The Super Helpful Little Things Forum

[philosoraptor]

Is the desire for the SSD due to greater reliability? (No spinning platters, no moving read head). Or for performance? Just curious.

I'm guessing both. AFAIK they have every advantage over old-fashioned spinny HDs except cost.

[eth3n]

Is the desire for the SSD due to greater reliability? (No spinning platters, no moving read head). Or for performance? Just curious.

I'm guessing both. AFAIK they have every advantage over old-fashioned spinny HDs except cost.

Most people will actually tell you the MTBF for SSD's is substantially weaker than that of HDDs as they tend to only be writable about 1.5 million times. Although the people at flashdestroyer are currently streaming an attempt to break flash memory via this method and I believe they are at approximately 2.5 million atm (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/flash-destroyer). For personal applications there is no substantial disadvantage from buying SSD if you have the money.

[KeepitKind]

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one more helpful tip:

be certain to read Bob LoBlaw's Law Blog on a nightly basis.

[FeuerFrei]

.

[vexion]

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one more helpful tip:

be certain to read Bob LoBlaw's Law Blog on a nightly basis.

+1000 to Arrested Development.

[creamedcats]

Is the desire for the SSD due to greater reliability? (No spinning platters, no moving read head). Or for performance? Just curious.

Yeah, both. I imagine its practical 'use' will not be a tremendous advantage but it will make me feel that geeky little "...nice" every time I turn on the computer and it sprints through the boot process or comes out of hibernation. Loading documents faster doesn't hurt.

[MisterChase]

Much in line with the technological theme of this thread: If you have an Android-based phone, and would like to stay on top of your financial situation with as much effort as a simple glance, then you'll be pleased to know that Mint now has an android application -- just released yesterday:
http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/mint-does-android/

It even translates your financial data visually into graphs.

[Philo38]

Moved post to rightful place.

[Stevenscott]

Test

[vexion]

Test

It... works?

[Northwestern2013ES]

TAG

[MisterChase]

So dudes, I went and got two Acer 20" monitors for a dual setup with my laptop. These monitors are awesome for their price.

I've hooked up one of them via VGA port with my laptop, and Windows 7 instantly recognized the monitor and allowed me to extend the display to both laptops. So while my laptop is "central screen", and I can drag the mouse and/or documents and windows to the Acer monitor which will hold these items independently.

But to those of you who know what they're doing with your multi-monitor setups, what else do I need to get the second Acer hooked up? My laptop has an "S video" port, an "expansion port", an HDMI port, and one VGA port already in use by the 1st Acer.

My ideal setup would be: Monitor -- Laptop -- Monitor, with the screen extended to all three monitors, while the laptop remains the central screen.

[vexion]

So dudes, I went and got two Acer 20" monitors for a dual setup with my laptop. These monitors are awesome for their price.

I've hooked up one of them via VGA port with my laptop, and Windows 7 instantly recognized the monitor and allowed me to extend the display to both laptops. So while my laptop is "central screen", and I can drag the mouse and/or documents and windows to the Acer monitor which will hold these items independently.

But to those of you who know what they're doing with your multi-monitor setups, what else do I need to get the second Acer hooked up? My laptop has an "S video" port, an "expansion port", an HDMI port, and one VGA port already in use by the 1st Acer.

My ideal setup would be: Monitor -- Laptop -- Monitor, with the screen extended to all three monitors, while the laptop remains the central screen.

Yeah... probably should have though about that before you bought two monitors.

Your laptop needs another VGA or DVI port, whatever your extra monitor requires. The only ways to fix it would be A) to install a second video card in your laptop, though 99% of the time that's not possible, or B) I guess you could use a product like a Matrox TripleHead2Go.

[Matthies]

So dudes, I went and got two Acer 20" monitors for a dual setup with my laptop. These monitors are awesome for their price.

I've hooked up one of them via VGA port with my laptop, and Windows 7 instantly recognized the monitor and allowed me to extend the display to both laptops. So while my laptop is "central screen", and I can drag the mouse and/or documents and windows to the Acer monitor which will hold these items independently.

But to those of you who know what they're doing with your multi-monitor setups, what else do I need to get the second Acer hooked up? My laptop has an "S video" port, an "expansion port", an HDMI port, and one VGA port already in use by the 1st Acer.

My ideal setup would be: Monitor -- Laptop -- Monitor, with the screen extended to all three monitors, while the laptop remains the central screen.

Yeah... probably should have though about that before you bought two monitors.

Your laptop needs another VGA or DVI port, whatever your extra monitor requires. The only ways to fix it would be A) to install a second video card in your laptop, though 99% of the time that's not possible, or B) I guess you could use a product like a Matrox TripleHead2Go.

