Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Eric Roberts entering rehab for marijuana dependency, American Idol possibly going with all-new judges, or Kaval rocking it on NXT, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
RPadholic smartguy brought up an interesting conversation starter yesterday: how often do you change PCs? Some of my friends get new machines every year. Others have had the same system for more than five years. It’s really all over the place with the people I know and I’m sure it’s the same for you guys.
As for me, I usually stick with a two-year plan. For the first six months I’m very happy with my PCs performance. That changes into bland satisfaction for the next year. The final six months are when I get jealous of all the new features and performance gains found in new products. Due to my work situation, I’m actually several months overdue in my two-year plan, but hopefully I’ll be able to save up for one of those new iMacs soon!
Now it’s your turn! How often do you change PCs?
I am on year 7 with my desktop and i was on year 5 with laptop before i dropped it. I think i haven't changed computers because i upgrade them along the way.
@Eric Roberts
I can't believe this story. Marijuana dependency, really it reminds me of this half baked scene, NSFW
http://videosift.com/video/Bob-Sagets-Famous-Scen…
@A.I. new judges
who watches this show still besides you ray?
@Kaval
I haven't watched a minute of the new season of NXT. youtube is a little late in posting the videos then i forget to watch them. i'll watch it sometime before the season ends. Anyone watch Smallville this past season? Wade Barrett reminds me of the guy who played Zod. how come Zod has an English accent and Clark (Superman) or anyone else doesn't they're from Krypton right??
I finally have internet again!!!
When I built my first PC with and AMD 2800+ and ATI 9700, I guess 7-8 years ago, I got pretty addicted to getting new stuff every chance I got. Within the course of about 2 years I 5 "new" machines. Most of the time only replacing parts at a time. Most of the changes came in the form of a new case and lighting. Then I went through my new Mobo and Proc phase. More recently I have started accumulating hard drives.
My current build is 3 years old and it is still fine.
AMD X2 6400+
ASUS MoBo
ATI 4850
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 (don't remember the speed but I assume 800)
4 – DVD burners
6 – hard drives totaling 3.5Tb
Windows XP & Windows 7 Pro (but I never use this)
I did find myself checking out the new line-up of AMD CPUs. They are putting out some pretty good cheap stuff. Also with the hybrid Crossfire I had considered adding in another cheapy card.
Does anyone besides me miss ABIT? I really loved their motherboards. ABIT was the only manufacturer that seemed to care what their inside packaging looked like. Everything was always nicely arranged and individually boxed. They always had updated drivers and bios'. It was a tough decision for me to find another mobo company.
I'm in the process of getting a new macbook, don't know when though. My old one screen broke in an embarrisng story.
@redtailman
Well since you brought it up, how about sharing your embarrassing story.
@slickyfats
I laid my laptop on the ground with it open, and one of my friends sat down in this chair and he hit the screen with a leg of the chair. I wasn't happy. ;(
I replace a computer every year. I bought an iMac this year so I will purchase a new MacBook later this year. At the end of next summer I will probably replace iMac with a newer one. That could become an 18 month cycle though since the i7 and screen quality are so incredible.
I kinda think that buying an iPad will change my purchasing habits though. The iPad would take the place of my computers in many ways. Most notably it will push me to only buying the cheap MacBook (or a PC) while spending extra on my desktop. Maybe I will extend laptop life to 30 months.
@tokz_21 Kal is from Krypton, but he was raised by Americans. That could explain why he speaks Yankee.
@SlickyFats I loved Abit boards back in the day, but generally preferred Asus.
@Redtailman Get the 15" i7!!! I'm actually debating between that and a new iMac. I'm leaning towards the iMac. I wonder how much video editing I would do on the road….
@rpad
it makes sense but what about the other Kryptonians that came with Zod.
I also upgrade smartphones every 12-15 months. Unless I have to have it. I honestly would buy Droid X if it were on any other network.
If I was big into PC gaming I'd buy PCS more frequently but the only thing I ever use it for is social networks and RpadTV. I think some of the new things WoW is doing sound good and then the realease of SC2 so a new one will be mine soon.
