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Alright, here's my result(Acer Aspire V3).

I was expecting such a low performance, since it holds a 5400RPM HDD, but this is rather disappointing.

84.9 Mb/s reading rate is quite extraordinary for a 5400 RPM drive :|.

I chose c) in the end.

I lack any artistic skill in this sense and I'm seriously pissed because of this.

Thank you Daubster.

Ok, so we posted here benchmarks with mostly desktop HDDs.

If anybody uses regularly a laptop, can you please post a benchmark of your HDD\SSD? The rules at the beginning of the thread still apply. I will post one as soon as I get my laptop.
Don't forget to also write the HDD specs, notably RPM and buffer.
Thank you.

I tried using all the weapons in the possible limits. I mostly prefer the shotgun though. I also used the pistol weirdly often.

Kind of like that.

I wouldn't be as harsh as Urby to say it's a total waste of time, though I partially agree.

I've read the feature list and I must say, it is something! I only owe respect for the work that's been put into it, but you have to realize that if you came with this list 10 years ago it would have been something. Today... look around you. First of all, if you're a Half-Life fan, you have Source. Also, there are free developing tools like the UDK, or Unity.
Seriously, people have to stop developing on top of an old engine. If you want to create a game on GoldSource, then create it on GoldSource, unchanged! That's the whole point. The moment you start adding modern game features that barely run on an old engine, you lost the point.
Why don't people develop on top of Source? It's more modern, and it would make more sense.

It is regrettable that people waste their incredible potential on such things. The only way my opinion would be changed is if I saw a couple of GOOD mods being developed on top of this modified GoldSource engine.

I just finised BMS. I watched the credits until the end, and I am deeply saddened to see that one of the contributors died at just 25.

What a great mod. Just wow. I mean, I thought I've seen all, but when I got to the final part, the Lambda Complex, I was just blown away. You have to imagine the sheer amount of work that has been put into this, besides just the assets.

I.
Am.
Flabbergasted.

[EDIT] Has anyone observed the RGB spasm when you get shot? That's awesome.

Well, the bot_kick command seems to be working. Thanks.

[EDIT] Well, it seems that it works only when it wants. The blurring of the screen stays blocked at times, and it's annoying.

Skals, since you're experimenting with CS:GO mapping, do you know how to run the map "developer" style? Because even if those commands are applied, and whatever I do, it still starts a standard match when opening the map.

Also, do you people have problems with shaded textured polygons not showing up in hammer? (for me, only simply textured works). Also, any occasional crashes or black windows?

Ok, some of these images were funny.

Tears ensued when I saw TJB's serious cat.

You sure have an eye for detail, DiscoStu.

These scenes are looking really nice, although I'm not a fan of urban mapping.

Do the birch tree props come by default in CS:GO?

I didn't ask what program you used.

So how you made that sexy thing?

They finally made models light the same as brushes.

It was possible to achieve the same results before, they probably switched to default some settings.

The study has been made on a fix amount of laptops Don Punch, not on statistics.

Lenovo has higher reliability than Acer, but... Asus seems to take the lead at this moment.

PB, it's not only "slightly" faster, it's almost double. I'll take information from this notebook mobile processor comparison chart and post here:

i5-3210M
3DMark06 CPU score: 3487.2
wPrime 1024M: 582.1 sec

i7-3610QM
3DMark06 CPU score: 5932.8
wPrime 1024M: 289.7 sec

As you can see, the i7 is ridiculously faster. Oh btw, my desktop CPU, a Pentium Dual-Core E6500, scores 2351 at the 3Dmark06 CPU test.

Now I also find a comparison table for mobile GPUs here.

Nvidia 630M
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720 (avg score): 1047
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (high) avg: 21 fps
Battlefield 3 (High) avg: 16 fps
Crysis 2(High) avg: 27 fps

Nvidia 650M
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720 (avg score): 2300
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (high) avg: 43 fps
Battlefield 3 (High) avg: 32 fps
Crysis 2(High) avg: 60 fps

Again, you can see there's a clearly visible performance difference. Now there is e GPU that fills the gap: the Nvidia GT640M, it scores similar performances as 650M. The problem is, I can't find any laptop in this price range featuring 640M! Argh!

[EDIT] But I also have to consider laptop reliability, and from that study Asus seems to be the best manufacturer on the market.

