Are the posted questions getting worse?

Question

Post reply

Are the posted questions getting worse?

Viewing 15 posts - 4,366 through 4,380 (of 66,000 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1000539 More actions · Answer 1

I'm finally going to break down and buy a laptop (computer, that is 😛 ). I'd prefer a 17" display but will go with a decent 15" display. Of course, it needs to be able to handle presentations and a couple of different revs of SQL Server Developer Edition including SQL Server 2000 (I believe that leaves out Vista machines). Some decent battery life would be nice, as well. Any personal favorites?

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.
"Change is inevitable... change for the better is not".

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)
Intro to Tally Tables and Functions

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150457 More actions · Answer 2

Paul White

SSC Guru

Points: 150457

May 12, 2009 at 11:07 pm

#993447

Jeff Moden (5/12/2009)

I'm finally going to break down and buy a laptop...

Any budgetary constraints Jeff?

If I win the lotto this weekend, I know which one I would buy.

(NZ) $17,500 is quite a lot though :sigh:

Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi

john.arnott SSChampion Points: 11882 More actions · Answer 3

john.arnott

SSChampion

Points: 11882

May 13, 2009 at 12:11 am

#993467

Jeff Moden (5/12/2009)

john.arnott (5/12/2009)

It's an interesting series of posts from the latest pork chop target.

What's the link for that one, John?

http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic715000-338-1.aspx

StarNamer SSCrazy Eights Points: 8633 More actions · Answer 4

Paul White (5/12/2009)

Jeff Moden (5/12/2009)

I'm finally going to break down and buy a laptop...

Any budgetary constraints Jeff?

If I win the lotto this weekend, I know which one I would buy.

(NZ) $17,500 is quite a lot though :sigh:

OK, which?

I've always gone for Dell laptops and they've always been reliable.

These days it seems you can get laptops that exceed the spec a server would have had a few years ago... 4Gb ram, 250Gb disk, dual (quad?) core cpu ... The main thing I've looked for is good graphics/screen and lots of USB ports.

Derek

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004494 More actions · Answer 5

Jeff Moden (5/12/2009)

I'd prefer a 17" display but will go with a decent 15" display. Of course, it needs to be able to handle presentations and a couple of different revs of SQL Server Developer Edition including SQL Server 2000 (I believe that leaves out Vista machines). Some decent battery life would be nice, as well.

17" and good battery life do not go together. The 17" laptops I've had have a 2 hour battery life at best.

For SQL 2000, you can always pull an earlier version of windows from MSDN and install it into a virtual. It's how I had SQL 2000 on my Vista laptop. I don't know how easy it'll be to get a laptop with XP on it now.

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

Samuel Vella SSCrazy Eights Points: 8055 More actions · Answer 6

I've got a Dell Precision 15" 2 years ago with:

2.2Ghz dual core intel processor

2GB Ram

250Gig hard drive

NVIDIA Quadro FX 370M 256MB - good enough to allow some gaming entertainment when holed up in hotels

The screen was the highest resolution available (1920x1200), means everything is very small but it also means I can see a LOT at the same time

Was about £2,000 which included MS Office 2007, SQL Server 2005 developer edition and full worldwide on-site support and accidental damage cover for 3 years

I've had to claim on that accidental damage and Dell had replacement parts sent to my hotel within 24 hours no questions asked. They offered to send an engineer round too - although all I was doing was replacing the keyboard so I declined their offer

For business use, I'd definitely recommend a Dell, just make sure you spend enough to get their top level support. Home users tend to get dealt with by an off-shore call center who aren't quite as helpful

Looks like Dell still offer the XP downgrade option... and having had a look at the prices the US gets a far better deal than the UK:crazy:

Roy Ernest SSC-Dedicated Points: 38780 More actions · Answer 7

Roy Ernest

SSC-Dedicated

Points: 38780

May 13, 2009 at 5:21 am

#993575

Mine is a Dell XPS M1530

Core2 Duo, 256 MB NVIDIA, 4 GB, 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) display with TrueLife.

