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Good Brand of Laptop for school work and Magic related stuff (cannot be apple)

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Joshua Robinson

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So i was recently accepted into a school where you can have laptops and need one for doing work. I can choose between an apple or a Microsoft, I wanted an apple for movie maker and how good it is but my parents wont let me.

so tell me, what is a good laptop with a 17 inch screen? i need to know soon for after christmas sales

thank you!!
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xela

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Get a Vaio. 'Nuff said.
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PoundFFFFFF

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Don't get a mac.
 

 

Joshua Robinson

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Get a Vaio. 'Nuff said.

And why a Viao alex?
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dmbaggs

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Like Alex said, get a Vaio!!


They are sleek, reliable, easy to use. The have good performance for the price. I have had my vaio for a couple years now and it's still going strong! I love it. Also HP has a few good ones, but you'd have to do more research to find one that fits your wants and needs. Goodluck hunting  >:(
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Joshua Robinson

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I do like toshiba's because my mum and dad have a Qousimo, and my friend has a toshiba i love both of their brands and ive used both, they both work brilliantly
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phantom1412

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MrLukeCarroll

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For a good Media laptop, I've loved my last 3 HP entertainment laptops
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Kanped

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I have a Dell Studio and while the components are astounding for the price, the build quality is terrible.  I find the same with Toshiba; if you open them up, you can see that they haven't thought through the cooling system.  If your GPU overheats, it can cause serious problems.  Dell, for example, in my laptop have placed the exhaust for the cooling fan in such a position that the screen completely covers it when it's open.  The intake is directly underneath, so anything but a hard, flat, clean surface will give problems.

Honestly, the only laptops I've seen that are done well are Macs but I'm just talking about the build quality; I hate the software so much (you could just put linux on it, then it'd rock). 

I would strongly consider whether you really, really need the portability of a laptop for what you want as you could build a desktop computer that was much more powerful for much less money and it won't give you overheating problems.
 

 

AceGambit

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Personal opinion - Vaio is an over-priced product.  There's nothing wrong with the machine, but for the price tag, you can get something better. 


At all costs, no matter what happens, avoid Acer.  Their price tag can seem appealing, but that's about the only nice thing about their machines.  As with any product, there are people out there who will claim to have owned one for years with no problems, but the number of people with Acers that don't last past 18 months is astoundingly high.


I have 3 HP laptops, an Asus, and a Dell.  The Dell Latitude is by far the best of the bunch.  Asus make very good products as well though.  HP's media laptops are not bad products, I just had a bad experience with one of them (and a corresponding bad experience with customer support) so I will never buy an HP laptop again. 
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HP or Dell are pretty balanced as far as pre-built laptops go. Don't go buying a laptop based off a program that comes with it.


As far as a 17" laptop goes, my biggest mistake. The point of a laptop is portability. A 17" is meant to be a desktop replacement. When I owned one half the desks I was in class with, my laptop would go off the edges. It's not that they're that heavy, but they're quite a nuisance if you have to travel more than half an hour to a class. I have a 15" now and am quite happy with it.


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I would strongly consider whether you really, really need the portability of a laptop for what you want as you could build a desktop computer that was much more powerful for much less money and it won't give you overheating problems.

I do need the portability of a laptop, because i have to take it to school and take it home for work, i do have a dell desktop set up which is awesome, it works perfectly, but slow at times. i want a good laptop with a 17 inch screen for school work AND Card videos with good editing software, and so i can also play games ei, minecraft.
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PoundFFFFFF

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Don't get a mac.


Why not?

  Because you can get a PC with better specs for $1000 less. And one that actually does work instead of "Putting together a Photo Album".
 

 

Kanped

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I would strongly consider whether you really, really need the portability of a laptop for what you want as you could build a desktop computer that was much more powerful for much less money and it won't give you overheating problems.

I do need the portability of a laptop, because i have to take it to school and take it home for work, i do have a dell desktop set up which is awesome, it works perfectly, but slow at times. i want a good laptop with a 17 inch screen for school work AND Card videos with good editing software, and so i can also play games ei, minecraft.


