New Computer!

[Darkkin]

After several years of having no laptop, I finally got a new one! A sleek little Chromebook. It is kinda weird switching over all of my files and accounts again, but really nice to have a broader spectrum of access. Phones and tablets are great, but this is better. I've missed the sensory noise I make tapping on the keyboard. One of the things I love most about writing. Thusly, I've been pulling up my older word files and getting those updated again.

Which types of devices do you have and/or prefer?

 

[Misery]

In my case, I gotta have the enormous bulky mass that is this keyboard. It's very heavy, and the spacing between keys and such is wider than on most keyboards. I went to a lot of trouble to get the blasted thing, they dont make these anymore and my previous one broke. All other keyboards I'd tried, I just got frustrated with, the keys felt all wrong and they made my arm hurt.

Also, that weird thing on the right is a vertical mouse, gotta use that, a normal mouse just wrecks me. And it's turned out to be just much better overall. And then the PC itself is just this enormous brick.

I aint so good on tablets and such though. Lack of tactile feedback and such. My Samsung phone though, I got this weird little gizmo that connects it to a monitor, complete with USB ports, so I can even use the keyboard & mouse with that when needed. Pretty great.

 

[agateboy]

View attachment 131347

In my case, I gotta have the enormous bulky mass that is this keyboard. It's very heavy, and the spacing between keys and such is wider than on most keyboards. I went to a lot of trouble to get the blasted thing, they dont make these anymore and my previous one broke. All other keyboards I'd tried, I just got frustrated with, the keys felt all wrong and they made my arm hurt.

The keys on this look very very very pleasing to press.

 

[Levitat0r]

Merry Nerdmas

 

[Tom]

Phones and notebooks are a bit too small for me, so have only had PCs and in recent years Laptops. I like the Laptops mobility and prob wouldn't go back to PC. I still have all my computers including my first, an IBM Aptiva which I bought for about 2K in 1993. I can still access most of the hard drives and the Aptiva still worked (!) last time I tried it several years ago.

 

[Outdated]

I always preferred desktops because I like to tinker with them, replacing parts when they wear out or rebuilding the whole thing when the technology gets too outdated. And I like a big screen, my current one is 27 inches. And the only Microsoft product I use is the 600 Wired keyboard because I like the feel of the keys.

 

[MildredHubble]

I like Macs. I don't have one of the snazzy new ones but I'm squeezing every drop of service out of the ones I have. I've got a 2012 unibody MacBook Pro that I've put an SSD in and maxed out the RAM to 16GB. I have a 2010 27" iMac that I've basically maxed the upgrades on. I love the huge screen, so much space to get everything organised. I have a 2012 21.5" iMac that I haven't upgraded yet but that's been persuaded to run the 2nd most recent MacOS (as have the others!).

I do like the anodised aluminium and glass look. I'm probably a bit weird as I find the design language inspiring if that makes any sense?!

I have a Chromebook that has a touchscreen and I use that mostly for drawing when I'm in the mood.

I still own my very first computer and monitor from 1992. That always gets a place on my desk and probably always will.

 

[Misery]

Just because, my full setup here:

A whole lot of stuff going on here.

I have the PC facing backwards because I very frequently need to get at the USB ports; there's a couple on the front, but not enough, I need access to the main panel, and I aint going to wrench my shoulder trying to get behind the bloody thing every time I need a cable swapped in/out. Yeah, it doesnt look as nice, but when it comes to my hobby stuff, I'm more about function over form.

Of course this means there's a ridiculous spiderweb of cables, but... eh.

Behind the Xbox in the bottom left, you can see The Battery, which weighs like 5 million pounds and is what keeps everything here running properly. If I try to plug things into outlets or surge protectors instead, things get weird and the PC starts to break down. A problem with the house itself, actually. The battery is plugged into a wall and regulates everything, and there's a USB cable going from it to the PC as well so the monitoring program can keep an eye on it and perform tests every now and then. We're in the absolute middle of nowhere, and storms are frequent, so the power goes out entirely rather often. The battery keeps things going for a time during an outage, so I can save anything I might be doing and shut down properly instead of the whole thing just abruptly shutting off. On the right of the desk you can also see my lantern, it's always nearby for when things go stupid.

The monitor is a very simple thing, basic 1920x1080 max resolution, none of that 4k nonsense.

The cable that hangs from the ceiling is the ethernet cable, the modem is on the floor above.

And all sorts of random whatsits just all over the place. The whole room is like that, really.

