October 2009

About Me

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 20:26 by andrewmoquin

Andy Moquin has spent 20 years in the jewelry industry with
much of his experience in polished diamonds, engagement
rings , wedding
rings , rings
and custom jewelry design. He is an accomplished business consultant
and is available for advice on topics such as marketing, advertising,
merchandising and business turnarounds.

 

Gender: Male

Industry: Internet

Occupation: CEO/Business Owner/Jeweler

Location: Williamsville, New York, USA

Interests: Business Marketing, Merchandising, Jewelry
Industry, Jewelry Making, Jewelry Design, Luxury Cars, Diamonds

Blogs:

http://www.engagementweddingrings.net
http://www.weddingringsbands.info
http://therealscooponbuyingdiamonds.blogspot.com/

Company: Rokstok.com

 

Design your own engagement rings or custom handcrafted jewelry.
Choose amazing vintage engagement rings from our fine jewelry
collection. Shop for Tacori settings prices when viewing our Tacori
rings, jewelry, and wedding rings or make your own custom jewelry.

Solid-state hard drives... are they worth it?

Posted Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:17 by NerdDog

I've been doing a lot of reading about solid-state hard drives lately.  Unfortunately some of what I've read has turned me off of them.  Can anybody here tell me if they've gotten any better... specifically in the arena of garbage collection?  I know they've had some issues with the drives starting out blazing fast, but as you write and delete things from them, then get steadily slower and slower.  IBM had one I'd heard was notoriously bad... or was that somebody else?  Anyway... Thoughts?  Ideas?  Opinions?

Forums are tough to read...

Posted Thu, 10/22/2009 - 15:06 by ThePirate

I have a suggestion.  In the forum topic lists, some of the background colors are a little tough to read.  It's especially evident on the "stick" forum rules entry.

Just my $.02.

Problems with Internet Explorer

Posted Thu, 10/22/2009 - 14:47 by ThePirate

Hey all,

I've tried everything, and I can't seem to fix the issue.  Here's the deal: I've got a home-built AMD-powered desktop computer running WinXP Home.  It's got 2GB of memory in it (so I'm thinking it's not a memory issue), a good sized hard drive, and all other networking functions seem to work fine.  The problem comes when I try to use Internet Explorer to surf the web.  It just doesn't work.  Well, I take that back, it works for about 5 or 10 minutes, then everything starts coming up "Page Cannot Be Displayed".  I can access websites from any other computer in the house, no problem.  Just can't surf from that machine.

What makes matters even more confusing is that this machine is set up to dual-boot, WinXP and Fedora 6.  When I boot into Fedora, Firefox works fine.  Quick, easy, no problem.  It's just under WinXP.

And the final layer to this mystery: I've tried IE6, 7 and 8, FireFox, and Chrome.  Nothing works.

Any ideas?  Any suggestions?  I'm starting to lose it over here.

Part 6: Video Cards

Posted Wed, 10/21/2009 - 10:57 by tux

For the gamer, there is no more important part of a computer than the video card.  The video card's job is to take image information provided to it by the CPU and render it as an image on the computer's monitor.  The higher-quality the video card, the better, more defined, and more complicated the image can be.  Obviously, someone who is interested in 3D graphics or video editing is going to be shooting for a top-of-the-line graphics card, but what about the rest of us?  Do we really need the latest $500 offering?  It turns out, unless you're one of those gamers mentioned above, the answer is: probably not.

Getting Down to Basics

Video cards, in a lot of ways, can be thought of as miniature computers.  They have processors on them, but instead of being called a "CPU", they're referred to as a "GPU", or graphics processing unit.  They also have memory, measured in megabytes (MB's) or gigabytes (GB's).  They are, essentially, small, very specialized computers that work in conjunction with your computer's CPU to deliver images to your computer's monitor.

So when we're weighing one video card against another, we look for a lot of the same criteria.  How much memory does it have?  How fast is the GPU?  Of course, when talking strictly about numbers, the higher the better.

Descrete versus Shared: What's the Difference?

In the world of video cards, there are two general categories that all cards fall into: descrete and shared.  The terms "descrete" and "shared" actually describe the memory scheme the video card uses.  In a "descrete" video card, the video circuits have their own set of memory chips.  This scheme is also commonly referred to as "dedicated".  In a "shared" video system, the memory is actually shared with the CPU.  This is significant is two ways.  First, this means that whatever memory the video card is using at the time is not available for use by the CPU, therefore effectively lowering the total system memory.  So a computer with 2 GB of system memory and a shared video card that's using 1 GB of memory for graphics really only has 1 GB of system memory available.  This is usually not an issue, but can cause problems if you're running a high-end video game or editing video on your computer.  Second, a lot of times system memory is actually slower than dedicated video memory can be, so "shared" video cards tend not to be able to handle the same amount of information that a descrete video card could.

