Archive for Hardware category
Acer Aspire S7 review – two months in
Given my new focus on Windows 8 apps and the loss of my MacBook Pro I was in the market for a Windows 8 laptop.
My requirements were that it had a touchscreen display with at least 1080p resolution, fast (i5 or better with an SSD) and very slim. You’d be surprised at how such simple requirements leave you with such a small selection right now.
I settled on the Acer Aspire S7 although I had a couple of reservations as it supports a maximum of 4GB of RAM and a glossy display. Here’s my thoughts so far after two months of almost-daily use:
Buying experience
I picked up the machine from my local Microsoft Store in the mall. The process was quick and painless and I was in and out in under 10 minutes even though the store was rather busy. I did have to decline a free Windows 8 tutorial but otherwise it was plain sailing.
Unboxing
The product was well packed and nicely presented very much like an Apple product. The similarities ended there however as unlike Apple the box included a bunch of items Apple would charge extra for. These were:
- Leather-like slip-cover
- Small Acer-branded Bluetooth mouse
- USB to Ethernet adapter
- Mini-HDMI to VGA adapter
The adapters are very useful, the mouse of no use to me (I only use Logitech G5/G500′s) and the slip-cover I thought would be useful but is a bit unwieldy and it started to break after light use.
Anyone complaining that the machine doesn’t have Ethernet or VGA physically built into the device (I’m looking at you ZDNet) would do well to remember that both those connectors are thicker than this machine and there are plenty of thick klunky machines to choose from if having it built-in is important to you.
There is a good video on YouTube that shows somebody else actually going through the unboxing process.
Display
The tiny 13.3″ display sports almost the same resolution as my 24″ Dell at 1600 x 1080 and at this size and resolution the screen is great. Small text is not unreadable at the regular DPI and larger text feels smooth and refined.
The touch aspect of this screen is incredible and I’m able to reliably move 8 objects concurrently on the game we wrote called Sticker Tales. The display actually supports ten concurrent touch points but at 13.3″ trying to find space for ten fingers to move is tricky unless you have tiny fingers.
That’s not to say everything about the display is good. As usual the gloss finish is incredibly annoying and within a week it has three indentations presumably from being pressed against small specs when closed against the keyboard although I’ve not seen the actual cause. Thankfully you can only spot them when the screen is mostly dark and the display is very bright and colorful.
Unlike some of the current touch-capable machines the screen on this one doesn’t completely flip over. It can however go completely flat… that might erm, be useful… to someone?
Keyboard
The keyboard is a mixed bunch. The basic layout and feel of the keyboard is good and it follows an almost-flush (2mm raised) chiclet style keyboard with back-lighting. Okay, that’s the good news.
The bad news is that there are no function keys so it’s Fn+numbers for those. The back-light comes on every time you bring the machine out of sleep and you have to tap Fn+U several times to get rid of it. There are a bunch of Fn special keys across Q through O the worst of which is Fn+T which is easily hit and turns off the trackpad with no notification. You’ll be incredibly confused the first couple of times you do this when you meant to press Ctrl+T to open a new tab.
Another annoyance for developers and power users is that the home/page up and end/page down are flush with the left and right arrows. Get used to typos. Symbols and the caps/enter keys are also a bit unusual too. Overall the keyboard feels more style over usability.
Trackpad
The trackpad is probably good enough for most people. Frankly my mind is so hard-wired from the hard-button on my pre-unibody Macbook Pro that I’ve been struggling with buttonless trackpads ever since. Thankfully the included software lets you disable some of the more annoying gestures like zoom if you’re having issues retraining your digits.
Weight and size
I have to admit the weight is awesome and despite my reservations after 4 years on a 17″ laptop the size is great. I really wouldn’t want to go any smaller though and when I get my own personal machine (this Aspire is a work one) later this year it will likely be a 15″ primarily because of the keyboard space limitations on a 13.3″ and the fact I don’t want…
Graphics
Like all sub-15″ ultrabooks you’re stuck with the Intel HD 4000 graphics that are actually embedded inside the Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5/i7 CPU. Yes, even Apple’s 13″ MacBook’s suffer this limitation too.
If you want better graphics performance in an Ultrabook you’re probably going to have to wait until June when Intel’s new replacement for Ivy Bridge comes out and the graphics get ramped again.
Conclusion
This is a great machine for overall regular and light usage but I can’t recommend it to developers.
The lack of function keys mixed with the 4GB RAM limit are going to be painful for users of virtual machines or IDEs. If Acer had sense they would up the RAM on the i7 version to 8GB to further differentiate the two.
[)amien
8 things you probably didn’t know about C#
Here’s a few unusual things about C# that few C# developers seem to know about.
