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SvennoJ on 13 February 2016
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Ganoncrotch said:
SvennoJ said:
Kinda depressing PC tech has stagnated so much. This whole multi core stuff still doesn't seem to pay off, or maybe it's Windows that sucks. Why does my laptop struggle so much while multi tasking if the i7 quad core cpu is always below 20% utilized.
I remembered being amazed by how fast everything was when buying a new pc or laptop. That hasn't been the case in the last 5 years. Still same slow. Especially when trying to browse vgchartz with a game running in another window.
At least GPUs are still getting better.

One of the worst offenders for new hardware being slow is packed in basically... malware, hardware manufacturers now offset the expense of some of the hardware by agreeing to pack their new PCs, laptops and even tablets with tons of bloatware.

It's so counter productive because it can make a relatively good piece of kit run like absolute shit with some of the pack in antivirus software and other rubbish that some customers actually think is a bonus when they get 30 / 90 day trial accounts which will pester you to death to pay for full (terrible) packages to protect your PC from malware... when most complaints I've gotten recently with regards badly running systems has been caused in some causes by 2-3 antivirus packages coming preinstalled on new PC's on top of each other.

 

Here is a good read on the matter put together based on software downloads from Download.com it even includes antivirus software now putting extra unwanted programs on your PC, the utmost of counterintuition when it comes to what their customers would want, alas... it makes them money and a lot of it.

http://blog.emsisoft.com/2015/01/17/has-the-antivirus-industry-gone-mad/

Yup I know. First thing with a new laptop is to go to uninstall programs, remove all the extra crap. Yet I still have 62 background processes atm, and 26 windows processes for 6 active apps. There was a time when I knew exactly what processes were running and what was doing what. I've lost track.

Luckily we're careful when it comes to browsing. My wife has to regularly clean up her dad's browser when he has no room left to browse anymore because of all the google, yahoo, bing, aol, yellowpages, whatever toolbars filling the whole screen. All these sites for downloading software updates you need are made to trick you into clicking on more bloatware or automatically install extra crap if you don't go into custom install and uncheck everything.

My wife's new Dell laptop reached an all new low. At one time it claimed the power adapter was not Dell approved and for that it limited the cpu speed to 20%. WTF. Luckily it went away after a reboot, but is that even legal? WTF is there DRM on the power adapter.

Heat management is another problem with laptops. My laptop has a GT 740M. Not a bad card and runs plenty games well enough. However it heats up quickly which slows it down (and lasts less than an hour if not on external power) I have it on a metal table, vents clear, hot air blowing out, It's just not designed for running at full power. It can't cool itself sufficiently. How does the ps4 do it! (Well ps4 is a lot thicker with an actual cooling strategy)