So after the brief amount of sniping last week, dinner with J was more or less like every other instance of hanging out with J...
I did finally pin him down and pick his brain about laptop specs though... he gave me some brands that are good, pointed out the things I need to look for (hard disk speed, screen size, etc). So I'm a little closer to thinking about making a decision. Of course when I mentioned that to the boys at work, suddenly there was talk of N and G and the fact that G was backwards compatible but not forwards compatible and I got a little lost (they were talking about wireless networky connection things I think).
Just to cement my thought process, this is what I'm aiming for... feel free to snicker, point and laugh as appropriate...
- HP, Compaq or Dell
- Business machine rather than a Home/Personal one
- Budget of around $1000
- 4GB RAM
- Intel processor (preferably Centrino)
- Screen size of between 14.1 and 15.6"
- Preferably with a hard drive that has a speed of 7200 (but I think I'd be fine with 5400)
- Hard drive size doesn't really matter (I have an external hard drive and most of the laptops have a hard drive that's about four times larger than my current machine)
- CD/DVD Burner
I did notice while digging around that I'm currently being royally screwed over for my current connection... and it explains why they stopped asking me if I wanted to change over to a new plan... it's SO much cheaper than what I'm paying, and all unlimited and crap. Grrrr. My own fault though, I shoulda done my research (and I don't think the plan looked like that the last time I did poke around... in fact I'm certain of it).
Sadly I didn't talk to J about wireless broadband connections and modems and whatnot... so that end of the game baffles me a bit.
Honestly, the whole thing is starting to give me a headache. Stupid technology.
Although technically the headache could be because I've had five hours sleep and ate crap for lunch. It also kinda explains why I think I've just been rambling for this entire post.
Thank the gods that there are skanky call centre boys in the world who run around with a hole in the back of their jeans so large that not only can you see their underwear, you can also see that they're definitely wearing briefs.
Now if only I had one of those on call for my own person pleasure...
Current Mood:
5 comments:
Wait... you're using dialup?
Anyway, apart from speed (obviously faster the better - I have 5,000k and it's speedy compared to dialup of 56k), and quota (again higher the better) the most important thing is to see what happens after you reach your download quota.
Some like mine (iiNet) are throttled, so if I hit the limit they slow me to dialup speeds for the rest of the month. Some (like bigpond) charge per MB over the limit... large unexpected bills = bad.
Oh, and on the wireless bit, the new computer will come with wifi. You'll need a new modem to connect to your new whiz-bang broadband. You can either get a modem that connects to your phone and transmits via wifi to your PC, or you get a normal modem and a wireless router.
Option A:
Telephone --> Filter --> Modem with wireless Router .........> PC
Option B:
Telephone --> FIlter --> Modem --> Wireless Router .........>PC
Where --> is a cable and .......> is magically through the air frying your brain with wifi. ;)
The ISP might give you a "free" modem but it might not have wireless capability hence option B might be the way forward. Fancier versions like the Apple Airport Express (works with PCs too) allow you to then also stream music through it and print to it.
http://store.apple.com/au/product/MB321X/A/AirPort-Express-AirTunes?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mco=Nzk3ODUyOQ
Yes indeed... I am still living in the land of dialup...
In fact, I looked at the invoice for this computer the other day, and I've had it since 2002... so yes, I am a big technoweenie...
LOL @ "magically through the air frying your brain with wifi"... thanks for the explanation... now, any idea what the N and G stuff was all about?
After talking to the boys at work today, I may even end up changing ISPs... which is scary, because I've been with the same ISP (even if it's been bought out by other people and changed beyond all recognition, including it's name) since I first got on the internet back in (I think) 1998 or so.
I do know that my current ISP does offer a range of modem options, one of which was wireless... and notice how I'm choosing to ignore your Apple comment :P
Ignore away. But it's worth looking in to if you have music on your computer as you can play it wirelessly and you can plug a USB printer in and print remotely. *waves back at you from the future*.
Anyway. The Ns and the Gs refer to wifi standards. IEEE 802.11n and IEE 802.11g to be exact. :P
"n" is newer and faster and better than "g". Whereas devices which are "g" can be used on the same network as the really old (but still newer than dialup!) "b" standard, "n" gets slowed to "g" speeds if there are both "n" and "g" devices on the same network. So basically to benefit from "n" you need everything to be "n". Which most new things are, apart from perhaps a wireless modem given away by an ISP...
More here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n
Also, seeing as you're about to go through the "Turn on ADSL and lose your telephone for a few days" pain, have you considered bundling your phone and your internet and getting one of these "naked" (No, not like that!) plans. They are more expensive, but then you don't pay Telstra for your phone line rental anymore so they're actually cheaper especially if you don't use a land line for much. iiNet and TPG do good ones apparently.
Snarky Mac Boy... :P
Thanks though, that clears up some of my confusion. You're a dear :)
Actually the new ISP I'm looking at is all about the "naked" plan. I wasn't really looking at it, but since I don't really use my phone for very much at all (since 99.9% of the time I'm using it for my dialup), it could be a plan... I'll have to dig around, see what their website says.
And oddly enough, my ISP has either been bought by TPG or uses their plans or something... that was where the "Unlimited" plan came from (and the wireless modem).
So much to consider! So many choices to choose from! So many decisions to make! So little sleep...
Post a Comment