00:05:12 Chris Taylor: Welcome all to this month's OPCUG General Meeting. Guests, as always are welcome. If you want to join, see https://opcug.ca/join-or-renew/ . All members in good standing as of March 31, 2023 will automatically have their membership expiry date extended by one year at no charge New members who join by March 31, 2023 will get two years for the price of one ($20)! 00:12:58 Alan German: Regular meeting tonight so no Q&A session. Our next Q&A session will commence at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, January 18th. Questions on any computer-related issues are welcome, as are mini-presentations of your favourite computer program or on an interesting topic that you would like to share with the group. Send your questions or the details of what you would like to share to: SuggestionBox@opcug.ca 00:18:56 Denis Therrien: I trust the presentation deck will be available to all as usual. 00:19:23 Chris Taylor: @Denis - yes, along with the audio and chat 00:19:28 Mark Cayer: Evening all. I'm here as usual with no webcam or Mic 00:22:12 Mark Cayer: I seem to recall my son using a you build it sort of website where he stated what he wanted his computer to be used for and it made some recommendations on components that would "play nice" together. 00:24:52 Coreen: what about battery life 00:25:39 Chris Taylor: @Coreen - varies from a couple of hours to maybe 8 or more. But in any case, what the specs say - cut it by at least a third. 00:26:40 Coreen: what are cooling fans like in laptop and desktop 00:27:31 Chris Taylor: @Coreen - generally, I trust they have been sized for the components included. 00:29:57 Tristan: @Mark this was probably the site he used. It is pretty handy. https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/ 00:31:16 Mark Cayer: @Tristan yep that sounds familiar 00:41:39 Tristan: Currently with Intel vs AMD the performance is pretty darn close in the same class. However, AMD tends to have significantly lower power use for that performance. Lots of good competition now in the CPU space. 00:45:27 Betty W-K: can I run a Windows 10 Pro on 16 GB? 00:45:51 Betty W-K: Great! 00:47:03 Denis Therrien: .. but not all RAM are the same... 00:47:08 Tristan: Currently going above 16 GB is good if doing things like virtualization. Otherwise may not be worth it for performance. 00:48:10 Albert: (1) large built-in SSD (2) small built-in SSD + large external SSD. Which option is better for laptop? 00:48:40 Jeff: I just bought 16GB for a laptop for $58 to upgrade an i5 laptop. Came with 4GB stock and maximum capacity 20GB. Spare slot wasn't under the keyboard so not too difficult a job to upgrade 00:51:19 Tristan: Best of both worlds: SSD on daily PC Large HDD on NAS 00:51:26 Jeff: I don't think there's a difference in speed between a small SSD and a large SSD is there? Provided of course they're the same brand, model to begin with. Not the case with regular spin drives. Is that a pretty safe assumption? 00:52:06 Chris Taylor: @Jeff, yes, I think speed of SSDs is irrespective of capacity 00:52:49 Elizabeth: Timely topic. I'm going to buy a new (refurbished) laptop this week. 00:53:16 Natalie: I prefer a large external drive that uses a power source, if you have access to a plug. 00:54:24 Chris Taylor: @Natalie - sometimes you can get higher performing external drives that require a power supply. But not having to deal with a power supply is great when things must be portable (i.e. off-site backups) 00:54:55 Chris Taylor: Intel processor families https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/processors/processor-numbers.html 00:55:10 Edward Morawski: The smallest USB drive I could find recently has been 16GB 00:55:17 Chris Taylor: Intel Pentium and Celeron https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/processors/processor-numbers.html 00:55:31 Harvey Hope: I use a Synology NAS to facilitate improved security and file management that can be shared on a laptop, desktop and smartphone. 