I'm still using a Dell Demension 4600 that's at least 6 years old cause I've had it since well before I moved out here to AZ 5 years ago. I'm dying for an upgrade at this point.
@tokz_21 They're from South Krypton.
@rpad
or south central krypton?
Dude I'm still making it work with a Mac G3/4 (depends on the day lol), I thinks its been about 3 or 4 years and it was used when I got it! I really, really, really want a new iMac.
Anyone have any comments on my former site/network changing it's name to 4G for a week as part of sponsorship with Sprint's HTC Evo 4G? It made me like my phone less.
@rpad
yeah i totally e-mailed the webmaster on that one. Also, i saw some comments saying they pulled their 3 out 5 review on the Evo that they did on gadget pr0n. I'm refusing to give them any web hits until it goes back.
They pulled a review because of a sponsor?? Wow.
@tokz_21 Wow, I was not aware of the review pull. Any other confirmation on that? I hate crap like that. It reminds me of two incidents at GameSpy that tarnished a fun two years and led to a disenchanted third.
Hey Raymond, I just stumbled across your site. I was reading an article on another site that somebody linked me to, when I saw a comment from you, and clicked on your profile. We've met before at E3, you actually left GameSpy before I joined. Anyway, I'm no longer with them, but I'd love to hear that story you just alluded to.
@rpad
you made me give them a webhit to verify this. I did a search on their site for HTC and HTC Evo and it generated a review for top 10 android apps but no gadget pr0n review. I also did it for mytouch 3g w/slide, droid and droid x; those gadget pr0n reviews are up. so rumor confirmed.
@tokz_21 Wow. That's really bad. I hate when advertising slaughters editorial integrity. It happens way more than it ought to in gaming.
@rpad
me too. The started aots this week like that too. You know the music starts and the hosts introduce themselves i'm so so and we're live from g4 studios. This time it was music, silence then you heard aots sponsored by Sprint then hosts intro. pretty lame. it reminded me of the Wayne's World movie when they sell out and are sponsored by Noah's arcade. Wow i need to stop watching movies and playing video games.
@Span_Wolf Perhaps one day. I've said too much already. Ha!
Well Raymond, we are both ex employees of a particular company, I don't think that we can be held accountable for private conversations. ;)
@Span_Wolf Ha! Don't get me wrong. I loved my first two years at GameSpy. That was probaby the second-best experience I've ever had working. I was also too young and too dumb to appreciate a lot of the things Mark Surfas did for the company and its employees. It was just different after IGN bought the company and the two instances I mentioned earlier just really ruined things for me.
@4G
That's a bummer to hear. They just got knocked down 8 knotches in my book. But worst of all I can only imagine what the fanboys are doing with this knowledge. My memories of g4 can be summed up in two words. "Flame war".
@Ray
Do you still have those fancy shoes Microsoft "bought" you??
I gave IGN/GameSpy 3 and a half years of my life. It too was some of the best experiences I've had in the industry, or just period in my working life. I loved the environment as well as "most" of its people. That said, I witnessed and experienced some baffling things going on. So with that in mind, any chance I have to talk to people that were there before or after, and exchange stories, I jump at for the possibility of pulling back the curtain just a little more. It's also a matter of shared pain is easier to bear.
@Arguello Sadly, a lot of my personal belongings disappeared by the time I got back from Asia to retrieve my office stuff. The Microsoft diamond shoes went quickly, I imagine.
@Span_Wolf Perhaps I shall use the two instances in a future Coffee Talk. Enough time has expired, right?
Well I'd honestly be scared to talk about anything negative publicly, I was thinking a more private conversation.
Sorry I am so late to the party here, but I have been busy starting the moving process (just going from one apartment to the next). It will be a busy couple of days, and unfortunately we will not have internet or cable (which I can live without for a while anyways) for probably another week because it will take them that long to get out turn it on once we decide between AT&T or Comcast.
