i am a desktop user.  period.  … or am i?

i started my computing history of course with desktops since well they were more accessible than the early portables (ie uber crazy prices for the times for the early laptops).  the apple IIe to the powerpc to a packard-bell 75mhz to my first computer/laptop toshiba 133mhz.  i then built my first desktop system, an AMD Slot A, 900mhz Athlon and about 20+ more systems.

anywho, davak’s recent blogs about helping his dad find a new computer has me really rethinking my setup.  currently i run a rather older (well imo older, Athlon 64 x2 cpu, socket 939; 2gb ddr1, 1.5+TBs of space) desktop which really needs to be updated if not replaced all together.  i also have an even older Athlon 64 htpc setup that just sits and collects dust but yet would not be worth even trying to sell. 

so what do i do? 

davak posted a nice follow up on this, desktop vs laptop, which really got me thinking.

i know that if i go with a more powerful laptop i won’t just toss my current desktop setup in the trash or sell it for pennies on ebay.  as a computer user, i’ve definetely come of age recently ie am ’starting to get old’, hehe or so it seems.  work has become a bit more demanding and having a more portable solutions seems more viable.  however when i am at home though i do want to still be able to do the more powerful things i do normally with my desktop such as rendering 720p video i’ve created or just sd video rendering or basic web server/file server features. 

also as a side note, i saw the best buy deal this last weekend for a toshiba a205-s5825 laptop for a mere $450 and got one and am so far pretty impressed with it for the price.  so the price of a decent new laptop (non mac one that is) is within the 1000us dollars range, imo.  a decent desktop would prob cost me around the same price if i built new from scratch and did not reuse parts (which i prob would not).  yes, the desktop would by default be more powerful but i really do not plan to game on my pc. my main uses these days are hd content, video, music, productivity (office), photoshop, web work.

so.. what do i do?  hmmm… to be continued….

htpc, life, hd, geek, hardware, opinion, pc | 4 Comments »

i did and hope to get my copy after i get off today!  like most know, i will be getting it for my Playstation3 today.  almost every pal i have that has a PS3 is getting it too so i hope to partake in some multi-player goodness (given its up and not having problems like earlier today).

also, rumor has it that GTAIV could possibly blow Halo3’s sales numbers out of the water.  network tv and the movie industry; are you scared yet?   corp america; are you ready for the volume of ’sick’ IT/geeks on wednesday?

geek | 1 Comment »

as most PS3 owners are well aware, the second to last firmware update, v2.20, brought BD-Live to the Playstation3.

what is BD-Live you ask? BD-Live, also known as Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, allows compliant players to go online and retreive info/trailers about the movie.  During the heat of the nextgen format wars, HD-DVD used this feature as a selling point of HD-DVD however the Blu-ray camp later added the functionality w/the release of the 2.0 Bluray Disc Profile.

lets take a look at my Sixth Day Blu-ray disc and BD-Live in action on my Playstation3.

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ps3, fanboy, review, blu-ray, hd, culture, opinion, console, geek, gaming | 4 Comments »

well, its been a bit too long since i’ve last posted and i apologize for the lack of updates/posts/ranting/fanboyism.

a few weeks back, i was hosting a mini Rock Band jamfest/party and had the whammy bar on one of my Rock Band guitars break.  it was still useable but would not reset back to the original spot.

so, being the DIYer i am, i decided this last weekend that i would fix it myself and thus avoid having to wait who-knows-how-long to get back my guitar from Harmonix.  here is a basic guide on what you need to do (its not very scary or hard, only requires a screw driver and some macgyver skills). Keep reading to see the details.
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fanboy, guides, rock band, ps3, culture, gaming, console, geek, hardware | 1 Comment »

what can i say. i was ‘that kid’ growing up that loved to get new toys (but who didn’t, right?) but the next day would then take them apart and most likely never got it back together and working.

well, my warranty on my Playstation3 finally expired on 3/26/08 and in turn i decided to celebrate my one year anniversary by taking my PS3 apart.

as previously blogged/youtubed/bit#$ed about; my playstation3 seemed to have an overheating problem (even though i can’t say it was overheating).  i’ve moved where i’ve been placing my PS3 several times now and its current spot is a wide open area by my wii and tv (not enclosed, free flowing air abounds). however i still had problems after leaving it on for more than 20 hours.  i’ve read a ton of posts by other PS3 owners who have been able to run their PS3 for weeks on end w/o any freezing/overheating issues.  so, i thought i’d see if perhaps i could figure out what was causing mine to act all weird after 20+ hours of being on.

keep reading to hear about the dis-assemble and see the geek-gore pics…

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ps3, fanboy, geek, console, hardware, gaming, general gadgets | 7 Comments »

downloading as i type.. hehe..

supposed changes/additions to the 2.20 update (from sony’s site):

Copying “Playlist” in (Music) and (Photo) to the PSP® portable entertainment system is available
 

geek | 2 Comments »

as promised in my previous post, here is a somewhat longer video of me and my eee…  my eeExperience….

i have  an Asus 4G Eee PC with 2GB DDR2, 16GB SDHC class 6 running my customized XP Prof lite version (fat32 fs, temp hacks to sdhc card, apps running off of sdhc).

hit the jump to see the embedded youtube vid.

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culture, fanboy, life, eee, geek, mobile, web, windows, music, opinion, hardware | 4 Comments »

well, i am just gonna come out and say it: i love my eee! 

why you ask? well, let see….

i can be up and going in less than 30secs; no, not at my login screen but up and ie open and reading my rss feeds..

i can watch my tv/dvds anywhere using either available wifi or my phones edge data connection and bt dongle (laggy but still works) and my sony locationfree setup (eee can handle video streaming pretty well)…

i can fire up IE and head over to netflix.com and stream a movie…

i can run most programs off a 16GB SDHC card w/little lag..

i can run windows xp lite w/o a page file and boot faster than most $2k desktop systems from off to desktop… or blow their doors off running the custom Linux OS.

i can podcast from anywhere w/the builtin webcam and windows movie maker…

i can do anything the other computers can do but faster and cheaper…

can you? 

fanboy, eee, culture, geek, mobile, hardware | 6 Comments »

well, i blogged about this fun little baby a while back and finally broke down and got one.  actually, i sold my TC1100 and in turn was able to turn around and get me a Galaxy Black 4G Eee PC along w/2GB of DDR2 and a 16GB SDHC Class 6 card and a mini-bluetooth 2.0 usb dongle.   Hit the jump to read more and take a look at my Eee PC 4G unboxing. 

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fanboy, life, eee, blogging, geek, web, windows, mobile, hardware | 10 Comments »

This entry is one that i’ve been waiting to do for quite some time now.  Today i’ll will be pitting my PS3 up against my Home Theater PC(well, mine is a Frankenstein’d laptop w/o lcd, hehe).  

Sony has boasted about the PS3’s multimedia and computer-ish functionality since its launch in 2006, however can it really stand-up to a similarly priced HTPC?  Does the PS3 live up to its multimedia hype? 

Lets find out, read on for more and see the embedded video.

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ps3, hd, culture, htpc, fanboy, tv, review, life, geek, dvr, psp, web, hardware, vista, music, console, opinion, pc | 4 Comments »