But you could get a portable hard drive and use that for school.  The software is irrelevant, you should always buy software separately (IMO, including the OS) and do a completely clean install of everything on a new PC. 

Games like Minecraft aren't too demanding but if you want to play AAA titles (I dunno, CoD or something) on a laptop, forget it.  Mine has an i5 processor, decent graphics card and 4 gigs of RAM but it can't run any game made after 2004 well.  For video editing, it WILL be an irritation to import, edit and bounce video without a good processor and a lot of RAM. 

Look, if you really need a machine to do all those things well, you're looking at a high-end laptop or an entry level desktop (depending on the games you want to play).  I think the best solution would be to get a decent linux netbook for school and upgrade your desktop.   It could probably do with a good clean out of the hard drive, too. 
 

 

AceGambit

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I think the best solution would be to get a decent linux netbook for school and upgrade your desktop.


Netbooks are not real computers.  My phone is more powerful than most netbooks.  Linux is nice and fun to screw with, but it simply does not do everything a windows pc can do (and anyone who tells you different is either lying to themselves or doesn't realize that not everyone has time to recompile their kernel).  I can't argue about the price though.
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Kanped

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School work like calculations, spreadsheets and word documents?  They can handle that comfortably.  rather than recompile the kernel, you can just download a different distro if there's something particular that you need.  I'll admit getting the drivers to work on a new distro isn't always easy, though.
 

 

Overflight

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I've previously had a Toshiba which lasted a good 5 years before breaking down. I currently have an HP which after 2 is already giving me some issues (battery acting wonky, random shut downs).

I agree that VAIOs are overpriced. 
 

 

KPopFever605

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I have a Vaio, and it works like a charm, although I've heard that Apple comps are great, but to me, they are way over priced. $1000 for a comp. That $1000 could have gone to the Vortexes.
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PoundFFFFFF

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School work like calculations, spreadsheets and word documents?  They can handle that comfortably.  rather than recompile the kernel, you can just download a different distro if there's something particular that you need.  I'll admit getting the drivers to work on a new distro isn't always easy, though.

  The guy's 14... the computer should have the purpose of gaming the lights out lol~
 

 

Joshua Robinson

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yeah, only 14 and need it for school work and for internet games
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Kanped

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The guy's 14... the computer should have the purpose of gaming the lights out lol~

I was using DOS before I could write and writing Sinclair BASIC before I started school (well, the programming part is according to my dad, I don't remember it).  I'm pretty sure he can handle a clean install of a Linux distro.  Download file, burn CD, restart, follow instructions, done.  I'm just suggesting that a laptop can't really be a great gaming station (and if you're planning on doing school work on it, that's a good thing, believe me).
 

 

dmbaggs

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Don't get a mac.


Why not?

  Because you can get a PC with better specs for $1000 less. And one that actually does work instead of "Putting together a Photo Album".


Mac's are more secure and have a longer life span. Many people think that macs aren't good for non-mac applications or whatnot. I think macs are much better. I know a few illustrators and artists (professionals) that swear by macs. I would spend a couple months with a mac and you'd probably see that they are superior machines.
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Don Boyer

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I have my own opinions on the Mac/PC/Linux debate, but these simple facts remain:

1) his parents already nixed the idea of getting a Mac.
2) he'll be working in a school environment and busy studying - some time for gaming, sure, but I doubt he'd want to waste it installing and reinstalling new operating system builds.

I used Dell for many years.  Some rail against them, some love them.  Same goes for Dell's customer service.  I haven't had any real problems.

If you want a gamer's notebook that's suitable for school and have a healthy budget, try the Alienware M17x R3.  It has some kickin' specs and is made by what is now a subsidiary of Dell.  If you're on a tighter budget, you can scale down to a smaller Alienware machine or try a Dell XPS 15 or 17.  The model number is the screen size, and they're available in a massive number of possible configurations.  The XPS line was Dell's gaming line before they bought Alienware, but it's still a high-performance machine in their standard Dell line-up.  Whatever budget you're dealing with, you can find a machine that suits you somewhere in the Alienware or XPS lines.

