had his picture and a quote saying "Now is the best time to Buy/Sell a house"....
Am I missing something here? I thought it is best to buy a house when the market is low and houses are selling cheap, and best to sell when market is hot and houses are selling high.
If that's right, then how can it possibly be the best time to do both?
Am I missing something here? I thought it is best to buy a house when the market is low and houses are selling cheap, and best to sell when market is hot and houses are selling high.
If that's right, then how can it possibly be the best time to do both?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
My Experience With Solid State Hard Drives (SSD)
At one point the computer hardware industry seemed to be focused on processing speed alone, the race to get to 3Ghz, and the $$$ spent to get that extra 100Mhz of speed. All the bottlenecks that existed seemed to be neglected (RAM, BUS speeds, etc) and marketing focused on CPU speed alone. We were still using SDRAM with 133Mhz BUS, speeds, and IDE hard drives on 100Mhz BUS speeds, and 256kb CPU caches.
I am pleased to see that the focus has been changed. We are seeing higher RAM Bus speeds, higher front side Bus speeds, faster Hard Drive controllers (eg SATA), multiple CPU cores, and huge CPU caches. While all these bottlenecks get resolved, what still seems to be the slowest part of any computer is the hard drive, which is where your operating system, programs, and data is stored and loaded from.
I've been reading for a while about Solid state drives, their benefits, and their downsides. I couldn't wait to get my hands on one and see for myself. Finally, an opportunity presented itself for me to experiment while spending time, but not money.
A friend of mine had an HP entertainment laptop (HP DV9330CA) which was having problems. He brought it to me and I diagnosed it with a failing hard drive since formatting the laptop didn't solve the instabilities, and a hard drive diagnostic failed with bad sectors.
This laptop can fit 2 internal drives, and a DVD drive at the same time. SSD prices have dropped to around $200 and the technology has improved. This was it! The perfect candidate to experiment with SSD (one 60GB SSD for the OS and progrms, and one 120GB 5400 rpm drive still intact for documents and data, without sacrificing the DVD bay).
After convincing my friend to go for the update, I purchased the drive and installed Windows 7. What a difference! The computer boots to a fully usable, logged in Windows desktop in around 30 seconds!
The laptop is 3 years old and performed excellent after the upgrade, so I could only imagine how the performance would be on a newer laptop. I'm not going to bore you with benchmarks and specifics, as you can find that in other articles and review online. I am just pointing out that when you experience the performance first hand, it is very noticeable and appreciated.
I will end this post with this tip:
Adding more RAM, is still one of the best "bang for buck" upgrades you can do to a computer these days. However, adding a solid state hard drive in addition or instead of, will also be a very noticeable and rewarding upgrade. Depending on the hardware and $$ willing to spend, I would do both.
The nice thing about an SSD is even if your current computer dies, it can be used in your new computer with even better results, or as a superfast eSATA external drive. One other benefit of SSDs I would like to add is the fact that there are no moving parts, making it even more ideal for laptops and/or external drives.
I am pleased to see that the focus has been changed. We are seeing higher RAM Bus speeds, higher front side Bus speeds, faster Hard Drive controllers (eg SATA), multiple CPU cores, and huge CPU caches. While all these bottlenecks get resolved, what still seems to be the slowest part of any computer is the hard drive, which is where your operating system, programs, and data is stored and loaded from.
I've been reading for a while about Solid state drives, their benefits, and their downsides. I couldn't wait to get my hands on one and see for myself. Finally, an opportunity presented itself for me to experiment while spending time, but not money.
A friend of mine had an HP entertainment laptop (HP DV9330CA) which was having problems. He brought it to me and I diagnosed it with a failing hard drive since formatting the laptop didn't solve the instabilities, and a hard drive diagnostic failed with bad sectors.
This laptop can fit 2 internal drives, and a DVD drive at the same time. SSD prices have dropped to around $200 and the technology has improved. This was it! The perfect candidate to experiment with SSD (one 60GB SSD for the OS and progrms, and one 120GB 5400 rpm drive still intact for documents and data, without sacrificing the DVD bay).
After convincing my friend to go for the update, I purchased the drive and installed Windows 7. What a difference! The computer boots to a fully usable, logged in Windows desktop in around 30 seconds!
The laptop is 3 years old and performed excellent after the upgrade, so I could only imagine how the performance would be on a newer laptop. I'm not going to bore you with benchmarks and specifics, as you can find that in other articles and review online. I am just pointing out that when you experience the performance first hand, it is very noticeable and appreciated.
I will end this post with this tip:
Adding more RAM, is still one of the best "bang for buck" upgrades you can do to a computer these days. However, adding a solid state hard drive in addition or instead of, will also be a very noticeable and rewarding upgrade. Depending on the hardware and $$ willing to spend, I would do both.
The nice thing about an SSD is even if your current computer dies, it can be used in your new computer with even better results, or as a superfast eSATA external drive. One other benefit of SSDs I would like to add is the fact that there are no moving parts, making it even more ideal for laptops and/or external drives.
Introduction
Welcome to my blog. I never knew or cared to find out what the big deal with blogging was all about. Throughout my day to day life I come accross good deals, tips, and other random thoughts that I would like to share.
Finally one day I thougt to myself it would be cool to have my own site and post these things. That's when I realized "Hey, wait a minute! I think that's what you can use a blog for!".
So here it is, my blog. Expect to find my reviews and feedback of people I deal with in regards to purchasing equipment, home improvements, electronics I experience or purchase, etc.
Finally one day I thougt to myself it would be cool to have my own site and post these things. That's when I realized "Hey, wait a minute! I think that's what you can use a blog for!".
So here it is, my blog. Expect to find my reviews and feedback of people I deal with in regards to purchasing equipment, home improvements, electronics I experience or purchase, etc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)