Nolan

Everyone remember though, CRTs did it first

I'm a bit late to this thread, but oh well. Quick bit about contrast ratios for future knowledge. A contrast ratio is basically just the difference from the whitest white to the blackest black. There are two kinds of CR also, Static Contrast Ratio and Dynamic Contrast Ratio. SCR is what a TV can display at any one time, while DCR is more of a simulated experience. A DCR of 1K:1 is close to 2500:1. Newer Samsungs and Plasma TVs are now displaying 1M:1 DCR, and for the last few years Plasmas had much better CRs than even an LCDs DCR. None of that really matters though since you've already made a choice. Besides, think of it this way the majority of PC Monitors only have a CR of around 600-1000:1 if your lucky some go higher.

Not much. I wouldn't use a monitor as a TV even if it is better, due to some monitors lacking HDCP(I think that's that acronym I want) and a 50" TV from 6 feet away the differences are negligible. A HDTV used as a monitor though is just bleh there are no advantages that I can see you might get a lower price, and an inferior picture.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151430 Cheapest 24" I saw, but I wouldn't trust it at all. I don't know about the brand is all. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135253 The next cheapest is this Dell, and even if their PCs and Laptops are iffy, Dell does make good Monitors. Of course for about 60 more there is a 28" ViewSonic. My personal experience with a Viewsonic isn't particularly noteworthy, I've never had any trouble with it the picture was fine never noticed backlight bleed or dead pixels. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141998 And now here's me acting like a douche. It's with PC monitors, size doesn't matter as much as with a HDTV. the difference between a 22" and a 24" monitor is 1680x1050 and 1920x1200(assuming 19:10 instead of 16:9) respectively. If you want to go 2560x1600 you need to go to a 30" monitor, the 6" between 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 really aren't as big of a difference as the change in resolution. If you look hard enough(and their becoming more common) you can find 19"@1680x1050. With a bit of scrounging there are 22" and 23" monitors to be had at 1920x1080 22" Viewsonic 166 23" Dell 191 I'd personally save some money and go for the 22" Viewsonic at a very respectable resolution. EDIT: Raining Again, monitor(ANY monitor even CRTs(technically better than most LCDs..))>>>>>(Any)TV.

I guess that one isn't too bad, but the Intel Graphics are worse than a 5 year old card. I'm not sure about the CPU, but I think it's a Pentium D.....which you'd do good to stay away from. They do claim that the motherboard will accept a Core 2 Duo. If you were to pick that up, I'd suggest a new CPU to go with the GPU also.

<_< >_> <_< *Hasn't seen Citizen Kane, or been spoiled*

According to 1up.com only 9 games in the magazines 22 year history. In this same issue though they gave Fallout 3 a 38/40 which is the highest for a western RPG.

Nintendo has already released a large portion of their AAA catalog, do you really expect a Zelda every 2 years? If so your the only one. It's not soley Nintendos fault that your left unhappy, 3rd parties are also on the Wii, most are sadly shovelware, but there undoubtably good games by the 3rd parties. Just less of whats on the other consoles.

Windows 7 (official name) is coming at the end of 09. At least that's what they're shooting for atm.

He's going to use it for his 360 rather than a PC.

Actually I posted a 4830, which isn't bad at all. You are mostly correct though, Haded you should stay away from cards like the 8400/9400/3400/4400. They are low end cards, they could only give acceptable preformance in Steam games. Maybe Fallout 3, and I'm doubtful of Red Alert 3 and Total War(unless you mean the old games not the new one.) Idk why my links didn't work for you, I just copy pastes the addresses into the insert URL. I just tried them and they worked. A 9600GT will do just fine for you.

I don't think there will be that much of a difference(visually), either way the games native output is smaller than their resolutions. Screen size really is up to you, I know someone using a 15" monitor at 1024x768, me personally I won't go below 17" as a PC monitor. I will say though, if your going to be more than 2-3 feet away from the monitor, bigger is better.

Need to know the resolution to tell if there is a subtantial difference. I'm guessing that one is 1440x900 and the 22" is most likely 1680x1050. Both of those resolutions are 16:10 aspects, so if you run your 360 at the LCDs native resolution(best picture quality rather than a slightly lower one.) you'll have small black bars at the top and bottom since games are rarely, if at all, anything but 16:9.

