Computer meltdown - argh

[ghost dog]

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My laptop computer recently had a nervous breakdown. Specifically, the
monitor burned out, required me to purchase a new system (i.e. it wasn't worth fixing it, as it would cost more to fix than comp was worth).

This computer lasted 3 1/2 years.

$1750 later, and I'm up and running again.

How long do your systems last?

 

[lobelsteve]

My laptop computer recently had a nervous breakdown. Specifically, the
monitor burned out, required me to purchase a new system (i.e. it wasn't worth fixing it, as it would cost more to fix than comp was worth).

This computer lasted 3 1/2 years.

$1750 later, and I'm up and running again.

How long do your systems last?

Replaced at 2 year intervals prior to my Macbook Pro 17. I just replaced the hard drive at 18 months. Backups are at home, work, online. I use 2GB external drives for backup using Time Machine, Carbonite for online.

When was the last time you backed up your data? Idiots.

 

[specepic]

I'm currently typing this on a Dell laptop I bought in med school about 9 years ago. It runs kinda slow and plays you tube vids about half the time. I think it was made my Timex b/c I cannot kill it. I also have a toshiba laptop for about a year that I like much better, not sure how long it will last, too early to tell.

I like Macs but our EMR won't run on them and I like the option of working at home on paperwork if I need to leave early.

I dont have much to backup, my pain/pmr related stuff goes onto thumb drives and family photos on CD's.

 

[Aether2000]

If you have the money and a system that will work with Mac, then definitely purchase Mac. The PC systems break down frequently, get bugs and viruses, are sometimes loud, have non-integrated software and hardware, and ultimately are a poor value. I have a room at my office that is a computer graveyard full of old PCs that crashed due to the motherboard burning out, disc drive failures with revamping costs more than that of a new computer, and a variety of other issues. I have a PC and a Mac at home ....the PC is a hex core that runs screamingly fast and RAID config. It doesn't even begin to compare to my Mac that I purchased 5 months ago, is whisper quiet, well designed, and is one button on in 2 seconds. I run Office for Mac to permit cross communication between computers, and haven't found anything the PC can do that the Mac will not. The repair history for Macs is like a Maytag washing machine....hardly ever breaks down, and viruses are extremely rare in Mac systems due to the lack of complete integration (Mac OS uses separate program modules unlike Windows that is one large program). If a virus tries to attack a Mac, it is stopped at a single module whereas with Windows, the entire OS can be shut down. Just my 2 bits...

 

[lobelsteve]

I'm currently typing this on a Dell laptop I bought in med school about 9 years ago. It runs kinda slow and plays you tube vids about half the time. I think it was made my Timex b/c I cannot kill it. I also have a toshiba laptop for about a year that I like much better, not sure how long it will last, too early to tell.

I like Macs but our EMR won't run on them and I like the option of working at home on paperwork if I need to leave early.

I dont have much to backup, my pain/pmr related stuff goes onto thumb drives and family photos on CD's.

My EMR doesn't run on my Mac either. So I use Virtualbox software. It's free and runs Windows inside of OS X. I also need to run Win because the hospital system and many CD's run efilm for viewers.

But it runs Windows faster than my old laptop.

OOPS; above is wrong. I run Remote Desktop Connection for Mac (free MS software) to log into my EMR servers- can also access from iPhone/iPad.

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

Desktop at work is at least 3 years old and getting slower than my dogs.

Tablet is 5 years old, although it did get a new hard drive last year.

Home computer is 2 years old, just replaced the hard drive a couple weeks ago, replaced the video card 6 months ago.

 

[Tenesma]

for work --- i just get the cheapest computers/laptops for the bargain deals at Walmart/Staples... and they last surprisingly long...

Our current hardware is sooo far ahead of our software, that we don't really need the latest/fastest laptops/desktops to run an office effectively... the only time you need something high-powered is if you are doing heavy graphics (ie: gaming or video processing) - to run an EMR, access web, do Office/Word/powerpoint, any machine will do..

what's the point of having hex-core if most software is written for one core at a time - in fact, there is very little software that will even take advantage of parallel dual core processing??

so for the office: 300$ laptop --- online back-up... if it breaks, just buy a new one every 2 years - small expense

the home computer is a different deal: I got a sweet rig that I built that can pretty much run the NASA space program without putting up a sweat...

