Hi!
As someone who is not a techy and has never yet used an SSD drive, I can think of one drawback of those drives, namely their smaller capacity. It’s all very well to say that we could keep big files, such as anything audio, on an external drive, but, if we don’t want to keep that drive connected to the computer for whatever reason, we don’t have immediate access to those big files. That’s one reason why an SSD drive is less tempting for me when I get another computer, especially as, the more capacity you want on an SSD drive, the more expensive that will be.
I would also guess that having lots of RAM could make a new computer more expensive; I have never had a computer with more than 4 GB of RAM, but that much has served me well over the past few years. It’s true that things are changing in the computer world, so it’s possible that newer programs might need more power, but I’m not convinced that we need huge amounts of RAM yet.
As I write this, it’s hard to predict how difficult choosing my next computer will be, but ideally I want something with a reasonable but not excessive amount of RAM, and a not-too-small capacity of memory for storing my files so that I do not always have to use an external drive except for backup purposes.
Bye for now!
From Clare
*From:*nvda@nvda.groups.io [mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io] *On Behalf Of *Gene
*Sent:* lundi 4 décembre 2017 08:53
*To:* nvda@nvda.groups.io
*Subject:* Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more difficult than before
I would say that it may be beneficial in a lot of ways but I suspect that it has drawbacks that most perhaps almost all people never think about.  I really like computers, where I can issue commands and have all sorts of things happen.  But it's an artificially easy world and an artificially fast gratification environment.  I suspect that that is one reason we see more impatients and bad temper.  I haven't thought much about this.  It's common to read the common complaints about computers but having so great a contrast between the world and the computer world may have undesirable effects people generally don't think about.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
*From:*enes sarıbaş <mailto:enes.saribas@...>
*Sent:*Monday, December 04, 2017 1:42 AM
*To:*nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
*Subject:*Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more difficult than before
still, I would argue that having a fast computer is benefitial on all fronts.
On 12/4/2017 10:06 AM, Gene wrote:
I might argue that having slower devices might actually allow people
to think more about things they read.  I have a slow old computer
and I suspect that the amount of extra time it takes me to open
another article or web page after reading something on my current
page, may allow me to think a bit more and perhaps retain a bit more
because of thought.  Speed can't be assumed to always be
beneficial.  I have faster computers but for various reasons I won't
go into here, I use the slow one most of the time.  It's annoying if
I'm doing something taxing but I suspect I also benefit from the
more leisurely pace at which some things occur.  Lack of reflection
is one of the most common complaints social commentators have about
current times.
And people may be so used to the fast pace at which they do things
that they may not even be aware of how it is adversely affecting
them in various ways.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
Gene
----- Original Message -----
*From:*Andy <mailto:wq6r@...>
*Sent:*Monday, December 04, 2017 12:57 AM
*To:*nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
*Subject:*Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more difficult
than before
It's interesting that we have all of these time saving devices at
our disposal, but we always seem to complain that we don't have
enough time.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
*From:*enes sarıbaş <mailto:enes.saribas@...>
*To:*nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
*Sent:*Sunday, December 03, 2017 10:49 PM
*Subject:*Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more
difficult than before
well, lets say you opened 5000 documents a year. With a time
save of 3 seconds, you save about 15000 seconds a year, which is
alot. And believe me, it is much more than that. I have probably
saved hours of my life with my ssd. Some of these things, like
an ssd can only be experienced, not described. The benchmarks
only hint at the performance improvement. So my suggestion gene,
is for you to someday try using a system with an ssd for just 5
minutes, and I garantee you you will never want to go back to a
normal harddrive.
On 12/4/2017 9:41 AM, Gene wrote:
I should have said, let's say it takes one second using an
SSD drive.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
*From:*Gene <mailto:gsasner@...>
*Sent:*Monday, December 04, 2017 12:23 AM
*To:*nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
*Subject:*Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more
difficult than before
Let's say it takes four seconds to open Microsoft Word using
a mechanical drive.  let's say it takes one second using a
mechanical drive.  How have I saved any amount of time that
means anything?  If I open word and load a document and I
spend four seconds to open the program and four seconds in
actual loading time after I find the document and press
enter in the open dialog, then I spend twenty minutes
working with the document or even ten minutes, how is eight
seconds a meaningful amount of time?  I can leave one or two
programs opened, if I wish, if I use them a lot.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
*From:*Lenron <mailto:lenron93@...>
*Sent:*Monday, December 04, 2017 12:05 AM
*To:*nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
*Subject:*Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more
difficult than before
Agreed even when doing simple things an ssd is faster. This
is just facts.
On 12/3/17, enes sarıbaş <enes.saribas@...
<mailto:enes.saribas@...>> wrote:
> hi,
>
> I respectfully disagree. The speed difference from an ssd
is so massive
> that, even with very simplistic daily tasks, getting an
ssd can be a
> massive time saver. I agree that anyone who can aford it
should get an ssd.