So How Do I Choose?

As with all other parts of a computer, it really boils down to how you're planning on using the machine.  If you're only going to be using it for non-visual media functions, such as reading and writing email, creating documents, spreadsheets, and databases, or surfing the web, then a shared video card will probably do you just fine.  If you're more inclined toward visual media, such as video games, video editing, or image processing, you're probably going to want to get your hands on a descrete video card.  How much memory and how much GPU processing power is up to your budget.

Computer Buying Guide - Part 5: Hard Drives and Mass Storage

Posted Wed, 10/21/2009 - 10:55 by tux

In the previous section, we defined the terms "memory" and "hard drive space".  We likened the hard drive to an encyclopedia: large and permanent.  Now the question is just how large of an "encyclopedia" do you need?

Before we get into how to determine what size of hard drive you need, let's talk about a couple of terms used to describe the specifications of a hard drive.

  • "Standard" mechanical hard drives vs. SSD "Solid State Drives": The vast majority of hard drives are based on the "standard" mechanical technology, where there is a spinning disk inside an enclosure with a read/write arm reading and writing data.  New on the scene, however, are what are called "Solid State Drives", or "SSDs".  SSD technology uses the same kind of memory a USB Flash Drive uses, which means it has no moving parts, and, in theory, can perform much faster.  They do not, however, have as much storage space as a stanard hard drive, and are typically much more expensive.
  • SATA vs. PATA/IDE/EIDE: There are two common technologies being used today to interface your hard drive with your motherboard.  Those technologies are "SATA", or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment and PATA, or Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment.  PATA can also be labelled as "IDE" or "EIDE", though that is actually not exactly correct.  For the sake of this article, we'll stick with SATA and PATA.
  • SATA: A newer hard drive technology.  Throughput speeds can range from 1.5 Gigabits per second in the first generation to 6 Gigabits in the third generation.  The thing to keep in mind, however, is that most standard hard drives are only capable of outputting 1.5 Gigabits per second, so purchasing a computer with second or third generation (higher than 1.5 Gigabit per second SATA) and a standard hard drive might be pointless.
  • PATA: The older hard drive technology.  Throughput speeds range from 3.3 Megabits per second (that's 0.0033 Gigabits per second) to 133 Megabits per second (0.133 Gigabits per second).  This technology is commonly considered obsolete in modern computers.
  • Byte / Kilobyte / Megabyte / Gigabyte / Terabyte: These are units of measure used when talking about the amount of data a disk (or memory) can hold.  Here is a breakdown of these units of measure:
    • Byte: A single piece of information (i.e. a single letter in a document)
    • Kilobyte: exactly 1024 bytes (roughly 1000 bytes)
    • Megabyte: exactly 1024 kilobytes (roughly 1000 kilobytes)
    • Gigabyte: exactly 1024 megabytes (roughly 1000 megabytes)
    • Terabyte: exactly 1024 gigabytes (roughly 1000 gigabytes)
    • Why the "exactly" vs "roughly"?  Because computers don't count in 10's like humans do, they count in 2's.  1024 is a power of 2, so that's how the computer sees its data.  In order for these units of measure to be easier for us humans to understand, we just round down to 1000.  Besides, it's a lot easier to remember that "1 gigabyte = 1 billion bytes" than "1 gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes".

So how do you determine how large of a hard drive to include in your new computer?  This is another one of those times were how you'll use the computer comes into play.  I like to think about what I "might want to do" rather than "what I'm going to do", because needs change over time.  Here's a good example: perhaps you don't have kids at the time you buy your computer, but you're thinking that you might start a family within the next 2 or 3 years.  You don't have a need for a computer that can handle a lot of video now, but you might after your first child is born.  When determining what you might use your computer for, try to think about 5-6 years into the future.

Most hard drives are measured in terms of gigabytes, or "GBs".  So let's take a look at some common uses of hard drive storage and how much space they take up:

  • 1 hour of standard quality video = roughly 1 GB
  • 7 minutes of HD video = roughly 1 GB (1 hour = roughly 8.5 GB)
  • Almost 2 hours (114 minutes) of CD-quality audio = roughly 1 GB
  • Modern video games range from 2 GB to 7 GB
  • Around 200 standard quality MP3's can be stored in 1 GB of space

So you can see, if you're going to be storing video, you'll want to think about a hard drive with more space, especially if you're going to be taking HD videos.

    Computer Buying Guide - Part 4: Memory

    Posted Wed, 10/21/2009 - 10:54 by tux

    First, let's clarify some terminology that seems to be popularly misused amongst the non-geek masses: memory vs. hard drive space.  I know a number of people who have a hard time keeping these two terms straight, probably because they both refer to "storage" in some way, and both use the same unit of measure (gigabytes) when talking about size.  These two things can be very confusing, so let's define the terms in a way that makes a little more sense.