00:55:34 Chris Taylor: AMD Processors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_processors 00:55:49 Elizabeth: One of my brothers just bought a NEW Mac Book Air. It has only one port! Bleah. 00:55:52 Chris Taylor: Compare CPUs https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare 00:56:10 Bill: if you buy a large capacity USB drive, be sure to run h2testw to assure correct capacity. lots of fakes out there. 00:56:11 Tristan: SSDs can have different longevity ratings, so keep an eye on that and the warranty period as an indicator. 00:56:39 Elizabeth: @Bill - thanks for the tip o fakes. 01:00:48 Natalie: I noticed that some of the promoted benefits of some monitors are only functional with specific video cards (e.g. "Freesync" needs Radeon) 01:01:56 Mark Cayer: to upgrade could you disable an on board video card and add a bigger better one on a separate board? 01:02:34 Alan German: @Mark - You can select which card to use 01:02:43 Tristan: Discrete GPU is only really needed if playing high level games, rendering in Blender or doing AI. iGPUs are pretty good now, especially on Intel or the G/Athlon series AMD. 01:03:15 Bob: A dedicated video card is usually necessary if you want to run dual – triple – quad monitors. 01:03:44 Alan German: @Bob - or multiple cards! 01:03:53 Mark Cayer: @ Alanand so you would get back to memory the on board card wanted to use?? 01:04:35 Tristan: Dual monitor is fine on iGPU, do it every day at work. You can also use discrete for one monitor and iGPU for a second one, I do this at home. 01:09:13 Bob Herres: Agreed! Don't underestimate the benefits of Multiple Monitors... you will never go back to One... /I love 3! 01:12:26 Denis Therrien: I thought you could only daisy-chain monitors via display ports, am I wrong? (I would be very OK being wrong;>) 01:15:00 Natalie: Privacy shutter: can use a small sticky note! 01:15:17 Bill: Do some web cams havt variable depth of field? 01:19:35 Tristan: If want the glamorous look can also mount your webcam in a ring light. 01:20:50 Tristan: Hard to find a desktop case with a 5.25 opening anymore. 01:21:39 Chris Taylor: @Tristan - When I was researching for this presentation, I found most desktops still have an optical drive 01:21:48 Elizabeth: My laptop has a CD/DVD drive. Does that mean it is a DVD burner? 01:22:01 Denis Therrien: … but not for 5.25 floppy drives anymore... ;> 01:22:20 Tristan: @Chris in the prebuilt that could be. In custom builds not as much as nobody really wants them. 01:22:41 Raymond: @Elizabeth Most of the DVD drives around would be a burner, but there's a chance it might not be. Usually Windows would say if it's a DVD-RW drive if it is. 01:22:46 Chris Taylor: @elizabeth - yes, I have not seen an optical drive (CD or DVD) that ISN'T a burner as well as a reader in MANY, MANY years 01:23:43 Chris Taylor: @Raymond - however DVD-RW is actually a spec for a RE-WRITABLE optical disc 01:23:46 Natalie: Where the ports are on a desktop is important: I had to use a USB port because there weren't enough ports in the front (also needed to use a convertor for the C port). 01:24:31 bea: do the external DVD drives tend to become obsolete or not compatible with new computers or windows versions 01:24:57 Chris Taylor: @Natalie - yes, I always look to have at LEAST one type-C up front and at LEAST one in back. 01:25:19 Chris Taylor: @Bea - no the DVD standard has not changed 01:26:45 Tristan: Can get 2.5Gb on some of the new motherboards, though harder to find switches for it but there are some. 01:28:39 Natalie: I use a WiFi extender plugged into a PC's USB in a room far from my router. 01:28:43 Chris Taylor: Wi-Fi standards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac-2013 01:30:02 Tristan: If need to use wired in more difficult locations, Power Line or Coax networking can also be done pretty easily. 01:31:11 Chris Taylor: @Tristan - but watch powerline networking. Most houses have the power split in two and I think there can be problems getting networking to cross sides. 