>
>
> On 12/3/2017 5:48 PM, Gene wrote:
>> At some point, perhaps as early as Windows 7, Windows
won't even let
>> you defragment SSD drives, as I recall.
>> On another subject related to SSD drives, I consider
sweeping
>> statements such as, these days, everyone should have SSD
drives to be
>> far too prescriptive and overgeneral.  If you do things
where speed
>> matters, copying lots of large files, converting lots of
large files,
>> doing a lot of recording of long works and exporting the
recording to
>> a compressed format such as MP3, and other uses I
haven't though of
>> while at the moment, then it would make sense.  but if
you mainly do
>> things like word processing, web browsing, and other
typical uses, I
>> don't consider it important.  there are some people who
just want
>> everything to be very fast, they don't want programs to
take one or
>> two seconds to open, they want a program to open almost
instantly.  If
>> they want to spend the money for emotional satisfaction and
>> indulgence, fine, but not everyone wants or needs
hotrods, whetgher in
>> computers, cars, or anywhere else.
>> There may be another time when having an SSD drive might
be important,
>> others may wish to comment.  If you have a laptop, and
are going to
>> use it under conditions where it will be jostled and
jolted somewhat
>> severely or severely while in use, such as driving over
rather rough
>> or very rough roads, then I would think an SSD would be
a good idea
>> or  important.
>> Gene
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> *From:* Antony Stone
<mailto:antony.stone@...>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, December 03, 2017 4:42 AM
>> *To:* nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
<mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
>> *Subject:* Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more
difficult
>> than before
>>
>> I would be very interested if you could post some links
to the
>> information
>> about SSDs becoming unwriteable.
>>
>> Regarding defragmenting an SSD - there is absolutely no
point.
>>
>> The whole purpose of defragmenting a traditional
spinning hard disk
>> was to get
>> all the parts of a single file together, instead of
being spread
>> (fragmented)
>> across the drive, which happens when small files are
deleted and then
>> larger
>> ones are written into the gaps afterwards.  Having the
entire file
>> together in
>> one place is much more efficient for reading it later
than having it
>> spread
>> around the disk (because it takes time for the
mechanical heads to go
>> and find
>> all the different parts).
>>
>> With an SSD, accessing one part is just as efficient as
any other -
>> nothing
>> needs to move to get to the next part, so fragmented
files are no less
>> efficient
>> to read than complete ones.
>>
>>
>> Antony.
>>
>> On Sunday 03 December 2017 at 11:35:19, The Gamages wrote:
>>
>> > Hello,
>> > Regarding SSDs, as I understand it, there is a slight
issue with
>> these in
>> > that some memory can become un writable, it can still
be read, but
>> nothing
>> > further can be writtten into it.
>> > I realise that this can take a long time to happen
and, if the drive
>> is a
>> > large capacity, it may never be an issue.
>> > I am only raising this point because I don’t fully
understand the
>> > consequences of this.
>> > I was told by a computer engineer that it is not a
good idea to de
>> fragment
>> > a solid state drive for this reason, it can make some
memory un
>> writable if
>> > it is done regularly and is not really necessary  on
this sort of
>> > drive.
>> >
>> > Comments please, even if you shoot me down in
flames,[smile]..
>> >
>> > Best Regards, Jim.
>> >
>> > From: Tyler Wood
>> > Sent: Friday, December 01, 2017 6:43 PM
>> > To: nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
<mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
>> > Subject: Re: [nvda] OT: selecting a new laptop is more
difficult than
>> > before
>> >
>> > Keep in mind AMD has just released their ryzen mobile
processors, so
>> that
>> > should be interesting. Similar to Intel, it will be
Ryzen 3 = intel i3,
>> > ryzen 5 = intel i5, ryzen 7 = intel i7.
>> >
>> > In these modern days, hard drives truly limit the
speed of a
>> computer. If
>> > you can afford it, even if it takes a little longer to
save up, go for
>> > something with a solid state drive. You’ll never go
back again. Even a
>> > cheap windows tablet with a 64 gb ssd is going to beat
the socks off of
>> > that huge i5 with a 1 tb spinning hard drives in
booting up, general
>> > snappyness around windows. Web browsing not so much
but even so the
>> solid
>> > state drive is what makes or breaks a computer and is
why you can get
>> > by
>> > with a core i3 or equal from AMD.
>> >
>> > Sean has a good point about soundcards these days,
too. And even with
>> > headphones on it can still be painful with speech – so
try and play
>> > with
>> > them in the store using narrator.
>>
>> --
>> "In fact I wanted to be John Cleese and it took me some
time to
>> realise that
>> the job was already taken."
>>
>>  - Douglas Adams
>>
>>
Please reply to the
>> list;
>>
please
>> *don't* CC me.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
--
Lenron Brown
Cell: 985-271-2832
Skype: ron.brown762