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Forums - PC - computer woes and questions

BenKenobi88 on 08 September 2008
sublime78 said:
BenKenobi I know!! But I have credit with them and I really really love my laptop from them and am impressed all around with the company.

I could build my own but I really don't want to. I know its the best way to go but I'll pay extra to not have that hassle.

I've been tempted to get a laptop from them as well...since you can't build a custom laptop like PCs.

But no matter how good a laptop from them would be...I'd never buy a PC from Alienware...it's just paying at least $1000 more than a custom PC with identical specs you could build or have someone else build.



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twesterm on 08 September 2008
sublime78 said:

Well, my 3,000 dollar Macintosh from 4 years ago died.  I bring up price not to brag but because its relevant in my woes.

 

 

I don't get it, according to all those super clever commercials Macs don't break...

For prebuilt stuff Dell is always a plus since they have good warranties.  I just bought myself a Dell XPS last week and should be here tomorrow or Wednesday and can't wait.



 

sublime78 on 08 September 2008

twesterm, lol, apparently I got the only model prone to breakage... at work we have 10 year old G3s that get pounded daily for newspaper production and STILL work! I had the 3 year warranty and it broke 3 years and 8 months later :o(

BenKanobi, well I can recommend their laptops very much. I know it's paying more for the desktop but its a credit issue... I supposed I could just start putting aside some of my paycheck each week and hopefully have enough to eventually get one custom made.

Squilliam, well that answers my question whether or not liquid cooling would help, thanks!

TWRoO, you can go through a process that I forget exactly because I haven't done it in a while. It's something like winconfig from the run menu, anyway, it opens up your start up processes and you can choose selective start up and disable the ones you don't need, which would involve googling most of them to find out which ones you don't need. But like I said it's been a while since I did it so perhaps someone else can help you more.

I should check out Dell though, I suppose someone else might give me credit. I am slightly tempted to try for another Mac so I can still use my Final Cut Pro suite but after being burned I'm more with the Steve Jobs can burn in hell mentality.



Tispower1 on 08 September 2008
twesterm said:
sublime78 said:

Well, my 3,000 dollar Macintosh from 4 years ago died.  I bring up price not to brag but because its relevant in my woes.

 

 

I don't get it, according to all those super clever commercials Macs don't break...

For prebuilt stuff Dell is always a plus since they have good warranties.  I just bought myself a Dell XPS last week and should be here tomorrow or Wednesday and can't wait.

 

LMAO

I don't think my Dell warranty covers punching the keyboard in response to the freezing of Firefox/Adobe, and breaking 2 of the keys, hmm £25 for a replacement keyboard



Lem_Nx on 08 September 2008
sublime78 said:

I'm just confused, and when I opened her up it was really dusty.  I don't know what to do about that, a computer tech once told me you shouldn't air duster your systems insides because it forces the dust into the board.  But I don't know what else to do.  I use an air filter in my room and I dust when I can, what else can I do? Seems like as long as a computer uses cooling fans it is going to draw dust in.  Which brings me to the fact that you can get liquid cooling on most Alienware systems... would that help?

     I have personally used a vaccum on my computer. For the more stuck in dust I used a fine bristled paint brush. (The art kind.) Now whether or not this is safe... I wouldn't know. But my various computers are still running perfectly fine.

 

As for alienware - I personally would never buy from them. I hate the big businesses who charge money for the name. They don't need competitive prices to sell now. They only need that name.

 



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TWRoO on 08 September 2008
sublime78 said:

TWRoO, you can go through a process that I forget exactly because I haven't done it in a while. It's something like winconfig from the run menu, anyway, it opens up your start up processes and you can choose selective start up and disable the ones you don't need, which would involve googling most of them to find out which ones you don't need. But like I said it's been a while since I did it so perhaps someone else can help you more.

 

Ah thanks... I don't know how to get to winconfig though?.... I'd type it into the Run thing except I don't know where it is, I swear it used to be under the control panel in the start-menu but it isn't anymore.

Will doing this significantly increase the speed? or will it be minimal like defragging.



fnl164 on 08 September 2008
TWRoO said:
sublime78 said:

TWRoO, you can go through a process that I forget exactly because I haven't done it in a while. It's something like winconfig from the run menu, anyway, it opens up your start up processes and you can choose selective start up and disable the ones you don't need, which would involve googling most of them to find out which ones you don't need. But like I said it's been a while since I did it so perhaps someone else can help you more.

 

Ah thanks... I don't know how to get to winconfig though?.... I'd type it into the Run thing except I don't know where it is, I swear it used to be under the control panel in the start-menu but it isn't anymore.

Will doing this significantly increase the speed? or will it be minimal like defragging.

what you are looking for is msconfig not winconfig

 



fnl164 on 08 September 2008
sublime78 said:

Well, my 3,000 dollar Macintosh from 4 years ago died.  I bring up price not to brag but because its relevant in my woes.

 

I have wanted to get a gaming PC since Diablo 3 was announced but I was holding off for a spec announcement.  Now that my desktop died I'm urged more and more towards a purchase.  I have an Alienware credit card and it's just itching to spend.

 

But it scares the crap out of me, losing a machine that cost so much, I feel like I was cheated on by the wife I don't have.  But it's this sort of, scared shitless at it happening again feeling.  I'm affraid if I invest in an expensive gaming PC it's just going to be pointless when it dies.  If it was a 500 dollar Walmart computer that died in 4 years... no biggie.  But If I'm going to make a serious investment I need to know it will last, a security you cannot have outside of your warranty's length.

 

I looked up online and the model of Mac I had, Dual Core G5 Powermac is prone to having logic board failures and power supply issues.  But I'm scared our janky power capabilities in this old house might have contributed to its death.  I use a surge protector but if it was the power supply that went out on the mac then did the surge protectors even help?

 

I'm just confused, and when I opened her up it was really dusty.  I don't know what to do about that, a computer tech once told me you shouldn't air duster your systems insides because it forces the dust into the board.  But I don't know what else to do.  I use an air filter in my room and I dust when I can, what else can I do? Seems like as long as a computer uses cooling fans it is going to draw dust in.  Which brings me to the fact that you can get liquid cooling on most Alienware systems... would that help?

 

I just have too many questions, I'm sorry... but this whole ordeal scares the crap out of me and shows me how fickle an expensive computer can be.  I'm really tempted to say screw owning a nice system and just use my laptop for internet not play games.  But DAMN I want Diablo 3 and some other upcoming PC games.

does your work use dells because you can get an employee discount on dell's and alienware(owned by dell)

 



sublime78 on 08 September 2008

Tispower1, stop whining ya baby! lol. j/k but seriously, if it was the logic board to fail I'm looking at a huge replacement cost, which I probably won't do. I would gladly take a smashed keyboard over that :o)

Lem_Nx, lol, I guess everyone hates alienware but me. All I know is their systems aren't front loaded with crap you don't need, they have good support and their hardware gets rave reviews. But I guess I see why people don't like them, I'm just saying they aren't using their name to excuse selling crap systems. The quality is still there.

TWRoO, I may have gotten that wrong, it could be msconfig. Like I said, it's been a while, I don't remember exactly. It did seem to help me on my old computer, not leaps and bounds... but slightly better framerates. Hmm, are you on Vista? Might be different there, I just looked on my XP start menu and sure enough "Run" is right where it always was. But I really want someone smarter than me who knows more about this stuff to confirm this process for you. I don't remember it well enough to advise.



sublime78 on 08 September 2008

fnl164, nah, we use Macs are work.. which is kinda what let me to buy a Mac to begin with, that and my college was using them for video editing at the time.