New Computer Help

[Adam]

Paying attention to Adam's suggestions in computer question thread? Why should I ?

Because if I actually learn from my computer mistakes, then I'm on the verge of omniscience.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Well FML. I'm not sure what happened or what I did, but I was hooking everything up at my desk when I plug in my BD burner into the computer and suddenly the computer screen goes black and it shuts itself down. Now, as far as I can tell neither the computer nor the BD burner is functional. The computer makes the startup noise and I hear the HD spin up, but it stays with a black screen and the RPM's never drop below what sounds like full blast. If the thing is going to die and it wasn't my fault, I'm glad it happened now and not in the middle of the school year. If it is my fault, I have no idea what I did wrong. I'm fairly tech savvy and have a masters in educational technology, so it's not like computers are foreign to me. Oy vey.

First off, anyone have any ideas as to what's wrong or any questions to help me diagnose the issue? I'll be bringing it to a repair shop tomorrow to see what they have to say, but any info or questions to ask them would be helpful.

If the thing is shot (which I pray it isn't because I'm very nearly tapped) I guess I'll be looking at another macbook pro. I use my computer for streaming (movies and music), ripping, burning, document editing, website creation, skyping, plus all my speaker programs, I'm teaching myself a little CAD type stuff, and now that I'm going to be teaching I'm sure there will be video editing added to the mix. If there are any suggestions other than a macbook pro I'm open. My only requirements are that it has to be a laptop since I'll be bringing it to and from the school with me.

Thanks in advance

-fuzz

Static electricity?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

btw: Congrats to Fuzz on brand new and heavily overpriced laptop

 

[Adam]

btw: Congrats to Fuzz on brand new and heavily overpriced laptop

You and Craig should start your own "Mac haters" club.

 

[adk highlander]

You and Craig should start your own "Mac haters" club.

It is not that I hate Mac's per se. I hate the fact they are a closed system, cost too much, use same hardware as a PC at twice the price and a PIA to work with in my world. On top of that every person I know who has a Mac has windows installed as well which I find hilarious.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

It is not that I hate Mac's per se. I hate the fact they are a closed system, cost too much, use same hardware as a PC at twice the price and a PIA to work with in my world. On top of that every person I know who has a Mac has windows installed as well which I find hilarious.

For the records - I don't hate Mac , just their prices for everything including $100 cables
On the up side - it does have good design, used best materials and pushing envelope of current technology (slightly so)
and Yet, it is still very much overpriced for what it does. Most people with Mac Pro I know don't use for artistic creation, but to go to facebook

 

[Adam]

I hate the fact they are a closed system, cost too much, use same hardware as a PC at twice the price...

I'll admit that I view it differently. I use to think the same as you, but not any more. It depends on what you want. I like silence and small form factors - the MB Air and Mac Mini are outstanding in that arena, utterly crushing the PC equivalents that I have. And I mean utterly. The Mini can be user upgraded pretty easily with any brand RAM or hard drive(s) you want. I don't follow the "same hardware as a PC" mentality because I'm not aware of PCs that use fans as quiet as these. Oh, doesn't mean they don't exist , just that I'm not aware of them. And if they do exist, I bet they cost more than the Walmart special.

As for putting Windows on them, I understand that. I bought Barry's Mac Mini with the intent of putting Windows on it so that I could finally have a silent Windows machine that was extremely small.

For me, computing is more than data crunching speed and specs. It's about the user experience. Heck, Craig, you have three monitors hooked up, so I think you get that. We just value different things. People are willing to pay more for more performance in computers, and I'm willing to pay more to be happy overall.

 

[Lulimet]

The one you gave me is video only? I don't see pic capture.

Just use the Windows built in snipping tool to capture a picture.

 

[fuzz092888]

Static electricity?

Possibly, I'm not knowledgeable enough to say for sure and I hadn't thought to ask the tech when he was checking things over.

btw: Congrats to Fuzz on brand new and heavily overpriced laptop

Ah, expensive for sure, overpriced is a matter of perspective as Adam noted

It is not that I hate Mac's per se. I hate the fact they are a closed system, cost too much, use same hardware as a PC at twice the price and a PIA to work with in my world. On top of that every person I know who has a Mac has windows installed as well which I find hilarious.

See now from my point of view, as someone who only deals with old, outdated PC's that schools use, I hate windows and the unnecessarily complicated nature of PC's. Things aren't where I want them to be, it takes 3+ clicks to get something done when it only takes 1-2 clicks on my Mac. Plus I'd need to spend more just to avoid that cheap plasticky feel that I have in a PC laptop. Don't get me wrong, I've used plenty of PC's, laptop and desktop that I know I could be perfectly happy with, but I know I'd end up spending at least as much as I did on my macbook pro, it would have a larger form factor, be uglier (to me) and require more time and effort to get it the way I want it. Coming from a mac, there's something to be said for being able to restore from my time machine backup and be back up and running almost immediately (which I know you could probably do with a PC as well if I was coming from and going to). Right or wrong, I just view PC's as something I'd need to tinker with and ultimately relearn, which I don't have the time or patience for right now. OTOH, I don't necessairly disagree with anything that mac critics have to say about them. If and when my needs change and a PC can fulfill them better I'll switch over, or supplement. I already had plans on getting a cheap PC laptop to use for all the speaker software I run so I can unload parallels. Plus I'd like to build an HTPC as a fun project for that faraway time when I A) have some extra cash and B) don't have a list 20 items long of things that I have to replace or worry about replacing in the not too distant future. Plus there's some sort of ring I'm supposed to be looking into as well

 

[adk highlander]

I understand your points. Some of it is just the way you are used to working and what you expect from your machines. I don't ever really use my computers for "fun" with the exception of coming here. Not a gamer and when I am in front of a machine I am usually working. Due to the processing power I need in the work I do I never really liked laptops as they are usually not powerful enough to do real work on. Now that I do more of my work in a remote desktop client for GIS I can use a laptop as all the processing is done on the server. So last year I picked up a Lenovo X1 Carbon. Super light and well built. It really is the first laptop I was like oooh I need that.

I must say Adam I never really noticed the fan noise on most of the laptops I work on. I will have to pay more attention to that.

And as an FYI there will be a Mac in my office this year. The communication and photography folks have broken me down but it is their baby and will not have support by our IS department. All the software is the same as PC so I don't get why it is supposed to be "better" for graphic design. InDesign on a PC has all the same features as on a Mac so why they feel it is so important to have a Mac OS that won't fully work on our network is beyond me but, I am tired of fighting.