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[Sappho]

I have a new question which is completely unrelated to my overheating laptop (hooray!). I'm lucky enough that they've given me my own computer at my new job, and they told me I can install whatever programs I need. This was a huge relief: instead of having to use the hideous evil that is Office 2007, I get to use LibreOffice instead.

However, I've already come across a problem. The documents we use often contain phonetic (IPA) characters for pronunciation guides. These characters are not showing up properly in the documents. I'm just getting garbled boxes and squiggles. Also, when I send revised documents back to other editors to look at, sometimes the documents are glitchy. I'm saving everything in Office 2003 (.doc) format, but my boss already had one problem with an error message showing up when she opened one of these documents saying it was corrupted, and it was causing problems when she tried to use track changes.

Does anyone know enough about LibreOffice to help me figure out a way to make this work? Am I going to be forced to use *shudder* Office 2007? I would be happy to use 2003, but everyone in this office saves everything as .docx, so I had to get LO in order to open those.

[LordSlowpoke]

encoding problem

you most likely want unicode

[Sappho]

encoding problem

you most likely want unicode

looks like the special characters aren't a problem; coworker said my edited docs still display fine on her screen. Still slightly worried about the "corrupted" file. It's only happened once. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Another question about this computer, while I'm here. It runs really, REALLY slow. I figured it must just be very old, but I had a look at the system specs and it's got an i5 processor and 8 gigs of RAM. I'm not doing anything complicated with it, and it was freshly wiped and reinstalled with Windows just before I started using it. Any ideas why it would be running so slow? It takes several minutes to start up... And when I first open a program, the whole system stutters for a few minutes while it gradually loads such CPU-intensive items as the font library...

[MaximumZero]

It's probably running a bunch of shit in the background like vnc. Type msconfig into the search bar in the start menu to see what's starting up with the machine.

[Zangi]

So...  its that time again.  Where I look to get a new laptop.  Mostly cause, I find my current one lacking, barely able to run most of the newer stuff on the lowest of settings.  It still works fine and dandy for the older/lighter stuff, so I can keep it around for that.

Current:

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Intel Core i7-2670QM
4GB
Nvidia GT 525MGot this baby for about 1.2k... May of 2012  (Might have been expensive for spec and time?)

What I'm looking at:

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Intel Core i7-4810MQ
8GB
Nvidia GTX 860M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233049versus

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Intel Core i7 4700HQ
12GB
Nvidia GTX 860M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152558Pricing is roughly the same...  hopefully, either is a better buy and will last me 3-4 years instead of 2.

Yea, I play games on it, also like to load up tons of tabs, while playing games.  I've found that 4GB has been lacking, since resource manager shows my memory easily being maxed and roughly 1 GB is used on passive stuff.
I also move around often enough for it to be worth being a laptop... rather then setting up an extra rig or 2 in other places... or lugging one around.

EDIT: Added links to laptops.  I'm not the most savvy shopper when it comes to laptops.

[Karkov]

Both laptops are basically the same.  I'd choose the MSI GE70 Apache Pro-012, though.  More RAM, same graphics card, a pound lighter... 

The only thing I can really find that's better about the other one is that it has a slightly faster processor, which can be fixed on the other one simply by overclocking it anyway.

EDIT:  Also, MSI is a well-known gaming brand.  I don't know who GIGABYTE is in terms of gaming brands.

[MaximumZero]

GIGABYTE makes decent motherboards, but between the two, I'd also go MSI. The processors aren't drastically different, and you probably won't use all the RAM, but that's more future-proofing than anything else anyway. They've got the same video card, so that's not an issue. I'm not super impressed with the case on the GIGABYTE machine, and it looks like the cooling ports are very small.

[Lord Shonus]

I don't suppose there's a tutorial anywhere on building your own PC case, is there? I've been contemplating replacing my existing case because it's kind of cheap and crappy, and I'm strongly considering either making one myself or picking up a 1970s-1980s stereo and gutting it for the purpose (I HATE the minimalist design that's so popular nowadays, and whoever popularized this piano black shit needs to die in a fire.) The faux-wood of ages past fits my design philosophy much better, and it will match my furniture and actual stereo better.) I suppose I could just get a cheap case and slap some wood laminate on there, but that seems lazy.

Alternatively, if I could find an old broken IBM, that might work as well. I've always had a fondness for the clunky beige look.

[MagmaMcFry]

Why would there be a tutorial for such a thing? I doubt there is anything about building a PC case where best practices are more important than design choices. Just build a box, add some holes for ventilation and cords, possibly add a neat power button somewhere, and you should be done.

[Lord Shonus]

I was more referring to grounding requirements and having adequate shielding to protect the components from ambient EM radiation. Not certain what the requirements for those are. Also need to know if it's possible to rig the computer to a toggle switch instead of a button (my guess is probably not).

[Karkov]

I was more referring to grounding requirements and having adequate shielding to protect the components from ambient EM radiation. Not certain what the requirements for those are. Also need to know if it's possible to rig the computer to a toggle switch instead of a button (my guess is probably not).

On the toggle, probably not.  Most All cases have jumpers that plug directly into the motherboard nowadays, and they're what gives the signal to the motherboard to turn on.  I haven't heard of anyone using a switch to turn on a computer, though that's not to say that it hasn't been done.

[gimlet]

If the color is your huge objection, you *could* just paint an existing case - might be a bit more productive than fabricating one from scratch?   Or, build a wood box that fits around the outside of an existing case, probably cutting out the bits where the fans move air?

Or, hey, who really needs a case?  http://springfieldpc.dyndns.org/shimmie/post/view/313 and

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

or
http://i.imgur.com/dzPLRCC.jpg

or zillions of others...

I haven't heard of anyone using a switch to turn on a computer, though that's not to say that it hasn't been done.

You can actually do it with a screwdriver, just short out the right 2 terminals on the motherboard - I've done this for mobos not in a case.  Or, you can buy the switches for a couple bucks - look for "pc motherboard switch" on ebay or whatever.   I settled on buying a bunch of these for the bitcoin mobos I don't have in cases, 'cause the screwdriver is a pain in the ass.   While you're on ebay, buy a "pc motherboard speaker" so you can use the beep codes to help debug why your new frankenstruction won't boot. 

[Lord Shonus]

It's not jsut the color. It's the lines of the case. All this sleek this and minimal that.


I want something that looks like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Instead of this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[MagmaMcFry]

I was more referring to grounding requirements and having adequate shielding to protect the components from ambient EM radiation. Not certain what the requirements for those are. Also need to know if it's possible to rig the computer to a toggle switch instead of a button (my guess is probably not).

For grounding, you can just run some wires to everything you need grounded. To protect against EM radiation, you could just inlay your case with metal foil. As long as you don't short-circuit anything, there is literally nothing you can do wrong. But I don't think the shielding is really necessary.

[Sappho]

It's probably running a bunch of shit in the background like vnc. Type msconfig into the search bar in the start menu to see what's starting up with the machine.

I've just done this and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. The only programs on startup are:
HP Beats
ESET Smart Security
3x Intel Common User Interface
IDT PC Audio
Google Drive
Skype
IconUtility

I have to use skype and google drive for work, and I'm not allowed to mess with the antivirus. But should anything on that list cause the computer to run extremely slowly on startup? I mean, I literally click the start menu and wait 5 minutes for it to load.

After everything is loaded, it mostly runs okay. But anytime I open a new program, and obviously every time I start up the computer, everything just freezes for several minutes before it starts to run properly...