Computer geeks, tell me what you think...

[bassthumpa]

Right now my home network consists of my router, mid-tower in the "office" and a laptop that's pretty much everywhere else.  The laptop is pretty much for my wife, and I usually use the main PC when I need to do things at home.  However, coming in here and sitting at a desk all the time is getting kinda old.

So I'm thinking about ditching the "desktop" altogether.  I've been wanting to get a Macbook or Macbook Pro (used at a resonable price) just to try my hand at one since I've never owned one or used one any longer than a few minutes.  I should make things even easier when I want to start doing some recording for practice purposes, and I can always dual boot with Windows if I need to for whatever reason.

Also, I'd like to get a NAS box (anywhere from 500GB to 1TB, haven't decided yet) to keep the stuff that's currently shared from the main PC such as music, pictures, and my ever-growing anime series collection.  Adds RAID redudnancy and eae of access from any system.

I'd still keep my LCD, USB wireless keyboard and mouse, and 2.1 speaker set at the desk, so I can just plug in and work with a desktop feel whenever I get the urge, or just wanna let some tunes bang thru the system.  I could then give away the current system to someone at church who needs it (with the understanding that my name ain't always gonna be "tech support", lol).

There are still some things that I need to check out, but otherwise it sounds like a good plan to me.

Whaddaya think?  Do I do'ed it or do I don't it?

[B3Wannabe]

How much money do you have to spend?

[themidiroom]

Am I the only person in the world that doesn't care for laptops?  I like the theory of mobility but they are soooo problematic and expensive to repair.  I can't speak for the Macbooks because I've never owned one but I've had my share of IBMs and HPs and they tend to start crashing and burning after the first year or so.

[under13]

Am I the only person in the world that doesn't care for laptops?  I like the theory of mobility but they are soooo problematic and expensive to repair.  I can't speak for the Macbooks because I've never owned one but I've had my share of IBMs and HPs and they tend to start crashing and burning after the first year or so.

I've had my toshiba laptop for 2 1/2 years and it still works except for the cd drive which probaly just needs to

If you still want a desktop feel you can get a laptop stand like this, and get a seperate keyboard and mouse.

http://www.amazon.com/APC-ENS-Ergonomic-Notebook-Stand/dp/B00022KJFM

[bassthumpa]

How much money do you have to spend?

Well, I've searched around and I can get a used Macbook or even Macbook Pro with a Core Duo proc @ 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, and the other must-have reatures (and running Leopard) for about $1000.  It seems like a decent NAS box and 2 500GB drives (I'd run a mirror RAID) might hit me for $400-500.  So I have to decide whether or not I wanna drop that much cash into this right now.

For the time being, I could skip the NAS and just use the old system as a server... perhaps running Windows Home Server or some flavor of Linux.

[B3Wannabe]

Well, I've searched around and I can get a used Macbook or even Macbook Pro with a Core Duo proc @ 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, and the other must-have reatures (and running Leopard) for about $1000.  It seems like a decent NAS box and 2 500GB drives (I'd run a mirror RAID) might hit me for $400-500.  So I have to decide whether or not I wanna drop that much cash into this right now.

For the time being, I could skip the NAS and just use the old system as a server... perhaps running Windows Home Server or some flavor of Linux.

If you got 500, you can build a RAID5 system with 3 500GB drives. I spent $1800 to build my HTPC. It has 6 500GB drives (RAID5). Drives are about $30 cheaper than they were when I built my computer.

If you're set on the laptop, go ahead and get it.

[themidiroom]

It has 6 500GB drives (RAID5). Drives are about $30 cheaper than they were when I built my computer.

What do you use all that space for?

I probably will do some sort of NAS or dedicated file server soon.  Probably the file server so I can also do central tape backups.

[bassthumpa]

If you got 500, you can build a RAID5 system with 3 500GB drives. I spent $1800 to build my HTPC. It has 6 500GB drives (RAID5). Drives are about $30 cheaper than they were when I built my computer.

If you're set on the laptop, go ahead and get it.

Hmmm... I think I might prefer a 1+0 setup so in case a drive goes belly up I won't lose anything *unless I'm misunderstanding RAID 5). 

$500 you say?  I know the drives are relatively cheap, but I'm not sure what equipment I should use to put it together.  I can't get a good feel yet for which standalone housings are any good.  Any recommendations?

[bassthumpa]

What do you use all that space for?

Probably movies.  I've talked to folks who have known others that have built an HTPC, then ripped their entire DVD collection to network storage or to a large RAID array on the HTPC itself.  That way when they want to watch a movie, they don't have to go searching for a DVD... just find it on the menu and play.  That's a setup that I'd LOVE to have eventually.

[sjonathan02]

Probably movies.  I've talked to folks who have known others thath ave built an HTPC, then ripped their entire DVD collection to network storage or to a large RAID array on the HTPC itself.  That way when they want to watch a movie, they don't have to go searching for a DVD... just find it on the minu and play.  That's a setup that I'd LOVE to have eventually.

How big is your computer screen, or do you have some kind of setup where you can play the DVD on your T.V.?

[under13]

How big is your computer screen, or do you have some kind of setup where you can play the DVD on your T.V.?

