Expat Living And A Computer

[Norseman]

In today's world it is essential that an expat arrive in the Philippines with a reliable computer. Though the internet connection in the Philippines can be spotty in various areas. Most area's have some form of connection. The connection types vary depending on location. Most expats once arriving can purchase a USB dongle for 1000 pesos and connect to the internet. This would be a per use billing and allow them to check email and do some internet activities. Speed will vary depending on time of day and proximity to an actual tower. Once established here you can avail of other types of more reliable connections offered in your area. Computers come in all shapes sizes and flavors. Though you will want something portable and something not to intrusive. Additionally you will want something not to flashy and not expensive. Netbook, Notebooks and laptops seem to be the way to go for the average user. I come with idea on computers you get what you pay for. That $99 dollar disposable netbook is exactly that disposable. So buy quality that will not break the bank. MSI ASUS Leveno HP and Dell. Those name brands have middle of the pack notebooks that cost about 350 USD. No need to buy that top of the line most modern laptop. Most people will not see the benefit in such a machine. The benefits you will see are a way to check your email, surf the web, word processing, photo editing and streaming video. Adding this bit of enjoyment to your life can make your trip much more pleasurable. Additionally you should purchase a small 8Gig flash drive. This is a USB type drive that fits in your pocket. You will use that to store all your valuable information. Never leave your computer as the sole source of storage. The unexpected will be expected when you do that. It all seems that your computer, you never leave home without it. Enjoy

[Art2ro]

Yup! I'm already there with my 8" Dell laptop with an external DVD drive, USB internet thumb drive from Smart Bro and a 10 gig memory stick. Also we have Skype and Magic Jack! My wife's 3GS 32gig iPhone from Globe is our backup which has international automatic roaming when out of the country, but we hardly ever leave the Philippines but once every 3 years!

Edited October 10, 2011 by Art2ro

[Mr Lee]

Question, is it worth buying one of the new I5 or I7 laptops for everyday use? Will they be any faster while on a slow connection than say a dual core? My computer knowledge is limited to my use of computers, so while I know a dual core is faster than say a Pentium 4 because I have both, what should we look for in a computer to get the fastest speed while on a slow connection, since we all know that most connections while living in the Philippines are at a snails pace. Question 2, I now have a dual core laptop and desktop, and my wife has a dual core laptop. I sold my netbook because I found it to be too slow most of the time, so I am now waiting for the solid state hard drives to become available in laptops and then I may buy one of those since I believe the solid state hard drive should be faster and cause less problems, am I correct?

[Norseman]

Most times a slow computer is the result of a lack of memory not processor speed. As your computer uses resources like a pail of water it fills up. Once that pail is full it must use other resources to keep the water from spilling over. A pentium 4 non-dual core processor is fast enough for most if you optimize the memory to what the motherboard can handle. Some it is 2Gig others it is 4Gig. The biggest slow down outside of memory is how your computer handles video. Since most use on board type video that is additionally filling your bucket with water. So again here is a bottle neck that slows the process down to a crawl. When memory runs out on a computer it begins to use what is called virtual memory. Read the virtual. It actually writes to your HD and recovers the data from your HD. You can see how that will slow you down. As for the internet and processor speed really the slowest of slow processors you find will not change actual browsing speed unless your memory is full and the browser has a difficult time finding allocations to place it. My machine is a Pentium 4 with a 1Gig video card and 4 gigs of ram. Bought relatively cheaply. However is as fast if not faster then most commercial bought dual core and above. Like I said taking of the system resources from the computer was eliminated by minor upgrades that are cheaper then a newer models. My computer could be purchased it is a desktop for under 200 dollars retail. So consider a simple upgrade vice a new purchase. There is nothing wrong with 3-5 year old computers. Solid state drives are still on the drawing board. Many articles have been written about reliability. I have a netbook with a Solid state hard drive. It is several years old and is still kicking. Though most are saying that the constant read write to the drive limits years of use. They are faster just as memory. Most articles are saying 5 years of hard use. So knowing what you are going to do and applications you will use it for determine which is the best way to go.

Edited October 10, 2011 by Norseman

[FlyAway]

Question, is it worth buying one of the new I5 or I7 laptops for everyday use? Will they be any faster while on a slow connection than say a dual core? My computer knowledge is limited to my use of computers, so while I know a dual core is faster than say a Pentium 4 because I have both, what should we look for in a computer to get the fastest speed while on a slow connection, since we all know that most connections while living in the Philippines are at a snails pace. Question 2, I now have a dual core laptop and desktop, and my wife has a dual core laptop. I sold my netbook because I found it to be too slow most of the time, so I am now waiting for the solid state hard drives to become available in laptops and then I may buy one of those since I believe the solid state hard drive should be faster and cause less problems, am I correct?

