29 July 2013

Oh This Modern Life

When sitting at my computer at home, I'm surrounded by my iPad, my iPhone, my Kindle and, of course, my computer (two screens, no waiting). When an email arrives, it's like high noon in a clock shop.

15 comments:

erp said...

Remember how boring life used to be when one had to wait for the mail carrier to arrive to get that kind of high and then it was usually just bills and/or ads, not videos of adorable kittens gambolling in a garden ...

Paul Jaminet said...

Good thing your blog is secret then.

David said...

Damned straight.

By the way, I've been meaning to ask: is this an affiliate, an homage, or a rip-off?

Anonymous said...

Two screens? How archaic! Are you limited because you have to hand generate all the electrical current you use?

David said...

I know. I'm in negotiations with the wife. I'm also not sure that I want to stick a second video card in my computer. What's your recommendation?

Anonymous said...

I think my recommendations would cause your negotiations to fail.

I'm almost finished building my new box, with dual GTX 660's. Although, honestly, if you're not a gamer or a CAD engineer it doesn't much matter. I wouldn't go with the very low end but otherwise it doesn't matter that much. Your bigger problem will be that good graphics cards take a lot of power and your computer's power supply may not be enough. Those 2 GTX 660's will consume more power than all the rest of the computer. I put in an 850W PS, we'll see if that's enough.

Also, I rarely upgrade my computers, I just build new ones. We have plenty of uses for no longer top of the line systems here.

Here's a good resource.

David said...

Part of my negotiating difficulty is that we just took 8 old computers to the recycler, leaving us with only three or four old computers no longer in service, not counting the two desktops, three laptops, and innumerable phones, gaming systems, tablets, kindles, etc., we use all day every day.

Still, tell us more about your set-up. How many screens? Are they set up to run video as one big screen? My second card doesn't have to be top of the line, because I can easily reserve one screen for text.

Anonymous said...

I run 1 main screen (2560x1440), three secondaries (1920x1200) and a Lilliput (800x600) for my primary computer. I run them basically as separate displays. I have 4 other secondary computers with 1920x1200 screens, and a laptop with 1920x1080. So it's a lot of pixels :-). And yes, I actually use all of them almost daily.

I'm upgrading because I think the low end cards I have in my current main box just can't handle 2 large displays so I'm moving up (to more and faster memory, too).

I have been wanting to mention something to you, this kind of device which plugs in to a USB port (or two) and supports a monitor. The graphics are fine for text, web browsing, still pictures. Video (especially HD) is quite problematic. I used that particular model for about 18 months and thought it was great. Handy for laptops too. I'd look around, even at Amazon the prices for varied from $112 to $1259. You could try the Diamond or EVGA versions, those are good names for graphics cards.

David said...

Cool. Thanks.

That might suit my needs perfectly.

Anonymous said...

A picture of just the main box. You can see the little monitor in the lower left. I use it for Windows gadgets that monitor system activity and because it's just so cool.

erp said...

aog, reading your comment above, I get a picture of the proverbial mad scientist with a mass of unruly curls and look of fiendish glee on his face.

Paul Jaminet said...

David, that was an independent venture, no connection to me. He trademarked Perfect Human Diet and I trademarked Perfect Health Diet, I think I was first but not sure. He took years to produce his video and it came out last year, two years after our book.

Peter said...

I'm with erp. This thread is scary. Did everyone notice there appear to have recently been up to twenty computers and gadgets in Casa Cohen. David, unless you are an air traffic controller or TV producer, you sold your soul the day you figured a second screen was a necessity. We all know AOG went over to the dark side years ago, but what happened to you?

Paul: How great to meet up with you again? I trust all is well. Is there anywhere in particular you blog these days--somewhere accessible to the scientifically challenged?

David said...

Hi Peter:

Not 20 at once. That's 20 years of computers (AOG chortles disdainfully). Between law, psychiatry, online finances, and teaching we're skittish about throwing out hard drives. Until now, our solution has been to hold onto old computers, etc. This time, I physically removed the hard drives and took them to a hard drive shredder.

As for 2 screens, it is the bare minimum. Try it and you'll never go back.

erp said...

Peter, I hope you noticed my avatar. It's a sarcastic poster my kids gave when they were teenagers. I came across it again recently. They've since come to see how prophetic they were. It's a cross, but one cheerfully borne. ;-}