Not Bad. Company gave it to me.

-Roy

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150457 More actions · Answer 8

Paul White

SSC Guru

Points: 150457

May 13, 2009 at 5:22 am

#993577

GilaMonster (5/13/2009)

I don't know how easy it'll be to get a laptop with XP on it now.

Windows 7 will ship with "XP mode" ... maybe worth waiting?

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/john_paul_cook/archive/2009/04/26/xp-mode-in-windows-7.aspx

Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150457 More actions · Answer 9

Derek Dongray (5/13/2009)

Paul White (5/12/2009)

(NZ) $17,500 is quite a lot though :sigh:

OK, which?

It's an AlienWare M-17 with QX9300 Extreme Edition Penryn Quad Core, 8GB RAM, Dual 512MB ATI HD3870s, RAID 0 over two 256GB solid-state disks (512GB!), 17" 1920 x 1200, Vista Ultimate x64, 2x Blu-ray Burners...and so on.

Maybe Santa will bring me one?

Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi

LutzM SSC Guru Points: 107049 More actions · Answer 10

GilaMonster (5/13/2009)

I don't know how easy it'll be to get a laptop with XP on it now.

As far as I know a DELL can be shipped with downgrade rights to XP (at least if you purchase in "company mode")

It worked for my DELL Precision 6400 I got 6 months ago and I just checked DELL web side: they still do offer the downgrade option.

If you need to buy it for private purpose it's still worth asking to get the downgrade...

Lutz
A pessimist is an optimist with experience.

How to get fast answers to your question[/url]
How to post performance related questions[/url]
Links for Tally Table [/url] , Cross Tabs [/url] and Dynamic Cross Tabs [/url], Delimited Split Function[/url]

Jack Corbett SSC Guru Points: 184388 More actions · Answer 11

Paul White (5/13/2009)

Derek Dongray (5/13/2009)

Paul White (5/12/2009)

(NZ) $17,500 is quite a lot though :sigh:

OK, which?

It's an AlienWare M-17 with QX9300 Extreme Edition Penryn Quad Core, 8GB RAM, Dual 512MB ATI HD3870s, RAID 0 over two 256GB solid-state disks (512GB!), 17" 1920 x 1200, Vista Ultimate x64, 2x Blu-ray Burners...and so on.

Maybe Santa will bring me one?

I hope he brings me one too! Can we get a SQLServerCentral bulk discount?

Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
Check out these links on how to get faster and more accurate answers:
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Need an Answer? Actually, No ... You Need a Question

Paul White SSC Guru Points: 150457 More actions · Answer 12

Paul White

SSC Guru

Points: 150457

May 13, 2009 at 6:36 am

#993628

Jack Corbett (5/13/2009)

I hope he brings me one too!

There is no way I have been *that* good all year :angry:

Jack Corbett (5/13/2009)

Can we get a SQLServerCentral bulk discount?

Uncle Steve can do anything!!! Right?

A 90% discount would suit me...

Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi

Luke L SSC-Dedicated Points: 35545 More actions · Answer 13

I've always had decent luck with Dell laptops. they just seem to consistently beat out IBM And HP on price for the same hardware. My only recomendation is not to buy RAM from them. My last laptop I bought from them they wanted an extra $1000 to upgrade from 1 GB to 4 GB of RAM. I bought ram that was guaranteed to work from crucial.com for much like a 1/3 less. Granted this was 3 years ago when laptop RAM was a bit more expensive than today, but still look at this as an option.

-Luke.

To help us help you read this[/url]For better help with performance problems please read this[/url]

Florian Reischl SSC-Dedicated Points: 37299 More actions · Answer 14

Paul White (5/13/2009)

Jack Corbett (5/13/2009)

I hope he brings me one too!

There is no way I have been *that* good all year :angry:

Jack Corbett (5/13/2009)

Can we get a SQLServerCentral bulk discount?

Uncle Steve can do anything!!! Right?

A 90% discount would suit me...