 

[lobelsteve]

for work --- i just get the cheapest computers/laptops for the bargain deals at Walmart/Staples... and they last surprisingly long...

Our current hardware is sooo far ahead of our software, that we don't really need the latest/fastest laptops/desktops to run an office effectively... the only time you need something high-powered is if you are doing heavy graphics (ie: gaming or video processing) - to run an EMR, access web, do Office/Word/powerpoint, any machine will do..

what's the point of having hex-core if most software is written for one core at a time - in fact, there is very little software that will even take advantage of parallel dual core processing??

so for the office: 300$ laptop --- online back-up... if it breaks, just buy a new one every 2 years - small expense

the home computer is a different deal: I got a sweet rig that I built that can pretty much run the NASA space program without putting up a sweat...

Are you running a media PC or just gaming? I've got a media room PC with an AMD 6 core and SSD drive for the OS. Runs HD streaming over ethernet to the whole house using a quad tuner cable card in the PC. And I've got a gaming rig that is aging, but until Thief 4 comes out, oh who cares. Either the PS3 or Xbox 360 will get the game.

 

[Tenesma]

i run it for gaming - except with kids, there is really not much time for it.

got 2 SSDs on Raid - my boot time is like 8 secs for Windows 7 --- the SSDs are purely for boot/OS. ... that and 24 gig of RAM allow for crazy photo/video manipulation without any lag/stutter.

 

[ghost dog]

Replaced at 2 year intervals prior to my Macbook Pro 17. I just replaced the hard drive at 18 months. Backups are at home, work, online. I use 2GB external drives for backup using Time Machine, Carbonite for online.

When was the last time you backed up your data? Idiots.

Hey! I resemble that remark 😀

I actually had just backed up my stuff about 1 month ago (before my old laptop decided to pack it in). I'm glad I did, although they were able to retrieve my data on the old one and put it on the new computer.

I think I spent about 4 grand on my computers at work for the initial set up ( 2 desk tops with nice monitors and an all in one printer / fax / scanner / copier). I'm a little worried now, as they are about 4 years old.

 

[drf]

Are you running a media PC or just gaming? I've got a media room PC with an AMD 6 core and SSD drive for the OS. Runs HD streaming over ethernet to the whole house using a quad tuner cable card in the PC. And I've got a gaming rig that is aging, but until Thief 4 comes out, oh who cares. Either the PS3 or Xbox 360 will get the game.

I have a single desktop plugged into the ps3. It currently has 13 terabytes of storage for media which the ps3 plays through ps3mediaserver. Takes almost any file I have and transcodes on the fly, which the desktop does no problem, even while running several programs and torrents in the background.

The problem is it is full with 5 internal drives and I have 3 external hooked up as well (a 4, 2, and 1 Tb). I'm wondering what the next step is as I'm running out of space again. Should I build a separate PC with just drives? Any NAT solutions that will take 4-6 hard drives and not cost $500 for just the empty box?

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

For home, I'm using Backblaze for online backup, on the recommendation of our IT dept. $60/yr, backs up everything during idle time. Haven't had to use it to reload anything yet.

I also have at at-home backup hard drive that essentially clones my hard drive. I also have a battery backup/surge protector. It kept my computer on for over 30 minutes when we lost power a few months ago.

At-home backup is good, but twice now, when I have moved, an external hard drive did not survive the trip. Over 1000 MP3s lost.

 

[Tenesma]

back-up storage and security are a big deal when it comes to HIPAA issues... it is best to get an IT consultant who specializes in this to make recommendations on back-up storage, unless your EHR already has remote storage capabilities that are HIPAA certified...

at home... there are a lot of online back-up solutions - the first back-up is always the most time consuming, but thereafter it should be minimal... I also have a local NAS to back-up important data as well (photos, etc)...

drf --- if you have that much stuff on hard-drives, odds are that you are rarely accessing any of those files consistently - just back-up online, and start cleaning up the waste...

