Computers and Woodworking

[Alan in Little Washington]

My laptop, my lifeblood for communications with the outside world, my WW and invention design tool, my archive of WW websites, emails, articles, drawings, documents, contracts, etc.- you get the idea- started going on the fritz yesterday.

It started working as badly as it looks. First the cursor froze (good mouse), then other things started happening. Sometimes the HDD would run, sometimes not, etc. It had many, but not all of the symptoms of a HDD failure. Luckily, I noticed if I tapped on the deck near the pad or squeezed it in the same place, the HDD would "sometimes" work. This morning while attempting to get it going and keep it going long enough so I could do a backup (What! You don't have a backup?!?!?!? I know, I know

) I discovered it would run normally if I squeezed really hard and maintained the pressure. There must be a bad connection inside somewhere. In any case, a Bessey mini F clamp was the temporary solution. It gets in the way of typing, but the thing works and I successfully backed up all my stuff!! Yahoo!!

I need to tell Santa to swing by later in the week to drop off my new machine!

Not what you expected when you read the title?

 

[Mike Davis]

It's got them winders in it, them winders lets all the good stuff out. :rotflm:

 

[McRabbet]

I'm in a similar position, Alan, but fortunately my laptop isn't dying. It is nine years old and I upgraded the memory to the maximum of 512 MB a few years ago and replaced the hard drive when the first one started to crash. Luckily, I have a USB shadow drive that keep all of my data files and photos backed up, but this thing is getting slower and slower as new updates or resident apps clog the available memory space and it goes into paging mode. I had planned to replace it this fall with an Intel i5 core processor model, but some unexpected expenses cropped up and my family probably would have killed me if they all got $5 gift cards from me for Christmas (he, he!). So it is on the early 2011 purchase plan -- looking at another Toshiba or a Dell laptop. I just can't make the switch to a Mac because of my heavy investment in Windows-based software that I'll migrate to the new platform. Glad to hear you got your key files backed up!

 

[TracyP]

I'm in a similar position, Alan, but fortunately my laptop isn't dying. It is nine years old and I upgraded the memory to the maximum of 512 MB a few years ago and replaced the hard drive when the first one started to crash. Luckily, I have a USB shadow drive that keep all of my data files and photos backed up, but this thing is getting slower and slower as new updates or resident apps clog the available memory space and it goes into paging mode. I had planned to replace it this fall with an Intel i5 core processor model, but some unexpected expenses cropped up and my family probably would have killed me if they all got $5 gift cards from me for Christmas (he, he!). So it is on the early 2011 purchase plan -- looking at another Toshiba or a Dell laptop. I just can't make the switch to a Mac because of my heavy investment in Windows-based software that I'll migrate to the new platform. Glad to hear you got your key files backed up!

It's really hard to top a Toshiba Laptop:thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[Bigdog72]

Turn the clamp over. It won't get in the way as much. I have an ACER for work but I covet a MAC.

 

[leftoflefty]

I like the temporary fix so you could back up your files. And I'm really glad you got them backed up. I've lost everything before. Not the happiest day in my life. I would highly suggest moving to Mac. I got mine about 4 months ago and absolutely love it. They last forever and never get the nasty stuff PCs do. Just my .02. Merry Christmas guys.

 

[petebucy4638]

I'm in a similar position, Alan, but fortunately my laptop isn't dying. It is nine years old and I upgraded the memory to the maximum of 512 MB a few years ago and replaced the hard drive when the first one started to crash. Luckily, I have a USB shadow drive that keep all of my data files and photos backed up, but this thing is getting slower and slower as new updates or resident apps clog the available memory space and it goes into paging mode. I had planned to replace it this fall with an Intel i5 core processor model, but some unexpected expenses cropped up and my family probably would have killed me if they all got $5 gift cards from me for Christmas (he, he!). So it is on the early 2011 purchase plan -- looking at another Toshiba or a Dell laptop. I just can't make the switch to a Mac because of my heavy investment in Windows-based software that I'll migrate to the new platform. Glad to hear you got your key files backed up!

I bought a new Dell laptop last year. It has four gigs of ram and a Centrino processor. It works great with Windows 7 and cost under $700.00. I also have a Dell laptop that is seven years old. It was not compatible with Windows 7 so I installed Ubuntu. It runs great with Ubuntu, letting me access the web, read my email, etc from my garage. It connects to my Wi-Fi network with ease so I can access files anywhere on the network.

My wife has a Mac. She is getting a new one in a week or two. Her company uses them for all of their offsite staff. It's ok but I really don't like it all that much. Mac's are less reliable than they would like you to belive and they are susseptable to malware just like the other platforms. Some of the software that I use, such as my CAD package is not available for a Mac. A lot of peripherals are not Mac compatible either. I think that the Mac GUI is a bit clunky too.

Pete

 

[froglips]

Finally a great use for those little clamps!

Best of luck on the new machine!

Jim

 

[JackLeg]

One word: Carbonite! :wsmile:

 

[Glennbear]

Nice use for my favorite style clamp Alan. :icon_thum

 

[cskipper]

One word: Carbonite! :wsmile:

I couldn't have said it better myself! It has saved me several times!

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

I couldn't have said it better myself! It has saved me several times!

I think Carbonite is the one my brother and his buddies in Silicon Valley really like.