    The relationship between memory and hard drive space is much like the relationship between post-it notes and an encyclopedia.  Post-its are by design small and temporary.  They're used to "store" small pieces of information, are easily moved around and reorganized, and when you're done with them, you throw them away.  An encyclopedia is quite the opposite: it is large, hard to move around, but stores a lot of information and is intended to be permanent.  When it comes to computers, memory is our post-it note and the hard drive is our encyclopedia.

    Inside of a computer, memory and hard drive space are also physically different things.  Memory is on a computer chip.  If you were to remove memory from your computer, it would look like computer chips glued onto a small ruler.  Hard drives, when removed, look like a small box ranging in size from a deck of cards (in a laptop) up to a small book (in a desktop).  They are mechanical, not chip-based, so they actually function much like record player, with a disk, or "platter" which is read and written by a magnet on the end of an arm.

    Now that we've got our terminology straight, let's look at how to approach configuring a new computer.  Memory is easily one of the cheapest and easiest ways to improve your computer's performance.  It's also one of the simplest parts of a computer configuration to understand: more is, quite simply, better.  There are just a few things to know when looking at the specifications on memory.

    • DDR2 vs. DDR3: Currently, there are two standards in memory that are dominating the computer scene: DDR2 and DDR3.  The abbreviation "DDR" simply stands for "Double Data Rate", and was first used to describe DDR memory's relationship with the old SDRAM.  DDR-SDRAM was capable of twice the transfers per clock cycle than standard SDRAM, thus the abbrevation.  Now the term has stuck, and includes pretty much all modern home and office desktop and laptop memory.  When it comes to the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 memory, from a user's point of view, it pretty much comes down to speed.  DDR2 memory is typically capable of transferring 400-800 Mbps, while DDR3 can push between 800-1600 Mbps.
    • Clock Speed: Quite simply, this is the speed at which the memory is capable of operating.  The higher the number, the better.
    • Size: Finally, the easiest specification to understand is the size of the memory.  Again, more is better.  Since memory is the cheapest upgrade you can make to a computer, it is advisable to purchase as much as you can afford up front.  You will get much better performance out-of-the-box that way.

    Things to think about:

    • Expandability: If you can't afford a bunch of memory to start out with, but think you'd like the option of upgrading, make sure to look into how much memory your new computer is capable of handling.  Many times, computer manufacturers will only install half of what a computer is capable of handling, with the idea that you might want to upgrade in the future.  Make sure you check those specifications before purchasing (the SideBySideGeek.com library includes that information, when available).
    • What you'll be using the computer for: If you're going to be playing games, editing video, or doing high-end picture or diagram editing on your new computer, you'll want to get as much memory as you can afford.  If this new machine of yours is going to be used for surfing the web, writing school papers, or things that generally don't involve "media" files (videos and music), you'll probably be ok with a little less memory.  Again, get as much as you can afford.  You'll thank us!

    Further Reading:

    Computer Buying Guide - Part 3: The CPU

    Posted Mon, 10/19/2009 - 16:02 by tux

    Clash of the Titans: Intel vs. AMD

    If you've done any reading about microprocessors within the past few years, you probably read about the ongoing battle between chip makers Intel and their rival AMD.  And if you're anything like the rest of us who read those articles, you still haven't got the vaguest notion of what the difference between the two really is.  Unfortunately, there really isn't a simple explanation.  It all comes down to what you're looking for in a computer.

    The Motherboard Dilemma

    One of the problems involved in choosing a CPU brand is that more than just the specifications of the CPU play into how well it will perform.  As PCStats.com points out, the motherboard is just as important to the performance of the processor as the processor itself.  Things such as quality of integrated graphics play a huge role in the overall performance of the computer.  According to the PCStats article, AMD (at the time of the writing of the article) was winning out on value in the entry-to-mid-range computer arena, simply because the motherboard had better integrated graphics.  Of course, these things change all the time, so the merits of graphics cards should be weighed separately, but this gives you an idea of how frustrating the task of choosing a computer can be, so we'll take it step by step.

    So How Do You Choose?

    Assuming you've got no preference toward Intel or AMD, how do you make an educated choice on performance?  While there is no perfect way to tell how one CPU will perform against another, especially if you're trying to compare an Intel chip to an AMD, there are a few comparisons that you can make which will help narrow the playing field.  Those comparisons are on the basis of CPU clock speed, front-side bus speed, L2 cache size, and number of CPU cores.

