The Hangar Computer / Computer Building Thread

[Beerfish]

There's no cable for it. I guess I just assumed it was wired in with the USB 3 cable (haven't seen one before) and completely missed the spot on the mobo where it's meant to connect.

Why wouldn't it come with a cable? Guess I'll just scab one from my old box.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Finally got my system together today. Looking good, but I can't get the second screen to display. Also forgot to get a wireless adaptor so something else to buy tomorrow.

 

[George Washington]

Finally got my system together today. Looking good, but I can't get the second screen to display. Also forgot to get a wireless adaptor so something else to buy tomorrow.

Try hitting it.

 

[Lore]

The hardware is exactly the same under the hood these days, it's just a matter of whether you're happy paying more to do less with a Mac.

I can very comfortably recommend the new MS Surface Laptops. I have a v2, it's a very nice bit of kit, and the v3 looks to build neatly on that with a couple of positive tweaks.

Pardon my naivety here but can you used apple based software?

One of my bugbears with the mac is having to run programs such as parallels so that I can run accounting software that is not compatible.

Not on a Windows machine, no - but there's not much that's Mac-only these days.

I love the cloud man. Love it. Although having to pay subscriptions for the ability to edit PDF’s using adobe etc gives me the shits and I still prefer Word over the over-complicated Indesign etc.

In truth though, I am a bit of a Luddite so I am interested in hearing a bit more about what people are running etc, especially in terms of business. Probably not the place in here though.

Yep. I've dodged many What Shits Yas by living my life in Google Drive.

Yeah. I have google drive too. I’m guessing that you can share the information with mobile phones in the same way the cloud works yeah?

Also, apologies for hijacking the thread. I have had to become savvy very quickly after a decade of not really having too much involvement with computers.

"The cloud" is just a general term for automated internet storage.

iCloud is Apple's implementation, and then there's Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. I'm use an Android phone and Chrome as a browser so Google Drive makes sense to link them all, but use OneDrive for work and it'd do the job at home if my ecosystem was more Microsofty. I particularly like the Google spreadsheet app that runs in a browser (or a phone app) and saves to the cloud - it's the same one Lore uses for the draft threads.

We have a computer thread somewhere here.

The Hangar Computer / Computer Building Thread

Hey guys, figured I may as well share one of my passions with you all and see if anyone else is into it. So I build computers and the like, and I just ordered new parts for a brand new set up. CASE: Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower ($349) MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte G1-Sniper M3 ($199) CPU...

www.bigfooty.com

lol

As far as I'm concerned the OS has always been the biggest selling point for buying an Apple, so I would never buy an Apple and then run it exclusively in Windows as that would defeat the purpose. I also don't need parallels or dual boot for anything I use though, so it's basically a moot point.

The thing that usually breaks first for me on any computer is the hardware. They get a lot of use and legitimately wear out. Having said that I have one mac that did 4 years in the chain gang and retired to run a media server, it's 8.5 years old now and still going. This one is 4 years old, the screen goes black if it gets bumped, the left arrow key is sometimes unresponsive, I've worn a hole in the command key, and it started making weird noises as of two days ago. It's taken a lot of abuse lol. In my experience, the apple stuff has been way more durable.

The best thing about the software is that it is reliable and convenient, all updates are free for the life of the device and there's no other subscription fees for basic stuff. It prioritises user experience over background tasks, which makes for lower blood pressure It has sandboxing so if a program does malfunction or get a bug, it doesn't affect anything else. No security issues, no defragging, no anti-virus. It doesn’t randomly decide to do updates and lock you out either.

As dero touched on, all of the devices and apps work together. Passwords, contacts, calendars, anything that's been bought on the Apple ID or added to iTunes is all synced, security codes in my SMSs pre-fill on the computer, and any documents or photos that are stranded on a device are easily transferred using airdrop. I do not pay extra for more iCloud storage, if I did the documents and photos would sync across as well.