A big recommendation - I used to own a 15" Dell laptop, top of the line at the time I bought it.  Extremely heavy and sucked battery power like a Bedouin drinking at a water fountain.  The machines with slightly smaller screens will give you good performance at a more affordable price and generally have much longer battery life.  Plus they WEIGH a lot less!

I switched from the 15" Dell to a 13" MacBook the moment Apple started using Intel chips.  I never regretted both the OS switch and going to a smaller, lighter model.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 01:57:32 AM by Good@Sabacc »
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KPopFever605

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yeah, only 14 and need it for school work and for internet games

If you need it for school work, I'd try to use the school computer lab, because internet games and social media are a bit of a lengthy distraction upon the part. Trust me, and an hour on FB, I know call it Procrastibook. Good Luck though, hopefully you can resist the temptation. By golly, I've been going HERE instead of doing by HW. It's now 11:35 PM and I finally got done.
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yeah, only 14 and need it for school work and for internet games

If you need it for school work, I'd try to use the school computer lab, because internet games and social media are a bit of a lengthy distraction upon the part. Trust me, and an hour on FB, I know call it Procrastibook. Good Luck though, hopefully you can resist the temptation. By golly, I've been going HERE instead of doing by HW. It's now 11:35 PM and I finally got done.

Given the option of using a computer lab PC and my own laptop, who here would not choose "my own laptop"?  It's a rare computer lab that has an adequate number of late-model computers to work on, you can't run your choice of software on them, and you're stuck to working on their schedule and not your own if that's the only choice you give yourself.

KPop, his parents are BUYING him a computer - why on blue-green Earth would the computer lab be a better choice?  He can procrastinate there as easily as anywhere else if he's that type of student - which judging by his acceptance into this exclusive program I'd say he isn't.
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dmbaggs

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Yeah I agree with Good@Sabacc. Plus saving documents and keeping track of all your work is easier on your own machine. It makes most anything you do easier and you can fine tune your setup to meet your needs. I know I prefer my laptop over anything else.
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AceGambit

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Do you have a budget you're working on?  <$1000?  <$800?  <$1500.  When it comes to electronics, you generally get what you pay for.  A $500 laptop is a $500 laptop, sure some companies charge more for the same thing, but if you knew what kind of budget you were working with, someone could probably point you more specifically to the laptop that would suit your needs.


Is this going to be just a school laptop (ie. do you have a desktop at home that you use for regular computing that is just yours) or will this become your primary personal computer?   You said you want a laptop for "school work and magic related stuff."  Do you mean video editing?  Photography?  Watching videos?
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Kanped

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Don't buy Alienware stuff; it's hideously overpriced and claims to be something it simply isn't.  I can almost guarantee disappointment.  They don't last, overheat and have a bunch of stuff you'll never use for a price even higher than that of comparative Macs.

A budget would help here, for sure.

Incidentally, I used Macs in tech for 4 years for music production (amongst other things, occasionally for graphic design) and found them vastly inferior to similar PCs.
 

 

Joshua Robinson

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Do you have a budget you're working on?  <$1000?  <$800?  <$1500.  When it comes to electronics, you generally get what you pay for.  A $500 laptop is a $500 laptop, sure some companies charge more for the same thing, but if you knew what kind of budget you were working with, someone could probably point you more specifically to the laptop that would suit your needs.


Is this going to be just a school laptop (ie. do you have a desktop at home that you use for regular computing that is just yours) or will this become your primary personal computer?   You said you want a laptop for "school work and magic related stuff."  Do you mean video editing?  Photography?  Watching videos?

