General computer talk/advice

My school uses Acer TravelMate's as school laptops, and I really like mine actually. They feel solid, other than some easily scratched surfaces. I'm not entirely sure what the specs are, but it has some sort of i5 with hyperthreading that runs at 2.5Ghz. It's a pain to not have admin rights though.

 

Maybe they have learned to make them better and they don't fail after warranty runs out, I remember one model had really nice screen, you could easily use it outside on sunny day too, haven't seen such in many laptops of lower price class.

I have experience from 90's to bit after Vista was released, I guess it has been a while in computer world since Vista was released, but also I did notice different brands had different ways of cutting costs and learned to avoid certain brands based on that.

Anything meant for home users from any brand was a warning sign to stay clear of.

 

Beats, hah. Junk. Beats headphones if you dismantle them are cheap Chinese headphones with a low pass filter. Low pass filters flatten highs. They then stick higher strength magnets in the speakers to boost volume a bit in compensation. End result is just a bass boosted headphone. It's the same for beats laptops, they're just bass boosting. Nothing fancy. If you rewire beats headphones to not have their compensation they should sound a bit better actually, but will reveal where they are not proper high end headphones befitting their cost but generic el cheapo stuff. It's just with most music out today, particularly with the beats target audience, bass is prominent and so by boosting it a little it fools target market into thinking this is great gear, but you go play a non bass heavy track and they sound like garbage, non bass heavy track and the internals modified and they sound like generic cheapness.

There are much better headphones for the money out there, headphones with a good response across the full range.

 

I never had problems with my hp laptop its a solid lump of aluminum and it fell down quite alot and it still works. I had alot more problems with my asus pro64j that was dead soon after the waranty ran out it overheated and killed the graphics card

 

My experience with laptops is that all cheap laptops are flimsy and likely to break regardless of brand. Whereas if you are spending considerable amounts of money pretty much all the brands make solid products.

I think the issue is that the low end laptops segment is ultra competitive, therefore all the brands try to cram as much hardware as into the laptops, since people will often choose highest spec for the price. The result of this is that they have to cut corners elsewhere that doesn't influence which product someone buys. Build quality will often be the second corner cut only beaten by using cheap components, for example the cheapest 500gb hard drive on the market with the cheapest 8gb of ram available.

So if you want a laptop to last spending more money and going for a fully solid state device are probably two of the better options. And obviously there are exceptions for what I have said.



Then again, this is coming from someone who has been using a cheap Windows tablet (originally £100, after all discounts and selling MS Office keys it was about £40). While the hardware has its issues such as light spots in the screen where components have been pressed into the back of it and a creaky build quality, it hasn't had a single failure. Since it was a cheap brand it didn't come with any bloat ware installed. The only issues I have had with it are the OS which seems to have many small glitches. I imagine a Windows reinstall would probably fix a lot of that though.

 

Meh, that laptop is still better than the other one, which frankly is a tinny mess.(well compared to the beats one, that doesn't sound as good as my Bluetooth speaker anyway.)

My uncle buys new beats every so often and he gave us some old ones, which went immediately to my brother as me and my dad wouldn't use them. He wanted them for the "fashion"...

Also, this stuff about HPs dying after a year, how do you explain that my E2-1800 one has lasted 4 years? And our old C2D one that's currently 10 years old?
Those 2 laptops I was on about in the original post are also 2 years old, albeit the A8 one having keyboard and trackpad wear they're both just fine.

 

Hello,
Any of you guys know computer peripherals store (that sell gaming headsets, mic, etc.) in Italy?
If yes, could you please recommend a good one?
Thanks a lot :3

 

If you need brick and mortar stores, look up electronics stores and computer stores. Their selection is likely to be bad, but that's their fault. Otherwise, buy online.

 

If its anything like anywhere else in the world the physical shops will likely be more expensive, however most of them (at least in the UK, so check the local ones) will price match so make sure you check online prices too since you may be able to get a discount in store if you ask them to price match a competitor. If you need to find out which ones exist in your country searching for electronics stores on Google Maps is probably the best way to find ones that are near to you.

 

Amazon or microcenter.

