The General thread for Computers And Internet

[Foggy]

I do hope you're not suggesting I replace the SSD in the machine I bought three days ago.

In any case, I am a firm believer in the philosophy that all manly red-blooded American men are taught from the cradle, which is:

IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT.

I also recognize the contradiction there, because any manly red-blooded American man will tell you that you also have to disassemble and reassemble all your possessions, or you won't understand how they work.

But the bottom line is, if it passes the full suite of extended hardware diagnostic tools, then I am going to not just keep it, it is going to be my best machine, and I'm not gonna fiddle with the SSD.

I don't usually like to endorse products on Fogbow, but I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad, a 14". I have one already that's a 17", and it has worked like a champ for more than four years, and I still have a year on the warranty on that one. However, the new one is faster and better in many ways, and it weighs less than half as much as its big brother.

These hardware diagnostic tests take about nine and a half hours to complete.

But more will be revealed, in the results.

[Foggy]

Here's a weird one, Lenovo warns you that the laptop can get very hot. And I religiously use a laptop cooling pad, but the machine comes with a specific warning:

Extended contact with your body, even through clothing, may cause a skin burn.

Okay, I promise to be careful. But notice what it isn't saying:

The amount of heat needed to burn your skin through your clothes is not enough heat to damage the computer, apparently, or wouldn't that be part of the warning?

Extended contact with your body, even through clothing, may cause a skin burn, and the computer will be fried, and all your data is swirling down the drain, you poor pathetic loser. Hope it doesn't burn your house down.

Or, y'know, sumpin' like that.

As I interpret that, this laptop can get super hot and still be okay.

But not using a cooling pad under it is against my religion.

[RTH10260]

Many many years ago, like 40, I was made aware of a mainframe computer manufacturers contract. It listed about everything that is was onced sued over

[Foggy]

Yabbut, that was the lawyers, not the computer guys. When you write a contract, it's helpful to anticipate anything that can go wrong, and write what your preferred solution is. The best contract lawyer is the lady who thought of something that could go horribly wrong that you didn't, and it came true, and her contract saved the day because she saw it coming. That's a rare talent, and there are lots of lawyers who just copy and paste a lot of boilerplate crap in there.

[keith]

Yeah, it's not immediately clear, even when perusing the BIOS settings, how I would check the settings on the storage reclaim timer, or what those settings should be, or how I would turn off indexing on my SSD, or change any settings at all on the SSD.

So instead, I am running the extended hardware diagnostic tools that came with the machine, which will check each and every aspect of the hardware. If it passes that, I won't need to change any SSD settings anyway.

There are utilities to do that. I'll do some googling when I get to a keyboard and mouse device.

ETA. This isnt a utility, but it discusses the stuff for Win10. W11 may be smarter already.

How to optimise an SSD


ETA2.. this one may be better 13 ways to optimise your SSD for Windows 11

[Reality Check]

Has anyone tried a mini PC yet? I use my 2013 vintage HP Envy laptop connected to a Samsung TV with a wireless mouse and keyboard about 99% of the time. I do not travel much any longer. The laptop is too old to be upgrade to Windows 11. I extended the usable life by installing a 500 GB SSD a few years ago but it is about time to replace it with something.

This seems like a good application for a mini PC. It would be small enough to pack up when we go to Colorado from Floriduh for the summer. I do that with my laptop now. I have a suitable TV, mouse and KB at our place in CO so I would just have to take the mini and the power brick. There seems to be a wide price range on the mini PC's. I do not do gaming so I don't think I need a high end one but I want something solid and reliable.

[Foggy]

I will look at the SSD stuff sometime, right now I'm out the door.

New machine passed all tests, or that's what it wants me to think.

That stopcode Thursday night was FAKE NEWS.

[Foggy]

Has anyone tried a mini PC yet?

I did once, but it was so long ago my experience wouldn't be relevant today. In 2010 they were unusably slow.

Here's my biggest consideration for anything I'm going to be using a lot: What's the keyboard like? I need a keyboard for anything that runs Windows. I hate laptop keyboards, I could never use one without resting my thumbs on the little touchpad, which is a living nightmare. I have wired, wireless, gaming, and Bluetooth keyboards, nobody can make me use the laptop touchscreen either.