Nah, I think it's this:

I'm never going to update this series again, it's so shit. I hate working on it and you probably hate watching it, so why bother? I'm sick of it.

Unfortunately no, and I've been looking on 3 major computer shops. I know that whenever it's the time to buy something that will have to last me long, it will always be difficult. When I bought the Nikon P100, I literally read reviews day after day for a month. It's an ordeal.
Even now I have a spreadsheet comparing these laptops :/.

The fact is that I could have compromised the 17" and go for a 15", but oddly enough, offers seem to be more profitable on the 17" ones!

It's also making me truly pissed off that I can't find at least one more laptop with the GT650M in the price range between the two Acers. It's either those 2 that I listed here, either one that exceeds 1100$.

Since you're asking for high portability, I suggest you go with the first one. Plus, it has an Atom.

The downside is having a relatively small screen of only 10". But as you can see, both the laptops have the same battery pack, so naturally the smaller one will consume less and work more on the same juice.

If you can afford it, and if the netbook permits it, you can buy an SSD instead of the HDD and make it trully portable. I suspect you'll add one more hour to the autonomy as well.

I hardly eat any junk food... yet. I'll see how things develop at college.

Anyway, buying the more expensive laptop is quite a difficult decision, if not impossible. I'll have to discuss this with my parents.

Also, I read your post wrong, Penguinboy(sorry for writing your name incorrectly again...), I thought you said the 2nd option. Can the glossy finish be solved with an auto-adhesive foil?

Not at the college dorm.

Penguinbody, can you explain your opinion?

Dont be tempted by SSD upgrades or upgrades in general, 99% of the time this will never happen.

Like rufee said, don't think about "future upgrades". They most likely won't happen. You will completely forget about them. And if they do happen, they'll be something you are not thinking about right now.

My current desktop computer, bought in 2007, is left with only them motherboard and case as the original components.
I really do consider buying MOAR RAM and an SSD.

The size matters as it will be a desktop replacement and I got used to a 23" monitor. Even before that I had a 19" monitor, so going down to 15" is a drastic move. I don't think 17" is so bulky as many describe.

Does someone from here actually have a 17" laptop?

The thing is that I crave for the 650m, but also for the i7. Afaik, the 630m is just a rebranded Fermi while the 650M is the newer Kepler.
If only GPU's could be upgradeable in laptops too...

It will only be around 3kg, I don't think that's a lot.

[EDIT] Are YOU SURE the less powerful GPU won't be a big problem? Because that's really all that stops me from buying the Asus one.

I've come across a tough decision. I started researching the market of notebooks/laptops, because I need one until next month( I'm starting college).

My sum is around 850$(more or less). After an awful lot of search and comparison, and basically learning the performances of components, I narrowed my choices to 2 laptops(both 17 inch and 750Gb):

Asus K75VM-TY033D
*i7-3610QM@ 2.3ghz- max 3.3ghz(4 cores/ 8 threads)
*4 GB of RAM
*Nvidia GT630M 2GB
Price: ~900$

Acer V3-771G
*i5-3210M@ 2.5ghz- max 3.1ghz (2 cores/ 4 threads)
*6 GB of RAM
*Nvidia GT650M 2GB
Price: ~805$

Both have pros and cons, let me mention them:

Asus laptop
++Extremely good processor
+Good esthetics, build quality, no fingerprints and dust collection
+Well, it's Asus
-+ only 4GB of RAM (not a problem, can be upgraded later)
-+ more expensive, cancels possible SSD upgrade
-GT630M is almost half as powerful as GT650M

Acer laptop
++Very good graphics (GT650M)
+6gb of RAM
+less expensive, can afford an SSD upgrade
-+ doubtful build quality, glossy finish: magnet for scratches, dust and finger prints
-i5-3210M is almost half as powerful as i7-3610QM( fun fact: they both exceed my current desktop CPU in terms of performance)

There's actually a laptop that solves the problems of both of the above(i7, 3610QM@ 2.3GHz, 8GB, 1TB, GeForce GT 650M 2GB). It's an Acer that still has the glossy finish problem, that wouldn't matter at how powerful it is. But, it costs... 1030$. Of course, SSD upgrade is a dream.

So I want your help on this tough decision.

