Custom PC Builds and Foldable Phone Trends

You're tuned in to altered geek Hello and welcome

to altered geek I'm Steve Phillips and you're

listening to well the podcast that keeps evolving

and We're kind of back so yeah There's been quite

a bit going on as most of you know from the last

episode that was recorded I was planning on doing

some kind of videos or Podcasts while I was on

the road, which we kind of did that as like a

family video type thing But aside from that Those

those are out on YouTube not on my channel, but

they're they're out there So anybody's friends

of mine on social media can find it. So yeah,

we are back, and there's been quite a bit going

on. Completely unpacked at this point. I have

my desk set up. As a matter of fact, for those

that follow on Twitter would already know this,

I've set my computer and set up in a closet in

a smaller bedroom. in our duplex rental and surprisingly

enough it works great on a fold -up table which

wasn't the original plan the original plan was

to go out and buy a desk so yeah that's that's

about the only change but for for this particular

location where we are renting at the moment.

The fold -up desk actually works surprisingly

well where my chair sits because I boosted the

table up higher than my previous desk when I

lived at the house. So my monitors are actually

like directly in my face and my microphone is

actually right in front of my mouth. So that's

a little bit different. So yeah. As I stated,

a lot's been going on. So there's been very little

activity for me on not only social media, but

the podcast front. And I'm hoping to change that

in the coming weeks. So expect more, yes. Ah,

yes. So anyways, I hope everybody had a safe

and fun 4th of July holiday. I know I did with

my kids and Some of the the healthier and more

fun things that have been going on in our lives

is I've been riding my bike to work and Not only

does it show how out of shape I am but it also

is Fun, and I don't have to buy a second car

anytime soon So there there is that benefit as

well But really it only takes like from where

I live to where I work. It's seven minutes driving.

It's about Give or take about 18 minutes to ride

my bike So it's it's really cool to be able to

do that. I throw on a backpack with my lunch

and my change of clothes because I don't wear

my work clothes when I'm riding my bike because

I don't want to get it dirty on the spokes so

Anyhow, enough of me rambling, one of the fun

activities that happened this week while I was

working was the internet went out. And, you know,

it's really weird when you sit down and then

you have the internet completely go kaput on

you. It was something with whatever the internet

connection was and so I was thankfully able to

find other things to do While I was there and

There were a number of other technical difficulties

as well that that happened pertaining to the

network so for instance I could get in my my

Gmail and Some other areas simply by Simply by

Getting on my phone and accessing it, but it

couldn't access it on my computer which It's

a very nice computer. I will say that it's a

MacBook Pro Air or MacBook Air Pro something

Anyways, it doesn't have a CD Drive. It's got

four USB C ports on it and a nice like I have

a 27 inch monitor here at home I think that that's

like a 32 inch monitor that I have and then another

one that's about 24 inch wide somewhere in that

so it's it's a nice nice setup the only downside

to a Mac in today's standards is not only do

you not get a CD drive or DVD drive, but you

also don't get the native HDMI or Ethernet ports

or or some of those things because it's so thin

So that's about the only leg up I can think of

getting a PC as you get all those ports and you

get all those those aspects as opposed to a Mac

But it's actually the first nice computer I've

gotten By working somewhere and It's refreshing

to have something that actually works When I

worked at one place the the computer was a Windows

7 machine, but it was at that point about ten

years out of date and it was totally unusable

and the the previous place I worked the computer

was Probably about four years old, but it was

one of those Asus Laptops and It had Windows

10 on it, but it had a limited hard drive. I

think it was like 50 or 60 gig SSD built in and

so it really couldn't run anything It chugged

along when you had to do simple tasks of just

Checking email or using social media Totally

not a good machine so This one's super I can

run on both screens. I can have a bunch of windows

up I can have a bunch tabs open I can have notes

open I can have my email I can have slack so

it's it's super nice And speaking of computers

I am currently Funny enough pricing out a new

machine. Whether I get it anytime soon, well,

that's debatable. One of my good friends online,

Alex, had kind of put together a couple of different

options or things to look at, and they were really

cool. Some of them, I think one of them was like

liquid cool or something, which I'm not really

wanting to go that direction. I really don't.

care to have a radiator on my computer, my dad

does that, but that's not something I'm very

enthusiastic about having to put time and effort

into, especially when I just want it to work.

And there's really nothing wrong with my machine

per se, other than when software gets on it,

it starts to get bogged down now because it's

a third generation Pentium... Core i3 dual core

processor and I know that's Greek to some people

I got 12 gigs of RAM in it DDR3 Nvidia GeForce

card that's like 2 gigabyte Multiple hard drives

SSD and otherwise In an older funny enough. I

was when I was unpacking. I found the book my

motherboard, which it's a gigabyte motherboard

and I always really like the Gigabyte hard motherboards

for a variety of reasons because they have the

ports that I'm specifically looking for and well

it's just there's a lot of options going on with

it and so I've kind of Been stuck in my ways

like this. I've had two gigabyte motherboards

my next one. I'm Planning this is the goal I'm

planning anyhow to Upgrade to another One of

those cards another another motherboard that's

gigabyte my current one has Which is funny. I

was looking how old this thing was and I shoved

the receipt inside the booklet It's a little

over six years old. So I'm due And It's got multiple

panels. I've got five SATA Plugs on it. I've

got multiple USB redundancies. I've got a couple

of USB 3 .0 plugs in the back as well as USB

2 .0, which is really nice. It comes with two

USB 2 .0 ports, it comes with two USB 3 .0 ports,

an HDMI port built -in, DVI and VGA, and then

of course your ethernet, and two more. USB 2

.0 ports and for some reason I can't fathom why

we're still having PS2 keyboard mouse ports it

can work for either or but why would you use

that in today's modern era when you have USB

I would never switch back to one of those for

my keyboard I would never switch back for my

mouse my mouse is a matter of fact a Logitech

gaming mouse it's a Logitech G602 and I really

enjoy that mouse because not only does it fit

my hand it's wireless in Bluetooth it's very

comfortable there's a lot of programmable buttons

on it that I'm able to use for a variety of things

it's just kind of a no -brainer Why would you

use that but they still they're still putting

them on new motherboards and so I guess that's

It's something to do with legacy. I really don't

know but I don't particularly care for it So

kind of looking at my Specked out build that

I'm kind of planning on doing For one I need

to get a new power supply because I still have

like an old 550 modular power supply So I'm gonna

have to get a 750 or something because I know

that I'm bogging down With the amount of USB

ports that I have plugged in at this point And

then I'm gonna get the core i5 9th generation

coffee Lake 6 core Processor does not come with

graphics, which is fine because honestly, I don't

need it and the price is cheaper if you go without

the graphics and so I'm gonna just recycle and

reuse my my Nvidia GeForce card, which is a little

older, but it should still do the job And then

of course, I'm gonna get a gigabyte Z390 Pro

Wi -Fi Motherboard so it'll have Like HDMI hookups

it'll have The capability to go up to 64 gigs

of RAM and it'll have two Wireless ports built

in which is going to be pretty slick For Wi -Fi,

so I'll get antennas to to do Wi -Fi because

currently right now because of where it's positioned

in this office I've had to go back from doing

ethernet, which I was doing at my my house when

I was there to use in my D link USB wireless

transmitter and it works but it's also the wireless

end standard and I have a wireless AC router

and this is AC built in. So one big proponent

I am for on motherboards and this is why I chose

Gigabyte over the other ones is because they

have multiple USB ports. And that's one of the

important factors for me. Now granted, it's probably

overkill for some people, but I have enough peripherals

that I like to have plugged in. So it's gonna

have four USB 2 .0 plugs. It's gonna have three

USB 3 .0 plugs. So that's seven. And then two

USB 3 .1 plugs. So we're at 9 and then a USB

3 .1 type C plug so we're at 10 USB ports as

long you know as well as like the Ethernet the

HDMI and the The the line -in line -out microphone,

you know subwoofer like the full -blown package

for speakers So yeah, it's gonna be super cool

uh having all that functionality plus it'll have

headers for the front of the case which unfortunately

the plugs that are that are going to the this

particular case because again it's an older case

and i didn't spend much on it was probably 40

bucks um it's got like usb 2 .0 uh plugs on it

and they're real low so i'm also kind of considering

getting a new one uh that supports usb 3 .0 and

I can plug things into the top. And that's kind

of one of the big factors that I'm kind of looking

at. Like the top of this particular case that

I'm looking at has multiple... multiple multiple

multiple USB ports on it which which is nice

and the push button to turn it on and off and

reset is on the top as well and you can slide

a panel over it to cover it so that'll be good

for children's purposes but it has like two USB

3 .0 and two USB 2 .0 on the top as well as a

line in for microphone and line out for headphones

and then i'm going to get 32 gigs of ram from

g -skill i'm going to get a m .2 nmv or nvm or

whatever that standard is 512 ssd that plugs

directly into the motherboard which will give

me insane speeds As far as that is concerned

and yeah like a two terabytes Seagate hard drive

to plug in that's it's it's a moving plate one,

but Then I'll at least have a larger backup.