1. Indexers can use params
We all know the regular indexer pattern x = something["a"] and to implement it you write:
public string this[string key] {
get { return internalDictionary[key]; }
}But did you know that you can use params to allow x = something["a", "b", "c", "d"] ?
Simply write your indexer like this:
public IEnumerable<string> this[params string[] keys] {
get { return keys.Select(key => internalDictionary[key]).AsEnumerable(); }
}The cool thing is you can have both indexers in the same class side-by-side. If somebody passes an array or multiple args they get an IEnumerable back but call with a single arg and they get a single value.
2. Strings defined multiple times in your code are folded into one instance
Many developers believe that:
if (x == "" || x == "y")will create a couple of strings every time. It won’t.
C#, like many languages, has string interning and every string your app compiles with gets put into an in-memory list that is referenced at runtime.
You can use String.Intern to see if it’s currently in this list but bear in mind that doing String.Intern(“what”) == “what” will always return true as you just defined another string in your source. String.IsInterned(“wh” + “at”) == “what” will also return true thanks to compiler optimizations. String.IsInterned(new string(new char[] { ‘w’,'h’,'a’,'t’ }) == new string(new char[] { ‘w’,'h’,'a’,'t’ }) will only return true if you have “what” elsewhere in your program or something else at runtime has added it to the intern pool.
If you have classes that build up or retrieve regularly used strings at runtime consider using String.Intern to add them to the pool. Bear in mind once in they’re there until your app quits so use String.Intern carefully. The syntax is simply String.Intern(someClass.ToString())
Another caveat is that doing (object)”Hi” == (object)”Hi” will return true in your app thanks to interning. Try it in your debug intermediate window and it will be false as the debugger will not be interning your strings.
3. Exposing types as a less capable type doesn’t prevent use as their real type
A great example of this is when internal lists are exposed as IEnumerable properties, e.g.
private readonly List<string> internalStrings = new List<string>();
public IEnumerable<string> AllStrings { get { return internalStrings; }You’d likely think nobody can modify internal strings. Alas, it’s all too easy:
((List<string>)x.AllStrings).Add("Hello");Even AsEnumerable won’t help as that’s a LINQ method that does nothing :( You can use AsReadOnly which creates a wrapper over the list that throws when you try and set anything however and provides a good pattern for doing similar things with your own classes should you need to expose a subset of internal structures if unavoidable.
4. Variables in methods can be scoped with just braces
In Pascal you had to declare all the variables your function would use at the start of the function. Thankfully today the declarations can live next to their assignment and use which prevents acidentally using the variable before you intended to.
What it doesn’t do is stop you using it after you intended. Given that for/if/while/using etc. all allow a nested scope it should come as only mild surprise that you can declare variables within braces without a keyword to achieve the same result:
private void MultipleScopes() {
{ var a = 1; Console.WriteLine(a); }
{ var b = 2; Console.WriteLine(a); }
}It’s almost useful as now the second copy-and-pasted code block doesn’t compile but a much better solution is to split your method into smaller ones using the extract method refactoring.
5. Enums can have extension methods
Extension methods provide a way to write methods for existing classes in a way other people on your team might actually discover and use. Given that enums are classes like any other it shouldn’t be too surprising that you can extend them, like:
enum Duration { Day, Week, Month };
static class DurationExtensions {
public static DateTime From(this Duration duration, DateTime dateTime) {
switch duration {
case Day: return dateTime.AddDays(1);
case Week: return dateTime.AddDays(7);
case Month: return dateTime.AddMonths(1);
default: throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("duration")
}
}
}I think enums are evil but at least this lets you centralize some of the switch/if handling and abstract them away a bit until you can do something better. Remember to check the values are in range too.
6. Order of static variable declaration in your source code matters
Some people insist that variables are ordered alphabetically and there are tools around that can reorder for you… however there is one scenario where re-ording can break your app.
static class Program {
private static int a = 5;
private static int b = a;
static void Main(string[] args) {
Console.WriteLine(b);
}
}This will print the value 5. Reorder the a and b declarations and it will output 0.
7. Private instance variables of a class can be accessed by other instances
You might think the following code wouldn’t work:
class KeepSecret {
private int someSecret;
public bool Equals(KeepSecret other) {
return other.someSecret == someSecret;
}
}It’s easy to think of private as meaning only this instance of a class can access them but the reality is it means only this class can access it… including other instances of this class. It’s actually quite useful for some comparison methods.
8. The C# Language specification is already on your computer
Providing you have Visual Studio installed you can find it in your Visual Studio folder in your Program Files folder (x86 if on a 64-bit machine) within the VC#\Specifications folder. VS 2010 comes with the C# 5.0 document in Word format.