You answered your own question there Mr. Lee. You are as fast as your slowest component. You can buy an i5 or i7 but it will sit there waiting for the connection to give it data. Norsman is right about memory. I have an HP laptop with an i7 and 8gb of memory. As I type this reply, it is using 2gb of memory. There are lots of services and processes running in the background. If this laptop only had 2gb of memory it would be running at snails pace. Now think of how slow it would be if I started word, excel or iTunes? I just started all 3 and my memory usage went up to 2.4GB What takes up all this memory is the programs that "Think" you always need them. Adobe Acrobat, Anti Virus, Wireless assistant, Webcam software, Yahoo Messenger, Updater programs and a whole slew of other things. The trick is to know what you really need and what you do not. Run msconfig.exe and you can see what programs try to start up and run in memory. Research the program on the internet before you disable any service or start up in there. As for adding more memory to an existing PC. Look at your operating system first. Is it 32 bit or 64 bit. A 32 bit Windows XP, Vista or 7 can only access up to 3gb of memory. So you are wasting money going above that because it will not even see it. SSD hard drives? Still on the pricey side considering the amount of space you get. I have a Gateway Netbook used for traveling. It has a 64GB Kingston SSD with Windows 7 Pro. I do notice a speed difference along with no noise from a spinning hard drive. It has 2gb of system memory I disabled a lot of things with msconfig.

[Norseman]

A 32 bit Windows XP, Vista or 7 can only access up to 3gb of memory. So you are wasting money going above that because it will not even see it.</div>

W7 Service pack one and the correct bios settings have actually fixed this issue. Edited October 10, 2011 by Norseman

[Jake]

Wazz up Gunny (Norseman), Yeah, I'm all for cheap upgrades. As you mentioned, adding memory and upgrading video cards could make an olddesk top run like new again. I would also look into upgrading the power supply, especially after 5 years or so andunstable power grids so common throughout PI. Those electrolytic caps dry up with their tops exploded. As a matterof PM (preventive maintenance) twice a year, more so in a hot, dusty and humid climate, I would open up the case todo a visual inspection and a thorough vacuum job. Layers of dust will cause intermittent shut downs and computerfreezing up. If you're careful, might as well replace the dried up heat sink compound underneath the fans for both theCPU and video GPU chip. Upon completion, download some free apps of core and video temp monitoring utilities tosee a significant drop in temps. You can Google ESD protocols (electrostatic discharge) if you decide to stick yourpinkies in there. Regarding laptops, I would not want to buy the latest and greatest. It would be like driving a high performance sportscar in Manila traffic. I prefer netbooks around 9 to 11 inches with long battery life and easy access to add ram cardsand other stuff. The small size can be easily carried/hidden in a small backpack, unlike the larger ones which mayattract attention of would be robbers. Also shop around for durable protective power strips that will take both 120 and220VAC. Perhaps having a spare laptop battery and AC adapter that may be unique to your laptop will save you somemajor headaches. As Flyaway mentioned on another thread, back up your files and programs. Power instability and extreme operatingconditions (heat, humidity and dust) will some day give you a blue screen or no boot up. Respectfully -- Jake

Edited October 10, 2011 by Jake
sentence structure

[FlyAway]

A 32 bit Windows XP, Vista or 7 can only access up to 3gb of memory. So you are wasting money going above that because it will not even see it.</div>

W7 Service pack one and the correct bios settings have actually fixed this issue.

You are right on that one. 4gb is the limit for 32 bit Windows 7 with all the proper hardware settings.

[Steve & Myrlita]

A 32 bit Windows XP, Vista or 7 can only access up to 3gb of memory. So you are wasting money going above that because it will not even see it.</div>

W7 Service pack one and the correct bios settings have actually fixed this issue.

You are right on that one. 4gb is the limit for 32 bit Windows 7 with all the proper hardware settings.

Funny you should say that. I was running SP1 32 bit but W7 only recognized 3GB. My bios read 4 but W7 didn't. When I switched over to 64 bit, it reads all 4GB. Edited October 11, 2011 by Steve & Myrlita

[Norseman]

Because I never experienced this issue when did you switch to 64bit. The service pack one was suppose to fix the limit on memory.

Edited October 11, 2011 by Norseman