Hardware recommendation posts should discuss how to make hardware decisions for oneself. Direct shopping recommendations are off-topic and will be closed, so be very careful posting hardware recommendations.
50
votes
5answers
2k views
What do I need to consider when buying hardware to meet my needs?
I'm looking to build a new computer from the ground up. I'm not sure what to look out for and need guidance and help on how to pick the hardware needed to construct my new rig.
How do I know what to ...
23
votes
4answers
2k views
When to stop using a hard drive? What rules/software apply?
When having a old hard disk - when should you stop using it ?
I recently got a new 1 TB hard disk, and am left with 3 old hard drives (320 GB, 250GB, 160 GB).
I am now wondering which of them to ...
20
votes
6answers
17k views
Recommended gigabit 802.11n routers that work with DD-WRT [closed]
I've read this question, and checked out the supported devices list, but am looking specifically for a gigabit 802.11n router that is easy to find and fully supported by DD-WRT.
It seems like some of ...
20
votes
2answers
622 views
Computer and Internet use on a boat?
Let's assume that I seriously would like to be able to use my computer as easily and as carefreely while on a boat as I do while at home. In short, if I were on a boat for extended periods, such as ...
18
votes
8answers
659 views
What are some good practices for making sure my laptop battery serves its full life?
Basically, I'm looking for some do's and don'ts. Is it bad to keep my laptop plugged in when I'm not using it (majority of the time)? Is it bad to plug it in once I've finished using it (with it ...
17
votes
13answers
658 views
Do “Natural” keyboards make it harder to use standard keyboards?
I am considering purchasing this style keyboard with the split keys.
I found it a bit awkward to use at first but I'm sure I will get used to it. That's the problem.
If you use this style ...
10
votes
12answers
1k views
RAM, Processor, L2Cache, Etc. - What gives you the most “Bang for your buck”?
I am not a hardware person when it comes to computers so when I buy a new one I just pick the one with the biggest numbers, but I know I am most likely wasting money.
If you're going to purchase a ...
8
votes
8answers
452 views
Making an old computer quieter
I have an old Athlon XP computer that I've been using as a Smoothie Router for about 3 years now, after my first Smoothie router (a Pentium 2 266Mhz) died. One of the most aggravating things about ...
8
votes
4answers
4k views
Motherboard suggestion for FreeNAS Server?
Any recommendations for a ~$100 motherboard for a home NAS storage/server? Would like it reliable, low-power, fanless, something a dummy can set up, manage, and have some kind of RAID ...
7
votes
3answers
384 views
Buying a laptop, specs are confusing me
So, the FSB and cache specs are what confuse me.
Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
as opposed to paying $200 more for:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz/1066Mhz ...
7
votes
7answers
806 views
Htpc aka “Media Center”: cheap and *silent*?
It may be me, or the place I live (Italy), but it seems pretty hard to get a build or a prebuilt nettop or a laptop that fits the need.
I need something
silent
able to playback all h.264 fullhd ...
7
votes
1answer
901 views
Number of sectors per track in hard drive?
Is the number of sectors fixed for each track in a hard drive? I am wondering about this because most hard drive specifications give an accurate value for sectors/track rate. I am confused because I ...
6
votes
5answers
14k views
Maximum number of monitors Win 7 Supports?
I want to set up a system with (9) monitors arranged in a 3x3 grid.
Is this configuration possible with Windows 7? Does it max out at a set number of monitors?
Any suggestions about known working ...
6
votes
5answers
12k views
IDE/PATA high-speed hard drive dock
I frequently need to access bare drives for backups and need a quick, high-speed way to deal with them.
There are a multitude of SATA hard drive docks (for example), but I have a lot of IDE/PATA ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
Laptop screen resolution advice - how dense is too dense? [closed]
I'm currently in the process of deciding what kind of laptop I want to buy.
I pretty much have it narrowed down to particular model that has a 15.6" screen.
I have a little bit of a dilemma with ...
5
votes
4answers
12k views
USB 3 to Gigabit Ethernet adapters: where are they?
I'm looking for an adapter that will let me use a USB 3 port as a Gigabit Ethernet port. This is proving surprisingly hard to find! Is there some reason why this product is either unavailable or very ...