Budget is around $700-$800 and i do have a desktop that I mainly use, so mostly just for School work on the laptop. But there is a photography ellective i can do, so video editing and Photography.

and the desktop will be just mine in a few months (all other siblings are moving out!!)
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Kanped

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I would still just get a nice Linux netbook and a bitchin' desktop (upgrade) but if you want something that'll still be powerful enough to do all that stuff...

Samsung RV511
Acer Aspire 5750G
Dell Inspiron 15R
Toshiba Satellite P755
Sony VAIO EJ2

Out of those, I personally prefer the VAIO; the CPU is solid (the new i5-2430M with sandy bridge architecture; that's a good thing).  The integrated GPU isn't great but it's only slightly worse than the best mobile GPUs out there.  People are saying that Minecraft is playable on lower graphics settings (no laptop is going to get much better than that, I'm afraid).  I would put another 4 Gb RAM in it, because you can get the laptop for a good bit under budget and there's space for another 4Gb of RAM, so why not?

It's a 17" screen, has a decent sized hard drive, blu-ray reader, DVD/CD-R writer.  It'll do what you want, basically.
 

 

KPopFever605

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Meh, I was just giving his a warning, I'm telling your the internet is a very sly, deceptive, well-oiled machine.
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Don Boyer

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Don't buy Alienware stuff; it's hideously overpriced and claims to be something it simply isn't.  I can almost guarantee disappointment.  They don't last, overheat and have a bunch of stuff you'll never use for a price even higher than that of comparative Macs.

A budget would help here, for sure.

Incidentally, I used Macs in tech for 4 years for music production (amongst other things, occasionally for graphic design) and found them vastly inferior to similar PCs.

What that before or after the shift to Intel chips?  Because now both machines are using practically identical basic architecture.  If you have the install discs, you can even run Windows at native speeds on a Mac, either as an environment you boot to or as a window within Mac OS X.

Do you have a budget you're working on?  <$1000?  <$800?  <$1500.  When it comes to electronics, you generally get what you pay for.  A $500 laptop is a $500 laptop, sure some companies charge more for the same thing, but if you knew what kind of budget you were working with, someone could probably point you more specifically to the laptop that would suit your needs.


Is this going to be just a school laptop (ie. do you have a desktop at home that you use for regular computing that is just yours) or will this become your primary personal computer?   You said you want a laptop for "school work and magic related stuff."  Do you mean video editing?  Photography?  Watching videos?

Budget is around $700-$800 and i do have a desktop that I mainly use, so mostly just for School work on the laptop. But there is a photography ellective i can do, so video editing and Photography.

and the desktop will be just mine in a few months (all other siblings are moving out!!)

Dude, forget gaming and go for something inexpensive.  Use it as your secondary computer and make the desktop the primary.  Late-model video games and budget notebooks usually make for unhappy marriages.  You could practically use an iPad and a keyboard, and probably for less than you planned to spend on a notebook.  At least there you have more options, even for gaming, and a helluva lot more battery life - even a good Energy Star PC with a great battery can't outclass an iPad in battery life.  It ain't a PC, but for the PC you can afford, that's barely a PC as well.

But if you're dead set on a PC, the models Kanped prefers actually looks pretty cool.

Meh, I was just giving his a warning, I'm telling your the internet is a very sly, deceptive, well-oiled machine.

 ???   KPop, that statement doesn't even make sense.  I could tell you my grandmother is a great hip-hop singer and rodeo clown and it would make about as much of a contribution to the discussion at hand.  Please explain how what you just said is relevant to using a computer lab PC over owning your own laptop.
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Kanped

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What that before or after the shift to Intel chips?  Because now both machines are using practically identical basic architecture.  If you have the install discs, you can even run Windows at native speeds on a Mac, either as an environment you boot to or as a window within Mac OS X.


