Peter's Motorcycle BLOG » Computers http://dixonarchive.com/blog Technology and Motorcycles Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:16:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Apple Mac and Open Office http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2010/apple-mac-and-open-office/ http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2010/apple-mac-and-open-office/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:05:45 +0000 Peel http://dixonarchive.com/blog/?p=1339 I’ve had an Apple Mac for a few years now but I was still used Windows for the MS Office Word/Excel and website development and so forth.  It’s taken awhile but I finally downloaded and installed the Open Office found here: www.openoffice.org and I must say I’m impressed.  This is really a near perfect alternative to buying the MS Office for Mac.  Although my documents are probably not very complex all the ones that that I use are perfectly compatible. No errors in formatting or calculations.  It does work slightly differently but I could get used to it.  Give it a go!

All I need now is a decent graphics program and website development tool that doesn’t cost too much money!

]]> http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2010/apple-mac-and-open-office/feed/ 0 Windows Vista in July 2009 http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2009/windows-vista-in-july-2009/ http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2009/windows-vista-in-july-2009/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:50 +0000 Peel http://dixonarchive.com/blog/?p=1193 It’s been awhile since I posted an update on my main Vista PC!  That’s because since the memory update to 3Gigs and the installation of Vista Service Pack 3 I finally have a computer that actually works properly. Admittedly some of older software and games still don’t work but I use the VM on the mac to run them.

I’ve also been able to use some new feature of Vista including the Gadgets sidebar!  There are now some excellent gadgets you can have run on the sidebar – some very impressive! Check them out here Vista Sidebar Gadgets

My personal favorites you can get from the link above include:

Xirrus Wi-Fi monitor
(Shows an active scan of available and unavailable Wireless Networks!)

All CPU Meter
(Shows CPU usage on all the CPUs in your computer and memory usage)

Wireless Network Meter
(Shows live stats on all the important details of your wireless connection like uploads and downloads, signal strength and activity graph.  Looks good too!)

Wired Network Meter
(Shows live stats on all the important details of your wired internet connection like uploads and downloads, signal strength and activity graph.  Looks good too!)

]]> http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2009/windows-vista-in-july-2009/feed/ 0 The best computer – changed my mind http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2009/the-best-computer-changed-my-mind/ http://dixonarchive.com/blog/2009/the-best-computer-changed-my-mind/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:56:29 +0000 Peel http://dixonarchive.com/blog/?p=1122 Umm… believe it or not I’ve changed my mind!  After searching through the ads and shops it is very clear that the only Apple that would meet my requirements will cost over $4500.  Yes it was a Apple MacPro Desktop.  I had sticker shock.  Even the second hand market for the MacPro’s are quite silly – really.  Nonetheless they fitted my requirements perfectly.

I considered some more… Maybe I could live with another MacBook or MacBook Pro and possibly the iMacs.  Hmmm The iMac’s are reasonably priced but I don’t like the all in one design.

iMacs: There’s no space to put in more had drives and I do not like the idea of having to take the whole computer in to be fixed if something goes wrong!  Sure you can get external hardrives but I prefer to be able to have the lot in one case. iMac prices currently  start at $1999 and go to $3699.  I know I’ll want the 24 Inch version and at least the top range for the faster processor.  Afterall I need to run the TV at the same time as programming and all the associated software on a virtualised Windows XP.

The Macbook Pros are good too but the cheapest 13′ former MacBook does not have a proper graphics card so I’ll need the 15-inch version with the 2.66GHz CPU at the very least.  This version is priced at about $3,199.  Honestly I think I’ll need the faster processor so the next one up is $3,699.

The prices are serious money that I’m not willing to part with.  (For an Apple or PC)  I guess that price is the ultimate issue I have.  Performance concerns come next.  Since I already use a decent MacBook I know I can run all that I want but its not the fluid speed I demand.

Apple MacBooks are now priced competitive with their PC counter parts.  Sure their processors are numerically not as fast but the OSX is more efficient and I know that although lower in supposed speed they are just as fast as the supposedly higher rated PC notebooks.  Besides even the fastest processor on a PC notebook is not fast enough for what I need it to do.  It has to be a desktop I think.

I do not need the new main computer to be portable and do not want particularly want another notebook as a main computer.  So I was not happy with the current outcome.

Then I found out about the yet to be released Windows 7 which Microsoft have promised proper XP visualization so all my old software will work.  They say they will also include a anti-virus for free – a bit ironic don’t you think?

Based on the current prices of PCs I could get a seriously fast machine that could do everything for under $2000.

So I’ve decided to hold of until the new OS is released – my perfect computer could well be a new Windows based PC – AGAIN!

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