5
votes
4answers
293 views
Best Floppy Drive for reading old floppies
I have a stack of about 30 floppy disks (3.5" type) that have some old childhood memories on them. However, I'm putting them into my random "cheapo" USB floppy drive and every single one is coming ...
5
votes
1answer
63 views
When buying a new PC, should I stick to known brands or configure myself? [closed]
Six years ago configuring a PC was so simple. Nowadays everything has become very hard – and for most users, it's too hard to understand the technical terms. At the moment I am trying to configure a ...
5
votes
1answer
327 views
Any major performance difference between 1066MHz and 1150MHz RAM?
I'm currently thinking of upgrading my current gaming machine from it's original 2GB configuration. It's currently using a pair of Kingston HyperX PC2-9200 DDR2 1150MHz RAM (KHX9200D2K2/2G - kit of 2 ...
5
votes
3answers
797 views
Are there any alternatives to the Apple Mighty Mouse that have the small trackball for scrolling?
Other than the Mighty Mouse itself, that is, as I don't like their tactile "feel". Preferably with:
USB interface
OSX/Windows support
3+ buttons
5
votes
5answers
355 views
What PCI video card should I get for my third display?
I got a new display, but my PC vid card only has two heads. Looking for recommendation that satisfies this:
PCI (not express, my motherboard only has one express slot)
Fanless
Powerful enough to ...
4
votes
6answers
3k views
ReadyBoost in Windows 7
I've bought an SD card today for my phot frame, but when I inserted it into my notebook I saw I could use it for ReadyBoost.
Some background
I'm a .net developer, using VMs and developing web ...
4
votes
7answers
1k views
How does FaceBook build servers with 12+ hard drives
From The FB Blog:
... is deployed on top of commodity storage blades. The typical hardware configuration of a 2U storage blade is –
2 x quad-core CPUs
16GB – 32GB memory
hardware raid ...
4
votes
8answers
663 views
Non-portable MP3 player (hw)
I would like to get a cheap device that could be plugged into wall electricity socket and play MP3s from a flash card or internal flash memory or hard drive. It does not need have speakers, I would ...
4
votes
7answers
279 views
Are there solutions for watching television on a computer?
I'd like to be able to watch TV in a window while working on other projects... Is the current state of tuner hardware to the point where this would be possible? What are the most popular cards out ...
4
votes
4answers
5k views
Buying replacement Macbook Pro Battery - Genuine vs. eBay
I'm looking to replace my Macbook Pro's battery (15", last model before the Unibody). It's currently at 55% capacity (as reported in System Information and Battery Health Monitor). I've reset the ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
What is push-pull cooling?
I was reading review site that said the best option to setup a liquid cooling system (Corsair h100) would be to use a push-pull configuration.
What does this mean?
My guess was
air pulled from ...
4
votes
5answers
17k views
Recommend a wireless PCI card for Windows 7
I have a crummy RT2500-based 11g card which does work in Windows 7 with the Vista driver (3.2.0.0) but it dies about every two hours or so. Googling around has led me to conclude that Ralink drivers ...
3
votes
4answers
668 views
What is the best ways to duplicate DVDs in bulk?
I have some instructional videos I am getting ready to release on DVD and I want to know what is the quickest and most cost effective way to produce these in bulk?
I am open to both customized PC ...
3
votes
3answers
645 views
WiFi N Gigabit Router
I'm looking for a WiFi N Gigabit router. I'll be using an iPod Touch 2G and a 2009 17" MacBook Pro over WiFi, and I need at least 4 gigabit ethernet ports plus a WAN port.
What do people recommend?
...
3
votes
4answers
2k views
Notebook CPU that supports 16GB of memory? [closed]
I am planning to buy a new notebook, and among the requirements I thought
that I want 8GB of memory now, and the possibility to upgrade to 16 later.
I have done some searching and I have learned that ...
3
votes
3answers
5k views
What limits my laptop on upgrading RAM at 8GB?
I have a Toshiba Portege M780-S7240. It's an i7, 64-bit and currently has 4GB RAM. I'd like to upgrade to 16GB. (If it matters, I'm running 64-bit Ubuntu.)
I checked with a RAM vendor who said it ...
3
votes
4answers
424 views
How can I obtain/build a wireless volume knob for Windows?
