Experiences with non-techies

[Ruostunut kokis]

I don't think that is possible, even on the worlds best hardware. Has anyone succeed in doing that, i'd quite like to know?

Maybe the lowest possible settings and framerate cap disabled (if it has one)? Still though, useless as hell to have a framerate of ~2000FPS.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

It sucks when parents have a techie child and refer to me for tech support. Then they pressure you to get the right answer, even if you don't know.

 

So, I was helping my dad replace a hard drive in his computer. It was a huge pain.

 

Me: So the first thing you do is unplug the hard drive.

Dad: Ok, how?

Me: Just unplug the data cable from the hard drive. Then the power cable.

Dad: This one? *points to Molex connector*

Me: No.

Dad: *points to floppy power*

Me: NOOOO.

Dad: Screw this. You do it. Get that hard drive in within half an hour or else you get spanked.

Me: WHAT?? WHY? A BIT HARSH THERE.

 

For God's sake, why? I mean, he didn't know how to install a simple hard drive? I mean, he works for SEAGATE!!!!!!

spanked? lol

[terrytek]

Maybe the lowest possible settings and framerate cap disabled (if it has one)? Still though, useless as hell to have a framerate of ~2000FPS.

It has no framerate cap, but this is bullshit.

[Ruostunut kokis]

It has no framerate cap, but this is bullshit.

Yep. 100% pure grade-A bullsh*t

[Guest andyysplash]

Until about a year ago I didn't know that vertical refresh rate was in effect the maximum amount of frames per second a monitor could display (yeah, and I thought I was a good techie at the time), but I think half of the problem is that since minecraft is a fairly low-requirement game and lots of children play it (who often have low spec computers), there's always the push for hight framerate. I mean, when they're running integrated graphics getting 20fps on minimum settings, it does create a condition for an 'fps race' and you end up with "ooh but my new Alienware can run minecraft at 300fps, so I'm 200fps better off than you".

 

On a side note, Minecraft's fps limiter scales down framerate, meaning I have to choose between getting in the 100's and living with tearing, or getting sub-60 in any scene that would normally cause a dip from say 300 to 250. And Vsync just causes input lag

[zsanfusa]

My mother locked the BIOS password on her HP laptop.  Guess who got to remove 100+ screws and lose 6 hours taking it apart (RTC Battery was on the back side of the motherboard)?

[Speedbird]

My mother locked the BIOS password on her HP laptop.  Guess who got to remove 100+ screws and lose 6 hours taking it apart (RTC Battery was on the back side of the motherboard)?

I had to do the same thing a few weeks ago. Is the laptop an HP 630? Some of HP laptops have it easily replaceable (my HP Probook 455 doesn't even need a screwdriver).

[zsanfusa]

No like 8 years ago.  Laptop was from back in the P4 days. I think it was a celeron clocked 1.6 ghz, what a PoS

[Speedbird]

No like 8 years ago.  Laptop was from back in the P4 days. I think it was a celeron clocked 1.6 ghz, what a PoS

Oh. Well, my dad has one which is 7 years old with a Core 2 Duo T8100. Also has nVidia GeForce 9800M GS with 256MB VRAM. I had the same one, but without discrete graphics and 2.5GB of RAM instead of 4.

[ButCanItBacon]

I used to work at a computer shop for IT support and service. Whenever something is wrong with the machine, they'll always ask if it's a virus or not. If the shortcut on the desktop is gone, they would think all of their data on the computer are gone. My mum isn't non-techy but she just double clicks on EVERYTHING she wants to open. That includes links and buttons on the web browser. She would double click on the Google searches to open them too and I got really annoyed watching her using the computer at some point of my life. I have another one but it's not really non-techies. My friend is a photographer but not much of a computer guy so he bought a netbook(yes, those 10-inches) and brought it to college. Apparently he actually used that netbook to edit photo and do his work. I remember him posting a comment which he thinks tiny computer are less powerful(true to some extent).

my dad does that too DOUBLE CLICKING EVERYTHING!

[zsanfusa]

I did the work in 2007, the PC was probably from 2003-04.  You kids are making me feel SO OLD!

[Speedbird]

I did the work in 2007, the PC was probably from 2003-04.  You kids are making me feel SO OLD!

Well, until mid-2011, I used a PC from 2004. It was a custom-built gaming mid tower. My dad picked the parts and had a local computer store build it for him. It had a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, ASRock P4i65G, 1 GB of RAM (DDR1), a Seagate Barracuda 160GB drive, 2 optical drives and a Radeon 9600 Pro (Not HD). Was a pretty cool PC. The cooler broke however, and I replaced the motherboard, CPU and RAM. It will run a file server pretty soon.

[aquiesse]

Mum "So how much memory does it have "

Me "4GB"

Mum "Thats not a lot"

Me "Thats enough for browsing"

Mum "What if I download a film"

Me "Thats storage mum not memory, RAM is your memory"

Mum "So where would the film be stored"

Me "On the hard drive, thats storage and you have 500GB, which is plenty"

Mum "Oh that sounds better, can we swap them around then"

Me "................yeah, why not. You put the kettle on and I'll swap them now"

To this day I don't know what she meant!

[KemoKa]

Mum "So how much memory does it have "

Me "4GB"

Mum "Thats not a lot"

Me "Thats enough for browsing"

Mum "What if I download a film"

Me "Thats storage mum not memory, RAM is your memory"

Mum "So where would the film be stored"

Me "On the hard drive, thats storage and you have 500GB, which is plenty"

Mum "Oh that sounds better, can we swap them around then"

Me "................yeah, why not. You put the kettle on and I'll swap them now"

To this day I don't know what she meant!

I have no idea how she could have thought that swapping the RAM capacity with the HDD capacity would have made for a better system. That wouldn't hold Windows to begin with.

 

[KemoKa]

When my friend says 'The razer blade is so fast that it literally runs Minecraft at 2000-3000 fps!'

After which I hope you gave him two punches in the face, one for making such a false claim and another one for getting a powerful gaming laptop to play minecraft.

[Guest]

After which I hope you gave him two punches in the face, one for making such a false claim and another one for getting a powerful gaming laptop to play minecraft.

And then steal the laptop.

[Guest andyysplash]

And then steal the laptop.

 

And sell it for a profit to spend on upgrading your desktop rig for MOAR POWAH

[max_n_cheese11]

I told my friend I wanted to build a gaming pc, and he spent a good 20 minutes trying to convince me to buy a toshiba laptop. His toshiba laptop can barely run tf2 at more than 8 FPS on low.......

[juretrn]

I meant tech in the general household.

How does that matter in any way? Ther US has some of the best tech schools in the world and arguably the most of high-tech development in the world........

[terrytek]

How does that matter in any way? Ther US has some of the best tech schools in the world and arguably the most of high-tech development in the world........

But people can't use tech right, even ones who work for tech companies. *cough* my dad *cough*

[Yummychickenblue]

But people can't use tech right, even ones who work for tech companies. *cough* my dad *cough*

Do you know what he DOES for Seagate?

[juretrn]

But people can't use tech right, even ones who work for tech companies. *cough* my dad *cough*

Just more work for techies! It matters not if you work for a tech company.

View it this way: the less people know, the more your knowledge is valuable to them. -> meaning more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Speedbird]

I think he had something to do with hard disk platters. Am I right, Terry?

[terrytek]

I think he had something to do with hard disk platters. Am I right, Terry?

He runs the machines that makes them.

[Yummychickenblue]

He runs the machines that makes them.

Which means he doesn't need to know how to install them just how to maintain the machines manufacturing them.