What do you look for when buying a PC or Laptop?

[Easy John]

I do all my repairs myself. I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. Just get something with a decent warranty.

No, turbo boost is done automatically and is based on usage scenario. Stock heatsinks are fine on desktops, and you can't upgrade a heatsink on a laptop.

Well was just mislabeled. Core i isn't a generation, but their performance line processor, where Pentium and Celeron are budget line. There are different generations of each iteration. Core 2 is EOL which didn't specifically have generations like the current Core i series.

Can anything be upgraded internally on a laptop? Is it all external with laptops?

 

[setishock]

Some brands you can, but they are relatively expensive and you have to look hard for them. Normally it's WYSIWYG. That's why you have to shop so carefully. Take your time, look closely at specs, then wait for it to go on sale. Or nab it right then if you have the funds.

 

[PP Mguire]

Can anything be upgraded internally on a laptop? Is it all external with laptops?

Think we already answered that. Generally RAM and HDD can be upgraded.

 

[Easy John]

I asked carnagex a few pages ago about Modems or Routers carrying viruses... carnage said something about there being a very small chance the firmware could be carrying a virus. I forgot to ask, is this just the Router that has firmware, or can it be just a modem on its own; does a modem on its own have firmware? Right now I'm using the standard Virgin Media modem they give you. Attached to it is my Netgear I bought years ago (2010, I think) after my Linksys (also separately attached to modem) went down.


See, I plan to buy a Modem/Router or a Modem and Router (separately) at some point to compliment the laptop. Kind of a fresh start, and I'll be taking nothing from current computer with me. Most documents I have are text documents, and can be just copied and pasted to email, then onto new computer through the copy and paste method. I don't want to start using a new computer if there's a chance the current modem or Router is corrupted, defeating the whole idea behind the fresh start.


Anyway, like I mentioned, I have the standard Virgin modem attached to a separately-bought Router (which has nothing to do with Virgin).


For the last few weeks things have been running slow as hell at times, and just fine at other times (like now). Hell, even at times like now, with everything seemingly running just fine, it can just, out of the blue, stop working properly, and sometimes not even work at all. And this is with other people's laptops that work just fine when they use them elsewhere, which leads me to believe it has nothing to do with my computer.


I've had Virgin since 2007, but had moved into the house I'm in right now in 2009. Now, since then I haven't had a new Virgin modem from the ISP. I also think they tried to offer me some Hub a few years back (Virgin Super Hub, or something), or so, but I heard nothing but bad news about it, so I decided not to contact them about it. And in the years since, things have seemingly been fine. I mean, even with all these people in my house using me to connect to, if I ever had to have the thing at full speed for anything, all I ever had to do was let everyone know what I'm doing, they've got, like 10 minutes, or whatever. Then, I just power down the modem and router, switch the Ethernet to connect just the computer I'm using right now to the modem (the standard modem from Virgin I've been using all these years only has one Ethernet port anyway), wait about 30 seconds (like it says on the modem) to power back on, and things have always seemed to run smoothly.


I guess this makes me curious about the current situation, because any time things weren't working in the years past was if Virgin was down for maintenance or something. I was thinking it could be all about peak times of usage for everyone in the neighbourhood; I've heard that ISPs slow you down during peak times so that every paying customer is able to go online. I don't know if they called it 'fair use' or whatever. Only fair use I know of is the fair use policy of copyright. Even then, I don't fully get that. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Getting back to what I was saying, even times like now, for example, (3:20am), things can still go strange and slow.


Could the reason things are running slow be because the modem itself is old? Even when I take out the Netgear router and just have the modem on its own, it still has major problems at times with this slowing down or stopping at random times.


Could it be because I haven't had any kind of essential upgrade in the last years from Virgin? You know, to the white coaxial cable thing that connects from the house to outside somewhere.


This is kind of a separate issue, but I'll ask anyway, as I may need to know this in the future anyway: I remember the Virgin engineer having to first install Virgin into the new house (one I'm in right now). He also had to do something on my computer (not this one) to make sure things were working properly, or something like that. I just figured the guy knew what he was doing, and had no reason to distrust him. Any idea what it was he was doing? He had this weird-looking device he used during the process. It even had a little screen on it. I assume it was to test the signal to see if I'm receiving. I guess what I'm asking is, with Virgin already installed in the house, will he have to do this again in the future for any other upgrades that may be necessary? Main reason I ask is because if he's going around using this device on other computers... viruses, viruses, viruses is all I'm thinking.

 

[TheDrunk]

I ralize that each line has generations.
so what would we call the stages of processor's ? there was Pentium, pentium 2, P3, P4, P4HT, dualcore, core series, and now i series?

 

[setishock]

It's just a field tester John, Nothing to get excited about. The hotel I was running had some bad storms rumble through and knock us out twice in 3 days. He had this kickass field tester that I would kill to get. The AT&T tech logged in on one of the office computers to a test account they use and ran all kinds of live testing. I think you're being overly concerned.
Upgrades normally don't need a tech to come out. They shove the upgrades out to the modems and install it remotely.

 

[PP Mguire]

I asked carnagex a few pages ago about Modems or Routers carrying viruses... carnage said something about there being a very small chance the firmware could be carrying a virus. I forgot to ask, is this just the Router that has firmware, or can it be just a modem on its own; does a modem on its own have firmware? Right now I'm using the standard Virgin Media modem they give you. Attached to it is my Netgear I bought years ago (2010, I think) after my Linksys (also separately attached to modem) went down.


