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Boring Laptop Upgrade Diary

By anonimouse (Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 07:33:09 AM EST) laptops, upgrade, nerd, geek, no sex (all tags)

A geeky diary....

After failing to get the required Laptop video card the first time I managed to get hold of it second time around. I'm not sure whether paying £90 to upgrade the video card of a three year old laptop is wise, but at least I can get about 20-30 back by selling the old one.

The thing about the Dell is:
a) every time I take it apart I manage to lose at least 1 screw
b) it always seems to come apart in more bits each time.

Powered up, saw screen come alive with BIOS display...Windows logon...looking good....login...1600x1200 display of desktop....we have ignition...start Rome:Total War...AAARRRGGGH!

Why does the display only occupy half the screen? i.e. 1024x768 occupying 1024x768 pixels of a 1600x1200 display. Frantic Googling...Device driver fiddle required to use new drivers with special .INF file. Reboot... start Rome:Total War again, breath sigh of relief. Exit and start Medieval 2:Total War demo, find it works and not even on the lowest graphics performance. Wet myself with pleasure (metaphorically). Can ask for full game for Christmas now.

Also coming to a desktop near me: Samsung 19" LCD TV. Well it was, until it was robbed by Mrs Mouse and the MiniMice, who've told me to go buy another one. That Dell 2007 24" monitor looks nice, but a bit expensive, need to find a way to get one cheap, so shall look in the Dell seconds.

Seems to be raining technology in the Mouse household at the moment. Looking for a suitable set of components for a media box, so suggestions welcome. If anyone has built a MythTV box, would like to hear.

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Boring Laptop Upgrade Diary | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

A myth box, eh ? by sasquatchan (4.00 / 1) #1 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 09:50:52 AM EST

Yeah, I've heard of those things. Never seen one, mind you..

Cue other jokes.. by anonimouse (4.00 / 1) #3 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 10:05:01 AM EST

Its a mythtery. Its a myth they exist....

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

bad jokes aside by sasquatchan (2.00 / 0) #4 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 10:20:34 AM EST

what I've read/heard is that they are finnicky, PITA to assemble/put together. An older joke was, has anyone ever actually managed to get one working ? I've not looked in on progress in a while, so it might have advanced.

[ Parent ]

: I believe it has by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #5 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 10:32:26 AM EST

And in the event of failure, one shall have Windows XP Media edition handy. :-)
Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]
: Have two by notafurry (2.00 / 0) #6 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 11:21:13 AM EST

One backend/frontend combo in the living room, one frontend-only in the den. Works fine.
I highly, highly, highly recommend Jarod's Guide. Bare metal to working, full-feature system with Fedora Core 6 in a couple of hours. You'll want to do a kitchen-sink install, play with the system, then go back and do it again; the second time will be faster, you'll be better at picking out what you want and need, and you'll be happier with the result. I also rebuild the systems once in a while, partly from a need to tinker.

[ Parent ]

Planning on plugging a TV receiver by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #2 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 09:54:58 AM EST

into my (266MHz) router. We'll see if it can take care of the business of streaming the (DVB) data to a disc or across the wireless network.

But otherwise I have no experience of MythTV.

Dell 2405 FPW by thunderbee (2.00 / 0) #7 Fri Nov 17, 2006 at 04:43:25 PM EST

24", 16/9
I believe they use the same LCD panel as the apple cinema display, almost half the price for twice the features (combo card reader, usb, multiple input, yada yada).
It's great for work (I have a lot of rxvts open), great for games (UT2004, yum) and great for movies (obviously).

I've heard that too by Cloaked User (2.00 / 0) #8 Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 08:20:40 AM EST

I forget where, but I've definitely heard the same thing about the Dells using the same panel as Apple's monitor.

Very, very tempting, if I could only scrape together the money. Ah well...

--
This is not a psychotic episode. It is a cleansing moment of clarity.
[ Parent ]

: If you look on ebay by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #10 Mon Dec 11, 2006 at 01:12:39 PM EST

The £700+ cost sinks to £400 or so.
Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

no myth tv... by bobdole (2.00 / 0) #9 Sat Nov 18, 2006 at 01:42:41 PM EST

but a windows mediacenter thing from scratch. Wouldn't do again. The amount of money and agony spent on making the darn thing silent doesn't really making tempting to go back for seconds.

I'd rather buy something off the shelf the next time, given that they can tell me that it's quiet. Then again myth-tv probably has an easier HCL than windows mce, giving you more room to wiggle about.
-- The revolution will not be televised.

Boring Laptop Upgrade Diary | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback