Dell Inspiron 1525

MdX MaxX · 09-10-2008, 06:29 PM

I really hope to get one for my birthday. No I'm not a spoiled brat that gets everything he wants, it's just that I'm a person really into electronics. Anyway, a few questions:

1)How well does it run Stepmania/OpenITG (any lag issues, stuff not rendering right, etc.)? 2GB RAM, T5750 processor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100.

2)If I get the Western Digital Passport HDD with it, will it act as a USB Mass Storage Device? Or do I have to install special drivers and stuff?

3)Vista Question: It won't redirect the SM program folder if I install SM somewhere outside of Program Files, right?

4)About how long is the battery life on each Brightness setting (6 cell battery)?

I may post some more questions later.

**dieKatze88** · 09-10-2008, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MdX MaxX

I really hope to get one for my birthday. No I'm not a spoiled brat that gets everything he wants, it's just that I'm a person really into electronics. Anyway, a few questions:

1)How well does it run Stepmania/OpenITG (any lag issues, stuff not rendering right, etc.)? 2GB RAM, T5750 processor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100.

2)If I get the Western Digital Passport HDD with it, will it act as a USB Mass Storage Device? Or do I have to install special drivers and stuff?

3)Vista Question: It won't redirect the SM program folder if I install SM somewhere outside of Program Files, right?

4)About how long is the battery life on each Brightness setting (6 cell battery)?

I may post some more questions later.

1. Anything in the past 4 years will run Stepmania well, you might not be able to use cel shading without discrete graphics however.

2. Youre kidding right? If a USB drive doesnt come up as USB Mass storage, return it for a refund.

3. Stepmania 3.9 and Stepmania 4.0 are both tolerant of Windows Vista.

4. Dont know, but estimate 4 hours on the highest setting and 5 on the lowest.

MdX MaxX · 09-10-2008, 09:16 PM

2)Well I didn't mean that, I assumed it would force you to use some stupid file transfer wizard or something. I guess it works like a flashdrive then.

kimcicle · 09-11-2008, 12:12 AM

A person "really into electronics" would be building their own desktop in my opinion.

Laptop batteries for the Inspiron line are ok, but depending on work load can vary from 1.5- 3 hours tops. I've depleted a 6 cell battery in 45 mins due to taxing the processor the whole time and doing a lot of harddrive writes. If you don't need the mobility, spring for the 9 cell. Should give you some more off power time.

MdX MaxX · 09-11-2008, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimcicle

A person "really into electronics" would be building their own desktop in my opinion.

I'm actually more into the software aspect of it. I should start learning C++ or something...

Thanks for the info guys.

Blackraven · 09-11-2008, 10:35 AM

Why not go for a Sony VAIO C instead.

I mean it has Core 2 (Penryn already) plus it already has a discrete graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon X1900XT).

You're much better off with that imho

kimcicle · 09-11-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MdX MaxX

I'm actually more into the software aspect of it. I should start learning C++ or something...

Thanks for the info guys.

Learn either C++ or C#. As much as Java is taught, it's pretty much useless in the real world. Java is terrible. C# will help you get in the door for development in the Microsoft world.

**helix eternal** · 09-11-2008, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimcicle

Learn either C++ or C#. As much as Java is taught, it's pretty much useless in the real world. Java is terrible. C# will help you get in the door for development in the Microsoft world.

yeah definitely learn C#. It is everything Java should be and pretty much a better version of C++. Plus if you learn C# learning C++ too wouldn't be very hard at all. I learned C++ first and C# is a breeze, so i figure the opposite would be true too.

**dieKatze88** · 09-11-2008, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helix eternal

yeah definitely learn C#. It is everything Java should be and pretty much a better version of C++. Plus if you learn C# learning C++ too wouldn't be very hard at all. I learned C++ first and C# is a breeze, so i figure the opposite would be true too.

[x3] Yeah C# is awesome, the program I wrote that automatically CVS Updates and builds Stepmania is written in C# and its a very fast, very efficient language that's similar to java, however, there are some things that make no sense in it.

Blackraven · 09-11-2008, 11:11 PM

Well I do have to agree at some point.

C programming language is the very fundamental building block to any form of computer programming.

Granted, there are other stuff out there that is also used for programming (like Java, Netbeans, Agilent VEE Pro, etc.)...........but before all that, you gotta first be exposed in the C programming language. In other words, this is the basics of programming.

It's no wonder why this is the first thing that is being taught in all computer science education courses in college/university.

**dieKatze88** · 09-12-2008, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackraven

Well I do have to agree at some point.

C programming language is the very fundamental building block to any form of computer programming.

Granted, there are other stuff out there that is also used for programming (like Java, Netbeans, Agilent VEE Pro, etc.)...........but before all that, you gotta first be exposed in the C programming language. In other words, this is the basics of programming.

It's no wonder why this is the first thing that is being taught in all computer science education courses in college/university.

The fuck are you talking about, everywhere teaches java now.

raven_tkar · 09-12-2008, 05:54 PM

above post is correct! currently AP computer science A and AB is nothing but java. also, those are aboslutely terrible courses so dont bother taking them unless you really really want to skip CS 101 when you go to college.

Blackraven · 09-13-2008, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieKatze88

The fuck are you talking about, everywhere teaches java now.

Yeah they do as well (even in where I'm studying).

I was just pointing out that if one wants to learn programming, one must first expose himself/herself to the C programming language.

Once you've done that, then you can move on to using other languages with much more ease.

--------------
P.S.
Though on an interesting note, a lot of the guys there over at Beyond3D.com forums personally favor C programming language over Java (even if the latter may tend to be more popular)

Most interesting point they mentioned is that C programming langauges seem to be more flexible than Java for creating recursive functions.

MdX MaxX · 09-14-2008, 03:13 PM

Okay, another question. I know this question is asked 84734186479 times a day, but is Vista really that bad? Katze says most of the hate it gets is bullcrap, but it seems that everyone else on the internet thinks it's crap. They all say it doesn't run programs right, it's really slow - even on computers with good specs, it crashes randomly, so on and so forth. But I just can't believe that Vista would be that terrible and hasn't been recalled yet. I think if it were really that bad then MS would have recalled Vista and continued working on XP to give it Vista features and make it better. So what are the actual problems with Vista that will occur with almost every PC?

AceJay · 09-14-2008, 03:19 PM

Vista is awesome, everyone else is lame.

True it might require 1G of RAM just for the OS itself but does anyone really have less than that?

Yes there are some programs that won't run perfectly, I know a lot of FPS have no crosshairs on Vista hahaha

Otherwise it's fuckin awesome and I honestly can't go back to XP. Startsearch is too awesome.