Monday, September 15th, 2008
This article was written by Jay G on behalf of Biddew Online Auction , a popular online auction website.
Online auctions provide a wide variety of products at prices that can’t be beat. Look around at a few online auctions and see for yourself how low the prices are.
Find What You’re Looking For In An Online Auction
If you’re limited on cash but really need a vehicle, what are your options? Scouring the used car lots seems to turn up a lot of overpriced junk. You might find a pretty good deal, but when you take it home and it turns out to be a lemon, you’re stuck with four years worth of car payments for a useless heap. So what is a person to do in this stagnant economy? One of the best ways to find great deals on used cars and more is by perusing online auctions.
Online auctions provide a wide variety of products at prices that can’t be beat. Look around at a few online auctions and see for yourself how low the prices are. Buying a relatively new used car is affordable for anyone, as long as they know how to find the right auction.
Online auctions aren’t limited to automobiles, though. Perusing a few auctions shows you how many products are available. Are you a home recording enthusiast? You can beef up your home studio with microphones, digital audio workstations and top-of-the-line tube preamps for a fraction of the cost. Perhaps you have other hobbies that you want to invest in, but don’t have the money to buy everything new. Whether you’re a model train collector or a dog lover, online auctions have something that you’ll be interested in for a relatively inexpensive price.
Personally, I’m searching for a nice laptop computer so that I can work wherever I go, but I don’t want to pay for a new one. Since discovering the beauty of online auctions, I’ve been able to buy a high-quality computer that works great. It’s only two steps down from the current leader in processing speed, and it has a hard drive large enough to hold all of my business files, my entire music library and even a film or two. It’s great, and I bought it for a quarter of its original price.
Online auctions work similar to live auctions. A minimum price has to be met, and a deadline is set for the auction to end. People bid on the item, outbid each other and the lucky winner gets the prize. If you fail to win the auction, don’t despair. There are often multiple items on the same auction ticket. If not, keep checking the website to see when another auction is posted with the same item.
In general, shipping and handling are pre-arranged and listed with the item. Sometimes, in the case of larger auctions, the item is pick-up only. For example, if you buy a piano in an auction, the shipping and handling would be very expensive, so you typically have to pick it up. Make sure that you understand the terms before you bid. Also, make sure that you know how payment is accepted, whether it’s through an online service, COD or check.
From watch collectors to shoe collectors, online auctions contain something for everyone. If you’re on a tight budget or just like to shop around, online auctions can provide what you desire and save you money at the same time. Keep looking and happy bidding.
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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
This is a very aggravating post to write. It’s a wonder I am sitting here and not in a mental hospital right now.
Let me offer some background. For the past few weeks, Laura’s computer has been showing the signs of hard drive failure. The computer is about 6 years old and has a 30Gb hard drive. It’s time to upgrade and get a new one. Last night, we ran out to Circuit City to pick one out. Upon looking at Circuit City’s selection, I was shocked to see about 95% of the computers now come with Windows Vista 64-bit. I asked the very new salesperson about that and he told me that’s the way they were coming now. Since I put my utmost trust in Microsoft, I figured that this is the way things were going to be and everything was going to work out fine. We picked out a HP Pavilion a6500f Desktop PC (KQ495AA#ABA).
When we got home, I started it up and did the things you do to a new computer. Then, I shut it down and put the old Linksys wireless card in and tried to run it. It didn’t work. I decided that I needed to find the Linksys 64-bit version of the adapter driver. Nope. No where to be found. Apparently Linksys hasn’t yet realized that this version of Windows is being sold to the masses. Oh well, I did some research and found that trying to find a wireless adapter for a 64-bit operating system is not all that easy. I finally narrowed my search down to a D-Link DWA-552 Xteme N Desktop Adapter. I chose this because it was available at Circuit City and the clock was ticking. We had work to do. We were now backed up a half-day. Also, the only reason I knew about this wireless adapter card was because I read about it on some forum discussing the issue. D-Link doesn’t officially support the 64-bit driver, yet they offer it. I had to download it from their website.