It was before and I think for 1 year after but Windows wasn't installed on them.  They were running Snow Leopard by the end, anyway (I think Panther when I started).  I'll admit, their laptops are very well built and being able to multi-boot different OSs is pretty cool (but PCs have being doing it for a lot longer, though; perhaps not as user friendly).  The simple fact for me is that I can't stand OSX and if anything goes wrong with a Mac, it's an absolute nightmare to fix because they seem to have been designed to never go wrong, which IMO is a huge mistake in computer design philosophy.  You cannot tell if a program will play nice with all the variations of hardware it runs on, or if an interrupt call at the wrong time will flood your page file or something equally hideous.  Maybe it's just my familiarity with Windows but when/if I have an issue, I can get it fixed pretty easily; on a Mac it was hours of smashing my face against the keyboard, just trying the same things over and over again until it 'just worked'.
 

 

KPopFever605

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I was just providing him with an alternate method if he was confused about the computer situation. I was also giving him the precautions when it comes the world wide web. Simply using a local computer will both save your money, and limit your time procrastinating. I know his parents are buying him a  computer, but in this economy, if I'd were him, I'd save up as much money as I can.
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I have a Dell that I am very pleased with, I've heard HP isnt bad either
 

 

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Games like Minecraft aren't too demanding but if you want to play AAA titles (I dunno, CoD or something) on a laptop, forget it.  Mine has an i5 processor, decent graphics card and 4 gigs of RAM but it can't run any game made after 2004 well.
Portal 2 runs smooth on mine ::)

Vaios are luxury priced, so don't get that unless you have money to spare. And if you're collecting cards, chances are you don't. Idunno, mine's a Fujitsu, decent performance for the price but I don't know about build quality. HP looks pretty good, but they come with loads of crapware out of the box (Same goes for their printer drivers...) so if you're like me, that's an extra step to take for either a fresh install or a good cleaning.

And I'm sorry, but to the linux fanboy above, linux isn't for everyone. It isn't nearly as user-friendly as you guys try to make it sound. Yes, even Ubuntu and Mint. And I've heard the battery life of a linux netbook was very poor anyway. Not to mention that pretty much nothing commercial works on it. Wine's not perfect and nobody seems to agree on what works with it and what doesn't, so that argument is dead too. The only use of linux for me is bypassing windows security for retrieving data in case of emergency... With a live version. ::)
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Linux has a variety of purposes, and I run it regularly on a netbook and desktop.  The netbook got the same battery life with Win7 as it does with the latest version of Ubuntu.  For basic computing (web browsing, word processing, etc), Linux can actually get you a more performant and responsive machine.  THAT SAID, Linux is definitely not for everyone, and quite specifically not for the non-tech savy people.  Windows has the majority of the market, and that's for a reason.  Microsoft is doing something right. 
They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world that he didn't exist.
 

 

moonexe

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Microsoft is doing something right.
I have a bad feeling about windows 8, though ::) Cloud-based everything calls for 3G, which is a huge problem in Canada...
Anyway, I use photoshop, windows live and play games on a regular basis so I find myself switching back to windows very quickly whenever I try to use linux, even though I do enjoy the Ubuntu interface. I almost got splinter cell conviction working on Mint once, but then the updating process made the whole OS crash somehow. Shouldn't have updated to begin with. :-\

Grin like a Cheshire cat, and remember: we're all mad here.
 

 

Don Boyer

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I was just providing him with an alternate method if he was confused about the computer situation. I was also giving him the precautions when it comes the world wide web. Simply using a local computer will both save your money, and limit your time procrastinating. I know his parents are buying him a  computer, but in this economy, if I'd were him, I'd save up as much money as I can.


So you're cautioning him about the Web, but telling him to use a public computer, on a public network?


"Local computers" don't keep him from procrastinating any more than his own unit would.  But they do keep him from using a computer whenever the hell he needs one.


Are you stoned?  Bored?  Or just trying to rack up a high spam-to-post ratio? :P
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dmbaggs

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I was just providing him with an alternate method if he was confused about the computer situation. I was also giving him the precautions when it comes the world wide web. Simply using a local computer will both save your money, and limit your time procrastinating. I know his parents are buying him a  computer, but in this economy, if I'd were him, I'd save up as much money as I can.


So you're cautioning him about the Web, but telling him to use a public computer, on a public network?


