Thread: What should I upgrade on my laptop ?

  1. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    I have 4GB of memory. Never runs out.

    Even if it does, keeping things open and swapping is still faster than opening and closing things all the time. Human is by far the biggest bottleneck. It takes a second or 2 to swap an application back into memory, but it will take you way more time to open up the application, and navigate to the correct page, etc.
    Well... first of all I don't open applications... I open files. Stuff that's actively being worked on gets a desktop shortcut like my current C projects... If I want to write some code I simply click on the shortcut to the file and it opens Pelles C and loads the file for me....

    Lets see...

    Ok... lets do a little work on RMedia ... Click on desktop shortcut, abt 3 seconds, there we go, all set to write code. Done? Close the app. Seriously that file opens in just under 3 seconds, and it's a fairly big project....

    Now... the hard way... I currently have Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Pelles C and my media player open... I want to go to Pelles C and do a little coding... WIN+TAB, open the application rolodex... ~1 second... tab tab tab tab Ah there it is...about 4 seconds... Pelles C is on screen... File-> Open, path to project directory, pick project file click OK... about 8 seconds... ready to code in a mere 13 seconds...

    Doing things that way slowed me down by a ratio of roughly 4 to 1....


    Now lets really load it up and do this your way... enable the swap file, managed by windows... reboot...
    Open Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Media Player Classic, Email, FTP Client, MS Word... about 1 minute in... starting to get slow guys! Drive is thrashing like crazy-- The Gimp, Irfan View, Magic ISO, Burn Aware... really thrashing now... almost 2 minutes to open all that stuff.

    Ok now lets get back to that coding project...
    WIN+Tab... (about 3 seconds)... Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab ... oops missed it... Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab TAb Tab Tab... Pelles C on screen... drive thrashing, File->open ... more thrashing... path to the project directory... more thrashing... select project file... more thrashing... file open... ready to write code .... total time more than 40 seconds.

    But then what do I know...

    If you don't mind, I think I'll go back to the way I was doing things... Somehow it just seems, I dunno... better?

  2. #47
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    Well... first of all I don't open applications... I open files. Stuff that's actively being worked on gets a desktop shortcut like my current C projects... If I want to write some code I simply click on the shortcut to the file and it opens Pelles C and loads the file for me....
    It's already open for me.

    Now... the hard way... I currently have Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Pelles C and my media player open... I want to go to Pelles C and do a little coding... WIN+TAB, open the application rolodex... ~1 second... tab tab tab tab Ah there it is...about 4 seconds... Pelles C is on screen... File-> Open, path to project directory, pick project file click OK... about 8 seconds... ready to code in a mere 13 seconds...
    I think the misconception here is, I don't close the files I work on. The project is already open. It's pointless to close files and keep application open. I keep files open, too. And I don't know about you, but I tab much faster than that. Maybe because I have more practice? I sometimes use the mouse to click on taskbar icons, too.

    All I need to do is tab to or click on the taskbar button/icon. About 1 second.

    Now lets really load it up and do this your way... enable the swap file, managed by windows... reboot...
    Open Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Media Player Classic, Email, FTP Client, MS Word... about 1 minute in... starting to get slow guys! Drive is thrashing like crazy-- The Gimp, Irfan View, Magic ISO, Burn Aware... really thrashing now... almost 2 minutes to open all that stuff.
    I reboot about once a month, and contrarily to popular belief, we don't go through start menu and open everything on boot. I open things when I use them the first time, THEN I leave them open. You have to open and close things AT LEAST as many times as I do.

  3. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by CommonTater View Post
    Now... the hard way... I currently have Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Pelles C and my media player open... I want to go to Pelles C and do a little coding... WIN+TAB, open the application rolodex... ~1 second... tab tab tab tab Ah there it is...about 4 seconds... Pelles C is on screen... File-> Open, path to project directory, pick project file click OK... about 8 seconds... ready to code in a mere 13 seconds...

    Doing things that way slowed me down by a ratio of roughly 4 to 1....
    Yeah, this analogy is the same as opening Pelles C first, then opening your project. Seriously, keep the project open and don't close it! Then the only difference is that you don't have to worry about the IDE loading first!

    Now lets really load it up and do this your way... enable the swap file, managed by windows... reboot...
    Open Windows Explorer, Internet explorer, Media Player Classic, Email, FTP Client, MS Word... about 1 minute in... starting to get slow guys! Drive is thrashing like crazy-- The Gimp, Irfan View, Magic ISO, Burn Aware... really thrashing now... almost 2 minutes to open all that stuff.
    Opening everything at boot is silly. Open everything when you need it and don't close it.
    And don't reboot so often! Hibernate!