@Topic
I had my last laptop for about 4 years before it finally stopped working. I have had this laptop for less than a year now? I remember mentioning it a long time ago on here, but really have no clue when exactly that all happened. My previous laptop is actually still running, I hardly ever use it and it is still running Windows 95. That one is probably almost 10 years old now.
Before that computer I had a couple very old desktops which didn't really run for very long, they were all running Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 (the OS I grew up on). I am planning on having this laptop run for a couple years before I will upgrade to a new one, but I am also hoping to build a desktop at some point in the next couple years.
I seem to be in the minority so far in how quickly I replace a machine.
@Smartguy
I would prefer to upgrade on your plan, once I can afford it I would rather upgrade a little quicker, but I do like to get comfortable with a machine and stick with it. I like the guts to be quicker and newer, but the shell to be the same. Right now I am very comfortable with the keyboard and touchpad on my laptop. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I like to stick with it so I don't have to reacclimate to a new setup. That's more personal preference than anything though.
@smartguy
i think there's a few of us that make that smartguy money or just buy a computer and just upgrade little things here and there.
@ SG
Its because you are a machine!!!!
@ Rpad & Span_Wolf
I understand were you guys are coming from but we would love to hear the truth, both good and bad, from pros in the industry. Its kind of like taxi cab confessions minus the sex or maybe not lmao!
@tokz
Not having kids leaves me with extra $$. Electronics is my big splurge though.
@BB
That made me laugh. Thanks
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@ SG
Glad I did because I was Chris Hansening on the floor! I missed being on the boards too, work has sucked lately.
I usually keep a computer for about seven years or so. Right now, my main computer is a three or four year old 15" MacBook Pro. I'm thinking about building a moderately-priced PC rig at home as well, but cash is a bit tight now that we've finished closing on our house a couple of weeks ago. I just run Windows in Boot Camp any time I want to play a PC game.
What I'm really saving up for is a sick home theater setup with a projector and everything. I'm probably going to need over $10K for that, so I have to start saving up now.
-M
@Iceman
The assault of Makarov's safehouse in "Loose Ends" is kicking my ass at the moment. These waves of enemies is non-stop, and I know I didn't safeguard the house very well for where they are coming from. I have plenty of claymore planted…in all the entrances they aren't using. Not enough time to place anymore right now and there is only about 650ish out of the 2000 or so files copied at the moment. I'm gonna keep plugging away at this one, but it is the most difficult level by far of this game so far. This is the same style of level that kept me stuck in CoD2 several months ago. King of the hill type scenarios such as this are not my forte, but I can clear out an area no problem!
@ Bsukenyan;
Yeah, that was pretty tough on Veteran. Just wait until you see what happens AFTER you download the files… heh, heh, heh.
Anyway, there are only three places where the enemies can come into the house on the main level: the main entrance, the kitchen door and the stairwell that leads downstairs (by the kitchen door). What I did was hide out in the room to the right of the main entrance (when coming into the house from the outside) and peek my head out the door so that I could see all three entrances. The stairwell may be your blind spot, so make sure you leave plenty of claymores along the stairs leading to the basement. I'm assuming you obviously plant claymores at every entrance. When you hear one go boom, immediately go and replace it but be careful since the bad guys like to come in waves.
The easiest way to beat that part is with flashbangs. Remember; flashbangs are your friends, especially when there are a bunch of people around.
If you are still having trouble, try searching for a YouTube video of someone completing that scene.
-M
@Iceman
I got through it now, a couple of those tips helped. The flash bangs usually help out, I am just stingy with some of the flash bangs and grenades because when I use them I tend to rely on them and then run out just before I could really use just one more. So I usually end up just not using them unless I absolutely have to. Thanks for the help though, I'm hoping I get through the rest of the single player relatively easy so I can focus on the Spec. Ops and trying to get those down.
I've had two PCs in my lifetime, and I doubt I will "buy" another PC again. I actually enjoy upgrading my PC, so right now the only thing I want is a netbook/tablet. Even then the urge to upgrade those is high as well. (Shame it's not currently possible) Current PC is one year old.