I use my computer as a media center and simply love it. It's an older box running XP and it works better than everything else I've tried turning into a media center (Windows 7, Vista, several Linux ...
3
votes
3answers
6k views
Recommendation for USB based 802.11n network adapter with native driver support in Linux? [closed]
Can you recommend a USB based 802.11n network adapter that has native driver support for Linux?
In particular,
I don't want to use ndiswrapper.
The card must support WPA (preferably through WPA ...
3
votes
2answers
559 views
What is the most Linux friendly video card chipset/manufacturer on the market?
I've wasted an absurd amount of time trying to get my nVidia card to function properly in Linux (Ubuntu & Fedora). I've decided to purchase a new video card that will "just work" with any Linux I ...
3
votes
3answers
800 views
How can I take a single hotel Wifi connection and share it out amongst devices via Wifi?
Many hotels these days still have pretty dreadful Wifi. Often the worst offender is the "you still only have one Wifi device, right?" assumption; you get a username/password combo, and using it on ...
3
votes
1answer
573 views
Can a laptop hard drive be used in a desktop computer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Can I install a laptop 2.5" SATA drive on a desktop without any adapters?
The drive is:
Kingston SSDNow V+200 SVP200S3 / 240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid ...
3
votes
4answers
375 views
Wet hard drive recovery - copper oxidation
I'm a stack overflow user and I hope it's ok to ask this question here. I have the age old problem of having spilled beer on my laptop. Luckily there's not much that isn't backed up and i'm on a live ...
3
votes
1answer
32 views
Systematic criteria for selecting a new hard drive for servers
I'm required to come up with a specification for a new HDD to be purchased for a server I admin.
The current disk (purchased pre-installed in the system) already shows I/O errors (as evidenced by ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
24 inch 4:3 (Non Widescreen) Monitors
Is there any monitor that fits this requirement?
I'm looking for nothing smaller than 22" though.
2
votes
7answers
37k views
Is the 2010 Apple MacBook Air 4 GB memory upgrade worth it? [closed]
I'm looking to buy the new MacBook Air and, being from Windows, am unfamiliar with how much memory it would be advisable to have (thinking about the 4 GB upgrade).
For those from the fairer ...
2
votes
5answers
2k views
What to look for in a good UPS?
I just asked this question where my PC may have been fried due to a power surge.
Now I'm browsing around and I'm curious what characteristics make a quality UPS? What should I be looking at? Should I ...
2
votes
5answers
543 views
Netbook without Windows? [closed]
I have been looking around for a netbook without Windows and with Ubuntu preinstalled. Almost all I have seen have Windows. The main issue is making sure that the computer ships with the right Ubuntu ...
2
votes
5answers
650 views
How to pipe internet radio into a tuner?
UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the ideas! This was an area I knew very little about but now I can talk with a little more expertise about it. Much appreciated!
Visited my dad this weekend and he ...
2
votes
4answers
203 views
ergonomic mouse recomendations [closed]
I've searched the site and did not find this exact question asked, so I'm going to ask it. Does anyone have a recommendation, or can point in the direction of resources, for a good ergonomic mouse? ...
2
votes
5answers
437 views
Best recommendation for bulk cd writing [closed]
Mymain requirement is that i want to write bulk audio cds every week around 50-100.
Now its very difficult to write cd one by one.
What is best solution for me.
Can i put 6-7 cd writers or more in ...
2
votes
2answers
145 views
Motherboard battery and clock
my girlfriend just built her new PC on her own. Everything is fine except that the motherboard (890GX Pro3) doesn't remember settings, boot preferences and datetime every time she turn the power ...
2
votes
4answers
261 views
will a 600W PSU power the following?
I was wondering if a 600W PSU (power supply unit) is good enough to run the following:
Core i3
2 medium quality video cards
2 or 3 hard drives
4GB ram
2
votes
5answers
2k views
Suggestions for small, power efficient, media center PC?
I need a Windows Media Center PC. It should have:
HDMI output
small form factor
Be able to handle a TV tuner that can decode clear QAM (i get basic cable w/o a decoder box and i get all the local ...
2
votes
2answers
345 views
Is there a meaningful SINGLE UNIT measure of computing power?
A discussion has arisen on the English Language SE site about the term computing cycles, where I personally think normal usage is clock or processor cycles.
Obviously different processor & ...
