Laser versus optical—look, the main perk of a laser is that it works on basically any surface you throw at it. Lasers also come with hardware acceleration, which means your mouse movements can feel faster, though honestly, that’s a double-edged sword and might not even be a "pro." As far as precision goes, a solid optical mouse isn't trailing behind a laser by any significant margin; a decent gaming mouse like a Logitech G300 is perfectly fine. And please, just ignore those inflated DPI numbers—it's nothing but a marketing gimmick used to mask a crappy sensor tracking quality.
Wired versus wireless? That’s really just down to personal preference, though I'll admit wireless mice can feel a bit more cumbersome because of the battery weight.
My advice is to actually dig into some reviews for the specific mice you're eyeing, and if possible, go grab one to see how it actually feels in your hand—everyone holds a mouse differently. It helps to compare the dimensions and the overall shape against whatever you're using right now, assuming you actually like your current setup.
Jack Alvarez said:It’s happening again—just a quick black screen for a second or two before the whole "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" message pops up. So far, it seems to be strictly an issue within Mozilla Firefox. My graphics drivers are totally up to date, so I have to wonder... is my GPU actually dying on me?
Try heading into the Mozilla Firefox settings and toggling off "Use hardware acceleration when available"—then just see if that stops the glitching.
Paul White80 said:I agree, that junk is basically ready for the scrap heap. It's nothing but trouble.
Regarding that link, is that actually a good deal, or can I find something even better for the same cash? I'm not exactly a hardware expert, so I could really use some pointers on what to look for.
Thanks... 🙂
From what I can tell, the price is alright—I ran a search limited to the $300 to $500 range, and honestly, that $300 option is technically better than your current rig, but it’s still pretty much useless. It’s worth shelling out $67 more if you want something that actually works. Try setting your search filter to something like $500-$200, and look for something with at least a Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM—that should be plenty for just browsing the web and watching videos.
James Turner said:If anyone could just help me make sense of what's happening, I'd really appreciate it.
So, here's the deal—every time I boot up my laptop, I'm hit with this red screen offering a few different paths: 1. Windows without loader, GRUB, and a couple of other options. This all started after I accidentally slammed the lid shut while a torrent was running and some program was mid-install. The real kicker is that I can't get into Safe Mode or anything else—I'm stuck in the BIOS. I've still got my senior thesis and several other important documents sitting on there. Is there any way out of this? Honestly, I wouldn't mind wiping the whole drive if it meant I could actually use the machine again normally.
Just follow the steps outlined in the second post: http://windowsforum.com/threads/how-...g-linux.34709/
I have to ask—which "tech genius" installed Windows on your machine without actually removing the Linux setup that was already on there? 🤦
Yeah, look, the Celeron 1500 MHz is pretty much the ceiling for that socket—not like you're going to see any massive leaps in performance once you swap it in. And honestly? Spending a few hundred bucks just to get an upgrade installed feels like a losing game when you consider what else that cash could do. You’d be much better off grabbing a used rig on Craigslist or eBay that’s actually a generation or two ahead of what you've got now, something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/example-link
What device are we actually talking about here, and where did you pick it up? Give us some actual, concrete details so we don't have to play a guessing game over here.
Just go ahead and open up Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options, then hit EDIT plan Settings to get into those advanced power settings. You’ll want to hunt down the wireless adapter settings—just make sure the power saving mode isn't throttling you; set that thing to maximum performance.
brighttinker23 said:I can't find it. I found Device Manager—you know, that menu where everything branches out—but I'm not even positive I'm looking at the right spot, and anyway, there's just no Power tab to be seen here.
Just expand the Network adapters section, right-click on your wireless adapter, and hit properties.
So, you just head over to the Device Manager, pull up the properties for your Wi-Fi card, and then—this is the key part—hit the Power tab and uncheck that little box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device."
ambersailor93 said:Well, nothing comes of this... just lock the thread because this whole thing hasn't been even remotely helpful... thanks anyway.
Look, try hooking up your standalone TV using that DP-to-HDMI adapter—if you're still getting a black screen, then the adapter is definitely the culprit. Most Radeon R9 series cards don't necessarily require an active adapter (though it really depends on which specific model or manufacturer you've got under the hood), but those older card models? They usually refuse to play nice with passive adapters. So, what kind of adapter are we actually dealing with here?
Look, if you’re trying to run an extended display setup, you really need to make sure both monitors are set to the same resolution—otherwise, things get messy fast. By the way, does the TV actually show a picture when you plug it in by itself?
ambersailor93 said:Sure, but I don't know how much you actually know about this stuff... from what I understand, it should work fine using two DVI ports and an HDMI without any issues... right?? I mean, why would it need to be on DP instead of just doing it this way?
Because that's just how AMD's engineers decided to roll with it. So, what did you plug the TV into? And give me a little more detail on what's actually going wrong—saying "it doesn't work" isn't exactly helpful information.
First off—you can't just go into the BIOS and toggle video memory off. The amount of dedicated VRAM is tied directly to how much RAM you have installed, and there isn't a setting to just change it on a whim. Just do what Joshua Wright70 suggested and run that dxdiag tool. Second: nobody is going to be able to remote into your BIOS using TeamViewer, so don't worry about that.
Honestly, you're working with a pretty weak processor here, and that integrated graphics setup isn't much to write home about—so don't expect to be running anything heavy on it. That "insufficient video memory" error usually pops up because the game doesn't actually support integrated graphics at all; it's looking for a dedicated GPU, and since it can't find one, it assumes you've got zero video memory.
PDF doesn't actually support GIFs—it's just not built that way—so you’re going to have to convert it into a Flash video or some other compatible format if you want any movement at all.
If you already uninstalled Internet Explorer, just head over to Add/Remove Programs -> Add/remove Windows components and check the box for IE to get it back on there. Which version of Windows are we talking about here—is it Windows XP?
If you're trying to run three or more monitors at once, you really have to stick with DisplayPort—just grab an adapter that converts DisplayPort to HDMI and plug that straight into your TV.