EPIC READ! I skimmed about 1/3 of it then skimmed the comments. All I'm going to say is in the last 2 years Nintendo has consistently put out games from launch to today. Most of the games are good, some of them can appeal to any player(MK/AC for example), some to the "core" (MP3 SPM), then the gimmicks (Wii*insert suffix here*) Some quick numbers, since 2006 Nintendo has published 26 titles(not including japan only titles.) Sony enjoys the same number of titles published. Microsoft has published 31 titles, or 28 if you don't count 2005. Most of sonys titles were sports(bleh) at that. They're not doing anyless than the other companies, they're just spreading their target audience more. Besides, they blew their load early on, do you really think we'll get another Zelda after 2 years? or MP? The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Home+Range/Proteus/Gladiator+Proteus+Home+Performer+PC+?productId=31117 with http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+4000+Series/MSI+Radeon+HD+4830+512MB+PCI-E+2.0+?productId=34187 That's just a bit of generalisation though. That PC and card will easily play Source games(HL2 ect.) High-Very high on Fallout 3 depending on your resolution, and I'm not sure about Red Alert 3. It will be able to play RA3 just don't know about what settings. There are a variety of other cards in the same price preformance range though.

30 Rock is a very good show.

How far does it get before rebooting? Does windows load all the way, or do you only see the splash screen? Does it not even get that far? I'm not sure that it is the Harddrive so much as possibly something having incorrect settings or a loose connection that causes instability. Laptops generally have a locked bios so I doubt the RAM/CPU timings are off, same with Voltage. So I'd recommend checking the RAM and see if it's loose, possibly do the same with the HD. You should also make sure your running off of wall power in the event of a faulty battery, use a surge protector for extra protection though. Oh, I'm sure you'd think of this, but unplug and remove the battery before opening.

Hmm neat idea

The demo ended the day the game released.

I haven't found much playing time lately, but I am now level 21

Ahh....yea didn't think of that my bad. I suppose I could copypaste it and this could be closed if that's preferable?

Dirt is more sim than most arcade racers, but more arcade than sim.

Err what? It wasn't really painful though, it's a dull ache and kinda sore is all.

All right, half a day.....which isn't over yet. My day started off fine, but in the afternoon I had to get to work digging a 5(at least I think more actually) foot deep hole for an outside waterpump. Well, luckly despite flooding the ground the night before only the first 1-2" were frozen like concrete(unlunkly the first 1-2" are peagravel with dirt). I manage to break through that after a little bit of effort. The dirt below is soft enough to kick around with my boot,so plenty pliable with a shovel. As my hole gets a little deeper than a foot I have to stand very akwardly to dig, the pumphouse is only approx. 2.5x2.5 feet. and a full length shovel is a bit of hassel. I have to stand with a foot on each side of the hole and squat down(knees bending slightly inward) to get dirt out of the hole, which is all well and fine done it plenty of times. BAM! My left kneecap goes left popping out of the socket, my leg immeadiately gives out and in doing so my knee pops back in. The first (and many subsequent times after) word out of my mouth was "OW"! as I crawled out of the hole and leaned on the dirt pile. I must say, while not overly painful, (it's like a dull pain as if someone punched you and their is a residual numbess thats fading it just doesn't fade) your knee dislocating and relocating is a very very weird feeling that you may or may not experience. Well after a few minutes I went back to digging, which was extra hard I used my legs a bit, but I could feel my knee trying to do it again, do instead I more or less sat on the edge and used just my hand to get hte dirt out of the hole. when it started getting to deep for me to reach I propped my left leg up against the door frame and used my right leg to push the shovel in the dirt for a scoop, then use my foot and right hand to lift the load straight up out of the hole and dump it out the door. I actually managed to dig about another 3 feet like that while my knee was trying to decide if it wanted to behave. Now I'm waiting on my brother-in-law and were going to go finish the hole.

Well, they are doing it as a way to honor Colin McRae. After talking with the family they are using hte name as an honorific, which is nice seeing as how he was a consultant on plenty of their games.