    Let's start with some definitions:

    • CPU Clock Speed: The speed at which the CPU's clock vibrates, which plays a role in defining how fast the CPU can execute.  This is measured in gigahertz, or GHz, in modern CPUs.
    • Front-Side Bus Speed: The speed at which the CPU can communicate with other computer components, such as memory, hard drives, and video cards.  This is currently measured in megahertz, or MHz, but will probably make the leap to gigahertz (GHz) before too long.
    • L2 Cache Size: The L2 Cache, or "Level 2 Cache" is a small amount of memory used by the CPU to store bits of data that it uses frequently.  The L2 Cache memory has a lower latency, or access time, than normal main memory, and therefore increases the performance of the CPU as a whole.  Typically, the more L2 Cache memory, the better the CPU performance.
    • CPU Core: A CPU Core is new given to the actual, physical circuitry inside the CPU package.  Modern processors now include multiple cores, or multiple actual physical CPU's, in each package.  The more cores included in the package, the more the CPU is able to do, especially when it comes to video editing, gaming, publishing, music editing, or any other application that is multi-threaded.  It also helps increase performance when multiple applications are running at the same time.

    So Which One is Right For Me?

    Figuring out which processor is the right one for your application is one of the most difficult parts of buying a computer.  This is one place you don't want to skimp, as it can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to upgrade your CPU at a later day, especially when dealing with a laptop.  Fortunately, both Intel and AMD have tools and information available on their website to help you figure out what processor family you should be looking at.  Check out the "Further Reading" section at the bottom of this page for links to Intel and AMD.

    And How Do We Compare?

    There are really two approaches one can take when comparing CPUs.  One would be to look up the benchmarks for each processor you're interested in, comparing each on their individual merit, and making your decision that way.  Unfortunately, there is a lot more that plays into the performance of the computer as a whole than the CPU.  The other way, and the way that we recommend to those who are just looking for a good computer, would be to compare each of the above criteria, and choose the CPU that has the highest specifications within your price range.  Enthusiasts should compare benchmarks, which is why they are enthusiasts.  But enthusiasts are probably not reading this book, and for the rest of us, our four criteria get us in the neighborhood of CPU that will suit us.

    Further Reading...

    1. AMD's "Help Me Decide" Tool
    2. Intel's Processor Ratings Page

     

    Computer Buying Guide - Part 2: What Goes Into Picking a Computer?

    Posted Mon, 10/19/2009 - 15:52 by tux

    So What Goes Into Picking a Computer?

    Just like buying a car, there are a lot of things to think about when it comes to choosing a computer.  In the automotive world, everything from the size of the engine to the paint job play a role in the selection process.  Computers are no different.  CPU speed, memory size, hard drive space, and yes, even the look of the machine, play into whether or not it gets picked as your next machine.  Here at Side-by-Side Geek, we like to go by the numbers, so we'll look at things from a technical point-of-view, and leave the asthetics up to you.  We'll be examining the following details:

    • CPU
    • Memory
    • Hard Drive
    • Video Card
    • Screen (on laptops)
    • Optical Drive
    • Networking
    • Expandability

    Each of these will factor into the selection process in its own way, and each is important to consider.  Depending on what you've determined your computer will be used for, any one of these items can make or break a selection.

    Getting What You Want From the Start

    One of the biggest mistakes you can make, and one I've made myself, is not getting all the computer you want or need right from the beginning.  It's important to keep in mind that it is less expensive to pay a little more from the start and get all the computer you're looking for than to purchase one with the idea that you will upgrade it in the future.  Your computing needs will only grow, so remember to get everything you need now, to avoid issues with not having enough computer in the future.

    Next Up: The CPU

    In the next installment of the Computer Buying Guide, we'll explore what to look for in the heart of your new computer: The CPU.

    Computer Buying Guide

    Posted Mon, 10/19/2009 - 15:44 by tux

    With all the choices floating around out there when it comes to personal computers, it's tough to tell just where to start looking.  There are more computer companies manufacturing more models of computers than ever before.  How do you single out your next purchase from the dozens of choices?  Well, we're here to help.

    In this book, we'll try to separate fact from fiction, and educate you on what to look for, and what to avoid, when it comes to choosing your next desktop or laptop computer.  While it might appear daunting at first, picking a computer really boils down to a few simple comparisons.  Using a little bit of knowledge about computer components and our library of machines, you'll be able to select your next computer in no time.

    So Where Do We Begin?

    The first choice you typically need to make when thinking about a new computer is really the most obvious: are you in the market for a desktop or a laptop?  This is, of course, a question of portability.  It also affects pricing, as you'll pay a premium for the small sized parts in the laptop.  These days, laptops are just about as capable as any desktop, aside from a few, very high end applications.

    The next thing you'll need to determine is just exactly what the new computer will be used for.  Is it going to be used simply for surfing the internet and checking email, or will you be using it to store photos?  Will you be using it to make videos or play computer games?  Will it be your entertainment center?  Your answers will go a long way toward dictating how powerful a CPU you need, how much memory and hard drive space you require, and what kind of video card you'll need.  But don't worry, we'll delve deeper into these questions later in this book.