Bluethulhu

There are a few reasons why I tell people to say away from gaming headsets, and those reasons include shoddy build quality, poor sound quality (both mic and headphone), and poor price to performance ratio. This doesn't apply to all gaming headsets, but it does to a vast majority of the cheaper ones.

Looks like the just the microphone tip changes color, but I wouldn't buy those anyway if I were you.

I would buy a legitimate copy from somewhere such as /r/softwareswap. Keys are cheap there (around $20-30 USD), and a cracked copy will most likely not work fully, and may contain malware. You can however download a free ISO of Windows 7 legally, from Microsoft. You just need a legitimate key to activate it, otherwise it won't work. This is very helpful if you don't have any DVDs on hand, and want to use a USB drive. This is currently not true for Windows 8/8.1.

Please tell us your budget, where you live, and the rest of your PC (especially monitor and resolution).

eBay is probably your best bet, the classifieds wouldn't be good here because we are mainly a PC community. Craigslist might be another good choice considering you live in California.

Windows has a built-in magnifier, but it was difficult to use with multiple monitors while playing Runescape, see if that works for you.

See if clearing your cookies will help.

Try restarting Steam, or you could buy it in your browser.

If you're looking for a virtual machine, you should look at VirtualBox.

We're going to need some more info, please answer all of the following questions: 1. Budget & Location You may have listed a heap of parts that all add up to your preferred budget but it is easier if you just list the total amount you'd like to spend and the currency as well as if you'd consider going above that budget for more performance. We need the location as well because $US are different to $AUD and $CAD ect. 2. Aim What is the system going to be used for? Web browsing, 3D work? Different systems need different levels of performance - a computer based for web browsing and office use won't handle heavy graphic design and video editing and a proper video editing system isn't good for gaming. If your aim is for gaming, please list what sort of gaming. In the same way that different usage types need different systems, you'll need a lot more power to run Far Cry 3 or Crysis 2 than you would Minecraft. 3. Monitors How many monitors do you plan on running? Do you plan on moving to more monitors in the future? What resolution are they at too? 4. Peripherals Do you also need to purchase peripherals such as keyboards and mice as well as monitors ect. Also please tell us if you'll need an OS such as Windows. 5. Why are you upgrading? We ask this because you may see upgrading as the only path to solve an issue but things such as driver updates, reconfiguration or cleaning can boost performance without spending a cent.

What future work are you planning on doing? Word processing? 3D modeling? Video editing?

Blender might be a good place to start, it has a fairly large community and it's free.

Humble Bundle?

Thank you John

It really depends on what software you're using for video/photo work. You won't see much of a difference when gaming between the two.

What currency is your $1500 budget in?

Samsung - cheap phones and astoundingly awful marketing, their SSDs are OK though Monster - absurdly overpriced and taking advantage of people who don't know better Razer - cheap and shoddy except for a very select few products (DeathAdder + mousepads are decent) HP - so many broken HP laptops, so much bloatware, their printers should be launched into the sun Comcast/TWC/Verizon/AT&T/etc - I could write an entire series of novels about why they're all the spawn of Satan, I think most people already can guess why they are on here... PayPal/eBay - gives sellers a terrible experience, absolutely terrible business practice Adobe - I don't trust them with any of my personal info, and they charge absurd amounts for their software Dell - I like their monitors and hate everything else they make Sony - shady business practices such as rootkits on CDs Microsoft - I hate Windows but I'm forced to use it because software developers are mostly only Windows/OS X, plus don't even get me started on Xbox & GFWL... Dynex - not sure if this counts but it's Best Buy's own products...quality is so bad I'm convinced they have a team of mentally ill chimps to assemble their products and then they toss them around a few times EA - pretty much preaching to the choir but disgustingly greedy business practices and not even caring about customers in the slightest bit

Delete everything in your Steam folder except Steam.exe and the SteamApps folder (or move to a different folder). You also might want to check steamstat.us if you can't sign in.

We could use some more info, such as what exactly you are going to be using it for. Gaming on the couch at home? School? Video editing and 3D modeling? What's your total budget (and in what currency)? I have the Y500 which is very close to this model, and it's a great little powerhouse, but I do have some criticisms. I would not recommend it for someone who has to go to school and can't be near an outlet, as the battery usually only lasts me about 2-2:30 hours. The trackpad is pretty terrible, you really have to use a mouse to get any real work done. I couldn't click without making the cursor twitch if you pointed a gun to my head.

Link goes to an empty shopping cart for me.

I use it with two of my friends, and it's pretty good. An advantage is that you don't need to set up a server for something like TeamSpeak (although it's not very hard). The sound quality is decent, it's miles better than what Skype currently has to offer. One criticism I have is that it flat out doesn't work occasionally, where it be I can't receive or send calls, no audio input or output, can't sign in, etc. It gets annoying, and I haven't had any problems with TeamSpeak so far. I think the interface is pretty decent as well, it's small and doesn't get in the way. There isn't any video chat support currently, but I don't think it's much of a problem considering it's mainly intended for playing games and talking with friends. It's great if you don't want to set up a server, want good sound quality, and a clean experience most of the time. It's bad if you want to talk with tech-illiterate family/friends, want to video chat, or if you have little patience. It's pretty decent and I think it's a good competitor against other programs such as Skype, TeamSpeak, or Mumble. I forgot to mention that it's still in beta, so most of the problems will most likely be sorted out in the future.

Play your music collection on shuffle at normal volume at night, I suggest putting it in a shoebox if you want it to not leak sound too badly.

Gentle Typhoons?

What are your components? If you want a huge case, a 900D is probably a good choice.

Please answer the following: 1. Budget & Location You may have listed a heap of parts that all add up to your preferred budget but it is easier if you just list the total amount you'd like to spend and the currency as well as if you'd consider going above that budget for more performance. We need the location as well because $US are different to $AUD and $CAD ect. 2. Aim What is the system going to be used for? Web browsing, 3D work? Different systems need different levels of performance - a computer based for web browsing and office use won't handle heavy graphic design and video editing and a proper video editing system isn't good for gaming. If your aim is for gaming, please list what sort of gaming. In the same way that different usage types need different systems, you'll need a lot more power to run Far Cry 3 or Crysis 2 than you would Minecraft. 3. Monitors How many monitors do you plan on running? Do you plan on moving to more monitors in the future? What resolution are they at too? 4. Peripherals Do you also need to purchase peripherals such as keyboards and mice as well as monitors ect. Also please tell us if you'll need an OS such as Windows. 5. Why are you upgrading? We ask this because you may see upgrading as the only path to solve an issue but things such as driver updates, reconfiguration or cleaning can boost performance without spending a cent.