All in all Windows will do everything a Mac will do, the hardware is generally cheaper, you can customise every inch of it, and it will work on any brand of hardware you choose. It's basically the Swiss Army knife of operating software, which is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness imo. For a lot of people it's all they need, and it's what they're used to using.

As far as general cloud stuff, Dropbox is antiquated software for antiquated people that want to think they’re edgy because they're "in the cloud". Google drive I don't really use on purpose, but since I use google suite extensively (google sheets, google docs) they save in google drive anyway. I only use word or excel when I have to, and if I wasn't currently using it for free I'd think twice before paying for an office subscription.

 

[Beerfish]

I use dropbox occasionally but it isn't for any of those reasons.

I need a new PC too for recording music but I don't think I can be arsed building another one. There seems to be some pretty adequate refurbished ones available at a place just down the road that seem reasonably priced

 

[Howard Moon]

hi all

I post hoping there might be somebody about with more computer knowledge than me (probable) with the hope maybe somebody works in i.t retail because i find it really difficult to find a good place to buy that isnt harvey norman (thief's) jbhifi or two bit little places that seem untrustworthy

i need to buy a laptop for daughters high school next year

have been given this brief

no apple
no chomebook

Minimum intel® Core 2 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor; 2 GHz or faster processor. i5 or higher
Windows 10 (version 1607 or later – including Windows 11 or later)
Photoshop CC is designed to work best on the latest version of Windows 10/11
16 GB of RAM
512 hdd
8 GB of available hard-disk space for base installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)
+2.6 GB or more of available hard-disk space for 32-bit installation; 3.1 GB or more of available hard-disk space for 64-bit installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system)
1024 x 768 display (1280x800 recommended) with 16-bit colour and 512 MB or more of dedicated VRAM; 2 GB is recommended
Sound card compatible with ASIO protocol or Microsoft Windows Driver Model
no larger than 14inch screen, 13 preferred
stylus and touch screen.

happy to spend $1000 to $1500

have been drawn to the lenovo yoga for whatever reason but theres so many different versions and types im a bit lost

anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[faible]

hi all

I post hoping there might be somebody about with more computer knowledge than me (probable) with the hope maybe somebody works in i.t retail because i find it really difficult to find a good place to buy that isnt harvey norman (thief's) jbhifi or two bit little places that seem untrustworthy

i need to buy a laptop for daughters high school next year

have been given this brief

no apple
no chomebook

Minimum intel® Core 2 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor; 2 GHz or faster processor. i5 or higher
Windows 10 (version 1607 or later – including Windows 11 or later)
Photoshop CC is designed to work best on the latest version of Windows 10/11
16 GB of RAM
512 hdd
8 GB of available hard-disk space for base installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)
+2.6 GB or more of available hard-disk space for 32-bit installation; 3.1 GB or more of available hard-disk space for 64-bit installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system)
1024 x 768 display (1280x800 recommended) with 16-bit colour and 512 MB or more of dedicated VRAM; 2 GB is recommended
Sound card compatible with ASIO protocol or Microsoft Windows Driver Model
no larger than 14inch screen, 13 preferred
stylus and touch screen.

happy to spend $1000 to $1500

have been drawn to the lenovo yoga for whatever reason but theres so many different versions and types im a bit lost

anyone point me in the right direction?

Scorptec is a long-time reputable store here in Melbourne;

https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/laptops-&-notebooks/laptops?page=1

https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/laptops-&-notebooks/laptops/100377-b3402fea-ec0626r appears to be the cheapest fits the requirements and even comes with a stylus.

Otherwise I've always liked Dell laptops, usually have one model or another on sale. Home vs Work models aren't a big deal unless you specifically need Windows 10/11 Professional. There's a couple of models that tick all the boxes except touchscreen on sale, which doesn't help you.

Inspiron 14-inch 2-in-1 Laptop with 12th Gen Intel Processor | Dell Australia is the cheapest touchscreen model that's 14" or less that ticks all the boxes except price, which depending on timeline you could wait and see if it comes down.

