Random Tech Questions you want answered.

Rykin wrote:

Comparing my newer mobile i7-7500U (2 cores/4 threads at 2.7GHz) to my older desktop i5-760 (4 cores/4 threads at 2.8 GHz) at tasks like video encoding I find the much newer i7 is only slightly faster than the old i5.

CPUMark scores bear that out. The Kaby Lake mobile i7 is considerably faster single-thread, but the two additional full cores of the old Nehalem chip closes the gap in parallel, all-cores tasks, as video encoding is.

I'd love to try out writing scam/phishing emails to see what worked and what didn't. I mean I never would, and as with most things it probably wouldn't be fun with performance pressure as an actual job. But still.

I'm always surprised that the originators of them don't get the text copy edited by an English speaker, because the mistakes make you pick most of them up so quickly.

Mermaidpirate wrote:

I'd love to try out writing scam/phishing emails to see what worked and what didn't. I mean I never would, and as with most things it probably wouldn't be fun with performance pressure as an actual job. But still.

I'm always surprised that the originators of them don't get the text copy edited by an English speaker, because the mistakes make you pick most of them up so quickly.

Therein lies the business model...

Yeah. The typos and bad English are on purpose. If you are one of the people who are able to look past those, then they know they have a much better chance of reeling you in.

Mobile chips are far more constrained with how much power they're allowed to use, even on the more recent Intel revisions that can exceed their typical rating when they choose. Clock time might not be that much better, but it's definitely using less electricity.

My tv died. Boo. It was a 55" 1080p tv (a 2011 Vizio model) that we used in our primary living room, and I also have a 47" version of the same tv in my video game room. Realizing that my wife and kids will be perfectly happy with a the 47" 1080p, I'm thinking of moving that one into the living room and then getting a cheapish 4k tv for my video game space. I'm on a budget of $450 max, so right now I think my options are either a slightly smaller TCL 5 series (Best Buy has a 43" for $320) or a larger TCL 4 series (55" for $380). Any strong opinions out there on the difference between TCL 5 series and 4 series, or other high quality cheap 4k tvs?

I don't have a 4k capable console, so I think the only real gaming benefit with this (for now) would be some HDR on PS4, but it'd be nice to be able to do some 4k streaming via Amazon and Netflix, and I could see myself getting a new Xbox or PS4 Pro at some point in the next year.

Also, it seems like every TV I'm looking at has only 3 HDMI ports, while I would plan to hook up to this my PS4, Xbox, Switch, Steam Link, and cable box. Are HDMI switchers a thing people use? Do I need a special one for 4K? Doing some very quick googling, I see a few that are like $20 and a few that are like $300...is there a budget way to do this?

I have used a couple of these switches and they have been fine for me. It auto-selects based on when something is turned on, so you would plug only one always-on device into, and the other occasional use devices too, then it will auto-switch to them when you turn them on. I never had to use the remote.

You might also ask over in the Home Theater thread, might have more readers there.

mrlogical wrote:

My tv died. Boo. It was a 55" 1080p tv (a 2011 Vizio model) that we used in our primary living room, and I also have a 47" version of the same tv in my video game room. Realizing that my wife and kids will be perfectly happy with a the 47" 1080p, I'm thinking of moving that one into the living room and then getting a cheapish 4k tv for my video game space. I'm on a budget of $450 max, so right now I think my options are either a slightly smaller TCL 5 series (Best Buy has a 43" for $320) or a larger TCL 4 series (55" for $380). Any strong opinions out there on the difference between TCL 5 series and 4 series, or other high quality cheap 4k tvs?

I don't have a 4k capable console, so I think the only real gaming benefit with this (for now) would be some HDR on PS4, but it'd be nice to be able to do some 4k streaming via Amazon and Netflix, and I could see myself getting a new Xbox or PS4 Pro at some point in the next year.

Also, it seems like every TV I'm looking at has only 3 HDMI ports, while I would plan to hook up to this my PS4, Xbox, Switch, Steam Link, and cable box. Are HDMI switchers a thing people use? Do I need a special one for 4K? Doing some very quick googling, I see a few that are like $20 and a few that are like $300...is there a budget way to do this?

The 5 series is probably the best value for the money, given it also supports HDR and wide color gamut not to mention a solid contrast ratio that should make it good to watch movies on as well.

One thing you might want to look hard at is latency. Particularly with the 4K switches.

I was looking at KVM switches a little while ago (basically an HDMI/Displayport switch with the addition of keyboard and mouse USB, so you can have multiple computers driving a single monitor), and a lot of the research I did basically said "this is useless for gaming, but brilliant otherwise".

Thanks for the feedback all (and I probably should've realized there was a slightly more on-point thread out there). Leaning heavily towards getting the 43" 5 series. Of course, now I'm trying to think of how to justify upgrading one of my consoles...

mrlogical wrote:

Thanks for the feedback all (and I probably should've realized there was a slightly more on-point thread out there). Leaning heavily towards getting the 43" 5 series. Of course, now I'm trying to think of how to justify upgrading one of my consoles...

Check Costco for the Vizio E. You can get a 55” for just about $450 (on sale)

https://www.vizio.com/e55f1.html

Is anyone aware of a PC tool that allows for temporary screen adjustments, such as to B&W, contrast, and brightness adjustments? It would be great to have something that could easily adjust these then "snap back" to normal when doing image analysis.

