True... and I actually have a surge protector (a cheap old one from RadioShack or something). But those don't protect from power outages / brownouts, and also surge protectors can only protect so much can't they?
I did actually pick up a UPS that somebody had out in front of their house for free, but I haven't gotten around to testing how well it works and how long it'll allow my PC to run if the power goes out.
Maybe we're all talked out. I don't want to start the political stuff or the religious stuff. We've done that for quite a while. The car issues are more of Patrick's problem with money than which car is safer or more sexy. There's still news, weather, and sports...
I understand having a laptop to run on battery and keep from the lighting storms. But, you just mentioned that your desktop is outdated to play PC games. I'll just assume that it doesn't have the $200-300 video card that the expensive games require.
I'm considering buying a laptop for Sabuk. I still can't find one that has a 15.6 inch screen with higher resolution - like 1920x1080 - that's under $1200. Anything under $1000 still provides 1366x768 lines of resolution - the standard. Maybe it's not that important to have high res.
It looks like the best video card in a laptop is like a NVIDIA GTX560 . There are some better laptop cards by AMD Radeon, too. But, I'm not aware of the numbers and the prices. I guess I should see if game playing will work well enough with a 13 inch screen too. If Sabuk starts carrying it around in his backpack, it will be better to have it weigh less and last longer using the battery. Maybe a Sony Vaio 13 inch for $800 would suffice.
The main problem with buying from Newegg is that I can't check the keyboard quality or the keyboard/speaker layout. Will the 13 inch screen also make the keyboard narrow? Does the touch pad become a hassle and have the cursor move if you get near the touch pad. I need some help figuring out what I want. Also, what about heat problems while having a hotter video card and an i5 or i7. Has anyone gone thru this recently?
Yeah, there are no stores for about 40 miles other than food, gas, liquor - all the necessities are covered, but no other stuff. There is a Radio Shack in a mall in the big city. But Radio Shack doesn't cover many computers. There is a Costco. That's where I can actually get some idea of what's out there. But, they also only have a limited selection. I generally buy from Newegg or Amazon.
Both my boys have gone to the Bay Area where they'll have a chance to talk to some city dwellers about what they use at school and for gaming. I'll have to listen instead of telling them how I know it all. I've been out of the loop in electronics for 11 years - with a couple of restarts - where I had a job offer. I really couldn't catch up and fill in what new stuff has been developed in those 11 years. So, I'm staying retired. I really don't want to get back into the rat race - even though the money is quite good.
I was driving down the road outside of town one rainy afternoon. This road runs along one of the moraines in Lemont. Anywho, I'm driving along and lightning struck a tree not 20 feet away from me and I swear my car started to stumble because the EM pulse was screwing with the electronics of the car. After a few hesitations it was fine.
It's not half-crippled, it just runs in default (un-zippy) mode until those error codes are reset from the memory - either by you or by the dealer - get a manual, save money. You'd still be able to drive home. If lightning hit your car directly, I imagine you and all the wires in the car would be toast. The car isn't 'grounded' thru the rubber tires. Rubber is not a conductor. The car is just a piece of conducting metal with you inside it. The lightning would still go into ground thru the car and it's tires. I bet it would heat everything up. When lightning strikes a non-conducting person in the head, he conducts most of those static electrons to ground thru his body. The main issue is that lightning finds the best conductor to ground in the immediate area. If that's your car, you just conducted way more electrons then your body can handle.
Something keeps screwing up the computer in my brothers Chrysler Cirrus. He's had the firmware reflashed, it died again, he's had it replaced with a used one, died again. Now he has a new one installed, time will tell.
I'd check for a faulty cap on the computer power lines. There's a lot of noise from the spark plugs that could blast the firmware chip if the caps aren't doing their job. Also, a loose/corroded computer ground wire could do that kind of damage. I'd start there, then get the scope out. The dealer usually does that approach, from what I've seen.
Comments
I did actually pick up a UPS that somebody had out in front of their house for free, but I haven't gotten around to testing how well it works and how long it'll allow my PC to run if the power goes out.
I'm considering buying a laptop for Sabuk. I still can't find one that has a 15.6 inch screen with higher resolution - like 1920x1080 - that's under $1200. Anything under $1000 still provides 1366x768 lines of resolution - the standard. Maybe it's not that important to have high res.
It looks like the best video card in a laptop is like a NVIDIA GTX560 . There are some better laptop cards by AMD Radeon, too. But, I'm not aware of the numbers and the prices. I guess I should see if game playing will work well enough with a 13 inch screen too. If Sabuk starts carrying it around in his backpack, it will be better to have it weigh less and last longer using the battery. Maybe a Sony Vaio 13 inch for $800 would suffice.
The main problem with buying from Newegg is that I can't check the keyboard quality or the keyboard/speaker layout. Will the 13 inch screen also make the keyboard narrow? Does the touch pad become a hassle and have the cursor move if you get near the touch pad. I need some help figuring out what I want. Also, what about heat problems while having a hotter video card and an i5 or i7. Has anyone gone thru this recently?
Both my boys have gone to the Bay Area where they'll have a chance to talk to some city dwellers about what they use at school and for gaming. I'll have to listen instead of telling them how I know it all. I've been out of the loop in electronics for 11 years - with a couple of restarts - where I had a job offer. I really couldn't catch up and fill in what new stuff has been developed in those 11 years. So, I'm staying retired. I really don't want to get back into the rat race - even though the money is quite good.
I'd start there, then get the scope out. The dealer usually does that approach, from what I've seen.