8 replies to this topic

[AdvMutant]

Hey all.
I'm so ******* tired of trying to chose a computer. I'm just so so bad at doing it :(
I'm gonna use my computer for two purposes - programming[C and Java, maybe Pascal and Assembly] and reading programming eBooks. Basically, it's gonna be my new workstation. Now here's the problem -
best for reading books != best for programming. A computer for reading books has to be small, compact, have long battery life and be portable, while a programming computer has to be strong. The best options for reading are netbooks and tablets, while laptops and desktops are better for programming. I'm not sure what's more important - reading about programming while lying on the bed[which is the only way I read - I never sit in front of a monitor for reading PDFs], or practicing what I know while learning a lot slower.

Correct specs of my PC
2GB RAM
Intel Pentium Dual-core@1.6GHz processor
60GB HDD for the OS
160GB HDD for data and programs
NVidia GeForce 7300 LE graphics card
[I'm not home and I don't remember the rest, gonna update later]



The netbook - Dell Inspiron Duo
It's so awesomely designed, perfect for me - light, basic and simple. The processor is pretty decent for a netbook. It also has a nice dock that can be very comfortable, since there are almost no ports on the device itself. There are two USBs on the dock, I can split one for mouse/keyboard and use the other for a bigger display. I'll be able to get almost as much power as I have on my desktop, on a tablet netbook. The only thing that bothers me is the 4 hour battery life, but I guess it's OK since I'm not gonna travel a lot with it. The dock and netbook are 660$ together, without screen/mouse/keyboard. I'm gonna use Linux which doesn't support the custom touch interface, so It's a waste of cash. There's no way I'm gonna use Windows on my own PC, the only thing stops me from installing Linux on my correct computer is that I'm not it's only user.

There's another netbook option - the HP TouchSmart TM2. But it's bigger, heavier and not really comfortable. It has two advantages over the Dell - it has a touch pen, and it has a stronger processor. It's price is 800$.

The desktop - specs
2GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
Athlon™ II Quad Core 640@3.0GHz processor
500 GB HDD
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H motherboard
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD5450 1024MB graphics accelerator
Active PFC 450W power supply
LG SATA DVD

That's a lot stronger than both the netbook and my correct desktop, but it has about the same price as the Dell. The netbook is basically a minimized version of my desktop[nearly same specs], which I should chose if I need portability. This, however... Is almost two times more powerful. It's a real PC which I can use for nearly everything, but what I need to. I need something that I can program on. Snap, it's the perfect machine! But that's only for flashy and fancy kinds of programming, I program C under Linux. It can be done nearly anywhere. Besides, I want to be able to read eBooks, which I hate to do on a desktop PC. That's a gaming computer, too much power which I'm not gonna use. I'm not a gamer, I didn't touch a modern game for the last 2-3 months, only Halo when we have a holiday that's longer than two days at school just to pass the time, and flash games while waiting for a heavy package to install or a file to download. The computer isn't all that useless, however. I can run a server on it, something that I always wanted to do. Now here comes my luck - I know how to setup a server and I've done it lots of times, but I can't really make use of it because of my internet connection. Besides, I'm planning to build a cluster of old PCs which is a lot more fun that just a server, my teacher said that he can get me 3 old PCs that are worth 'junk'. I'm gonna have to check it out.

I also really like messing with different OSes on virtual machines, which the desktop is better for. On the other hand, the correct PC I'm using isn't going anywhere, so if I wanna use a VM I can just use it instead or login to it remotely. And, even if I can't access it, as I said it has nearly the same specs as the netbook so it will work just as well.

Now guys, really. Help me chose the best PC for me. I've been loosing my mind the past 3 weeks trying to make the best decision - I wanted a MacBook, a Hackintosh, a nettop... I closely inspected every kind of PC there is out there, but I didn't find a perfect match until now.
Thanks for your help, Mike.

[WingedPanther]

I would go with a small laptop, around 13". To be honest, most programming doesn't require a super beefy processor. Ultimately, you're looking at balancing weight vs battery life, and portability vs power. I use a Dell Vostro 13" laptop, and it works great for everything I throw at it. Don't forget to check out Dell's business section, I find they usually have better deals than the home section.

[AdvMutant]

I don't know, I really want it to have a touch screen.

[mrlemke]

Then maybe get an Android, I heard those used the Linux kernel. If you can live without touch screen (which I honestly hate), you should go with WingedPanther's suggestion and get a netbook. I have a HP (Compaq made it though) NC4000 which works great at about 12". Mine is slightly upgraded (512 MB instead of the default 256), and I regularly have 6+ tabs open in Chrome with a terminal or Bluefish/gedit open. I don't really notice any significant slow down. If I need to compile something big, I just play the XBox for a bit.

[Guest]

In my opinion, you are over-thinking the situation. Not too long ago, I bought a cheap $200 netbook, and I love it. The netbook runs Ubuntu, and it's great for programming, movies, anything.
By the way:

Quote

Thanks for your help, Mike.

My name's not Mike. :P

[AdvMutant]

Yeah, I guess I really am overthinking it. That's what I do with everything :c-lol:
I'll just try to get the Dell, I like it the most.

You won't believe the luck I had yesterday! Me and my friends went to a movie yesterday, it was the biggest group I ever went out with. We saw the movie Tron in 3D, what a great movie! When we got the 3D glasses I remembered about the iZ3D driver which enables you to play DirectX and OpenGL games in actual 3D, so I decided to try my luck. At the end of the movie, they didn't take my glasses because they were hidden in my pocket(:bad:). They didn't even notice... So I now have 3D glasses.

At my way back something better happened - I found two old computers, one near each other. I was like "Holy <not a nice word>!" I took them home, and today I discovered that one of them has a 20GB HDD, a 1.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 and 128MB RAM. It's nice, and fully working. The other one had two 40GB HDDs, 4 128MB RAM chips, and a processor that I couldn't identify because I didn't try this computer. If the second one works, I'll connect them and make a computer cluster. If not, I'm gonna try to make a singe better PC from the parts of both. Then I'll connect it to our HDTV with a VGA cable, add a wireless keyboard/mouse and a bluetooth adapter so I can surf the net, and... You have yourself a free bonus PC!

[Guest]

Yeah, if I drive around the trash day after Christmas, I can find old computers next to people's trash bins. :c-grin: Last year, my Mom wouldn't let me keep them, but this year I'm going to try and convince her otherwise. They're good for experimenting with, like testing Linux distributions!

[AdvMutant]

Darn, I discovered that the second one's motherboard is dead. I tried to move the first to the second case, but it didn't match. I should have checked before...
Now I'm stuck at wiring the power sw/reset sw/hdd led/power led. I have no idea how to place these. There are two rows of pins - 4 and 5. The system just won't turn on! Can you guys help me? I can't tell the motherboard model now, I only know it's Intel and it has a 1.4 GHz Pentium 4. If you need, I can take pics tomorrow.

Thanks!

[Guest]

This is getting off-topic. You should start a thread in the Computer Hardware forum. Oh, and pictures would greatly help anyone trying to help you.