Ranting about Microsoft and Tech Support in India

Staples.com or a local computer store can help you out. No new notebook has CD ROM support but you can buy the USB versions on line. A local company I use is http://www.memoryexpress.com they will ship stuff to you. Amazon will too.

The smallest TV use PC is this one less than $100 too.

http://www.minix.com.hk/Products/MINIX-NEOG4.html

Take out battery. Next spray cloth with Lysol. Clean labtop with cloth with Lysol on it. Wipe it clean with dry cloth. It's not hurt the labtop so far. Replace battery!

I'm the guy that takes the keyboard apart on the desktop to clean the keys and get rid of the smudges and stains. Heck, I will use a Q-tip to clean the keyboard! Like I said, I am a germ-a-phobe when it comes to my electronic devices. Just take Medical Microbiology and most people will change their cleaning habits!

A UV wand works as good. Plus as a germ a phobe you can take it with you.

Spacekiwi wrote:so you put water and flammables into electrical equipment.......

(near)Everything has water in it or leaves traces of itself behind. Only question is how much. R-12 and tri clor ethelyene do not but they were banned 20 odd years ago, something to do with the ozone layer...

Flammables and electrical equipment get along just fine. You might want to bone up on what voltage is necessary for a spark. It is beyond absurd to even contemplate that low voltage equipment can create a spark in a computer environment. A short is obviously a different beast(heat), but it still is NOT a spark which would ignite a fuel air mixture. A liquid fuel unless heated to its ignition temperature will not catch fire. Period. A static electric spark on the other hand is actually possible, just highly improbable.

So unless one has one heck of a large connector that is now shorting out, battery terminal to battery terminal for instance, there is no way in the world in low voltage equipment for it to catch fire. This SIMPLE fact is why low voltage equipment is used throughout the world. That and it matches up to battery buffers/power supplies nicely.

Besides it is, erm was, common sense to work on electrical equipment in the unpowered state with yourself grounded. The ol' Short problem. Not spark problem though. As there is this little thing called water when cleaning, and when handling computer equipment, static electricity when building, etc.

I know, i just like wording things to make it sound scarier then it is to make non scientific people nervous sometimes.... like the fact i can use a 9v battery to kill someone, with only 2 wires attached to it and nothing else.

Relax wrote:
(near)Everything has water in it or leaves traces of itself behind. Only question is how much. R-12 and tri clor ethelyene do not but they were banned 20 odd years ago, something to do with the ozone layer...

Flammables and electrical equipment get along just fine. You might want to bone up on what voltage is necessary for a spark. It is beyond absurd to even contemplate that low voltage equipment can create a spark in a computer environment. A short is obviously a different beast(heat), but it still is NOT a spark which would ignite a fuel air mixture. A liquid fuel unless heated to its ignition temperature will not catch fire. Period. A static electric spark on the other hand is actually possible, just highly improbable.

So unless one has one heck of a large connector that is now shorting out, battery terminal to battery terminal for instance, there is no way in the world in low voltage equipment for it to catch fire. This SIMPLE fact is why low voltage equipment is used throughout the world. That and it matches up to battery buffers/power supplies nicely.

Besides it is, erm was, common sense to work on electrical equipment in the unpowered state with yourself grounded. The ol' Short problem. Not spark problem though. As there is this little thing called water when cleaning, and when handling computer equipment, static electricity when building, etc.

Speaking of pcs, what does everyone think of this build I'm building for a friend?

http://pricespy.co.nz/list.php?l=90027&view=l

He wants as much power as possible in the $3.4k NZ range as possible, and this is as close as I have been able to get him whil also fulfilling his wish of few fans and closed water cooling as well. thoughts?

A UV wand doesn't get to hidden areas (in shadow), plus I'd imagine a germ a phobe would still want the actual residue washed away. I'm anything but a germ a phobe, but don't want a nutritious sterile substrate left for the next generation to colonise.

Lord Skimper wrote:A UV wand works as good. Plus as a germ a phobe you can take it with you.

Relax wrote:

Spacekiwi wrote:so you put water and flammables into electrical equipment.......

