Build Your Own Computer: Blog
7Sep/10Off

What Is The Best Value Computer You Can Buy?: Part 2

Higher number is better

Continuing on from a fortnight ago, I am going to talk to you about choosing the best value video card for your money.

Basically, when choosing video cards you have two options - ATI (now AMD) or Nvidia. Both of these companies have been making graphics cards for ages and they are good quality. One of the first things you will notice when you go out to buy your chosen cards is the fact that there are several different brands which make the same type of card you want. For example, if you were looking for an Nvidia 9800GT, you might find a Gigabyte 9800GT, an Asus 9800GT or an MSI 9800GT. These cards will often have slight differences but they are made to follow a guideline. they all use exactly the same chip which is made by their respective company (Nvidia or ATI) and then these other companies (Gigabyte, Asus etc.) make the video card and put the chip inside it. Sometimes you might get some factory overclocked cards which give better performance than the reference design. Others might give better coolers or silent coolers. It is all up to you. It is probably better to stick to a brand you trust as there have been problems such as failing fans on graphics cards from lesser known brands, but they are still good.

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2Sep/10Off

New iPods!!!!

Apple has just released their newest line of iPods right on time. Obviously, like every other blog out there I have to get my point of view across.

Firstly, there's the new iPod Nano which is actually nano this time around. Unfortunately they have replaced the click wheel with a multi-touch screen which can fit four icons on it. In my opinion it seems kind of gimmicky but I am sure Apple will prove me wrong with this being the next must have gift. The new Ipod Touch, as predicted will include all the new features of the iPhone 4 except for the phone, making it just an "i". As well this there is a new iPod shuffle which has the same button arrangement as the first gen shuffle but it is in the shape of a square. I guess they realised that a buttonless design was just plain stupid.

UPDATE: You may notice the bad photoshop job when you look at the apple logo in the reflection of the iPod Touch

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19Aug/10Off

Firefox 4: Is it all its cracked up to be?

Firefox 4 beta

I have been using the Firefox 4 beta since it was released to the public and so far I have found it very useable. The new interface looks really clean and the browser is pretty fast. There are a few new features which make it worthwhile and I am sure more will come in the near future. I am sure you have heard of how fast the browser is and how great it is going to be. However I have noticed quite a few flaws with the product which seem like oversights.

  • Next to the new Firefox button are a whole heap of empty pixels, just sitting there. Wouldn't it make a bit more sense to move the tabs up into that area so we get more real estate on the screen. This will give precious space to those on netbooks and low resolution monitors. Below is a picture to show you what I mean:

Firefox tabs

Instead the bar could look more like this:

Firefox Proposed

  • Next there is the download manager. It is hidden in the bar below and to see the full manager like in the previous versions, you double click on the logo in the status bar. However, when the download finishes, the little thing in the status bar disappears and unless you have told it to save the file, it will disappear. There seems to be no way of opening the file otherwise without re downloading the file in order to open the download manager. For some reason, the Firefox buttons contains the add-on manger but no download manager. Update: You can open the download manager with Ctrl+J or by pressing Alt and going into the tools menu. Still more difficult than it has to be though.

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