Posts by Happy Lemming 13 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Jul 2013
In our family, computer cases have names, because the outsides remain the same while the insides change. I recently replaced the guts of Marmot, a rather nice Lian-Li aluminum case - the only visible difference is a USB-C jack on one of the 5 1/4" panels.
Yes. After my first computer encounter - Fortran on an IBM 360/30, punch cards - I switched from engineering to computing science and subsequently found myself using HP Basic on an HP-85 to glue a specialized weather computer to a satellite uplink. Good times. Sometimes I play with an HP-85 emulator, just for fun.
You really shouldn't be running such ancient hardware. Get in the MS spirit, landfill it, and buy some overpriced new system that probably won't accept Windows 12 next year.
I have noticed that my i7-3770K, on a no-longer-supported Intel motherboard, runs remarkably well with an RX480 video card that's barely seven years old. Of course, it's Windows 10, and it will probably stay that way long past the promised demise of the OS, with some careful firewalling.
Perhaps it's a good idea to inform newcomers that the Surface Pro is a tablet, not a laptop, although in a pinch it can sort of mimic a laptop. I use mine almost exclusively in tablet mode, often in portrait orientation. The type-cover keyboard works for me since I don't write epics while traveling.
Paper by subscription? What kind of paper? I print on 20-lb, 24-lb, 32lb, various photo papers, brochure, and several card weights. All are available locally and most could be delivered to my door tomorrow. Good luck figuring out what I want next. But keep the instant ink coming - it's convenient and cheap, particularly when printing a lot of color.
I actually bought a Surface RT 32 GB through the educational discount, considering CDN $323 to be a reasonable price for a bundle with the Type cover. It's not a general-purpose computer, and does not pretend to be - I'd put it somewhere between my Kobo e-reader and a good netbook. I am still learning what it will and won't do. I like the display, the way it handles pdfs, and the few apps I've added (good for the Economist and CBC), and I will certainly use Word when traveling. I've streamed some HD video which looked good and did not stutter. Battery life is decent (6-8 hours) and the small charger is convenient; the whole kit is compact and lightweight. The Windows 8 interface is a matter of taste, as annoying on a Surface as it is on a desktop, but it does work although not intuitively.
Don't dismiss the Surface RT - it has its place. I quite like it.
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