It’s full of many more interesting facts such as:
- i = 1 is atomic (thread-safe) for an int but not long
- You can & and | nullable booleans with SQL compatibility
- [Conditional("DEBUG")] is more useful than #if DEBUG
And to those of you that say “I knew all/most of these!” I say “Where are you when I’m recruiting!” Seriously, it’s hard enough trying to find C# devs with a solid understanding of the well-know parts of the language.
[)amien
Using your Xbox Kinect as a webcam for Skype on Windows
Thanks should go to ScottOrange on the MSDN forums however it’s along thread that has lots of pieces to pick out and try.
Still getting odd noise, corruption and other issues in Skype. Wouldn’t recommend using a Kinect as a webcam on Windows right now.
What worked for me (eventually):
- Download the Kinect SDK from Microsoft
- Install the Visual Studio 2010 Runtime if you don’t already have it
- Go to the KinectCPP site and download KINECTSQM.DLL and MSRKINECTNUI.DLL
- Create a folder for your Kinect camera drivers to live and copy those two files there
- Go to Wildbill’s Github repo and download the three files there into the same folder
- Open a Command Prompt as Administrator and CD into the folder
- Type install and press return
You should get a success message. If you don’t then you probably missed steps 2 or 3 – if all else fails open KinectCam.ax in Dependency Walker and see which DLL it claims it can’t find. (the IESHIM one missing is fine)
Restart Skype and see if it shows up in the list of cameras. If it doesn’t.
- Quit Skype entirely
- Go to %appdata%\Skype\shared_dynco in Windows Explorer
- Delete dc.db
- Restart Skype
[)amien
Building a great Windows 8 developer & gaming desktop for $900-$1500
With Windows 8 right around the corner it’s time to build a new desktop PC that will scream for both development and gaming.
Having set a personal budget of around $1500 I started the arduous process that every DIY PC builder has gone through… researching parts and playing with specifications until it feels just right.
These are the parts I finally landed on and a second choice if my budget was lower that would deliver almost as much for a lot less.
Please note that Amazon prices go up and down all the time so keep an eye on your basket! :)
My list doesn’t include a keyboard, mouse or monitor as I already have ones I love. You probably do too.
Processor
Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core $340
I went with Intel’s fastest i7 non-Extreme desktop chip that allows overclocking in case I felt like going that way (I haven’t yet).
If running virtual machines are an important part of your life – and for many developers that’s true – then check out the Intel Core i7-3770S which has Intel Virtualization for Directed IO (vt-D) but gives up the overclocking and runs at a more modest 3.1GHz.
Cheaper: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad Core comes in at $100 less and provides very similar performance for games as the main difference is the reduced cache and lack of hyper-threading. If you’re not running heavily-multithreaded applications you’re unlikely to notice much difference in performance.
Mainboard
MSI Z77A-GD65 $176
This “military-grade” Intel Z77 chipset based motherboard from MSI works great with the 3770K chip and provides 4 USB 3.0 sockets and 4 SATA 6Gbps ports instead of the usual 2 givinf up PCI slots entirely for 3 PCIe instead. It can support three graphics cards in either SLI or CrossFire in x8/x4/x4 configurations and has Intel networking.
Cooling has been carefully thought out and includes head-pipes and a low-profile heat-sink. With a two-digit debug display, dual BIOS, UEFI support and one-button overclocking it’s hard to mess this up.
BIOS flash update was painless.I didn’t have much luck with MSI’s Live Update as it doesn’t actually install things so just head to the driver download page and pick the drivers you’ll be using. In my case I skipped a number of the Intel ones such as the graphics, etc. You might be tempted to head to Intel’s site instead but I found newer versions were actually available from MSI instead.
Cheaper: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H $99 has good reviews and includes the dual UEFI BIOS too but looses the x8/x4/x4 mode for 3 graphics cards, Atheros networking and is not as overclocking-friendly.
RAM
Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 $93
Corsair are a well known brand with a solid reputation. This RAM is fast at 10-10-10-27 timings, low-profile (don’t get in the way of large CPU coolers) and is provided as two 8GB modules not four 4GB which leaves you room to upgrade nicely in the future.
That is the RAM I meant to buy – alas I picked up the older XMS3 which is slower (11-11-11-30 at 1600MHz) and not recommended.
Cheaper: Corsair 8GB for $45 offering the same performance at half the capacity should be good enough for most games and development projects.
Storage
Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5″ SSD $198
I’ve been maintaining my MacBook SSD article over the last few years and originally picked the Crucial C300 series that was supersceded by the M4 and now I think the sweet spot in price, performance and reliability is the Samsung 830.
Cheaper: At $114 the 128GB model of the Samsung 830 is hard to pass up.
If you need a lot more storage pair it with a 2.5TB Western Digital Caviar Green for $129 more to hold files that aren’t performance critical like video, music, photos etc.