[neonzx]

I will look at the SSD stuff sometime, right now I'm out the door.

New machine passed all tests, or that's what it wants me to think.

That stopcode Thursday night was FAKE NEWS.

I am still sticking with you pissed off the AI (ghost in the machine-- Sydney). Payback is a bitch. Stop yelling at the poor computer and that will not happen.

[Flatpoint High]

last year, I bought a new MacBook Pro for use with my streaming - I now use it almost exclusively while my 2015 MBP sits there as a my back up/share screen.

[Reality Check]

I did once, but it was so long ago my experience wouldn't be relevant today. In 2010 they were unusably slow.

Here's my biggest consideration for anything I'm going to be using a lot: What's the keyboard like? I need a keyboard for anything that runs Windows. I hate laptop keyboards, I could never use one without resting my thumbs on the little touchpad, which is a living nightmare. I have wired, wireless, gaming, and Bluetooth keyboards, nobody can make me use the laptop touchscreen either.

I was thinking something like this. They do not come with a monitor, mouse, or keyboard. Most of them will hang on the back of the monitor.

Edit: I noticed this one only has 2.4 GHz WiFi so I would not buy it. There are many of these available now.

Here is a high end mini:

[MN-Skeptic]

I hate laptop keyboards, I could never use one without resting my thumbs on the little touchpad, which is a living nightmare.

I hate laptop touchpads too. That's why I DISABLE the touchpad and use a mouse.

I imagine that disabling the touchpad is a standard option for most laptops. I could do it on my old Toshiba laptop and I've done it on my new HP Envy laptop.

For me, I require a full size numeric keypad which limits my laptop choices. Fortunately, my HP Envy does have a full size numeric keypad. It doesn't have any kind of indicator - a light or an icon - which tells me if I have NumLock on, but I'm learning to deal with that.

[neonzx]

I hate laptop keyboards, I could never use one without resting my thumbs on the little touchpad, which is a living nightmare.

I hate laptop touchpads too. That's why I DISABLE the touchpad and use a mouse.

It's an easy setting to switch it off.

[qbawl]

I hate laptop keyboards, I could never use one without resting my thumbs on the little touchpad, which is a living nightmare.

I hate laptop touchpads too. That's why I DISABLE the touchpad and use a mouse.

I imagine that disabling the touchpad is a standard option for most laptops. I could do it on my old Toshiba laptop and I've done it on my new HP Envy laptop.

For me, I require a full size numeric keypad which limits my laptop choices. Fortunately, my HP Envy does have a full size numeric keypad. It doesn't have any kind of indicator - a light or an icon - which tells me if I have NumLock on, but I'm learning to deal with that.

I've used a track pad so long now I'm not sure I would know how to use a mouse any more. I use Macs exclusively and their track pads and multi finger gestures are excellent. Not saying that some Windows laptops don't have excellent track pads also, just that the good ones can be hard to find and a lot of them are pure crap.

[tek]

Keyboards are intensely personal.

Back in the old days, I swore by full-travel mechanical clicky keyboards (typically Cherry keys).. but hadn't had one for quite a long time... I bought a modern Cherry-based mechanical keyboard - and it lasted about 5 hours before I put it on the shelf forever. Yuck.

My current favorite is the Logitech K740-like keyboards.. full-size, short travel, with keypad.

Mostly I do my real work on my desktop with three monitors. If I ever have to do much work on my laptop, I use an external keyboard. Sometimes an external monitor as well.

[humblescribe]

MN-Skeptic:

I too love the numeric keypad on laptops. Lenovo's laptops have a small green light on the "NUMLOCK" key. Might consider checking out their models the next time you are in the market.

[Foggy]

Keyboards are intensely personal.

Werd.

I am typing this post on a weird ergonomic keyboard/vertical mouse combo that I bought for ol' Wifehorn for Christmas. She likes the vertical mouse, but absolutely refused to use the keyboard. So I finally got her a vertical mouse that isn't part of a keyboard/mouse combo (i.e., one dongle).

But typing on this thing is a pain in the butt. I have hit the WIN key and started the computer settings thingy while writing this post, and made a buncvh of typing errors.

'Course, I'm also on an old HP Envy Desktop and using a projector instead of a monitor. A little harder to see.