01:31:25 Jeff: How does the toner in laser stand up to cold weather? Currently, we drag the ink jet printer to and from the cottage in the spring and fall because the ink will freeze and the cartridges explode. Can laser toner withstand freezing temperatures so we wouldn't have to drag a printer to and fro? 01:31:54 Carol Pearson: do the laser printers have scanners? 01:32:48 Denis Therrien: Yes laser printers have scanners - my two color printers scan very well. 01:33:07 Chris Taylor: @Jeff - I would expect it to be okay - but I suppose if you had a high-humidity environment, potentially, I could see an issue. I would consider taking the cartridge out of the printer while still in warm and put it in a sealed ziplock bag and leaving it there until it is warmed again in the other location 01:33:12 Denis Therrien: Hybrid laptops - Go Lenovo Yoga Go! 01:33:46 Chris Taylor: @Carol - you can get scanners built into laser printers. Usually referred to as 3-in-one - printer, scanner, copier 01:34:41 Jeff: @Chris Thanks Chris on the toner freezing. Will keep0 that in mind and share info with Nanz. 01:35:06 Chris Taylor: @Jeff - oh, you want to leave the printer in a cold environment. Personally, I would take the cartridge home before closing up the cottage. 01:35:07 Natalie: Logitech has a nice wireless small keyboard 01:37:19 Edward Morawski: That gaming PC example is extreme! 01:38:32 Edward Morawski: My build was a fraction of this PC, with good performance 01:39:39 Chris Taylor: @Edward - yes, you can get a pretty good gaming computer between $1,000 and $1500. But you won't find a good gaming computer under $600 or $700 01:40:17 Edward Morawski: Raspberry Pi's are fun to experiment with. YouTube has lots of videos. 01:41:32 Edward Morawski: @Chris - quite right about cost. Mind cost under $2000 01:41:36 Tristan: Mini PCs like Intel NUCs are pretty powerful in a small package. Would do for many types of use cases and a lot more powerful than Raspberry Pi. 01:41:40 Jeff: Raspberry Pi with Linux and OwnCloud works really well as your own cloud storage system. You too can own your own Dropbox server. 01:42:45 Edward Morawski: Raspberry Pi's use the same CPU as you'll find in your phone. 01:42:50 Tristan: At our local Memory Express and Canada Computers you can also pick your parts and if nervous to build yourself, can pay a small fee to have them do it. 01:43:35 Tristan: Though I find the service an Memory Express to be far better than Canada Computers. 01:46:10 Tristan: If you want offsite backups, this option is very cost effective. https://www.backblaze.com/backup-pricing.html 01:47:48 Bob Herres: Wow! Thank you Alan & Chris! This is exceeds All Expectations! And, as our Amazing OPUCG Webmaster Brigitte, makes everything easily searchable... I predict this presentation, will be well used by many members, as a "Very Powerful Reference" for a Very Long Time!! 01:49:13 Betty W-K: Thank you so much, Alan & Chris. you have clarified a lot for me this evening in this indispensable talk. 01:49:38 Denis Therrien: Thank you . Muchos kudos 01:50:17 Edward Morawski: Yes! Look and feel are important. 01:50:18 faber ichelle’s iPad: Thanks so much. It rifles a lot for me. 01:50:22 Harvey Hope: Thanks Alan and Chris … great presentation. 01:50:25 Bill: Thank you Chris and Alan for an excellent presentation. Lots of good information here tonight. Thanks to eveyone else for questions and tips. 01:50:32 bea: That was great information - thanks very much. 01:50:38 Natalie: Thanks! 01:50:43 Jan: Thanks for the info. Lots to think about and consider now! 01:50:47 Carol Pearson: thanks very much 01:50:51 Edward Morawski: Really good presentation!! Thank you very much! 01:51:05 Mark Cayer: Thanks guys. 01:51:18 Tristan: If anyone wanted to delve into rack mount, this place has some very nice quiet options. https://www.sliger.com/ 01:51:21 Allison: Thank you very much. This is great info. 01:51:25 Paul Varughese: Thank you very much. Excellent. 01:51:49 Martin: Great presentation, Thank you! 01:52:04 Serge-Érik: Thanks! 01:52:14 Elizabeth: Great info for me particularly.