Once I got it running and finished the backup, I inverted the clamp- much easier to type, although until I decide to use an even smaller clamp I am restricted to the kitchen counter instead of my easy chair like before. :gar-Bi

 

[Dudelive]

Hate to hear of computer failures this time of the year since Santa has already came.

Try this....unplug and replug the hard drive sometimes they get bad connections....you probably have already done this.

If the above don't work, remove the hard drive and place it in a ziplock bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible and put it in the freezer, yes freezer. It will not harm it what so ever, leave it in the freezer 12+ hours at least. Then remove it and check and see when you slip it back in if all works as normal without the clamp. If it does you need a hard drive and if it still acts up then you need a computer.

Dudelive

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Hate to hear of computer failures this time of the year since Santa has already came.

Try this....unplug and replug the hard drive sometimes they get bad connections....you probably have already done this.Dudelive

Yup. opened battery, HDD, and memory compartments and blew them out. Removed and reseated HDD and memory. All to no effect.

I flipped the clamp and it went on the fritz again until I got the clamp adjusted. Now it is ok and I can type more easily- my brother says there is either a bad connection or loose heat sink on the CPU, in any case a new computer is gonna happen.

Now I'm trying to come up with what I want in my new laptop. Though this will cost more than I want to pay, here is what I'm thinking:

I5 dual core processor (2.5MHz or better)
4 GB (8 max) DDR3 memory
128 or 256 GB SSD (anyone have one of these new solid state drives? Supposed to be bullet proof and lightning fast)
15" 1920 X 1080 screen
NVIDIA + Intel HD + Blu Ray
Multi R/W optical CD/DVD drive
web cam
b/g/n WIFI
Biometric finger print reader
3 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 VGA
Extended life lithium battery
multi-card reader

 

[Russ Denz]

You might want to invest (?!?:nah in a lottery ticket first; you can always use the ticket as a shim/gauge for your bandsaw blades. Merry Christmas, Cap'n.

 

[mshel]

Yup. opened battery, HDD, and memory compartments and blew them out. Removed and reseated HDD and memory. All to no effect.

I flipped the clamp and it went on the fritz again until I got the clamp adjusted. Now it is ok and I can type more easily- my brother says there is either a bad connection or loose heat sink on the CPU, in any case a new computer is gonna happen.

Now I'm trying to come up with what I want in my new laptop. Though this will cost more than I want to pay, here is what I'm thinking:

I5 dual core processor (2.5MHz or better)
4 GB (8 max) DDR3 memory
128 or 256 GB SSD (anyone have one of these new solid state drives? Supposed to be bullet proof and lightning fast)
15" 1920 X 1080 screen
NVIDIA + Intel HD + Blu Ray
Multi R/W optical CD/DVD drive
web cam
b/g/n WIFI
Biometric finger print reader
3 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 VGA
Extended life lithium battery
multi-card reader

Alan,

There are lots of mfgrs. out there that have models with most of the requirements you seek but maybe not all. ie. fingerprint reader. I saw a Hp model that had the fingerprint reader but I don't think it had the blu ray player. Anyway, you will probably want to research several and see which one gives:

1. best warranty
2. has the best customer reviews , if you care about this sort of thing.
3. has best battery life.
4. best price if this is a concern
5. expandability


Good luck
Mike

 

[Woodman2k]

Alan,
your wishlist is very similar to mine but I was wondering given the extra cost ,why you were wanting bluray capabilities in a laptop.I was planning on spending the extra money on the biggest battery I could get.Check out www.dealnews.com .They had a great deal on a Lenovo that I missed the other nite.Glad you kept it running long enough to save all your data.
Greg

 

[mquan01]

We use the big solid state drives at work and they are very fast. The prioces are dropping rapidly as more and more get installed. If you wait a year, I'm guessing you will get 8 times more space fore the same price.

 

[merrill77]

128 or 256 GB SSD (anyone have one of these new solid state drives? Supposed to be bullet proof and lightning fast)

I do - the Intel X25M - and I love it. It cut the boot time by about 75%. I bought mine purely for performance - and I found the best performance is not available pre-installed from the manufacturer (likely due to the long lead-time for OEM orders and the rapid pace of evolution of SSDs). Instead, I bought my laptop (last June) with the smallest drive available. When I got it home, I pulled out the drive and popped in the SSD (from Amazon). This means I had to re-install Win7 from scratch, which is more work, but has the advantage of getting ride of all the bloatware installed by Dell. I'd do it again!

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Alan,
your wishlist is very similar to mine but I was wondering given the extra cost ,why you were wanting bluray capabilities in a laptop.I was planning on spending the extra money on the biggest battery I could get.

We use the big solid state drives at work and they are very fast. The prioces are dropping rapidly as more and more get installed. If you wait a year, I'm guessing you will get 8 times more space fore the same price.

I'm thinking of dropping the BluRay and the SSD and putting in an 80 GB Intel SSD later. 80 should be plenty- even with all my photos, SketchUp drawings, emails, articles, etc. I'm only using 30+ GB of my 80 GB HDD now, and I will archive a massive amount of those related to my a design once it hits the market this spring. Intel claims their SSD is the best and fastest (don't they all?) their 8GB unit goes for $175 at Amazon and Best Buy.

If I thought either the SSD prices would come down drastically or a big jump in performance just around the corner, I would think about waiting, but I really can't since this machine is really on its last legs. I don't want to throw good money after bad attempting to get it fixed.