[neonzx]

Speaking of keyboards, are those tilted/slanted "ergonomic" keyboards from the 90s-2000-ish still a thing? I think Microsoft started that short trend but it never truly got off the ground and just died.

[Foggy]

No, nobody uses those now.

[Foggy]

Remember I told y'all that Spectrum (used to be Time Warner Cable) has been getting more and more desperate for us to switch?

Today's ultra special so special really special offer was: MBPS Internet. Excellent price, and that's what you get: Megabits per second internet.




Yanno, some companies would tell you how many Mbps they were offering. That's like Ford Motorcar Company telling you their new truck has an MPH engine in it. How many miles per hour will it go?

Well, hopefully more than one or two.

I swear, I almost called the number just to ask about MBPS Internet. That's some special kinda internet, I betcha.

[keith]

No, nobody uses those now.

Don't call me nobody.

They're the bestest keyboard ever and I hate it when I have to go back to some stone age flat straight keyboard.

Except that the letters aren't moulded in - they're just decals that wear off and are hard as buggery to find replacements for.

ETA: M$Soft Ergo 4000

I'll probably be forced to try one of the new versions when this one dies and joins my previous one on the museum shelf, but they look kinda weird. I suppose I'll get used to it.

[pipistrelle]

No, nobody uses those now.

Don't call me nobody.

They're the bestest keyboard ever and I hate it when I have to go back to some stone age flat straight keyboard.

Except that the letters aren't moulded in - they're just decals that wear off and are hard as buggery to find replacements for.

ETA: M$Soft Ergo 4000

I'll probably be forced to try one of the new versions when this one dies and joins my previous one on the museum shelf, but they look kinda weird. I suppose I'll get used to it.

Co-worker has a similar one, so two nobodies.

[northland10]

Keyboards are intensely personal.

Back in the old days, I swore by full-travel mechanical clicky keyboards (typically Cherry keys).. but hadn't had one for quite a long time... I bought a modern Cherry-based mechanical keyboard - and it lasted about 5 hours before I put it on the shelf forever. Yuck.

My current favorite is the Logitech K740-like keyboards.. full-size, short travel, with keypad.

Mostly I do my real work on my desktop with three monitors. If I ever have to do much work on my laptop, I use an external keyboard. Sometimes an external monitor as well.

This is my favorite keyboard folks. It is the old PS2 patent that was sold.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/SFNT

I had 2. The Classic 101 version ended up with something broken on the underside of the key (not sure what and I did not bother to send it in for repair). The New Model M has worked great for me for years.

I love the noisy thing.

[sugar magnolia]

No, nobody uses those now.

Don't call me nobody.

They're the bestest keyboard ever and I hate it when I have to go back to some stone age flat straight keyboard.

Except that the letters aren't moulded in - they're just decals that wear off and are hard as buggery to find replacements for.

ETA: M$Soft Ergo 4000

I'll probably be forced to try one of the new versions when this one dies and joins my previous one on the museum shelf, but they look kinda weird. I suppose I'll get used to it.

A white-out or white paint pen works just fine. A thin layer of clear nail polish makes it last even longer.

[Foggy]

No, nobody uses those now.

Don't call me nobody.

Co-worker has a similar one, so two nobodies.

It was a joke, because of what neonzx wrote.

Go back and look. Here's what happened:

1. I said I was using an ergonomic keyboard.

I am typing this post on a weird ergonomic keyboard/vertical mouse combo that I bought for ol' Wifehorn for Christmas.

2. Neonzx responded to my post. He was wondering if anyone is still using ergonomic keyboards.

Speaking of keyboards, are those tilted/slanted "ergonomic" keyboards from the 90s-2000-ish still a thing?

3. So instead of saying, "Didn’t you read my post?" or some other snarky reply, I decided to just shine him on. By saying "No, nobody uses those now." Which meant, if you took it literally, that I was just plain lying when I said - in the immediately preceding post - that I was, in actual fact, using an ergonomic keyboard to type my post.

4. I thought it was a clever and low-key response, to just shine him on like that. But I didn't mean for anybody else to take it seriously, because I said already that I am using an ergonomic keyboard, and I plan to continue using it.

I'm glad we had this little talk. I apologize for causing confusion.