I ran up to Circuit City this morning to get the card, which wasn’t a problem. I came back and installed the card and had to call D-Link tech support for assitance installing the new driver. As I was on the phone with tech support, the computer froze. I restarted it (by physically pushing the on/off button) and continued to set up the driver. Everything set up fine without further event. I was able to connect to the network. Then, the computer froze again. I told tech support about this and she said there have been a few problems with this and I might need to update the BIOS. First of all, I don’t even know what a BIOS is, nor do I think I need to. It has nothing to do with my line of work. I tinkered with the computer for a few more hours and then called HP tech support. By the way, the computer kept freezing up (or crashing, whatever the difference is) about 25 more times during that few hours. It seemed to do it more when I was shutting down the computer and sometimes it got stuck on the welcome screen. The lady on the phone was nice and suggested that we burn some backup CDs and reinstall the operating system. I told her thanks but no thanks. I really don’t think I will be reinstalling the operating system of a 12 hour old computer. Seriously, this is not my problem.
I brought the computer back to Circuit City this afternoon and traded it for a less expensive (and slower) HP Pavilion A6400F Desktop PC. I just finished configuring it and (knock on wood) everything is good. It has the 32-bit version of Windows Vista. What a pain in the $%^&.
What is the moral of the story? Stay the hell away from Window Vista 64-bit, unless you want to sit there and try to get it to run. Can you imagine if I tried to install two things?
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Thursday, July 17th, 2008
One of the things on my task list today was to order the new computer that I have been considering for the past few months. Laura’s computer started acting up yesterday and that gave me the push to get it done. We can’t be without these kinds of things.
So, here is what I got:
1 Dell Precision T7400 Mini-Tower, Quad Core Xeon Proc E5405, 2.00GHz, 2X 6MB L2 Cache,1333MHz
1 2nd Processor, Quad Core Xeon Proc E5405, 2.00GHz, 2X 6MB L2Cache,1333MHz, Dell Precision T7400
1 4GB, DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory 667MHz, 8X512MB,Dell PrecisionT5400 (I couldn’t go to the 800Mhz with these processors. Bumping up to faster processors added thousands to the cost.)
1 Entry Level, USB, No Hot Keys keyboards, Dell PrecisionWorkstations
1 nVidia,NVS 290, 256MB dual DVIGraphics Card, Dell Precision T3400
3 146GB 3Gbps SAS, 15K RPM Hard Drive, 3.5 Inch, Dell Precision T3400
1 C23 All SAS Hard Drives, RAID 5 for 3 Hard Drives, Dell Precision T7400
1 NO FLOPPY DRIVE, Dell Precision 490/690, Factory Install
1 Vista Ultimate SP1 with Media 32 Bit English Dell Precision (I decided to stick with the 32 bit operating system. I don’t need any surprises at the moment.)
1 Dell USB 2-Button Entry Mouse with Scroll for Dell Precision
1 16XDVD-ROM, Data Only, Dell Precision T3400
1 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.0,with Media,Dell Precision
1 Internal Chassis Speaker, DellPrecision T7400
1 Dell Wireless 1505 PCIe WLAN Card, Dell Precision Workstation
1 Resource DVD contains Diagnostics and Drivers for Dell Precision T7400
1 PERC6/i SAS/SATA Hardware RAID Card – For Connecting Internal Hard Drives, Dell Precision
7400
1 Norton Internet Security 2008 English, 2 Year,Dell OptiPlex Precision and Latitude
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Onsite Service Initial Year
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus Onsite Service Extended Year(s)
1 ProSupport for End Users: 7×24 Technical Support and assistance for end-users, Initial
1 ProSupport for End Users: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response Initial Year
1 ProSupport for End Users: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response 2 Year Extended
1 ProSupport for End Users: 7×24 Technical Support and assistance for end-users, 2 Year Extended
Basically, the reason for this new computer is get some beef in the processor department as well as the additional and faster hard drives. I added RAM to my current computer and while I got a minimal performance increase, I don’t think RAM was the issue. I also thought that getting the on-site support was important.
I should get the system next week and will continue to use my current computer for other, non-critical tasks.
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Thursday, May 15th, 2008
This one is for those people out there who know about computers. When people are searching for a new computer, they usually ask me what to get. I say something like, “I design websites, what the heck do I know about computers?” That usually gets some mean look and the person walks away. I haven’t been known for my bright attitude at times.
