I really need a laptop
 

to make it easier to read all my illegally downloaded comics. i'm having a hard time sitting straight up at my desk reading this shit. i want to recline.

then get a laptop!

end of thread!

do you have any other reasons to get one?

'cause i dunno that this one is sufficient.

BUT HEY, WITH THE WAY YOU BLOW MONEY ON THOSE LEASES, WHY THE HELL NOT?! AMIRITE?

nah that's it. that's the only reason.

maybe i can lease a laptop then

actually i just blew a ton of money on a new tv. im tapped out.

i just want to sit down and catch up on my Buffy and Angel comics

would it be possible to view them on your new tv, maybe using a wireless mouse to turn the pages

I bought this a little while back. Looks like it's cheaper now.

I really love it and you can game to your heart's content on it if you choose
Gateway - FX Edition Laptop with Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology - P-7805u

i can browse the internet and stream videos from my computer via the ps3 and xbox but i have no idea how to read comics short of actually lugging my computer down and connecting directly to the tv

Get a copy of Virtual Machine Workstation. Get an OS - Ubuntu Linux will do if you don't have any various copies of Windows floating around. Install VM on a portable harddrive. Use VM instead of laptop.

you just blew my mind, sbt

can you explain that in a different way? let's pretend i have no idea what you're talking about.

are you saying i can somehow turn a portable hard drive into a virtual computer? how do i connect a keyboard and mouse? how do i connect a televison to be a monitor?

It's what I use at my job so I can do school work without doing it on the company machine. In particular, I had to have SQL Server 2005 up and running so the college provides software... I set Windows Server 2003 on a VM and voila nobody gets mad at me because everything is isolated to that VM. All I had to get was a portable HD. I've also put Ubuntu on a 8Gb flash drive to mess around with Linux. There is also Sun VMX er something like that which is free but doesn't work as well as Virtual Machine. You will have to install VM Player on the host machines but it is a small program and doesn't fuck with stuff in a bad way.

You must have a host computer but you can take that VM from computer to computer if you have VMWare player installed on those host computers. The VM will use a certain amount of the host computer's ram, processor, etc. It's kinda like connecting to a terminal server if you've done that before.

you're drunk and high and making this shit up.

thanks, i feel dumb.

come down to sacramento and come over and do this for me.

Sun Virtual box is free but limited and a bit clunky compared to VMWare:

VirtualBox

Here's the site for VMWare:

VMware Virtualization Technology, Virtual Machine, Green IT Servers, Hypervisor - VMware

Essentially it's best to have VMWare Workstation to set up your VM. If you are friendly with the IT people where you work then ask them about it. They'll probably already know about the program. You'll need to install VMWare Tools after you have the VM going... it makes it seamless for your mouse to go from your host computer to the VM, and to do things like drag and drop/copy files off of the VM to the host machine and vice/versa.

Virtual Machines are the shit, yo.

sounds rad, man!

so whats a good laptop to get (lol)

not sure if i can count on the opinion of tech from somebody that drives a ford focus

get a Netbook as they're relatively cheap. I've got an MSI Wind 8)

what exactly is the difference between a netbook and a laptop. what can't a netbook do that a laptop can?

I paid cash for the ZTS and it gets excellent mileage, which is all I wanted. It's perfectly fine as a daily commuter.

They are generally smaller and have less horsepower. For reading comics and stuff, it would be fine hardware wise with the screen size maybe being an issue (I think the bigger ones are 10"). If I were in your situation, I'd probably get a netbook.

VMWare Server is also free where Workstation is not, but I still don't see how that would be a solution for what you want.



edit: I work in IT too and also drive a Ford Focus. It's gets good mileage and I hate big cars and not really caring about cars otherwise.

Netbooks are cheap and not very powerful.

i got a laptop recently which is great for watching internet stuff in my bed before falling asleep

a netbook is sounding more and more enticing now

separate issue

background:
the livingroom tv is set because I have both a ps3 and xbox 360 connected to it. The PS3 provides blu-ray capability and (limited) internet browsing. The xbox 360 provides netflix streaming. Both naturally can stream videos from my computer on the wireless network.

problem:
i now have a television in the bedroom that I also want connected to my wireless network. a media extender. but what to get? a ps3 or xbox? if I get only one, I'll be missing out on features the other one provides. or is there a better solution? something completely different that provides the best of both machines, there's probably an elegant and obvious solution that i'm missing here

Do you want to play games in the bedroom?

Media Extenders are overpriced. If you don't care about games, just pick up an XBOX (first generation, not a 360) and install the linux OS overrides on it. You won't be able to play a lot of games but it becomes a Media Extender workhorse with multiple format ability, and it would be cheap.

I thought he wanted to read them and download them at work for some reason.

I can't read.

oh yeah, the linux 1337 h4x you need is called XBMC
XBMC Media Center

Is the bedroom TV HD or will you need to stream HD over your network? My original hacked Xbox was awesome at streaming everything nonHD before I replaced my TV.

ooh i do have an original xbox lying around collecting dust. xbmc looks fantastic, but the setup instructions look intimidating. i'll have to set aside a weekend to do this. and also get wireless adapter for it. you guys have done this on your old xboxes no problem?

yes, the bedroom tv is HD.