PC Tech Thread

@aggi
I hope I'm not in "granny sucking eggs" territory here but what about "Windows System Image"? It can automated and can dump onto any media that Windows can see, usb disk, nas etc. There's a lot of options for customisation from the command line as well.

size vs. resolution is generally best thought of as a combination of the two; pixels-per-inch

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you're just expressing the question using different terms.

Greater size at lower resolution = lower PPI in absolute terms regardless. So knowing that isn't particularly helpful (is a lower PPI on a big screen better or worse than a higher PPI on a smaller screen or is a bigger screen better than a smaller screen with a higher resolution).

It's a question about impression, rather than tech specs.

Yeah you're right. I guess ideally resolution would scale with screen size, keeping PPI constant.
Instead we have a (ridiculous) situation where 4k screens are a real thing on mobile phones while most laptops still have <1080p screens.
I prefer higher resolution, for what it's worth

I prefer higher resolution, for what it's worth

Ha, I now think I do now as well...

How about something like macrium reflect its free for the features you require and allows bare metal restore.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Cheers, I'll have a test of those and see what works best for me. They look like the kind of thing I need.

Another question. I have a domain which I mainly use for email. I've received an email from Nominet saying it is due to expire. Nominet charges £96 for a two year renewal which seems steep from what I remember. The registrar is a company called Netlineuk who have yet to answer the phone.

I didn't originally buy the domain from Netlineuk so not quite sure where they came from. Is it possible to renew with anyone or does it have to be through them? Cheers

I got an SP3 (i5) a couple of weeks ago, I love it. Took a while to decide it was worth splashing out though. The type cover is surprisingly not shit, too.

The one caveat is that you have to faff about to get the stock Intel graphics driver on, otherwise you get some irritating gradient banding, especially noticeable on the darker end of the spectrum. And colour calibration is well worth it, even by eye, as my screen looked a little on the green side. But if you don't do photos it's not so important

Why does my windows 7 laptop only show one wireless network (the one it was connected to previously) even though there are several in range?

In my own flat I've got both 2G and 5G on the router, plus a separate 5G powerline thing in the kitchen. It won't even acknowledge the existence of anything other than the 5G router connection.

I like to think I'm quite good at computers, but anything to do with networks consistently fucks me right off.

Anybody recommend a 5GHz wireless usb stick for a (standard wifi) Lenovo laptop?

Still loving mine. Probably my favourite tech purchase ever... Maybe my first smart phone, actually (the mighty HTC Hermes). But close.

Work in progress...

Such fun!

Been a long day, but has gone mostly well considering I've never dabble with this dark stuff before. The worst that could have happened - mildly toxic cooling fluid pissing out of every orifice - hasn't, somewhat surprisingly. The only negative is that the bit I bought to connect the cooling for dual video cards was a wrong, but rather than wait until Tues at the earliest I figured I might as well give it a go with just the one. Have got a second radiator here as well but figured I'd keep it simple for the time being, less to go wrong.

The pump is absolutely silent, can't hear anything over the sound of the PSU. Once the air bubbles settled down it's impossible to tell it's even doing working. No other fans running yet, but the idea is that they can run at very low RPM and still push enough air through the radiators.

Advice is to run it like this for 24 hours to be sure there's no leaks, which I will cos I'm a novice and all. Can't wait to get it going properly tomorrow tho'

I was thinking about buying the missus a new laptop. She has an ancient HP, something like an nx8220 which is slow, heavy and has to remain plugged in because the battery is dead: http://www.engadget.com/products/hp/nx8220/specs/

What do you lot think about the Dell XPS 13? Any other laptops I should be looking at?
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/dell-xps-13-2015-1279013/review

I was considering a tablet/laptop but they all seem to do both things badly.

Love how the price in the review is £850 but to actually buy it here it's £1100. Stupid Pound.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/hp-spectre-x360-review - again £850...

& a fat beardy chap likes it. He also likes the XPS13...

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/hp-spectre-x360-the-surprisingly-good-offspring-of-a-macbook-air-and-lenovo-yoga/

I was considering a tablet/laptop but they all seem to do both things badly.

The Surface is great. I wouldn't have it as my only computer (have a desktop in the office), but it does the job for evenings and weekends, including work stuff. In fact, it does some work stuff better (grading papers, taking notes).

That was my original thought but she has a large photo collection and I'm not doing cloud storage. Plus I don't like the lack of grunt when I have to use it for something :)

Just reading that review..

Guess this is more to do with people who work in IT; has anyone had a go at Google Apps certifications? We're considering migrating to GAPPS, you see.

Passed my A+ this morning, fairly basic bollocks that you'll never need to know but it's good to finally have it under my belt after having sacked it off ages ago after getting a job.

Sounds close to the XPS 13. Damn, just tell me the better one!

@hippy if cloud storage was a no no I'd say just go for a Chromebook; keeping an eye out on whenever the Acer CB15 arrives here replace my shitty 2006 Macbook. Larger display that's full HD is right up my street.

£850 and I could have it tomorrow...

http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-spectre-x360-13-4000na-ultrabook-intel-core-i5-4gb-ram-128gb-ssd-13-3-touch-screen-aluminium/p1913555#tabinfo-delivery

@Brun it looks like you haven't cheaped out on any of the connectors so it should be fine. If you have a laser thermometer about when you start bench testing it with intelburn or whatever then check the mobo and graphics card for hot spots. One of the unexpected things from swapping to liquid can sometimes be that chipsets near the "cpu fan" are designed with heatsinks that need some airflow now get little to none.

Bought the Spectre. Obviously I'll blame Keyser Söze if it's shit.

Thanks K-Pax

Good speed buying. I accept full (no) responsbility.