Also more generally store wise MSY is another that has been around for 20+ years, very reputable but not somewhere you go unless you know exactly what you want, and don't really sell much in the way of laptops.

 

[Howard Moon]

Scorptec is a long-time reputable store here in Melbourne;

https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/laptops-&-notebooks/laptops?page=1

https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/laptops-&-notebooks/laptops/100377-b3402fea-ec0626r appears to be the cheapest fits the requirements and even comes with a stylus.

Otherwise I've always liked Dell laptops, usually have one model or another on sale. Home vs Work models aren't a big deal unless you specifically need Windows 10/11 Professional. There's a couple of models that tick all the boxes except touchscreen on sale, which doesn't help you.

Inspiron 14-inch 2-in-1 Laptop with 12th Gen Intel Processor | Dell Australia is the cheapest touchscreen model that's 14" or less that ticks all the boxes except price, which depending on timeline you could wait and see if it comes down.

Also more generally store wise MSY is another that has been around for 20+ years, very reputable but not somewhere you go unless you know exactly what you want, and don't really sell much in the way of laptops.

Thanks for the info!

I've been mulling this one but unsure if the store is ok.

Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga 14" FHD Touch i5-1135G7 16GB(Upgraded) 256GB NVMe Windows 11 Pro Laptop

||14" FHD (1920x1080) IPS 300nits Glossy, Glass, 100% sRGB, Touch, Dolby Vision ||Intel Core i5-1135G7 (4C / 8T, 2.4 / 4.2GHz, 8MB) ||16GB(Upgraded) DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe 3.0x4 NVMe ||Windows 11 Pro , 1 Year Onsite Warranty

www.centrecom.com.au

 

[faible]

Thanks for the info!

I've been mulling this one but unsure if the store is ok.

Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga 14" FHD Touch i5-1135G7 16GB(Upgraded) 256GB NVMe Windows 11 Pro Laptop

||14" FHD (1920x1080) IPS 300nits Glossy, Glass, 100% sRGB, Touch, Dolby Vision ||Intel Core i5-1135G7 (4C / 8T, 2.4 / 4.2GHz, 8MB) ||16GB(Upgraded) DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD M.2 2242 PCIe 3.0x4 NVMe ||Windows 11 Pro , 1 Year Onsite Warranty

www.centrecom.com.au

Current details for ABN 96 084 165 293 | ABN Lookup

abr.business.gov.au

They've been registered since 2000 and I've heard their name before so I'd say they're solid if they've been around that long. Ultimately you're buying a Lenovo product so as long as it's genuine you're fine. Only thing is the 256GB storage versus the 512GB and whether it'll be sufficient for what they're doing.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Centrecom are solid, bought heaps of stuff from them before

 

[Howard Moon]

Centrecom are solid, bought heaps of stuff from them before

They said they could upgrade the hard drive too, I didn't think laptops were upgradable?

 

[Beerfish]

Just go with your gut Howard Moon.

 

[Howard Moon]

Just go with your gut Howard Moon.

This guy!

My gut says buy a pen, note book and calculator. Now what?

 

[faible]

This guy!

My gut says buy a pen, note book and calculator. Now what?

Kids need to learn the proper way to do things, do it.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

Centrecom are cheap but fine - the difference with somewhere like JB or HN is there's no showroom to try options out, and they'll send stuff back to the distro for warranty rather than replacing it on the spot.

In that budget I'd see if you can get the lower end MS Surface Laptop.

 

[Lore]

Howard Moon The way it seems to work they have like 20 different models and 10 different manufacturers and most are almost the same. It’s like it’s designed to be overwhelming.

Since you have your minimum specs handy, take it into the shop and tell the sales person what you’re looking for, see what they’re willing to flog for 15% off JB will do their best price the first time you ask (saves haggling), although scorptec or any of the others are fine too. Officeworks also have them. Harvey I wouldn’t buy from but okay to look as they have a good range.