Not sure this is the proper place, but...

My wife and I could both use new cell phones. We are both comfy with ditching our current providers. Is there a secret best plan for a couple in that situation?

She prefers iPhones and I prefer Android. I am willing to budge, probably.

I went with Google Project Fi as my provider and I've been pretty happy with it. Decent coverage, since they use T-Mobile/Sprint/US Cellular towers, however definitely had issues when in rather remote areas so something to check. Obviously the phones are all android though, so if you need to stick with the iPhone, then this isn't for you.

Why can't I click a button and password protect folders in Windows 10?

Because Windows file and folder permissions don’t work that way - they are based on user accounts. If you want to keep someone out of your folders you need to give them their own account, and not give that account any permission to your folders.

Or you could use a third party encryption utility and make it work (at least close to) the way you want. PGP Desktop used to be alright, but now it's owned by Symantec. Ummm... gpg4win maybe? I dunno. Each member of my family has their own account on my machine with their own permissions, as noted by Redherring above.

TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt is something that might suit your usecase: https://www.howtogeek.com/108501/the...

Blind_Evil wrote:

Not sure this is the proper place, but...

My wife and I could both use new cell phones. We are both comfy with ditching our current providers. Is there a secret best plan for a couple in that situation?

She prefers iPhones and I prefer Android. I am willing to budge, probably.

How much data do you use? We use about a gig a month, so Google Fi is awesome for us (about $50/month for two lines.) If you use a ton of data, the answer will be different.

Wireless range extenders!

My in-laws just had Comcast tell them they needed to replace their Comcast-provided modem/router, so they did. The new one apparently isn't as powerful, and signal strength drops off pretty bad in the sunroom, where they like to hang out, and that's also at the opposite end of the house from the router. Seems like a good candidate for a wireless range extender.

I'm totally unfamiliar with these. I probably could use one myself, because to get signal to the opposite end of my house, I'm currently using a router set to wireless bridge and connected to the network via powerline. What's the best bang for the buck solution in this space? They don't need much of a boost to get the coverage they need. If I was to replace my jury-rigged setup, I'd need a bit more.

Chaz wrote:

Wireless range extenders!

My in-laws just had Comcast tell them they needed to replace their Comcast-provided modem/router, so they did. The new one apparently isn't as powerful, and signal strength drops off pretty bad in the sunroom, where they like to hang out, and that's also at the opposite end of the house from the router. Seems like a good candidate for a wireless range extender.

I'm totally unfamiliar with these. I probably could use one myself, because to get signal to the opposite end of my house, I'm currently using a router set to wireless bridge and connected to the network via powerline. What's the best bang for the buck solution in this space? They don't need much of a boost to get the coverage they need. If I was to replace my jury-rigged setup, I'd need a bit more.

I have one of these and it seems to work really well for the price.

Are there any gaming headsets with the wires on the right?

Middcore wrote:

Are there any gaming headsets with the wires on the right?

Go with a gaming headset where the wires come off.

*Legion* wrote:
Middcore wrote:

Are there any gaming headsets with the wires on the right?

Go with a gaming headset where the wires come off. :)

I have a wireless headset but I'm not super pleased with the inherent unreliable connectivity and need to charge it.

Middcore wrote:

Are there any gaming headsets with the wires on the right?

Microsoft's Xbox One Stereo Headset, although I didn't find it particularly comfortable.

Middcore wrote:

Are there any gaming headsets with the wires on the right?

I have a Polk Melee for Xbox 360 headset that has the wires on the right. I’m using a V-Moda boom mic for the actual cord. The headset was like a $300 thing when the 360 was current, but you can find them for $30-45 these days because the included cords are about useless. The boom mic headset was about another $45, which isn’t super cheap but it does make for decent value.

Is there a way I can use email filters on Gmail on a mobile (android) any more? It's not an option in the app, there used to be the option to visit the web interface and desktop mode and manage them there, and with the new update it's gone. Annoying.

Edit: maybe it's the coffee from the tirimasu talking, but I'm feeling an increasing amount of rage trying to get Inbox which I just installed again to do the same thing.

Also Inbox crashes a lot.

How well do carbonated beverages ship / ie canned soda from amazon? Is it just a big shaken foamy mess or doable?

krev82 wrote:

How well do carbonated beverages ship / ie canned soda from amazon? Is it just a big shaken foamy mess or doable?

I mean, canned soda gets shipped to a grocery store, where you buy it, throw it in the trunk of your car and drive it home. And it's not a foamy mess when you open it.

Can't see it'd be a problem, shipping damage notwithstanding.

And if it is a problem, Amazon's return/refund policy is close to "no-questions-asked".

Jonman wrote:
krev82 wrote:

How well do carbonated beverages ship / ie canned soda from amazon? Is it just a big shaken foamy mess or doable?

I mean, canned soda gets shipped to a grocery store, where you buy it, throw it in the trunk of your car and drive it home. And it's not a foamy mess when you open it.

Can't see it'd be a problem, shipping damage notwithstanding.

And if it is a problem, Amazon's return/refund policy is close to "no-questions-asked".

I put bottled soda in my checked luggage on a flight and it came through just fine.