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Author Topic: Choices, choices...  (Read 7897 times)

aaronleitz

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #20 on: September 01, 2013, 12:29:41 pm »

Ooops. Sorry, I was under the impression that Adobe had made the CS2 version available to all as they were no longer supporting it. I don't want to condone piracy but it does seem that the situation is somewhat confusing:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/adobe-almost-does-something-amazing-by-accident/

I use a paid up version of CS6 but just tried the CS2 download. Seems weird to me that adobe would make the download and the license key freely available to anyone. Why not just kill the version?
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #21 on: September 01, 2013, 12:49:43 pm »

My experience and my advisors  tell me that nothing kills a hard drive faster than a cheap power supply.
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Rhossydd

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #22 on: September 01, 2013, 12:59:45 pm »

Why not just kill the version?
Because lots of people had bought the licence and still want to use it. You might be surprised by how many people are still using older versions, as Roy does.

Releasing the authentication free serial number for users means they can switch off the authentication servers and no longer have to support authentication issues and the hardware needed to run the service.
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degrub

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #23 on: September 01, 2013, 02:07:36 pm »

My experience and my advisors  tell me that nothing kills a hard drive faster than a cheap power supply.

Which aspect - undervoltage or switching transients ?

Frank
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aaronleitz

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #24 on: September 01, 2013, 02:40:09 pm »

Because lots of people had bought the licence and still want to use it. You might be surprised by how many people are still using older versions, as Roy does.

Releasing the authentication free serial number for users means they can switch off the authentication servers and no longer have to support authentication issues and the hardware needed to run the service.

Makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up.

Back to Rob's post: I still think that any system upgrade you make should include an upgrade in processing software as well. Ill bet you could do almost everything you need with Lightroom. Definitely worth a look.
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #25 on: September 01, 2013, 02:53:12 pm »

Which aspect - undervoltage or switching transients ?

Frank

Question is above my pay grade, but I suspect undervoltage.  My failures appeared after adding more drives.
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #26 on: September 01, 2013, 03:14:27 pm »


I'd avoid Windows 8 myself and buy Windows 7 (you'll find it an easier transition).

+1
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #27 on: September 01, 2013, 03:32:13 pm »


Thanks for your advice - strange thing: there is an option available, in both cases, using Windows 7, and it's more expensive than the Windows 8 offerings. I had been led to believe that 7 was a bit of a dog, and obsolete, but that 8 was better... This moribund machine of mine uses XP.

Any idea why 8 is less expensive than an older model 7 still, apparently, available today?

Ciao -

Rob C

1.  I've never heard this. It's almost like you have the two versions mixed up.

2.  Windows 8 has mostly been a failure and has been blamed for drastically reduced PC sales as a type of backlash against it.   Windows 8 is more appropriate for tablets and any small touch screen device.. where Windows 7 is finally the OS we've been waiting for all these years.  Win 8 has been unfavourably compared to Win Me.   I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Microsoft using price to promote a failing product.
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degrub

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #28 on: September 01, 2013, 03:45:26 pm »

 :D It is the normal product cycle for MS - every other version is decent.  Fortunately, it seems that the only thing they made a major mistake on is the user interface.

Frank
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #29 on: September 01, 2013, 03:59:31 pm »

Be careful on Video - let your application(s) dictate that choice.  You may even want to defer, as Intel's 4000 and 4500 graphics are pretty impressive.

Finally, I have to +1 on the mini...


+1  4000/4500 graphics are very capable, simple, can easily run dual monitors, unless you need the core power for rendering video or very large files 4000/4500 should work fine.

+1  My personal workstation is a 3 year old 950/Bloomfield that still meets my needs and with 2 SSD's, a fast graphics card and fast WD blacks for storage isn't a slouch speed wise.  For fun I recently picked up a quad core mini refurbished for under $600, added 16gb of Crucial lifetime RAM  (mini's do not accept RAM with extended/raised heatsinks) for $121 and a 256gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD for $279 (now $229).. and am very impressed with it's performance. I has both the 1tb drive it came with and the new SSD installed.  It's faster than my workstation for everything but video rendering. (4) USB3.0 ports, HDMI,DP, gigalan, built in fast wifi and TB are all included.  For under $1000 I have a small sleek modern computer that is exceptionally quiet, throws off no heat to speak of.

If I still wanted to run Win and the mini appealed to me you could run Bootcamp and boot directly into any version of Windows desired.

And because I have a fast NAS (Synology 1813+) it doesn't bother me that the mini only supports two drives.  I can get very close to fast hard disk speed and all the storage I want over my LAN.  Considering that I might replace the 1tb HDD with a fast 512gb SSD as an internal work drive.

Good luck.
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #30 on: September 01, 2013, 04:04:31 pm »


On the ssd vs hd decision - if you go with the p8h61 based system, stay with a hd as the motherboard does not have the faster sata controller needed for the benefit. The motherboard needs to have sata 6GB/s support.

No, it does not.  It needs 6gb/s to get the maximum speed the drive can perform at, but you'll still recognize huge gains in performance by putting the same drive in a 3gb/s system.  In fact, the vast majority of people who upgraded their laptops in the last few years did just that.   6gb/s controllers in laptops is fairly recent.

I agree about the PS though.. if you want a system that lasts and doesn't develop "glitches then invest in a top quality power supply and plug it into a good UPS.
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degrub

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #31 on: September 01, 2013, 05:12:20 pm »

Steve,

Yes i agree for maximum potential bandwidth.
I did just that on my 3yr old lenovo laptops with samsung 830 and 840 pro. Small difference in intial load time, but once loaded, not much difference compared to the hard drive. Probably down to the caching of the drive as much as anything else, Yes, i did the ssd optimizations. When i did the same for my recent w530 laptop with the faster sata iii interface, the difference was measureable.

Could have been something else, but we never did find it.

Frank
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Choices, choices...
« Reply #32 on: September 01, 2013, 07:24:48 pm »

Steve,

Yes i agree for maximum potential bandwidth.
I did just that on my 3yr old lenovo laptops with samsung 830 and 840 pro. Small difference in intial load time, but once loaded, not much difference compared to the hard drive. Probably down to the caching of the drive as much as anything else, Yes, i did the ssd optimizations. When i did the same for my recent w530 laptop with the faster sata iii interface, the difference was measureable.

Could have been something else, but we never did find it.

Frank

"Seat of the pants" testing can be deceiving, especially if you aren't stopping to think about how much disk access is required for a given task.  For instance, loading a small program would be a small difference because you're moving small amounts of data.  But a large program and loading large files you're sure to see a bigger gain.   If you want to see the difference in speed run a benchmark. 

The best laptop drives move 60-70mbps.. not slow, but still about 30-50mpbs slower than the fastest desktop hard drives.  Even the slowest SSD's move data at over 200mbps.. and up to 240-250 or so with a 3gb/s interface.  So just in sequential times the difference is 3-4x faster.  But the real gains come in your 4k times (small blocks of data) to the tune of 500%+. 

Try this.  Run the free benchmark AS SSD.  Don't pay attention to the scores.. just time how long it takes to complete the benchmark using a SSD and then your laptop hard drive.   Given that the program moves the same amount of data per test.. I predict your SSD will complete it's test HOURS before the hard drive.
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