Lately, I have had to train people. And I am realizing that of the 4, 3 don’t know much about Linux. And as a somewhat of a veteran engineer now, if you are going to enter the engineering job field, please please please learn some basics of the Linux OS!!
Being Thrifty Online (and retail)
In this day and age, everyone wants things brand new. While that would be nice, it just doesn’t add up a lot of the times… especially if it’s technically aligned items. Their values hold worse than a car! 😮
So what’s a guy to do? Be thrifty, that’s what. Koreans (in Korea) look down on buying used stuff. I disagree and good chunk of Americans disagree as well. What’s wrong with paying at least 1/4 to 1/3 off just because it’s been used a bit? I’m not ashamed to admit that I buy used things.
However, you can’t just blindly go buy things… you have to use your brains still. So here are some of my own tips.
- Check weekly ads (best comparison site is www.salescircular.com)
- See what they go for online and retail (My fav. site for that is www.pricegrabber.com)
- Then look for how much it goes for on eBay and Craigslist. (remember, Craigslist is under .org and not .com!)
- See who has the best price.
- Last but not least, I love one particular online forums site where there’s a LOT of FS (For Sale) traffic… Anandtech Forums.
Some safety pointers…
- Check seller’s feedback on eBay. For other sites like forums, there’s feedback system called heatware.
- If it’s too good to be true (on eBay and Craigslist), it’s very likely that it is.
- If you are buying/selling something locally, try to meet at a common public places to buy/trade!
- If you are selling something online, be sure to get good estimates on SHIPPING cost!!
- Sometimes, it IS cheaper to buy at retail stores!
- Set a price you want to buy it for and stick to it!
- You can haggle online forums and Craigslist.org for lower prices but be reasonable!
- When selling, avoid eBay. Sell via Craigslist first to avoid listing fees, selling fees, AND PayPal fees!
- If selling online other than eBay, and you take PayPal, setup a separate PERSONAL account and only accept non-credit card payments (otherwise, Paypal/eBay take another 4 to 5% of the fees!! 🙁
In the end, just use your head and common sense… 🙂 Happy hunting!
AMD’s new X3: Tri-core Processor
The phrase “a little bit and a little too late” came into existence for a reason. And that also applies to AMD’s new “tri-core” (read, triple core). While it sounds cool in theory and with the performance between dual-core processors and quad-core. That’s fine.
But as Gizmodo also noted, the price is what’s killing this great concept. Chances are high that AMD’s new X3 isn’t so new… but rather an X4 Phenom quad-core with a failed core. While it’s a great idea to recoup cost by spinning off a failed X4 as a new product X3, the price doesn’t justify it. It starts at close to $200 and with only bit more, you can get Intel’s quad-core Q6600.
In my opinion of 2 cents worth, what AMD should’ve done is price the X3 to replace dual-cores. That would’ve given the consumers more incentive to buy more of AMD’s products than Intel’s. I don’t want AMD to die. After all, AMD has been the only major contender in CPU market against Intel. But if AMD keeps its practice at such terrible pace, it won’t survive the future. I sure hope AMD sees its faults. Soon. Before too late.
“Interesting” replies between Dell & Me
As my 2 readers 😛 know by now, I have been having some major run-ins with Dell. I ordered a video card from them nearly TWO months ago and still have nothing to show for it. Why? ’cause the dumb-luck company took in WAAAY too many orders and never kept the promise! They have been delaying my shipped date on a weekly basis. Last ship date was supposed to be 01/11/08. Yes, you read that correctly.
That’s last Friday! 😡 Then they had the nerve to delay it again and now it’s 01/29/08! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! With more than a month (?) of delay, FTC requires the sellers to notify the buyer and must auto-cancel the order if it goes beyond that unless the customer states to keep the order explicitly! And this is what I wrote when they sent me the e-mail that it was delayed to 29th of the month…
What the hell is this?! Excuse my language but I’m getting delayed for two months now?!!
Do you guys call this service? If Dell was such a great company and excel in service, you would have offered alternate solution in one way or another, even if you had to eat your words and offer other branded solutions at a loss! If you can’t do that, please just drop my sorry excuse for an order off your list. I’m not ordering from you guys ever again and I will let the entire world know.
And this is the reply I get from Dell… I just couldn’t stop laughing… and cry at the same time!!
Thank you for your reply. The response did not clearly indicate whether you wished to cancel this order, or consent to the delay. We apologize for the misunderstanding. Please respond as soon as possible, and indicate whether this order is to be canceled or continued in process.
Thank You,
Dell Inc. Notification Team
WTH?! Dell sucks. That’s all there’s to it!
I hate Dell with passion!!
Ok. It’s now officially official: I hate Dell with passion!! 😡
I found a great deal on Dell for an MSI 8800GT OC (660 MHz core / 1900 MHz memory). This was back in late November. I guess they took one too many orders… ’cause the only thing I started seeing was “Your order was delayed” crap, week after week!! And now, it’s not going to ship earlier than 1/29/08! WTF?!!
Great service?!! Whatever! Ever since Dell got big, they have been only getting worse and service has only been getting worse and this is my proof… my LAST proof! Why?! That’s because I won’t buy from Dell ever again! If they are such great company, they would have offered a different brand product (but same model) even if they lost money on it!!
Dell sucks! If companies like Logitech only made and sold video cards! On second thought, Logitech stay where you are and try not to grow big like Dell and screw it up for eveyrone!
/*Rant*/
Microsoft planning on buying out Logitech?!!
😮
Say it ain’t so, Batman!! Reuters is reporting that Microsoft is in the talks of placing a bid on buying Logitech out! I sure hope not!! I love Logitech peripherals! I’d hate to see it go down the hole with Microsoft messing it up!! 😡
Be strong Logitech and just say NO!! 🙁
Alienware’s curved Wide Wide Wide screen display!!
Oh my! 😮 This brings cool display to a whole new level!! Alienware showed up at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) with this curved 2880 x 900 LCD display!! Drool… Imagine playing games that makes things look peripheral to your eyes!! Sheer awesomeness… I sure hope this becomes a reality!