See, I plan to buy a Modem/Router or a Modem and Router (separately) at some point to compliment the laptop. Kind of a fresh start, and I'll be taking nothing from current computer with me. Most documents I have are text documents, and can be just copied and pasted to email, then onto new computer through the copy and paste method. I don't want to start using a new computer if there's a chance the current modem or Router is corrupted, defeating the whole idea behind the fresh start.


Anyway, like I mentioned, I have the standard Virgin modem attached to a separately-bought Router (which has nothing to do with Virgin).


For the last few weeks things have been running slow as hell at times, and just fine at other times (like now). Hell, even at times like now, with everything seemingly running just fine, it can just, out of the blue, stop working properly, and sometimes not even work at all. And this is with other people's laptops that work just fine when they use them elsewhere, which leads me to believe it has nothing to do with my computer.


I've had Virgin since 2007, but had moved into the house I'm in right now in 2009. Now, since then I haven't had a new Virgin modem from the ISP. I also think they tried to offer me some Hub a few years back (Virgin Super Hub, or something), or so, but I heard nothing but bad news about it, so I decided not to contact them about it. And in the years since, things have seemingly been fine. I mean, even with all these people in my house using me to connect to, if I ever had to have the thing at full speed for anything, all I ever had to do was let everyone know what I'm doing, they've got, like 10 minutes, or whatever. Then, I just power down the modem and router, switch the Ethernet to connect just the computer I'm using right now to the modem (the standard modem from Virgin I've been using all these years only has one Ethernet port anyway), wait about 30 seconds (like it says on the modem) to power back on, and things have always seemed to run smoothly.


I guess this makes me curious about the current situation, because any time things weren't working in the years past was if Virgin was down for maintenance or something. I was thinking it could be all about peak times of usage for everyone in the neighbourhood; I've heard that ISPs slow you down during peak times so that every paying customer is able to go online. I don't know if they called it 'fair use' or whatever. Only fair use I know of is the fair use policy of copyright. Even then, I don't fully get that. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Getting back to what I was saying, even times like now, for example, (3:20am), things can still go strange and slow.


Could the reason things are running slow be because the modem itself is old? Even when I take out the Netgear router and just have the modem on its own, it still has major problems at times with this slowing down or stopping at random times.


Could it be because I haven't had any kind of essential upgrade in the last years from Virgin? You know, to the white coaxial cable thing that connects from the house to outside somewhere.


This is kind of a separate issue, but I'll ask anyway, as I may need to know this in the future anyway: I remember the Virgin engineer having to first install Virgin into the new house (one I'm in right now). He also had to do something on my computer (not this one) to make sure things were working properly, or something like that. I just figured the guy knew what he was doing, and had no reason to distrust him. Any idea what it was he was doing? He had this weird-looking device he used during the process. It even had a little screen on it. I assume it was to test the signal to see if I'm receiving. I guess what I'm asking is, with Virgin already installed in the house, will he have to do this again in the future for any other upgrades that may be necessary? Main reason I ask is because if he's going around using this device on other computers... viruses, viruses, viruses is all I'm thinking.

This is kind of beyond this topic don't you think? For internet and networking you should make a proper topic for that and when you do have your modem model and ISP package available because it'll get asked for.

I ralize that each line has generations.
so what would we call the stages of processor's ? there was Pentium, pentium 2, P3, P4, P4HT, dualcore, core series, and now i series?

I already answered that. Anything Core 2 or lower is EOL. The Core i series is the first to really have what I would call a "standardized" line setup. Core i is the performance line, and Pentium/Celeron is their budget line. Sandy Bridge (2nd gen) to Skylake (6th gen) all run cut down chips in their Pentium and Celeron chips but still the same cores. In the Core 2 and C2Q line the chips were pretty much all the same with different clock speeds. Much like how X99/X79 is HEDT and the Z/H/B series boards are their mainstream/budget.

 

[Easy John]

It's just a field tester John, Nothing to get excited about. The hotel I was running had some bad storms rumble through and knock us out twice in 3 days. He had this kickass field tester that I would kill to get. The AT&T tech logged in on one of the office computers to a test account they use and ran all kinds of live testing. I think you're being overly concerned.
Upgrades normally don't need a tech to come out. They shove the upgrades out to the modems and install it remotely.

Ah, well that part is a relief... but, really, it's just the thought of viruses that could transfer from machine to machine that scares me. Again, though, it's a relief to know it's normal.

 

[Easy John]

This is kind of beyond this topic don't you think? For internet and networking you should make a proper topic for that and when you do have your modem model and ISP package available because it'll get asked for.

I already answered that. Anything Core 2 or lower is EOL. The Core i series is the first to really have what I would call a "standardized" line setup. Core i is the performance line, and Pentium/Celeron is their budget line. Sandy Bridge (2nd gen) to Skylake (6th gen) all run cut down chips in their Pentium and Celeron chips but still the same cores. In the Core 2 and C2Q line the chips were pretty much all the same with different clock speeds. Much like how X99/X79 is HEDT and the Z/H/B series boards are their mainstream/budget.

Alright, alright. I get carried away easily, I'm afraid.

 

[Easy John]

When it comes to Lenovo, I get that they're a good brand... but something's been bothering me about them:


Lenovo caught installing bloatware again with Windows BIOS backdoor - IT News from V3.co.uk


http://www.cnet.com/news/lenovos-superfish-screwup-highlights-biggest-problem-in-software/


I don't expect anybody to sit there and read both of these, but the fact that this is happening with Lenovo is kinda scary, you know?