You can get an s video wire. But dont get a cheap one cuz it wont work well.

I think there is another way that might offer better quality but i forget what its called

[themidiroom]

Probably movies.  I've talked to folks who have known others thath ave built an HTPC, then ripped their entire DVD collection to network storage or to a large RAID array on the HTPC itself.  That way when they want to watch a movie, they don't have to go searching for a DVD... just find it on the minu and play.  That's a setup that I'd LOVE to have eventually.

Okay, I didn't understand what an HTPC was.  I have tons of audio files mostly and it would be nice to have a central location for them.  I'm not really a movie dude, so a plain old dvd player is enough.

[bassthumpa]

How big is your computer screen, or do you have some kind of setup where you can play the DVD on your T.V.?

When you build an HTPC, you'll likely use a video card with S-Video or composite video outputs, so you can connect it to most TVs.

[sjonathan02]

When you build an HTPC, you'll likely use a video card with S-Video or composite video outputs, so you can connect it to most TVs.

So, for those of us NOT computer geeks, you'd hook it up to the T.V., right?

[bassthumpa]

Okay, I didn't understand what an HTPC was.  I have tons of audio files mostly and it would be nice to have a central location for them.  I'm not really a movie dude, so a plain old dvd player is enough.

Right, that's the general idea.  HTPC = Home Theater PC.  Whehter or not the media is stored directly on the box or shared elsewhere on the network, the HTPC provides a quick way to access and play it.  So hook it up to your TV and stereo system and crank any of your movies or tunes.  IIRC, you can also get software that will allow you to use your HTPC as a DVR as well.

[bassthumpa]

So, for those of us NOT computer geeks, you'd hook it up to the T.V., right?

That's what I said, LOL!  Yes, you hook it up directly to the TV.

[sjonathan02]

That's what I said, LOL!  Yes, you hook it up directly to the TV.

Thank. You.

[themidiroom]

That's what I said, LOL!  Yes, you hook it up directly to the TV.

The TV I bought recently has the vga hookup in addition to all the other inputs.

[B3Wannabe]

The TV I bought recently has the vga hookup in addition to all the other inputs.

The VGA input would be best, but most don't go over 1024x768, unless you paid 3000+ for your TV. it's still good for DVD though. I paid 1000 for my 32" LCD about 2 years ago. I have an LCD projector connected to it too, so when we watch a movie we get the big 9' screen....but anyway.

RAID5 Storage = number of drives - 1. If one drive goes bad then you can just put another drive in and rebuild what was on that drive. The RAID card does it by comparing (XOR) the data on the two drives byte by byte.

RAID 1+0 - you need at least 4 drives. Storage = 1/2 number of drives. You can lose up to two drives. It works by combining (raid 0) two mirrored arrays (RAID 1). Hence the name Raid 1+0.

RAID 1+0 or 0+1 (same thing basically) is "safer" than RAID5 because you can lose 2 drives and don't lose data, but I don't think you really need it, unless you're like me. I wanted to do RAID6 when is like RAID 5, except its redundant to 2 drives. You need at least 4 drives for RAID6.

I think the more drives you have the more likely that two will go bad at once. I'm going to add another RAID card and do two RAID6 arrays. Those 1TB drives are getting cheaper. I only have about 200GB of space left now.

I rip all my DVDs to the hard drive in raw VOB format, so they take a lot of space. The only ones I convert are the ones that have bad quality video (old movies). I have some old B/W movies. I put EVERYTHING on my HTPC, even important documents.

I use a free program call GB-PVR. It works like Windows Media Center. It's not as pretty though. If you convert all your DVDs then MediaPortal is better. It looks more like WMC, but it won't play raw VOB files for some reason. I don't know why they didn't program that into it. For TV capture, I have an ATI All-in-Wonder 2006 version PCIx card.

[bassthumpa]

Seeing how I couldn't find consistant reviews for any of the pre built NAS boxes, I did what any true computer junkie would do... look into building one my doggone self!

I just did some pricing on Newegg, and here's what I put together...

ASUS TM-210 BMicroATX Mini Tower - $49.99 - Comes with 300W power supply

ASUS M2A-VM Micro ATX Motherboard - $64.99 - One of VERY few MicroATX boards that has DVI-D.  SATA II RAID, Gigabit Ethernet, and ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 video all on board.  ASUS is always my brand for motherboards.

AMD Athlon 64 LE-1600 2.2GHz Processor - $39.99 - Yeah it's only single core, but it's cheap and fast enough for what I'll be using it for.

A-DATA 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $25.99 - 1GB should be plenty of RAM for this system, and I can always add more later on.

Two Samsung SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $104.99 each - Well rated by customers on newegg and by Storage Review.

Sony NEC Optiarc DVD Burner AD-7190S - $27.99 - Speaks for itself.  One of the better rated burners out there.

All that adds up to $441.60 shipped.  This system would beat the pants off of my current system which is about 6 years old now (yikes!).  This way I could also set up a print server as well, even though we don't print much.  As far as the OS, I'd like to try one of the free options out there such as FreeNAS before I drop money on Windows Home Server or the like.

It would make no sense to buy a prebuilt NAS box for more money and half the options!  Self-built systems win again!