Well, I usually do ok, but I am getting a little tired of buying computers. I want my next one to last. I bought the one I am working on about 6 months ago. I am going to keep this one for something, but I need a monster. Here is the issue…I work with tons of files. One of my sites has 59,000 image files that I need to copy/paste, delete, move, whatever. That’s just one example. I also have very large files that I need to open/close, etc… My problem isn’t the need for processor power to run huge applications or for gaming, I just need something for big, and lots of files. Uploads and downloads are my middle names. I have been working on getting the fastest servers available and now my bottleneck has become my PC.
Here is what I am thinking:
- Dell Precision T7400 Workstation
- Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5405 (2.00GHz,2X6M L2,1333) (Do I need a 2nd processor?)
- Genuine Windows Vista® Business, with Media (I’m willing to move on from XP. Plus, Vista actually puts the computer in sleep mode, like I never got XP to do. Big power savings.)
- 3 Year ProSupport for End Users and 3 Year NBD On-site Service (This is important because I want someone in this house if the computer breaks.)
- 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI Capable ( I know absolutely nothing about video cards.)
- 4GB, DDR2 SDRAM FBD Memory, 667MHz, ECC (4 DIMMS) (I want more.)
- C23 All SAS drives, RAID 5, 3 drive total configuration ( I also know nothing about RAID. I basically want the speed of SAS drives, the speed of two drives working together and the redundancy of a third drive. I don’t know the difference between RAID 0 and RAID 5.)
- Three 146GB SAS Hard Drives, 1 inch (15,000 rpm) (How much faster are SAS drives than SATA drives?)
- PERC6/i SAS/SATA Hardware RAID Card – For Connecting Internal Hard Drives
- Dell 1505 Wireless-N PCIe Card
So there you have it. I already have a monitor, so that’s cool. I think I can save a few bucks by switching out the SAS drives for SATA drives. It depends on what I find out about them. I want more RAM, but didn’t see the option for more. I am wondering about another processor and the video card.
Well, any advice? Am I missing anything?
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Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Well, I recieved my Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Desktop Drive today. I am still wondering about that little drive they installed with my computer. What the heck is that thing for?
Anyway, this one is 250GB, which should be good for a while. I mean, for around $79, I feel pretty satisfied.
Right after I got it, I pulled it out of the box. I plugged it in and immediately installed the software, which was already installed on the drive itself. I went through the motions and it was all done, just like they said in the product reviews. I set up my system to run full system backups once per week and did my first one today manually. It was very easy. One of the concerns with this external hard drive is that there is no on/off button. There isn’t. I read one review where the person said there is. They are on crack.
Everything seems fine with the drive. There is the faint yellow strip light going down the drive and not much sound at all. It took an hour or two to do the full backup, but that’s a bunch of stuff to go the a USB cord. If I run into any problems, I will let you know.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
I run Windows Vista. I have a C: drive that can hold 290GB. I also have a D: drive that can hold 7.68GB. This D: drive is also known as the “Recovery” drive. Windows Vista has a fancy feature where you can set up a backup schedule to back up all your files and stuff from the C: drive to the D: drive. I think this is really nice.
There is only one problem. After I set up the backup schedule with all the recommended settings, I ran the backup. About half way through, I received a message informing my that the D: drive was full. Hmmm…that’s really interesting. Am I doing something wrong?
The reason this puzzles me is that this computer is only a few months old. Why in the world would Circuit City sell a computer with a large hard drive and a tiny backup drive? At this very moment, I remain puzzled. There has got to be something I am missing.
Oh well. I went on CircuitCity.com today and browsed through the external hard drives. I came across the “Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Desktop Drive” and thought it was a great deal. I could plug this external drive into my computer and have it run as the backup drive, once a week or so. I can even put it on the scheduler. That’s pretty cool. With the 250GB capacity, things should be good.
Here are my concerns…I am still wondering if I was doing something wrong with the current backup drive. Also, I am hoping I don’t run into any snags with this new drive, such as, “Oh, this drive won’t hold those types of files” or something like that. The drive is only $79 and change, so it’s worth the gamble, I guess. I plan on using the external drive for a full system backup and restore (if need be).
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