 

Microcenter is America only. Read what they're asking

 

would something like this be good for beaming?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFvDfUjuO8
I have this old acer aspire that I want to turn into a gaming pc. I was going to replace everything exept the optical drive and some other small parts. what do you think?

 

If you're going to do that, why not build entirely new? Often, prebuilt computers use non-standard form factors, making things more complicated.

 

I've been saying this for years. I'm not going to mince words and just say they are crappy headphones marketed towards people who listen to hip hop and spend 300 dollars on a pair of Jordans. The best headphone for 100 usd is the sennheiser hd280 and it's a real set of monitoring phones. These will blow a 400 dollar set of beats out of the water.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-...K7SC_szgZqvCsc2DJOoBCgEAE13N-SBTZkaAnsJ8P8HAQ

 

Well, the best is what sounds best to an individuals ears, equally I doubt you have heard every set of headphones on the market. However there is no doubt that Sennheiser make very nice headphones. Personally I don't think there is such thing as a best pair of headphones since everyone's ear canals are shaped differently (although CIEM's will 'fix' that issue [if you are willing to sell a kidney]) and therefore every set of headphones will sound different to everyone, equally different people do have different tastes and needs, for example open back headphones will often offer a far greater sound stage but everyone else in the room will also hear what's being played almost as clearly as the listener.

My advice would be go to a shop with a suitable audio source for what you are buying and start plugging the headphones in and see which you like the most. Failing that reviews are great, but as proven by the above headphones not everyone agrees and some pairs are like Marmite. Plus many of the bigger tech websites have literally no idea how to review a pair of headphone and barely even touch on how they actually sound.
The headfi buyers guides tend to be pretty good though, just expect to do a fair bit of scrolling past super expensive stuff: http://www.head-fi.org/atype/7/2016_Holiday_Buying_Guide

 

I just use kingston hyper x cloud 2's. I like them, theyre slightly lacking in bass but I like them and that can usually be software EQ'ed.


I dont bother with full high end audiophile stuff. Why? Deformed ear canal yo. I almost qualify for hearing aids on NHS.

 

I like my HX Cloud IIs. They sound pretty nice to me and I find them really comfortable so they're perfect as my main headphones.

I don't care how the mic is pretty compressed sounding, it only really matters that it's there as I don't do voiceover or anything, pretty much only used for speaking to other people.

 

I don't like open back for that very reason. I use my headphones for everything from casual listening to recording in a studio environment. The 280's sound as good to me as any open backs, and the isolation beats my mother's active bose headphones. Beyerdynamics makes a great pair for about 200, but again for mixing work I wouldn't even bother considering how flat the 280's are. If the mix sounds good on those it will sound good on 80 percent of sound systems in existence. Of course I've only used half a dozen or so brands and there are several dozens so I guess make a list lol.

 

Anyone able to give an objective rating to the Apple earpods, heard such mixed things. Except I'll never hear as they dont remotely fit my ear

 

Personally I preferred to listen through as many different audio systems as possible when I used to do audio stuff. Its incredible how different different devices sound, for example something that might sound amazing through my Logitech z5500 speakers (very not pro audio) will sound like trash when listened to through DT100's or my EPH-100's. Many people seem to swear by playing their mixes every time they travel in their car since that is what most people will hear.
I also find that often I will listen to a song through my speakers and will judge the song based on that. For example when I heard Muzzy's most recent album I thought it was a bit naff. Couple months down the line I hear one of the songs in a compilation album through my headphones and realised that it is actually very good, just that it sounds crap through those more consumer oriented speakers.

Personally I have never got on with over or on ear headphones, I have never worn a pair that I found comfy for longer than an hour or two. So I have always been a big fan of IEM's and love my EPH-100's even if condensation can form inside them in bad weather and even if the metal parts of them give me electric shocks when plugged into my phone in a phone charger (modern phone chargers tend to have live ground planes due to switching power supplies to make them more efficient, side result is that anything metal that is correctly grounded that you plug into them can give mild electric 'fizzing' feeling when touched, however it feels less mild inside the ear canal So the shocks are a result of them being correctly grounded and all metal headphones will do the same :/)