If your budget is 1-1.5k then go for one in a slightly higher range and then work on the price (don’t forget basic software and antivirus cost money too) e.g. 2k product for 1.5k price tag; Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i 15.6" FHD 120Hz Gaming Laptop (11th Gen Intel i7) [RTX 3050]

I’d also futureproof a bit but that’s me, I try to make my computers last 4+ years so I tend to invest a bit more cash into it at the start. The most important stuff is going to be RAM and storage. It’s always the bit that breaks first and causes it to go stupidly slow. CPUs can also be a pinch point if you buy one that’s already old tech, as the software requirements will go past it.

If she’s big into photoshop or video editing or anything like that (gaming?) you’re going to want to look at graphics card and screen specs and probably a couple of external hard drives, but if it’s just word processing and internet usage you can go easy on that sort of stuff as it chews battery (unless it has a battery saver thing in the software I guess).

If she’s planning to take it to school and carry it around a lot then size/weight should be a factor too. You’d want it to fit in the school bag for a start.


Altogether something like this looks good to me. In your price range with better specs than you need and a bit of cash left over for software.

Dell Inspiron 14 5420 14" FHD+ Laptop (512GB) [12th Gen Intel i7]

With DELL have again proved why they are so popular. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au

 

[Beerfish]

antivirus

Not sure you really need this anymore with Windows 10 and up. It's built in pretty much?

 

[Howard Moon]

Howard Moon The way it seems to work they have like 20 different models and 10 different manufacturers and most are almost the same. It’s like it’s designed to be overwhelming.

Since you have your minimum specs handy, take it into the shop and tell the sales person what you’re looking for, see what they’re willing to flog for 15% off JB will do their best price the first time you ask (saves haggling), although scorptec or any of the others are fine too. Officeworks also have them. Harvey I wouldn’t buy from but okay to look as they have a good range.

If your budget is 1-1.5k then go for one in a slightly higher range and then work on the price (don’t forget basic software and antivirus cost money too) e.g. 2k product for 1.5k price tag; Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3i 15.6" FHD 120Hz Gaming Laptop (11th Gen Intel i7) [RTX 3050]

I’d also futureproof a bit but that’s me, I try to make my computers last 4+ years so I tend to invest a bit more cash into it at the start. The most important stuff is going to be RAM and storage. It’s always the bit that breaks first and causes it to go stupidly slow. CPUs can also be a pinch point if you buy one that’s already old tech, as the software requirements will go past it.

If she’s big into photoshop or video editing or anything like that (gaming?) you’re going to want to look at graphics card and screen specs and probably a couple of external hard drives, but if it’s just word processing and internet usage you can go easy on that sort of stuff as it chews battery (unless it has a battery saver thing in the software I guess).

If she’s planning to take it to school and carry it around a lot then size/weight should be a factor too. You’d want it to fit in the school bag for a start.


Altogether something like this looks good to me. In your price range with better specs than you need and a bit of cash left over for software.

Dell Inspiron 14 5420 14" FHD+ Laptop (512GB) [12th Gen Intel i7]

With DELL have again proved why they are so popular. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au

shes doing media studies so i guess photoshop, in-design ect might churn a bit more processing power - doing video editing and stuff i guess

I think the annoying part is they dont ever suggest that this will be the computer youll finish school with, its almost expected that you'll need an upgrade half way through because the older models become a bit redundant for the things the school needs to install. (so they say)

Her school doesn't do textbooks, everything is based around their laptop so i guess its an important part of their schooling, but it also means its going to school and back every day and getting bashed around no doubt. They said buy/install no anti virus or anything as they take each new computer and install everything the school needs

 

[Lore]

Not sure you really need this anymore with Windows 10 and up. It's built in pretty much?