 

[Jcm800]

i love me some Macs...

i cant use it with my EMR, but i tell you i have recorded bands that sound like they were recorded in a million studio in one small poorly insulated room on that thing (my band, hahah) and it ran flawless...


i use it for my remote log on to do paperwork at home.

if i could, i would never by another PC...

If you have the money and a system that will work with Mac, then definitely purchase Mac. The PC systems break down frequently, get bugs and viruses, are sometimes loud, have non-integrated software and hardware, and ultimately are a poor value. I have a room at my office that is a computer graveyard full of old PCs that crashed due to the motherboard burning out, disc drive failures with revamping costs more than that of a new computer, and a variety of other issues. I have a PC and a Mac at home ....the PC is a hex core that runs screamingly fast and RAID config. It doesn't even begin to compare to my Mac that I purchased 5 months ago, is whisper quiet, well designed, and is one button on in 2 seconds. I run Office for Mac to permit cross communication between computers, and haven't found anything the PC can do that the Mac will not. The repair history for Macs is like a Maytag washing machine....hardly ever breaks down, and viruses are extremely rare in Mac systems due to the lack of complete integration (Mac OS uses separate program modules unlike Windows that is one large program). If a virus tries to attack a Mac, it is stopped at a single module whereas with Windows, the entire OS can be shut down. Just my 2 bits...

 

[pjuer]

i love me some Macs...

i cant use it with my EMR, but i tell you i have recorded bands that sound like they were recorded in a million studio in one small poorly insulated room on that thing (my band, hahah) and it ran flawless...


i use it for my remote log on to do paperwork at home.

if i could, i would never by another PC...

Our EMR runs on windows, but I am able to run it on my Macbook under bootcamp or virtualization software. I take the Macbook to our satellite offices and use it to run windows without a problem

 

[drf]

For home, I'm using Backblaze for online backup, on the recommendation of our IT dept. $60/yr, backs up everything during idle time. Haven't had to use it to reload anything yet.

I also have at at-home backup hard drive that essentially clones my hard drive. I also have a battery backup/surge protector. It kept my computer on for over 30 minutes when we lost power a few months ago.

At-home backup is good, but twice now, when I have moved, an external hard drive did not survive the trip. Over 1000 MP3s lost.

What kinda space can you back up with an online solution? I'd guess just a C drive, or just pics and documents worth at most 50-100 gb?

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

What kinda space can you back up with an online solution? I'd guess just a C drive, or just pics and documents worth at most 50-100 gb?

My whole c drive is backed up - 320 GB. It takes weeks to upload it all. Upload speed is about 1/5th download. I don't believe there is a limit to how much space you can back up.

 

[drf]

My whole c drive is backed up - 320 GB. It takes weeks to upload it all. Upload speed is about 1/5th download. I don't believe there is a limit to how much space you can back up.

Went to the site. No max total size, but max file size is 4 gb.

 

[Aether2000]

You can use Carbonite to back up anything online....
You can also purchase a small portable 1-2 Terabyte drive for USB backup

 

[Pain Applicant1]

for work --- i just get the cheapest computers/laptops for the bargain deals at Walmart/Staples... and they last surprisingly long...

Our current hardware is sooo far ahead of our software, that we don't really need the latest/fastest laptops/desktops to run an office effectively... the only time you need something high-powered is if you are doing heavy graphics (ie: gaming or video processing) - to run an EMR, access web, do Office/Word/powerpoint, any machine will do..

what's the point of having hex-core if most software is written for one core at a time - in fact, there is very little software that will even take advantage of parallel dual core processing??

so for the office: 300$ laptop --- online back-up... if it breaks, just buy a new one every .2 years - small expense

the home computer is a different deal: I got a sweet rig that I built that can pretty much run the NASA space program without putting up a sweat...

Agree, that's what I do. 300 bucks from wal-mart per computer. it has more than you need for basic office reqs. Not sure why you would need more for the office.