Video card
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Superclocked $499
Nvidia and ATI still battle it our going back and forth as leaders in a market that seems rather stale. I couldn’t resist aiming high-end card (the GTX 690 is just insane in both perf and price) and so settled on the GTX 680.
With most manufacturers basing their cards on the reference designs the only real choice is the bundle and RAM and clock speed tweaks. The EVGA comes in at a good price and the superclocked version nudges up the perf for no extra cost.
Cheaper: The cheapest option would be to use the Intel HD 4000 graphics built into the CPU but gaming performance will suffer. I’d go for the EVGA GTX 660Ti 2GB at $299 instead.
Case
Antec One Hundred ATX Mid Tower $47
I had a hard time choosing a case. My last PC was in the deliciously simple black Lian-Li PC60 all-aluminum and today’s market felt limited once you discount the spiky, alien or nightclub themed offerings.
The Antec One Hundred has a lot of positive reviews and has a nice black mesh look and painted interior for a very low price. The power supply lives in the bottom to provide better cooling and a lower center of balance. Cooling is via two two-speed fans at the rear either side of the CPU – a 120mm on the back and a 140mm at the top with air coming through the front of the case which appears as 9 mesh sections although only the top 3 are actually removable 5.25″ bays and the fourth segment holding a removable 3.5″ one.
Cheaper: For under $47 you could um… leave all the pieces in a pile on your desk separated with pieces of cardboard.
Power supply
Corsair AX750W ATX12V / EPS12V $156
I’ve had a fair amount of bad experience with poor power supplies. Some have blown out, rattled, tripped or turned out to be responsible for instabilities.
This time I decided to pay off the power gremlins with a very high quality, quiet, efficient and powerful-but-not-crazy power supply and I also wanted modular.
The cables came in a smart little sturdy bag and so assembly was a case of finding the right cable then routing it down to the power supply and finding the right offset in one of the two long banks of almost identical looking connectors. This was a little tricky but the connectors won’t let you put them in the wrong place.
Cheaper: Corsair’s CX600W $61 is half the price but gives up the modularity, some power and efficiency and is quite likely produces more noise.
Build notes & noise
My machine is now fully assembled and running Windows 8 RTM and Visual Studio 2012 and Steam connected to my existing favorite Dell 2408WFP display, IBM Model M Keyboard and Logitech G500 mouse.
Self builds are never completely smooth and I was under the impression the 3770K did not come with a fan. It does but at that point I already purchased and unwrapped a CoolerMaster HyperN 520 seduced by the promise of a quiet 19dBA.
Noise is an important issue for me and running six fans (120mm back case, 140mm top case, 2x80mm cpu, power supply, graphics) was never going to be an acceptable option.Thankfully the power-supply fan is rarely even on and the 680 fan is very quiet.
The first step was to remove the CPU fans as they were the loudest and surprisingly the CPU did not get too hot – quite likely due to the sheer size of the heat-sink of the 520. Experimenting with the case fans revealed that the just the 120mm fan on low provided the least noise and still kept things reasonably quiet and plenty cool enough.
I wasn’t done yet while I could still hear it so tried a couple of replacement fans before settling on a Cooler Master Excalibur 120mm. This fan can be speed-controlled by the motherboard as it supports the 4-pin PWM system and given it’s close proximity to the CPU head-sink I plugged it into the CPU fan socket and configured the BIOS to control it to keep the CPU under 70 degrees C.
It runs whisper-quiet at 800 RPM when under normal workloads.
I couldn’t help but try the magic one-press overclock button on the motherboard and watch the machine hit 4.2GHz which ran just fine for hours. If anything is holding that back it’s the fact I ordered slower Corsair memory by mistake :(
Still to come
Now that cooling is done (see above) my main areas of focus are:
- Try getting Intel 4000HD graphics switching via Virtu working on Windows 8 so that power usage drops under light loads
- Keeping an eye on disk space to see whether I should get a large mechanical drive or a second 256GB SSD… or perhaps a third in RAID-5.
In case you want to see the whole thing on Amazon I created a Listmania list Great Windows 8 gaming & developer PC self-build.
Performance
As promised here are some performance figures for my machine (with slower Corsair than above but 32GB of it) using Nvidia’s 306.23 WHQL drivers on Windows 8 64-bit RTM.
| Component | Details | Subscore | Base score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz | 8.2 |
8.1
Determined by lowest subscore
|
| Memory (RAM) | 32.0 GB | 8.2 | |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 | 8.1 | |
| Gaming graphics | 4095 MB Total available graphics memory | 8.1 | |
| Primary hard disk | 72GB Free (238GB Total) | 8.1 |
[)amien
PS I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since I last built a PC!