 

[MildredHubble]

I have the PC facing backwards because I very frequently need to get at the USB ports; there's a couple on the front

Wait? They're supposed to go the other way?

I have a PC that's usually facing that way because it's kinda the machine that gets used for whatever random thing. The front USB ports are usually flakey.

It's always kinda puzzled me that USB is supposed to be the super convenient connection technology but they stick most of the connectors on the back? Surely 8 of the 10 ports should be on the front and 2 on the back of your mouse and keyboard since you don't tend to plug and unplug them a lot.

I have quite the collection of USB hubs to break out the USBs from my Macs. It actually amazes me how thoroughly USB has become THE way to connect just about anything to a computer these days.

 

[Boogs]

Usually the main USB connections at the rear are part of the m/board, but you should be able to attach leads to the USB 'plugs' direct on the board that link to the front panel - caveat being some front panels don't have many sockets to connect, if there were 8 or 10, think of the mess of wiring inside to connect all those to the m/board.
USB can be a pain, but try going back to pre-USB days!

Ah! You young things don't know how good you've got it! And another thing (grumble moan whinge whine etc etc ).
Sigh! I remember when mice had balls!

 

[Outdated]

Sigh! I remember when mice had balls!

I remember the hysteria when the mouse first came out. People would be able to drag files around willy nilly without knowing what they were doing and corrupt their systems.

"Remember, the first point and click interface was developed by Smith and Wesson."

 

[Boogs]

And calling it WIMP! Surely only a nerd could do that!
I do still remember having to clean out all the black horrible gunk with my finger nails that would collect on the ball and especially the rollers, from the sweat and grime of my hand on the mouse mat. Yum!

That, and four player networked Doom on an IPX/SPX protocol boot floppy (we ran netbeui - useless piece of ...). Ah, waiting for five thirty to start hearing the screams of anguish from the desks across the room as I ambushed 'em yet again in a filthy dirty campaign of virtual 486 attrition. Now that was the way to make working relationships!

Oh dear, doing it again, going off topic at the drop of a hat - who says the universe revolves around me?
(I do of course!)

 

[Misery]

I remember when mice had balls!

Ah yes, ball mice.

I used to clean mine by taking the ball out, and then stabbing the rollers with my car key.

Though I also remember when mice werent really a thing yet. Grew up with DOS machines myself (I was born in 81). The ancient Tandy 1000 was my first PC. Radio Shack's line of machines at the time. No mouse, Windows also wasnt a thing yet and wouldnt be for awhile.

Wait? They're supposed to go the other way?

I have a PC that's usually facing that way because it's kinda the machine that gets used for whatever random thing. The front USB ports are usually flakey.

It's always kinda puzzled me that USB is supposed to be the super convenient connection technology but they stick most of the connectors on the back? Surely 8 of the 10 ports should be on the front and 2 on the back of your mouse and keyboard since you don't tend to plug and unplug them a lot.

I have quite the collection of USB hubs to break out the USBs from my Macs. It actually amazes me how thoroughly USB has become THE way to connect just about anything to a computer these days.

Yeah, I cant understand that either. A lot of the time, if I have to deal with someone else's PC, it's always this giant hassle as it always somehow is exactly in the type of spot where getting to the important parts means that someone has to come over there and drag the whole machine out (I sure aint doing it, they're heavy) because it was like, back up against a wall in a corner under a desk.

Though as my PC goes, one of the rear ports is actually busted, if you look closely at that photo you can see that the big cable from the keyboard actually goes around to the front of the machine; the cable is strange and heavy, it's not a normal USB cable, it actually ends in this weird pronged mess with 2 USB things (I dont know what the second one is supposed to do, only one of them is for the main functionality) and two audio jacks, so it weighs a lot compared to a normal cable and pulls down on everything when plugged in; it goes along to the front of the machine so the weight of the cable can lay on the desk.

My previous keyboard broke when the weight became too much, the bits in the USB slot on the back where I usually use, pulled on by that weight for too long (the keyboard being the one thing that I never swapped out), came apart entirely and got wedged in the USB connector on the keyboard, so that was one destroyed slot and one wrecked and hard to replace keyboard.

I guess that's my problem with USB connections: the stuff doing the connecting isnt exactly very hardy. The micro-USB cables are the worst of all. I swear those are designed specifically to break.

 

[Boogs]

Likewise I started on PC's pre windows (or pre a version of windows that was usable, I once tried windows 2, never again I swore, back to DOS 3.
But interestingly I used mice on the PC from the get go. MOUSE.COM in autoexec.bat made it available in DOS apps. Admittedly mostly in text mode, the old 80x25 character terminal. But running apps that had windows and menus and mice pointers and 'button's even in DOS text mode was very useful. For me mostly text editors and IDE's (Integrated Development Environments - like QuickC for editing and compiling programs) with loads of menus etc.

