Club409

Yeah I use Process Explorer on a daily basis at work thanks to Vista and its phantom Thumbs.db files it likes to create in every directory and not close the handles to even if you never went into that directory. RAGE!

Yeah sometimes you can get the same effect by clicking the shut down button.  It'll bring up a list of programs waiting to shutdown and as long as you have one that needs user feedback (like an unsaved doc) you have the option to cancel and can continue using the computer.  At that point though a lot of programs and services may have been shut down so it's probably best to just restart anyways. 

No more satisfying hard drive click with SSDs. :(  Although I do hear it on my work laptop.  Slightly higher pitch when the hdd is winding down maybe because it's smaller. :)

Yeah I like the sound of dragons being slayed in Skyrim rope-a-dopes in SC2 and headshots in BF3 and Crysis 2.  Can you get them to run in linux?  Sure.  Is it a pain in the ass?  Yes.  Do you get the same performance?  doubtful.

so my attempt to revitalize my brother's old laptop for my use has come to a halt due to a stripped screw and a mystery board plug and wire that i can't figure out where it belongs the wire is cleanly cut but i don't know how that could have happened since the only tools i've used is a screwdriver and hammer (yes hammer) working theory is that the stripped screw and mystery wire were placed by the 6 year old malaysian kid who built the computer in protest of working conditions....stupid kid

any recommendations for laptop purchasing? kind of sour on dell since both my brother's and my mother's had issues with holding or receiving power after a few years optical drives also crapped out on both but i know they didn't actually make those

I bought something similar to this for my grandparents but the one I got was a floor model and was only $350 (may have been an i3 and they took $50 for being a floor model).  Considering their previous desktop was still running Windows 97 and still works and they never complained this one will probably last them for another decade.  I felt a little sad giving it to them because I know the laptop will never be used to it's full potential.  

Anyways I'm not sure about longevity of laptop brands but I know the screen died one of my toshiba M5's and the hard drive died on the other (work laptops).  They issued us Dell Latitude 6410's now and I'm satisfied with it.  14'' screen i5 m540 2.67 Ghz cpu 8gb ram 500 gb hd web cam weights maybe 4-5 lbs good keyboard and battery life is ok.  Runs quiet.  Of course the retail value with those specs is over a grand (as googling indicates).

According to cnet the HP Pavilion dv76b55dx has the longest battery life but the research obviously doesn't include battery life over time.  My sister has a similar hp and hasn't had many problems with it.