Flammables and electrical equipment get along just fine. You might want to bone up on what voltage is necessary for a spark. It is beyond absurd to even contemplate that low voltage equipment can create a spark in a computer environment. A short is obviously a different beast(heat), but it still is NOT a spark which would ignite a fuel air mixture. A liquid fuel unless heated to its ignition temperature will not catch fire. Period. A static electric spark on the other hand is actually possible, just highly improbable.

When cleaning electronics, some of the best things to use are lint free rags (if you happen to have any on hand. Truly lint free rags are expensive) And cue tips with alcohol. If you use cue tips, make sure you don't leave anything behind.

Back to the comment about flammables, he's quite right. Unless your power supply shorts out in a truly amazing fashion, you won't generate a spark from the small DC voltages in a laptop. Even if it does, the only higher voltage (over 12V which really isn't squat) is at the rectifier. That boxy thing in the middle of the power cord, or at the outlet end, typically. There AC 120 or 240V is converted to DC. Sometimes 24Vdc, other times just 12, depending on the laptop.

This is why the whole notion of having to turn off your cell phone at the gas pump cracks me up. I refuse to do it. A cell phone, broadcasting at the highest wattage it has, with a massive internal short, cannot set off the limited fumes in an open air environment at a gas station.

Even in a closed environment with high fumes, high O2 levels, it's practically impossible for a cell phone to cause an ignition.

Spacekiwi wrote:Speaking of pcs, what does everyone think of this build I'm building for a friend?

http://pricespy.co.nz/list.php?l=90027&view=l

He wants as much power as possible in the $3.4k NZ range as possible, and this is as close as I have been able to get him whil also fulfilling his wish of few fans and closed water cooling as well. thoughts?

Not sure what the exchange rate is but the monitor is rather pricey, you should be able to get a 27" 3d or 29" 2d version.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX33610
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX44964
Graphics card 9770.
SSD why 2? Go for the cheaper 128gb versions and get 3 or 4 setup in a raid 5.
Get a motherboard with on board raid 5 and ecc memory support.
Buy Kingston DDR3 ECC ram.
Get the 2TB drive as an external drive.
Get a wired ergonomic keyboard.
Use a wired mouse.
Get a USB optical bluray bdxl drive.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX39655

because unfortunately, the cheapest 27inch monitor is $630. the monitor chosen is the cheapest IPS panel I could find that is also 16:10. next one is another $200 more.

those ssds of that size were chosen as he wants at least 400gb of space for his games, OS, programs, and his about to get bigger steam library. apparently he has around 150gb already, so 3/4 128gb in raid 5 wont be enough for him. next year he will have some more cash, at which point i can raid 5 a 3rd 256gb ssd on, and maybe another 2tb so hes has more space, but for now, thats the best compromise i believe i was able to make between cost and capacity

ecc ram is unfortunately another $50 extra here.

That motherboard I had to choose as he wanted a overclockable system that was as black as possible, and luckily, at the moment this is one of the cheaper z87 boards.

he already has a 500gb external for his laptop, and he will use that for transferring stuff to/from his computers, but he wants a 2tb in his machine, and turning an external into an internal would unfrotunately cut into the money for other parts.

trying to get him to switch mouse and keyboard to cheaper, better logitech ones, but he likes the look of those with the case.

externals are unfortunately really expensive here for disk drives. this is the cheapest i could get.

Theres such a small demand for DIY pc's here, so the costs are quite high for anything over midrange. according to pcpartpicker, this costs around 2200 us, or what should be 2700 nz. but nope. $3,300, 23% extra, because i live in nz.

Lord Skimper wrote:Not sure what the exchange rate is but the monitor is rather pricey, you should be able to get a 27" 3d or 29" 2d version.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX33610
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX44964
Graphics card 9770.
SSD why 2? Go for the cheaper 128gb versions and get 3 or 4 setup in a raid 5.
Get a motherboard with on board raid 5 and ecc memory support.
Buy Kingston DDR3 ECC ram.
Get the 2TB drive as an external drive.
Get a wired ergonomic keyboard.
Use a wired mouse.
Get a USB optical bluray bdxl drive.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX39655