Author Topic: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!  (Read 254239 times)

Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #555 on: September 11, 2014, 09:47:40 PM »
Yeah, I probably wouldn't sink any more money into it at this point. You could probably replace the fans without too much fuss, but with laptops at that age I always worry about what's going to go wrong next. That 4GB limitation is pretty harsh, too. As far as the SSD goes, you're probably limited to 3Gb/s SATA, so while it'll definitely be a nice boost you're not going to be able to see its full potential.

And honestly, I'd give up on the idea of getting a simple system for one big reason: cooling. I don't know why, but the concept of having proper cooling seems to have escaped many laptop manufacturers. Not sure if I posted specifics (and I'm too lazy to scroll up) but the laptop that I replaced with the ASUS had an i7 and a GT 650m sharing a single heat pipe and fan. Even laptops without discrete video get far hotter than they should because the thermal design is terrible.

Strange as it may sound, I would probably recommend getting a low-end gaming laptop. Look for a last-gen ASUS ROG (the one that I bought is clearly an older model, since it came with Windows 8 -- not 8.1 -- and uses a GeForce 7-series instead of an 8-series). Odds are it won't break the bank and it'll run nice and cool for you. Just to give you an idea of how it would compare to a "normal" laptop, I bought the last-gen ROG for the same price as an HP ENVY 17, which had less RAM, a slower CPU, onboard video, a single drive bay, and was widely reported to overheat on the good ol' Intertubes.

When I was looking to replace the Dell I explicitly did not want a gaming laptop. I only bought one because it was amazingly cheap and perfectly matched my basic needs (decent processor, 8GB+ of RAM, 1080p screen).

Another option is to get a mid-range business machine, or an older high-end workstation. I saw a Dell Precision on Newegg (I think it was an M4600...it was using a Sandy Bridge i7) for $400. I use an M4800 at work and it's a fantastic laptop. LunarKeys is using a last-gen HP EliteBook (same class as the Precision), per my recommendation, and as far as I can tell he really likes it.

Another thing that I would look into is whether you'd want a single drive or a dual drive system. If you're taking an external HDD with you when you perform to store assets, it might be in your best interest to get a larger laptop with two drive bays, that way you can couple a fast SSD with a large HDD to get the best of both worlds (this is the approach that I like to take). If you're paranoid about data integrity and redundancy, you can pop two HDDs in and put them on a RAID 1 mirror, which will give you a bit of a speed boost over just one and prevent you from being SOL if one of your hard drives shits the bed. It gives you a bit more flexibility with the downside of basically requiring you to choose a 17" model. That would be pretty bulky compared to your U80a. :)

tl;dr LAPTOPS R KOOL
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Bobbias

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #556 on: September 14, 2014, 01:37:32 AM »
Edit: Well, the laptop is pretty awesome. Windows 8.1 was a pain in the dick to get installed (it doesn't pull in Windows 8 OEM keys properly, so you have to do a ton of dicking around to get it to work just like you do if you want to make it pleasant to use on a non-touchscreen system [and people wonder why my main system is now an iMac]). I used to praise Windows 8 for how it handled OEM keys, but apparently Microsoft saw fit to break the one thing that Windows 8 truly did well. GG.

Really? I'm running 8.1 on this and had no trouble getting 8.1 in. Had a limited budget because I've got no job. I happened to have money from working an election here.

As for temperatures, I've got a cheap-ass cooling pad and sitting on that thing running D3 for hours only brings core temps up to ~64 max (and that's when the room temperature is somewhat warm, it'll probably be lower soon now that things are getting colder here).

Speakers are stuck on the bottom at the front where it kinda curves upward so everything is muffled, and the headphone jack is a a 2-in-1 headset jack. I use grado SR120s, and they have a quarter inch jack on them and directly plugging in via an adapter ends up putting too much stress on the jack (heavy cord, plus like 2 inches of adapter sticking out), so I have a 1/8 inch extension to reduce strain on whatever I'm plugging into. For some reason now (either the jack sucks or my extension cord is crap) it's really touchy and if the cord isn't sitting right my right ear cuts out :/ And to make things worse, the jack is on the right side, and basically has to drape over my mouse hand.