But my mouse's balls! Now that's a serious subject!! I always grew my nails to have that hard contact and bounce with a full key-travel keyboard, and so found using a finger nail to gouge out all that disgusting black crud on the rollers was very satisfying. If it hadn't collected on it's own, I'd of had to put some in! And afterwards, lovingly washing it's ball in warm water and detergent to get that real grippy rubber friction back again, no more skidding and jumping mouse pointers!

I was almost disappointed to discover there was a tool for cleaning those rollers, a round plastic ball, mouse ball sized, on a short stick, and with a roughened surface. Bung it where the ball goes and just spin it around a bit twisting the stick. Just took all the fun out if it. Spoilt the whole experience of computing for me. Resulted in years of depression and self abuse. I even started mistreating my mice, I'm not proud to admit!

The micro-USB cables are the worst of all. I swear those are designed specifically to break.

But of course they are! the age old and venerable tradition of built-in obsolescence! You a commie or summit???!
Capitalism is built on such solid moral foundations! Ask Thomas Edison at your next séance!

 

[Harmonie]

I have a nice desktop that hasn't made the move with me yet unfortunately. My parents helped me get a brand new laptop before the move, though, and it's the most powerful laptop I've ever had. =) (not saying it's a real deal gaming laptop or anything, but it can run a lot of games).

 

[Tom]

I like mice. I really don't like that thing you use your finger on. I'm too clumsy for it.

 

[Boogs]

Good for you! I HATE smart phones and tablets and the like! Horrible things! And I've been subsumed in digital tech for about 40 years. I struggle with laptops for Budd's sake!
Not just to use them on a practical level, but how they are used, and how the use you. Every time on the train and at least 9 out of 10 are plugged into these things. All those scifi stories of humankind being taken over, and it's ruddy well happened!
I always felt my relationship with my big black whirring box is far healthier! I do what I want on it, not what it wants me to do.

 

[agateboy]

Which types of devices do you have and/or prefer?

Actually answering the question instead of getting distracted about that razer keyboard...

I definitely prefer laptops for the price point.

I do fantasize about having a desktop though...
SO much customization.

 

[MildredHubble]

The micro-USB cables are the worst of all. I swear those are designed specifically to break.

Yes! They are blimmin' awful aren't they! I have quite a lot of things that use them too. My clumsiness means that I'm almost certain to drop any device that uses them square on the micro usb plug and then I have a cable that just won't stay put

USB C is by far the best solution yet as you don't need to fiddle around to get it plugged in the right way. I once saw someone say that USB exists in 4 dimensions as it always takes 3 180 degree flips to get the darned things plugged in!

I once had an onboard USB socket get mangled too. Can't begin to figure out how, I just plugged it in and al the pins got twisted. Fortunately as long as the 5v doesn't get fed into one of the data pins, it's generally ok to leave it as is and just make a mental note to avoid it.

Let's hope that before too long we will have a big selection of USB C ports all on the front of the case and we will have finally become a technologically advanced species!

 

[Boogs]

I reckon if it's a high performance games machine that's desired, if portability and space are not an issue (needing a desk and all that, cables everywhere like a medusa lurking beneath my feet, boxes full of ancient cables and PCI cards and old RAM chips so out dated they ain't worth a dime, yet I can't chuck 'em out!) then I reckon a very carefully specced custom PC can give the best value for money in performance terms than pretty much anything. I paid about £1100ukp for mine about 7 years ago and it still does me fine. May not hit the HDR resolutions and ray tracing etc, but honestly, once playing I wouldn't notice. Frame rate makes up for graphics quality when things are moving imho.
(Mind you, I spent weeks learning what best components to get that would also have a long life etc. and the best company to buy from, ensuring space for more ram etc (avoid the Dell's and HP's and such like, over priced and often poorly specced).

And to be able to bung a new graphics card in and double the game quality without binning anything else (and sell the old card on to pay for a pizza or ten) can't be beat, not to mention being able to just plug in a better sound card, or an extra set of usb3 sockets, direct onto the m/board's PCI bus (instead of through ropey USB connections) ...
And multiple screens! Yay!
Mmmmm, having a nice moment just thinking about it!

But it's a big pain if you don't have the space to set it up (or the desire for a PC, for that matter), and I can get that a laptop can make far more sense in many other ways.