I have a 500 gig gig hard drive a Cat knocked

over my water a 500 gig hard drive and two 120

gig SSDs in my machine right now and so it would

be a significant boost. So anyways, that would

be my basically my build So I Don't know how

many of you guys like like to build your own

machines. I personally enjoy it because then

I get to build it how I want it my only key question

on that is Do I have to reinstall everything?

could I just pop my hard drive over and that's

kind of what I'm hoping but I don't know that

so that's that's something that I'll have to

kind of weigh when when the time comes but yeah

I mean I'm super super stoked to to head in that

direction now I could go cheaper on the processor

and get an i3 which are four core now instead

of getting a 6 core i5 but I figure if I'm gonna

like spend it I might as well get the one that's

a little bit more powerful and yeah so it's that's

kind of the boat I'm in with with getting a computer

but yeah so I'm sure he just alienated and bored

multiple people to death on that front but yeah

so as far as technology is concerned in addition

to the various problems with the internet going

down Samsung just seems to be popping up like

insanity on the web while I was doing my gathering

for this They Had three articles come out simultaneously

from like CNET and ZD net basically the same

type of thing Samsung just recently got sued

or taken to court for allegedly misleading customers

on Galaxy S's water resistance In Australia that

you know claimed Samsung's phones aren't as waterproof

as advertised which To be honest, you know, they

said it only their certification only applies

to freshwater To be honest, the the funny thing

is is these phones are water resistant not waterproof

So if you're taking the chance of bringing your

phone into the water It's not really a very wise

decision, especially when you're basically spending

a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars on these

phones now It's just it's not worth gambling

with Yeah, I mean Samsung's really not budging

on it because they're saying that it's you know,

just exposure of normal You know Clean water

such as like You know some of the Ocean they're

saying not the ocean because it's got like the

salt and everything else but like you could get

it splashed, you can get it rained on, you can

get some of those factors, get it wet or drop

it in your sink or something, but it will more

than likely rebound from that. But if you're

taking it in the ocean or something and had it

in your pocket like a water camera, it's not

going to be usable. I just don't understand why

people would take things like that out into the

water. I have a water camera specifically for

water and I leave my phone in the car because

I just I won't take that chance. And then speaking

of other massive flaws on Samsung's behalf, they

fixed or claim that they're fixing the Samsung

Galaxy Fold, which if you're not up to spec on

that, it's their flip phone, but it's a smartphone,

so it's a bendable screen. So. They claim in

a report that it's been remedied and that they're

gonna have a worldwide launch. The funny thing

is these phones are gonna cost $2 ,000. If I'm

gonna spend $2 ,000, I'm gonna get, I don't know,

like two really good PCs or a laptop and a desktop.

I'm not spending $2 ,000 on a cell phone. It

just doesn't make any sense. Samsung's stretchy

protective film to wrap around the entire screen

and flow into the outer bezels. They've redeveloped

it, so they say. They're saying that they've

re -engineered the hinge so that it's flush with

the display and serves to open, stretch the...

you know the protective layer when the phone

opens but they want to be the first to launch

a foldable phone you know out there at least

for the flagship there was there was another

foreign company that came out with a flip phone

that was a smartphone not that long ago and it

wasn't perfect but it wasn't great either But

they still beat Samsung too, and it's almost

like when iHeartRadios are saying like, oh, we're

first and they aren't on anything. But anyways,

they're trying to beat Huwei... Huwei? I have

no idea how to pronounce it. But anyways, they've

delayed their Mate X foldable launch. So, probably

for the same reasons. I guess if you're wanting,

like I did for some time want the Motorola Razr.

flip phone But the the the downside is you have

to worry about if you're gonna break your screen,

and I just that's not With phones being in the

state that they are today It's not a risk that

you really need plus. These are these are gonna

be very much gimmick phones I Don't see this

this trend lasting very long So yeah, it's it's

a strange duck for sure So anyway, I think I'm

gonna call this episode good and come back next

week So let me know if there's something you

guys want to discuss talk about or have me cover

on the podcast next week whether it's something

of tech nature or radio or just really anything

that's that People would like insights of I should

have Something I'm not quite sure at this point

what a little frazzled and getting back in the

game, but we'll definitely have an episode next

week, so Anyhow until next time get altered get

geeky with the altered geeks