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 »

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 »

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 »

as many who frequent my blog will attest to, i love my ps3 not only for the gaming but also the video and music abilities.  recently i have been experimenting with the idea of my ps3 being my main hub and possibly replacve my htpc too (later post coming on this!) and realized the first thing i had to do was to get an even bigger hard drive.  previously i had upgraded from the factory 60gb to a seagate 160gb.  after getting about 20  movies on my ps3, i was getting pretty low on space; under 40gb since i also had music on there too and i also wanted to put on the 15gbs of other video i have too.

after reading on the playstation blog about the hard drive upgrades (wanted to verify the max size the ps3 can take internally, that sounded a bit dirty.. hehe), decided to go with a 250gb one.  i originally had a good deal on one over at tigerdirect but they messed up my shipping and in turn had it resent back to their warehouse and i in turn didn’t get the drive for a measly $100 and yet still charged me the 2day shipping?? (they’ll be hearing from me this week). 

so i figured i’d just go to best buy and get one since the prices were in line with what was available online when shipping was factored in. 

prior to upgrading the drive, i did a complete system backup via a usb ext harddrive (be sure that it is formatted in FAT32 file system and NOT NTFS; the ps3 will not read an NTFS drive).  the upgrade itself is cake and takes less than 10 mins to do however my system backup took about 1 1/2 hrs to complete (mainly my music).  keep reading for the embedded video of the upgrade itself!

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ps3, fanboy, geek, console, gaming, hardware | 2 Comments »

well… its official…  i sold my TC1100 tablet pc today on eBay.  my work did decide to go the route of the Dell Latitude XT tablets (heck yea!) and in turn i’ll be getting one from work so i figured i’d sell my ole sturdy, fun baby; my tc1100.  she’s been a great companion but lately has been sitting on my desk just gathering dust since i have a vaio in the living room and an XT at my desk at work (along w/3 other laptops or parts of them and 2 desktops; gotta love hardware rollouts and testing!)

i still wish other tablet makers would try the TC1100s combination slate/convertible design.  ahh, the  memories i’ve had with my TC1100.. installing of vista and ubuntu; rekindling my love of ubuntu, the failed attempts of OSX, perfection of usb booting and ghosting.. 

(pours some beer on the floor) for my tablet.. 

so, now what do i get w/that money from selling my tablet?  i was thinking of getting my camera since that would be coming out here in the next couple weeks (Sony Cybershot DSC-T300) but realized that i will be doing a TON of traveling for work in the next couple of months and also will be going to the WES 2008 conference too.  so i decided that i needed a good mobile, surfing and basic word processing/writing/blogging computer. 

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fanboy, blogging, geek, life, ubuntu, eee, tablet pc, handheld, mobile, hardware, mac, linux, windows, opinion, vista, general gadgets | 3 Comments »

Well, a new year means a new list!  its been a while since i’ve written about my PS3-wishlist of features (ingame XMB FTW!!! still of course at the top of everyone’s wishlist, along w/Home). 

i’ve always been told that once a person/thing stops receiving criticism is when you really have to start worrying about if people care anymore.  so in other words, i really care about my PS3 thus the creation of ‘wishlists’. 

again, most of the features i am wanting are related to using the PS3 more as the multimedia hub that sony originally was pushing for or dreamed of than the gaming aspects (since really games are the solution to that one, duh!).  lets get onto my PS3 wishlist, keep reading for the list!

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ps3, hd, fanboy, life, PlaystationStore, culture, geek, gaming, web, psp, opinion, console, hardware | 1 Comment »