Should I:

a) sacrifice graphic performance but enjoy very powerful computing performance and good build quality, thus purchasing the ASUS?
b) sacrifice computing performance but enjoy decent graphic performance and the possibility of an SSD upgrade, thus purchasing the Acer?
c) sacrifice my budget, good understanding with family, being a total dick, not having anything to eat for half a month, be enslaved by thoughts of guilt, and enjoying both good computing performance and graphics, thus purchasing the HIGHLY OPTIONAL Acer one?

The new laptop will basically be a desktop replacement, and I'll have to stick by it at least 4 years(college). That means stuff like browsing, multimedia, gaming, mapping, compiling, editing programs.

I think the lighting is a bit bland. You can tweak a bit the light_environment( look at the sky clouds- they surely seem lit to me).
Additionaly you can look at Archie's Color Correcting tutorial and perhaps apply some of the theory from there too.

Nice map!

That's interesting. Did you add the blur with GIMP also? What smartphone do you have?

Behold the abomi... beauty!

Dacia Challenger by Carstic Productions

Meh, just a visual experiemnt.

Did you see the upper-right corner of the website?

Can you show us a tutorial on how to make that? It's inspirational. Since you already made a texturing tutorial, I don't think this would be hard.
I think it looks great.

Threads tend to disappear after a couple of weeks...

Well, in that case, I just can't wait to play it.

Did the change the story? The areas?

Liar! =D

And when you think that it's just a graphic overhaul...

But in any case, I'm surely looking forward to this. Will it be free?

Summer is over, everybody* is starting school/work again, so let's see what desktops you have prepared!Wallpaper from here.

Initially I wanted to install Rainmeter, but it didn't satisfy me. Plus, it crashed my system.

*except south hemisphere twhlers

You might want to get some fresh air.

Just curious about what people around here use for their audio delight. It may inspire others or me in their future decisions.
Sound Card(PCI): I currently have an Asus Xonar DS(7.1).I haven't given the money on this card just because its "high quality", I was forced to buy an sound card because the one integrated on the motherboard was broken. Cheaper sound cards seemed to be lower quality than the integrated Realtek solution, so naturally I looked for some higher specs ones. The cool thing about this one is that it has analog relays for switching between the front and rear panel.

Headset: Plantronics Gamecom 367These ones are approaching 2 years since I bought them. Before them I had a pair of cheap RPC ones, that worked almost as fine in audio quality, but they were less comfortable on prolonged sessions. Nowadays I guess the equivalent for them(the plantronics) would be GAMECOM 380. They're simple, the controls are easy to manipulate, and the audio quality seems good. I think there's room for improvement though. The fact is that I have to change them anyway, since a couple of weeks ago the head support cracked. Superglue didn't work, so it's now "fixed" using electrical tape...
Suggestions for a future acquisition are well accepted.

Audio System: Genius 5005 5.1I've changed my feelings about this one 2 times. When I bought it, I was quite excited to finally have some powerful output for playing music. It was also cheap: at the time I bought it in 2008, it was on Christmas sale and I think I paid around 70$ for this. Then I quickly found out the negative opinions of people on the internet. Also found out how prone to failure is this model. Indeed, after about a year, a big, visible electrical explosion occurred. Scared the shit out of me, and I thought it was dead for good. Turns out it was just the fuse! It works fine even today.
Nowadays I think it was a good deal. It may not produce the finest quality, but it's sure doing its job. No distortions either. The truth is that I never exposed it to maximum volume for too long. I usually set it to half, then play with the volume from my computer.

That's like ~45 breads.

Thanks :D. Wow, haven't seen a flag bike since... forever :D. The last photo is quite artistic and well thought in terms of arranging yourself, the bike, and the horizon.
The first three look very "action packed". What did you use to make the vignette?

Wise kitty by Carstic Productions, on Flickr

I don't think you can download things through the wayback machine.

The minecraft survival experiment: Link.

The resource they started wars for was unexpected.

Also, this new 1 Terabit/s standard will make some TWHL users very unhappy.

TWHL uses about 1.5GB of storage, and 30GB/
month bandwidth.

I was initially asking because I thought I could spare a couple of dozen gb from my hdd for a backup. Then, seeing your post I said " meh, it was a nice idea... don't have money for a 1,5tb hdd".
At a second glance there was an obvious wtf moment.
Can you provide a link or some possibility to download the entire map vault? I'd happily burn a dvd copy of it.

Just for my curiosity, how much storage space is taking the current map vault?