technology

[theetruscan]

ok, after much research,deliberation and vacillation, i just ordered THIS Could have bought the MacBook air but this is more powerful. Could have bought the retina MBP but this is lighter & smaller, and i need to run windows. ...I hope I made the right decision....

The Air screen is more pleasant to look at, but the resolution is lacking. The retina display screen is in another league.

For me, the big issue with the sony was the keyboard. If you're ok with the keyboard, you're fine. But, I use my laptop ~12 hours a day, so I'm picky.

[endorphinz]

@lowery:
thought you were gonna wait? . im glad you're happy with it. it's nice to have the latest tech; even if it only is the latest for a month. Good luck with the machine!

I'm pretty excited. the Sony seems to have everything I want. it's a bit expensive but it does pack a lot of stuff. I hope the build quality is up to the air. Ya really can't tell by handling it in a store.

and, as I said I played with the retina MBP. it is indeed beautiful but IMO not really in another league. it wound have been nicer if it were matte.

[endorphinz]

went to the Microsoft Windows Update page to see how to upgrade to win 8 when it's released. not sure I would but wanted to see how to do it.

I'm on my iPhone ( I have no computer). This is what I saw. talk about petty.

[Urthwhyte]

Won a retina MBP in a programming competition last night - screen is quite nice, but nothing that would convince me a first generation Apple product is worth the investment. Really not a huge difference in weight between this and my old 15" MBP either; if you're on the fence, wait.

[darkbydesign]

The new MBPs are awesome and blazing fast.

Here's a NYC question. So, I just moved here and my AT&T iPhone coverage BLOWS. I'm in the middle of Manhattan but it just loses coverage completely, even in my apartment which is a corner unit with plenty of open space.

Is Verizon coverage any better? My IPad suggests yes, but how can AT&T be this bad? It was questionable in SF, but I lived in an old building. Here it's like a 5 / 100 if you ask me. Pretty unacceptable.

[Urthwhyte]

Pretty sure AT&T spectrum in Manhattan is the band that has trouble with building penetration and they've had endless trouble because of it.

iPad antenna is significantly larger IIRC, so it's not apples-to-apples; your best bet would be to borrow someone else's phone for a day and see what sort of reception you get in the places you frequent.

[Faust]

Verizon is the best in NYC, yes. Having said that, I don't have trouble with ATT cell signal (but then again, I have no reason to be in Midtown). Their 4G is another story though

[darkbydesign]

^^Thanks for the advice guys. Also good point on the IPad vs IPhone antenna. Didn't think about that....... Guess I'll have to check out Verizon IPhone like you suggested to make sure.

Yeah-it's the 4G is very inconsistent, which can be annoying.

[Tafkap]

The new MBPs are awesome and blazing fast.

Here's a NYC question. So, I just moved here and my AT&T iPhone coverage BLOWS. I'm in the middle of Manhattan but it just loses coverage completely, even in my apartment which is a corner unit with plenty of open space.

Is Verizon coverage any better? My IPad suggests yes, but how can AT&T be this bad? It was questionable in SF, but I lived in an old building. Here it's like a 5 / 100 if you ask me. Pretty unacceptable.

i have att and when i moved to new york i had AWFUL service with my crackberry and iphone. But even worse, I had an ATT wifi card and it was downright unusable at times. I now know where my calls drop and where they don't. Certain areas are just dead areas. I remember I had a place in the Lower East Side that had a private balcony where my room was. Every time someone called me I had to go outside and stand at the very corner of the balcony - anywhere else in the entire place my call would be dropped.
But....it's not so much ATT. I was told by multiple people about some weird metal in the older buildings that fd the service up. Not sure how true that is but i know one thing that is true - cell frequencies are high frequencies and those are hard to travel through buildings, and in ny....well, it's a lot of buildings in one place! it's like trying to use your phone in a basement.
All carriers will have similar problems with interference. my suggestion would be to get a land line or and/or purchase a repeater.


anyway - anyone use either the bose sound dock or sound link? i'm not exactly a bose guy but i need a small solution to crank up the jams with decent quality. any other suggestions?

[Patroklus]

hoping for some insight:
a few months ago the cooling fan in my laptop died. in the mean time i've tried multiple replacements. Best I've done so far is ostensibly the same model, but with a different set of blades set in a different case (counterfeit?) that didn't properly interface with the heatsink. so now I have a laptop that can maintain safe temperatures so long as I do nothing more strenuous than watch youtube.

since i can't find the proper model fan/heatsink it seems the only option is those cooling pads... or replacing so much of my laptop architecture that I might as well buy a new laptop. THOUGHTS

[Dane]

hoping for some insight:
a few months ago the cooling fan in my laptop died. in the mean time i've tried multiple replacements. Best I've done so far is ostensibly the same model, but with a different set of blades set in a different case (counterfeit?) that didn't properly interface with the heatsink. so now I have a laptop that can maintain safe temperatures so long as I do nothing more strenuous than watch youtube.

since i can't find the proper model fan/heatsink it seems the only option is those cooling pads... or replacing so much of my laptop architecture that I might as well buy a new laptop. THOUGHTS

Replace thermal paste?

[Patroklus]

yes
i found the right model fan thnx to the help of a member here

[endorphinz]

^that's good stuff. nice to see peeps helping peeps

in breaking newz: my Sony z just left Japan & should be here fri morning. It's fun gettin a new machine but installing everything and tweaking it is a pia.

what do you pc guys use for a backup app? I have been using acronis but am always open to new suggestions.

[Urthwhyte]

It's not an app so much as an appliance, but a Windows Home Server was the best technology purchase I ever made, and I say that as a software dev who works nigh exclusively on OS X/Linux. Got one in late ~2007 I think and it's been running for five years now without complaint. Does all the picture storage, PC backup, media streaming, never had to do so much as update i.

[Faust]

When will the MacBook Air with retina display come out? Any info on that?