JOURNAL: Red Wolf (Paul Quinnell)

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  • Nothing beats depression... 2002-11-11 17:55:01 like a post such as this one.

    I'm getting a new iBook!

    I'll leave out the details but let's just say, once again, that I love my job. I will be going from an iBook Dual USB (May 2001) to one of the brand new iBooks announced by Apple on November 6. This machine will be my property but it will also double as my work machine which is fine because it means the other sales person and myself will be checking customers out wirelessly =)

    Old iBook

    G3/500 MHz Processor
    256K Level 2 Cache
    66 MHz System Bus
    128 MB Memory (I added a 512 MB for 640 MB)
    10 GB Hard Drive (I upgraded to a 40 GB drive and put the 10 GB in a portable FireWire case)
    Combo Drive
    - CD-R/CD-RW 4x, DVD 6x, CD 24x
    ATI RAGE Mobility 128
    - 8 MB Video Memory
    AirPort Card

    New iBook

    G3/800 MHz Processor
    512K Level 2 Cache
    100 MHz System Bus
    128 MB Memory (I will be adding my 512 MB chip from my old iBook for 640 MB again)
    30 GB Hard Drive (I will switch this for my old 40 GB drive, put the old 10 GB drive back in the old iBook, and put this iBook's 30 GB drive in my portable FireWire case to triple it's size)
    Combo Drive
    - CD-R/CD-RW 8x, DVD 16x, CD 24x
    ATI Radeon Mobility 7500
    - 32 MB Video Memory (Quake III/Jedi Knight II here I come!)
    AirPort Card (pulled from old iBook)

    So, let's see. Between the faster processor, the added L2 cache, and a faster system bus I have doubled my speed. I have maintained the max status of an iBook with 640 MB/40 GB (a 60 GB drive does exist for the iBooks but it costs more than twice what the 40 GB does). I have a faster Combo Drive and the really nice improvement is going from a video card that can just barely handle Unreal Tournament set to the lowest video settings to a video card that can handle the latest Mac OS X games including the newest first person shooters. Oh, and I'll have a one year warranty (not that that matters as much since I do work with a lot of Mac techs and I know a bit of iBook tech work myself) and my portable FireWire drive is about to become a lot more useful at work with a new 30 GB drive in it.

    For AMV purposes I will have a good speed increase in DVD ripping (especially the decoding), video rendering, and MPEG-1 compression. Virtual PC (which I use for MPEG-2 compression) should also get a big speed increase (it'll only take 1.5 days instead of 3 days to make an MPEG-2 for con submission =P). I should also be able to play back AMVs through QuickTime and iMovie without eating up 90% of my processor. I'll also have a longer lasting battery so more more MP3s, I mean, work done on the road. The new optical drive should also make CD coping for the AMV DC a bit quicker too (I do use a 48x FireWire CD-RW at home but the internal drive is the read drive).

    Yeah, I feel a little bit better. I'll get the new machine sometime between Wednesday and early next week. 
  • Big Sigh 2002-11-09 21:43:32 Opinion and download problem updates on main page: good.

    Loss of video stats on main page: bad.

    It doesn't help that I seem to be getting depressed and lonely more and more these days. Oh well, there is always mindless video game violence. Good thing I picked up the zapper for the NES today while at my sister's. 
  • Sleep good... 2002-11-07 22:09:53 I'm actually going to try to get to bed before midnight tonight (not that posting here is helping). I was up late last night coping my DDR Project VCD to VHS for a coworker.

    I'll be source hunting again later this weekend for the NES Project. I need to go to my sister's Saturday morning because she bought a new iMac from me (iMac G4/700 w/Combo Drive for those who care) and I'm going to get her set up and give get a crash course on OS X. Probably do some more DVD ripping Saturday evening/Sunday but not much else more than that.

    I'm waiting to hear back on a situation that may get me a new iBook. Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow, maybe as late as Monday or Tuesday. If things go through I still may not see it for another two weeks but since it'll double my speed and quadruple my graphic capabilities I'll probably hold off anything more than DVD ripping until I get the new system. We'll see what happens.

    Now that I've stayed up an extra 10 minutes than I should have I'll go to bed. 
  • I Hate AMC 2002-11-06 17:21:48 Right when I'm ready for bed a great classic movie comes on at midnight on AMC and I'm up until 3:00 AM =P This has happened twice this week and has happened many a time before. Maybe I should turn of the TV? Nah...

    Got a great opinion on my Jupiter video the other day. I made it (and my reply) public because I am so very proud (and grateful) of the opinion =)

    Apple has announced their new laptops and they rock. Check this out:

    PowerBook G4/1GHz
    512MB of RAM/60GB Hard Drive
    AirPort Card
    SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
    Price: $3000 (that is a $200 price drop for the last high end PowerBook which only had a Combo Drive)

    For $3200 (that's with tax) you can get this laptop with max RAM and hard drive. Screw the P4 lapwannabetop!

    Check out all the details at http://www.apple.com or shoot me an email (red_wolf@mac.com) or AIM (redwolfamv) if you want all the good tech specs. I'm giving the presentation at work over the new PowerBooks and iBooks (check out the iBooks, their prices drop by $200 and the stats went up). 
  • Plenty of MPEG-2s 2002-11-06 00:29:34 Added several new CDs to the AMV DC. They are mostly MPEG-2 versions of videos already listed on the DC by Kai Stromlet so if you like his work go for the high quality stuff. 
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