OT PC help

[david counter]

thanks Steve, I'll get there in the end,

[The Shadow]

One more thing David

Though I think Macs are great there is one particular characteristic of the
open/save dialogue box that is a total pain in the ****.

Since Mac OSX came out in 2001 Mac users have been screaming at Apple
to change the default behaviour of these boxes as it is extremely confusing. For us diehard Mac users it is bad enough but for someone unfamiliar with the Mac it is enough to drive them back to Windows.

The smallest pic below shows what most users will see when they attempt to save a document.
A tiny box appears showing a drop down menu. opening this menu does nothing to help the user navigate to where they want to put their work. The hapless user is left wondering where the hell they are supposed to put their piece of work. After much head scratching and cursing they save anyway and promptly lose the document in some obscure folder.

Look carefully at the smaller pic and there is a little black triangle in a translucent blue button next to the blue highlighted text field.

The second larger picture shows what happens when this triangle is clicked.
A full navigation window appears where the user can create new folders, and navigate to wherever they want to store their work.

Why in God's name Apple can't make this view the default is beyond most of us seasoned users. It is stupid beyond belief!

If you are having trouble saving stuff where you want to it this is probably why.

Steve

[david counter]

thanks Steve,
that explains a lot, why can't they make things simple,
to make thing worse when I get a new pc I'll have to deal with Vista just after getting used to XP

[Ianm2]

build one yourself...its easy and a lot cheaper, you just have to have a bit of parts knowledge, its a minefield, but once you get to know, its easier, I am going to update mine soon.

its as much fun as building valve amps

you don't need anything swish for basic apps.

actually, that ones pretty darn cheap. nasty case tho'

[david counter]

I really want to build one myself but as you say it's a minefield
I thought if I went with Novatech I would be able to get lots of upgrade parts and help

[richardcooper2k]

i'm not convinced you can build one as cheaply yourself. these guys buy large quantities of parts so can get them much cheaper.
i think the reasons you would build one yourself would be out of interest or if you couldn't order one with the particular spec you wanted
you could try pricing up the parts to see
i believe there are fairs where you can buy superseded (but still fine) parts cheaply - this could make it economic - but you'd have to know what you were looking for (compatibility issues)

[NickG]

One of the probles with trying to compete on price with the likes of Dell, is the price of the OS. You can put a nice set of parts together in a nice case, but then you need to add an additional £60 or so.

[david counter]

yep, Novatech want 70 quid for Vista home premium installed on your new pc,

hopefully when you put together your own pc you get better quality parts than you do in the mainstream,

BTW how long should a pc last if you use it 8 hours a day?

[Paul Barker]

Originally Posted by david counter

BTW how long should a pc last if you use it 8 hours a day?

desktops last me about 4 ears laptops a ear pda's a few months sat navs weeks hands frees das. Flue gas analsers (costing £750) a ear.

[Ianm2]

if you want to have a go, here's some of the best budget components around...they will work together

coolermaster centurion case, superb £40

motherboard...gigabyte 965p-ds3 £70
1 or 2gb 400 (pc3200) or 533 ddr2 ram
pci express graphics card of your choice.

pentium dual core 4300 socket 775 £70

hard drive, sata 2, all pretty good..samsung spinpoint, seagate, hitatchi, western digital, around 250gb, spinpoint p120 i have, its silent in use

lg, liteon, pioneer, sony dvdRW, £20

froogle for oem vista, much cheaper

best place for cheapness on all that, probably scan, guaranteed to work a treat

psu of your choice, £20

just plug it all together, 1 hrs job, fun, you learn, and its easy, once you know how, just read the motherboard manual properly.

most of that is pretty cutting edge stuff and very highly regarded, I will even help if you wish.