Aside from that I guess the only thing I'm disappointed in with this laptop is the 4gb of ram. I was really hoping I could find something in my price range that had 6gb of ram, but the very few that were would have required sacrificing something else for the extra ram.
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Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #557 on: September 14, 2014, 03:28:30 AM »
Really? I'm running 8.1 on this and had no trouble getting 8.1 in.

Did you do it from a fresh install or an upgrade? Windows 8.1 won't do a fresh install without a liberal amount of dicking around on a system with a Windows 8 hardware key. Upgrades work fine across the board.

The part that literally makes no sense is that you can't install it with the hardware key (which you have to extract by poking ACPI or by ripping it from the factory install before you nuke it, might I add), but if you install it with the released generic keys and then change your key to the hardware key it works great.

It slays me. It was a good system that Microsoft completely fucked beyond belief because why the hell not. Then again, considering this is the same company that thinks that having a giant, fullscreen start menu on a high resolution display without a touchscreen is a good idea, I shouldn't be surprised.
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Bobbias

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #558 on: September 14, 2014, 01:35:48 PM »
Ahh, I upgraded.

As for the start menu, yeah, they kinda messed up, but honestly, anyone who wasn't making use of the ability to start programs by typing the name (or part of it) hasn't been making proper use of the start menu since vista. With the type to search functionality the rest of the start menu is essentially deprecated anyway.

Seriously, that feature is by far one of the best decisions microsoft made.

But yeah, I wish I had the money for something a bit better than this. It's an improvement over the previous one I had, but 4gb ram really isn't much these days, and the HD4000 is not exactly a powerful GPU :<
« Last Edit: September 14, 2014, 01:38:46 PM by Bobbias »
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Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #559 on: September 15, 2014, 10:42:53 AM »
That's how I've used the start menu since Vista, but that doesn't excuse taking up the entire screen with massive tiles. It makes it an absolute nightmare to use on a large display (my gaming PC is hooked up to my TV), high resolution display (I used to run Boot Camp on my iMac, which has a 2560x1440 display), or a trackpad (my laptop and the aforementioned iMac). They took something that would require either centimeters of movement or predictable arrow keys into a huge grid that requires inches of movement and a haphazardly sorted grid. Furthermore, you have to wait for animations and tweens before you get your results, and I hope you don't have to refer to anything in the background when you're doing your search, because you ain't gonna be able to see it!

I wouldn't even be openly hostile about the start screen if it actually fucking worked (and didn't require you to monopolize one of your screens in order to see them). Live Tiles are nice when they actually work, but half of the times they refuse to update, and this has been an issue since the first release of Windows Phone 7. Sometimes they "update" to old data, sometimes they just stay there, sometimes they show the wrong data, and occasionally they actually work how they should.

The hilarious part is that Windows Vista/7 widgets generally worked just fine. Go figure.
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Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #560 on: November 12, 2014, 12:40:01 PM »
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2014/11/12/net-core-is-open-source.aspx

I just shit my pants. MIT license, too. Not bad, Microsoft!
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vladgd

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #561 on: December 03, 2014, 02:09:01 PM »
Let's update this situation shall we...

Scheduled a doctor appointment in like October, it went very poorly. She pretty much rejected me a prescription until I fully present as a woman like right fucking now and come out to everybody I know personally and professionally. Basically that's fucking crazy, and no doctor is going to tell me how to live my life, so fuck that.

That fucked me up emotionally for a while...then I scheduled another appointment which was to happen today, which I just got done with. This doctor seemed to be on the same page as my counselor, which is a good thing, and I got along a lot better with this one. Fast forward to like 10 minutes ago, I popped my first estrogens. Gonna do another checkup in like two months to see what other stuff they want me on.

Basically 3 things can happen now. The best thing that could happen is that these pills I am taking are going to fuck me up and I am going to hate them, and I am going to quit. Then I can legitimately quit, and KNOW FOR A FACT that this bullshit isn't for me. Neutral would be I like the effects and attempt to go lady mode or whatever the fuck I plan on doing. Bad would be not having an answer in like 2 months.

One moment life is going normal, then some weird goddamn shit pops up. Weird year, 2014.

Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #562 on: December 03, 2014, 08:11:38 PM »
Wow, that first doctor sounded like kind of an ass. I get that taking an aggressive hard line could possibly help certain rare people make their minds up, but that's absolutely not a one size fits all solution. All it really does is put a ridiculous amount of pressure on you, on top of all the other shit. It kind of strikes me as more of a deflection tactic than anything else. :\ I'm glad you had a better experience with the second doctor, at least!
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vladgd

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #563 on: December 03, 2014, 09:06:23 PM »
This is how I see it, for both doctors, seeing a therapist is REQUIRED. Now if a damn therapist gives me the OK, it's no longer the doctors say whether I am mentally ok to take hormones or not, their job is to make sure im physically well for it. I motherfuckin had like 20 hours of sessions with a therapist, I think I know just about everything estrogen can do to a person at this point. Second doc couldn't understand why I was treated the way I was from the first doc, and from what I gather from my therapist, she's not going to be sending patients to that doc for those reasons anymore.

I suppose not everybody is all up to date with current trans treatment. Plus like for male to female, the stuff im getting isn't really strictly regulated or even possible to abuse at all. I could have went YOLO and bought the stuff online if I wanted, but then I wouldn't be knowing the proper dose, or my hormone levels or any of that stuff.

I got no idea when any effects of this stuff will start popping up, I hear from a few weeks to a month or so. I feel weird now, but it's probably just placebo from me waiting months to finally start this stuff.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2014, 09:09:07 PM by vladgd »

Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #564 on: December 05, 2014, 03:01:09 PM »
Yeah, that is a very valid point. The doctors writing your prescriptions aren't exactly trained to analyze what's going on in your head. And yeah, the way you did it is definitely the best one--no sense taking changes, after all!--it's a shame that the first doctor was stepping way out of bounds. That's a really great way to lose referrals, and I'm glad your therapist is taking a stance against that sort of treatment.
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vladgd

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #565 on: December 08, 2014, 09:37:50 PM »
This did not take very long, I think I am done with this trans stuff, it's not me. Now, I NEEDED to go through with the hormones, because it simply wasn't possible to get the proper perspective without them, even without any effect from such a short period of time.

But I think this 10 month journey may be done. Not 100%, but, I know what I am now, and that's something I didn't have until now. I hope none of y'all have to go through with this.

Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #566 on: December 09, 2014, 09:18:20 AM »
At least it was beneficial for you in the long run. I'm glad you were at least able to get some perspective out of the experience. I can't even imagine having that kind of uncertainty hanging over my head. :x
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vladgd

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #567 on: December 09, 2014, 03:17:58 PM »
Ive gained a lot from the whole experience, whether I transitioned or not wasn't even really the focus, it's just a byproduct of the feelings. I still don't have a proper label for what kind of person I am. I got perspective, more comfortable with myself, im more empathetic, ive made friends, got closer to current friends/family, it's been positive.

I can't be cisgendered, but I don't strongly identify with transgendereds either...I'll just use "mostly cis" until I can think of better. Even though cis is an absolute thing, think of a better term and I'll use it :)

Spectere

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #568 on: December 09, 2014, 03:51:03 PM »
Meh, screw absolute labels. :) It would be boring if humans were binary.
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vladgd

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Re: You couldn't ask for a lamer topic!
« Reply #569 on: December 22, 2014, 06:30:41 PM »
Being binary would be so much easier! This stuff isn't yet over, but I suppose I have a few years in me before it's too late for them pills.

Currently ATTEMPTING to workout...again...for the 5323th time. Current plan is pretty basic. Lift mon/wed/fri, squat/bench/deadlift. 30-60 minutes of cardio as close to every day as possible, just low intensity on a treadmill while fucking about on my tablet or playing vidya, but fast enough to work up a sweat. Apparently a lot of people do low/medium intensity cardio while watching tv/playing vidya/dicking around on the computer, it's a good way to forget about the cardio and make it go by faster.

I really need to look into how far I could go in the female direction, whilst attempting to attain a fit male physique. Without looking like one of those awkward tumblr abominations. Yknow those folk with the skirts and the makeup, and the FULL BEARD...like..no..plz...no...

I don't know, fit andro looking person? Shouldn't worry about that until I obtain that fitness I have been trying to acquire for several years now...that I would have had if I didn't stop what I was doing. Protip, doing anything > doing nothing.