    Ok now lets get back to that coding project...
    WIN+Tab... (about 3 seconds)... Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab ... oops missed it... Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab Tab TAb Tab Tab... Pelles C on screen... drive thrashing, File->open ... more thrashing... path to the project directory... more thrashing... select project file... more thrashing... file open... ready to write code .... total time more than 40 seconds.
    That's all in your imagination. If you have the memory to back it up, you don't get thrashing. Why is that so hard to understand?

    If you don't mind, I think I'll go back to the way I was doing things... Somehow it just seems, I dunno... better?
    No one told you to adapt our way. You may go on as you've done before. You're used to it and it works for you.
    Just know that some people are not like you, and do things other ways. Without disabling the pagefile.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  4. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elysia View Post
    That's all in your imagination. If you have the memory to back it up, you don't get thrashing. Why is that so hard to understand?
    Ok... now... do you understand that you are saying... "If you have the memory to back it up you don't need a swap file"...

    Which is what I said in the first place.

    GEES! Back to my ignore list, you go.

  5. #50
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    And don't reboot so often! Hibernate!
    I'm highly disturbed by things like this. You can drive by almost any private building or public place in the dead of night and everything -- lights, computers, whatever -- on, shining brightly and wasting power. Only people who've never had trouble buying power can do things like this positively.

  6. #51
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    Errr, hibernate shuts down the computer, you know? Only, it saves the entire computer state and reloads it when started back up.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  7. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by whiteflags View Post
    I'm highly disturbed by things like this. You can drive by almost any private building or public place in the dead of night and everything -- lights, computers, whatever -- on, shining brightly and wasting power. Only people who've never had trouble buying power can do things like this positively.
    I wonder if people understand (or even know about) Mean Time Between Failure specifications?

    The short version is that a product generally lasts a given average number of hours... how quickly you use them up, is entirely up to you. Having your machine on *all the time* is going to use those hours up --substantially increasing the likelihood of a failure-- probably two or three times as fast as someone who has to common sense to turn things off when they're done with them.

  8. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by CommonTater View Post
    Ok... now... do you understand that you are saying... "If you have the memory to back it up you don't need a swap file"...

    Which is what I said in the first place.

    GEES! Back to my ignore list, you go.
    You started this. Don't blame it on me.
    The point is that the pagefile may be required for upbacking if you don't have 12 GB of memory.
    But that still doesn't mean it gets slow.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  9. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elysia View Post
    Errr, hibernate shuts down the computer, you know? Only, it saves the entire computer state and reloads it when started back up.
    Only off means off or there wouldn't be a distinction in the first place.

  10. #55
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    Don't be silly. Off means that no current is running through the electronics (not entirely true, but it will have to do).
    The difference is in how the computer boots when started.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  11. #56
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  12. #57
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    Hibernation is not low power:
    Hibernation is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk, and then turns off your computer. Of all the power-saving states in Windows, hibernation uses the least amount of power. On a laptop, use hibernation when you know that you won't use your laptop for an extended period and won't have an opportunity to charge the battery during that time.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adak View Post
    io.h certainly IS included in some modern compilers. It is no longer part of the standard for C, but it is nevertheless, included in the very latest Pelles C versions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Salem View Post
    You mean it's included as a crutch to help ancient programmers limp along without them having to relearn too much.

    Outside of your DOS world, your header file is meaningless.

  13. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by whiteflags View Post
    Unless you pull the batteries or unplug the AC cord your computer (television, stereo, ipod...) is never completely off...There is always a small amount of power being drawn to check the power button, sustain clocks, watch for the remote, etc. It's a very low power state, fractions of a watt in most cases... but it is not truly off.

  14. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by CommonTater
    Unless you pull the batteries or unplug the AC cord your computer (television, stereo, ipod...) is never completely off...There is always a small amount of power being drawn to check the power button, sustain clocks, watch for the remote, etc. It's a very low power state, fractions of a watt in most cases... but it is not truly off.
    I had the impression that switching off the power socket physically breaks contact, so if your socket has a switch, you don't need to go to the more drastic extreme of unplugging.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

  15. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by laserlight View Post
    I had the impression that switching off the power socket physically breaks contact, so if your socket has a switch, you don't need to go to the more drastic extreme of unplugging.
    Not all countries have that option on wall outlets Lase... Here in Canada, for example, the only switches I have are for the lights, the wall outlets are always live unless I trip the breakers in my electic service box.

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