I don’t use Windows much, but IT departments still mandate it as a prerequisite for using their networks regardless of what device you have. Macs haven’t needed AV for years but still have to install it

 

[Lore]

shes doing media studies so i guess photoshop, in-design ect might churn a bit more processing power - doing video editing and stuff i guess

I think the annoying part is they dont ever suggest that this will be the computer youll finish school with, its almost expected that you'll need an upgrade half way through because the older models become a bit redundant for the things the school needs to install. (so they say)

Her school doesn't do textbooks, everything is based around their laptop so i guess its an important part of their schooling, but it also means its going to school and back every day and getting bashed around no doubt. They said buy/install no anti virus or anything as they take each new computer and install everything the school needs

Great that they’re taking care of software requirements, one less thing to worry about.

I reckon you’d get 4 years out of it if you invest a bit. I usually get 4-5 years (admittedly it’s a mac, idk how much difference that makes) then the old ones get assigned to other work and I get a new one to abuse for a few more years.

Aim for a new one at the start of VCE which should take her into the first year of of uni if she goes that way. By that point if it dies she can buy her own.

Is she involved in the process? It’d probably be a good idea to get her involved so she knows what’s going on and how it’s going to work. Help make sure it’s looked after.

 

[faible]

Great that they’re taking care of software requirements, one less thing to worry about.

I reckon you’d get 4 years out of it if you invest a bit. I usually get 4-5 years (admittedly it’s a mac, idk how much difference that makes) then the old ones get assigned to other work and I get a new one to abuse for a few more years.

Aim for a new one at the start of VCE which should take her into the first year of of uni if she goes that way. By that point if it dies she can buy her own.

Is she involved in the process? It’d probably be a good idea to get her involved so she knows what’s going on and how it’s going to work. Help make sure it’s looked after.

We use Windows PC's / Laptops for work and typically 4 - 6 years is the lifespan of them. The higher end machines can go out to 6 if looked after before starting to creak with software requirements, the cheaper ones are usually done by 4 - though they're deliberately cheap since they go to people who won't take care of them anyway.

I'd say a new one for VCE would be bang on for an expected timeline for a model with the specs Howard is looking at.

 

[Howard Moon]

I don’t use Windows much, but IT departments still mandate it as a prerequisite for using their networks regardless of what device you have. Macs haven’t needed AV for years but still have to install it

hmm they said you could bring a mac but you have to run bootcamp or some such which sounded annoying for all concerned

i guess if we stay away from apple then we dont have to buy her an iphone (small victories)

 

[Beerfish]

hmm they said you could bring a mac but you have to run bootcamp or some such which sounded annoying for all concerned

i guess if we stay away from apple then we dont have to buy her an iphone (small victories)

You should stay away from Apple anyway because they suck shit.

 

[Lore]

hmm they said you could bring a mac but you have to run bootcamp or some such which sounded annoying for all concerned

i guess if we stay away from apple then we dont have to buy her an iphone (small victories)

once you go mac you don’t go back

The whole point of apple is the software (which is highly integrated between devices and thus you become addicted to the ecosystem). If you’re running windows on it then a hunk of aluminium with an apple logo on it becomes an expensive bit of junk. And on top of that new macs don’t have ports on them other than USB-C so you have to get adaptors. So then it’s even more useless.

The other thing with Mac is that your IT guy will probably set up the windows computers so they’re the only admin and the kid is parental locked out of everything and can’t install stuff without permission.

Macs can’t really do that, the non-admin accounts are so restrictive that they’re effectively useless so the kid would most likely have an admin account which… might be more than you bargained for.

And do. not. get a mac if you’re running bootcamp. Bootcamp partitions the hard drive so it can run OSX on one side with its own storage or reboot into W11 on the other part of the drive. That’s just painful, especially if you partition it with too much on one side versus the other, you end up having to reformat everything to fix it. Do not recommend.

If you get an apple you can run windows software in an app called parallels which is still within Mac OS but like a window within a window basically. But it’s kinda pointless if everyone else is using windows as things will operate slightly differently, more headache than it’s worth.

 

[Beerfish]

I don’t use Windows much, but IT departments still mandate it as a prerequisite for using their networks regardless of what device you have. Macs haven’t needed AV for years but still have to install it

That sounds pretty.. dumb.