Or just cut out the laptop monitor all together, i just keep my lappy closed when dual monoring, use VGA for one HDMI for the other, set laptop to not disply when lid closed, in this set up a laptop cooler (USB powered) might be necessary cuase many laptops run hot with lid closed

[MisterChase]

Great, so it looks like I'll need the Matrox TripleHeadtoGo (or wouldn't it really be the DoubleHeadtoGo?).

But I found this:

http://plugable.com/products/uga-2k-a/

Thoughts? Comments?

[Matthies]

Great, so it looks like I'll need the Matrox TripleHeadtoGo (or wouldn't it really be the DoubleHeadtoGo?).

But I found this:

http://plugable.com/products/uga-2k-a/

Thoughts? Comments?

That thing looks so freaking cool, and the 7 montior setup is BADASS

[Matthies]

But i'm still not undrerstanding why you can use the VGA for one montior and the HDMI for anouther, doe syour latop vid card not support dual monitors?

[vexion]

Great, so it looks like I'll need the Matrox TripleHeadtoGo (or wouldn't it really be the DoubleHeadtoGo?).

But I found this:

http://plugable.com/products/uga-2k-a/

Thoughts? Comments?

I don't see why that wouldn't work. Much cheaper than Matrox products too. And yeah, you should be able to use VGA for one and HDMI for another. That possibility completely skipped my mind. But that's dependent on one of the monitors you bought supporting HDMI input. The way you said the first one you hooked up to the VGA port, I figured both were VGA.

[MisterChase]

Yeah the monitors only have VGA and DVI inputs; no HDMI. And while my laptop has an HDMI port, it has no DVI port. So that leaves me with VGA only.

I'll be trying the USB option ASAP. The only thing that worries me is that the site says:

"Hardware requirements:

GPU: Used for 2D/3D rendering on Windows Vista and Win7, requiring a single Intel, nVidia, or ATI primary WDDM driver."

Uh...yeah, whatever that means. All I know is I have a NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS on my laptop, and just hope that works.

[Matthies]

Yeah the monitors only have VGA and DVI inputs; no HDMI. And while my laptop has an HDMI port, it has no DVI port. So that leaves me with VGA only.
I'll be trying the USB option ASAP. The only thing that worries me is that the site says:

"Hardware requirements:

GPU: Used for 2D/3D rendering on Windows Vista and Win7, requiring a single Intel, nVidia, or ATI primary WDDM driver."

Uh...yeah, whatever that means. All I know is I have a NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS on my laptop, and just hope that works.

No, no, no. They make HDMI to DVI cords. DVI is just the otlder version of HDMI, with a bunch more plugs they are backwards compatbale with each other. tha's all you should need, like $10-15 bucks. Go to Best Buy or Staples or get here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-12339007

[Matthies]

The one thing I am still not 100% sure on is if you can run daul montors AND the laptop montoir off of an 8400, i look that up tommrow, 2 should be no problem, 3 I'm not sure of, but like i said if u can go w/o the laptop screen no issues just need DVI to HDMI cord or plug

[MisterChase]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to report SUCCESS.

I just got my USB plugable today, and after buying a male to male DVI-HDMI cable, I am now running THREE MONITORS: My laptop, and my two ACER monitors. And goddamn, it feels awesome.

And best of all, I only need ONE USB plugable, saving me from paying for another one -- or worse, from having to spend $200-$300 on one of those TripleHead2Go thingies.

It's simple and beautiful.

My setup is simply this: One Acer monitor is connected to my laptop via VGA port, and the other is connected via USB Plugable from DVI to HDMI. So I get three full displays at my fingertips, and through Window's Monitor Configuration Dialog Box (accessible via right-clicking background and selecting "screen resolution"), I have precisely the setup I need:

Monitor -- Laptop -- Monitor

This means if I move my cursor to the left, it enters the screen of the left monitor; if I move it to the right, it enters into the right monitor.

It's a dream come true.

I'll take pics when I get my new phone on the 15th or so.

[vexion]

Congrats! Glad it worked out for you!

[jhawk4life]

I have been trying to decide between a mac or windows laptop. I have been an avid mac user for years, and I am feeling pressure to go with a windows for law school. Price really isn't an issue. What do you tech geniuses think of the dell adamo?

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topi ... l=en&s=dhs

[vexion]

I have been trying to decide between a mac or windows laptop. I have been an avid mac user for years, and I am feeling pressure to go with a windows for law school. Price really isn't an issue. What do you tech geniuses think of the dell adamo?

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topi ... l=en&s=dhs

It's overpriced, far, far more than you need for law school, but OH SO BEAUTIFUL