No Special Computer

[Stitch Up]

One of the fortunate things about DyeSubbing is that it doesn't require 'top end' computers to produce 'artwork'or patterns.

I have a few computers including notebooks and they're all OTT for DyeSubbing.

[Justin]

So true. Good job as well. My ageing PC coughs and splutters it's way through! I tend to do most things through my laptop now as it's very stable. It's not particularly powerful but does the job fine.

I'm about to replace mobo/cpu/memory on my main PC to hopefully give it a new leash of life....well, try and keep it stable anyway!

Justin

[JSR]

About 14 months ago, I bought a netbook with the intention of it being a second PC supporting my desktop. Shortly after that, my desktop had a funny turn and wouldn't boot properly. I didn't have time to sort the PC at that time, so I loaded everything onto my netbook.

Despite having fixed the desktop PC a year ago, I haven't turned it on since because the netbook is doing all that the desktop did - and it's using a lot less power, too!

I sometimes think that people buy powerful computers because they believe that have to, or they believe the hype, when the truth is that computing power passed the point of diminishing returns about 10 years ago. How many people buy a new PC with quad-core processors and multi-GB of RAM, just because that's what the latest flavour of Windows demands?

My desktop is a P4 running at 3GHz with loads of disk space and plenty of slots for ample RAM. My netbook runs less than half that speed. The desktop used to draw 80-130W of power every hour for 14 hours a day. Today, the netbook draws 15-20W of power every hour for 7 hours a day (the other 7 hours it's running off the battery). Yet, I'm doing exactly the same work today that I used to do on the main PC.

I feel that I've learned what computing power I *need* as opposed to the computing power I'm told I should buy. And, by using a lower-powered computer, I feel I'm doing a little bit to help the planet and quite a bit to help my wallet!

[Paul]

same here! I use my laptop a lot but I do have a PC still... not use much but if so there is enough "power" to do designes etc.. P4 2ghz and 512mb of ram. perfect!

[JSR]

same here! I use my laptop a lot but I do have a PC still... not use much but if so there is enough "power" to do designes etc.. P4 2ghz and 512mb of ram. perfect!

I think I shall only ever turn my desktop PC on if I want to do a bit of video editing or something. The netbook can still do it, but there's no point using 20W for 3 hours when the same job can be done with 130W for half-an-hour. But for everything else, who really needs the huge power-blasting quad-core PCs that the salesmen tell us we should buy?

[Justin]

So many people seem to spend £1000's on shiny new multi core power machines. That's fine if you have a use for them but honestly how many people do have that sort of use?

Chap at work has just shelled out a grand and a half just so he can run his Flight Sim at a higher resolution. He doesn't run anything else on it.

Justin

[JSR]

Chap at work has just shelled out a grand and a half just so he can run his Flight Sim at a higher resolution. He doesn't run anything else on it.

Wouldn't it be better just to buy a games console?

[Stitch Up]

Flight Sim can get addictive

[JSR]

Flight Sim can get addictive

The last Flight Simulator I played was on a ZX81. (I feel old!)

[Justin]

....and wasn't that a good flight sim? You could get into it quickly and it wasn't complicated. I'm sure it would seem incredibly simplistic nowadays but I put in many flying hours on the ZX81!

The latest MS Flight Sims seem incredibly complex. He's looking at buying a dummy (right word there) cockpit to go into his shed to house it all! You can talk to air traffic control and the detail is so good you can 'buzz' the cows!!!

Justin