"Local computers" don't keep him from procrastinating any more than his own unit would.  But they do keep him from using a computer whenever the hell he needs one.


Are you stoned?  Bored?  Or just trying to rack up a high spam-to-post ratio? :P


Are you kidding me? He has a point, some people find they are more productive in a lab or on a public computer. I know when I was in highschool I got more work done in the computer lab simply because it was a structured environment. It can be setting that promotes a better work ethic. Some people find they can work anywhere and not get distracted, and I had many friends like that. I just found it easier in a computer lab.


All he was doing was giving some advice! Accusing him of being stoned? WOW....


You did something similar on the thread about the David Blaine varierty box. Ezstreet asked if anybody knew the difference between the UV red lions and the regular red lions. Just because nobody has it yet doesn't mean that nobody knows the answer!


You need to layoff. Some people are trying to push their post count but not everybody is out to do that.
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Don Boyer

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Are you kidding me? He has a point, some people find they are more productive in a lab or on a public computer. I know when I was in highschool I got more work done in the computer lab simply because it was a structured environment. It can be setting that promotes a better work ethic. Some people find they can work anywhere and not get distracted, and I had many friends like that. I just found it easier in a computer lab.


All he was doing was giving some advice! Accusing him of being stoned? WOW....


You did something similar on the thread about the David Blaine varierty box. Ezstreet asked if anybody knew the difference between the UV red lions and the regular red lions. Just because nobody has it yet doesn't mean that nobody knows the answer!


You need to layoff. Some people are trying to push their post count but not everybody is out to do that.

OK, I've been on his case a bit, I'll grant you that.

We (not just me) knocked down his argument on using a public terminal for many reasons, not the least of which being he wants to play games and most people prefer working on their own machine under their own control with their own locally-stored files.

He's in the program he's in because he's not a slouch - it's an advanced program.  If he hasn't developed adequate work ethic by now he wouldn't be in the position he's in.

Then KPop started backing up his opinion with a strange statement about how, and I quote:

Meh, I was just giving his a warning, I'm telling your the internet is a very sly, deceptive, well-oiled machine.

This makes NO SENSE.  It's no less "deceptive" or "well-oiled" regardless of the method used to access it, and if anything, public terminals would have a greater chance of being vulnerable simply because the public has access to it and you have no idea who touched it last or where on the Internet they went with it, or what viruses or keyloggers they uploaded from a thumb drive just 'cause they thought it's be a hoot.

Many people use public terminals because they have to, not because they want to.  Even if the network is hellishly faster, they'd prefer using their own machine on that network unless it's a total hunk of junk.  He's planning to be a new laptop that in the majority of cases will be better equipped, faster, etc. than any public terminal unless that terminal was purchased around the same time as his machine or large sums of cash were spent on it.  Neither scenario is likely.

If someone is offered the chance to own a rare or semi-rare deck of playing cards, would you advise them to go borrow the one over at the coffee shop because it's free to use and you can't play with it when the shop is closed?

 OK.  I think I'm just going to work on disengaging more from what he ays, even if I happen to think it's utterly illogical and senseless.  I've wasted enough time on him and this topic.

Regarding those White Lions decks and EZStreet (now Magic Addictz), there was no offense meant.  I don't know of anyone here that works for either USPC or David Blaine at present and he was talking about a rare, never-before-released deck that no one's actually seen.  It's like asking me about how pretty the storage facilities are in the US Federal Reserve Bank building in downtown Manhattan, despite that I've never been less than several hundred feet from them and they're a few floors underground under heavy guard.  The comment was silly and light-hearted - look below:

Since none of us are actually holding ours and Blaine wasn't offering Teleporter Express as a delivery option, I'd have to say, no, none of us knows yet...
 ;)

A wink, a joke about "Teleporter Express"...  it was a bit of comedy, nothing more, no harm done.  Do you see it differently?
« Last Edit: December 21, 2011, 12:36:47 AM by Good@Sabacc »
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