McPhee

He's a student, he gets the Macbook at educational prices (thus undercutting competing laptops) and he can get a free (or at least very cheap) copy of Windows 7 through the MSDNAA. If he wasn't a student it'd be insane, but under the circumstances it works out very good value against something similarly priced (like a Dell Studio XPS 13) and a lot cheaper than Lenovo's T400 (which is the machine the MBP 13" is usually compared against).

You could always buy the MBP and a copy of Windows and run Windows on it. Even without OS X it's one of the best laptops on the market and it'd give you a chance to decide which OS you prefer.

It's something down the lines of clear a whole round in a single combo. Bloomin nails to pull off, i usually wind up with all of the enemies lying on the ground - instant combo breaker (unless anyone knows how to combo in a ground takedown?)

It really is a bit sad when you think about it. A cheapo HDMI cable probably costs less than a quid for MS, Sony etc. I never understand how they can be excluded on cost cutting grounds.

Most people claim that DVDs upscaled on a £40 ASDA DVD player look as good as Blu-Rays too, it doesn't mean they're right. The bulbs used in cinema projectors cost more than all of the TV kit in the average UK living room. You claim that this kit is able to produce a better picture from the sub-par quality of a DVD than a cinema projector drawing from raw 35mm film and projecting on to a high-gain 50' cinema screen? A good £10k worth of kit vs <£1k. How exactly do you measure picture quality? Because you seem to spend an aweful lot of time harping on about resolution rather than the things that matter (like colour reproduction). This point is further emphasised by your stupidity in insisting that DVDs look nicer than a film shown at a cinema. DVDs are notoriously bad in terms of colour accuracy, they can't even manage a half convincing black for a start (try watching something like The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray and then on DVD, or an episode of 24 and you'll see what i mean).

It is kinda common sense. I took the HDD out of my Acer laptop every time it went for repair (all 5 times, steer clear of Travelmates). You should really wipe any hard drives using specialist tools before returning to a shop/selling on/sending to the dump, otherwise some smart sod is always going to get to your data. However it doesn't excuse the store from blame. On a legal standing it was them that screwed up. As people have said, Citizens Advice Bureau. It'd also have been helpful if you could stop this guy taking the laptop back to the shop, it's a vital piece of evidence. He could probably sue on the same court case.

How'd you like that? Easy enough to do, even got the Quick Launch bar back. While the Windows Classic look is gone this one remains possible (along with various hybrids of the two). Personally i prefer the Win7 task bar though, it almost negates any need for a start menu. Got mine side docked with most of the programs i use in it. There's a few games that aren't but I launch them through Steam anyway (which is sat in the system tray, hopefully they update it soon to take advantage of the live view stuff in Win7).

I used to tri monitor at 4384x2748 but I don't have the need any more. Down to 1440x900 these days.

Eurgh... don't tell me you actually read the Daily Mail? Save your soul while there's still time!

This makes no real difference. All it means is that shop staff can't be prosecuted for selling videogames to underage kids. Pretty much every company under the sun will continue to enforce the policy though and anyone caught selling games to minors will still be subject to the company's disciplinary procedure. Sadly until the government get around to sorting this out we'll have loads of kids trying it on and insisting that we can no longer stop them buying the games... Both laws are irrelevent though, you have to be a Scottish (or Welsh) national in order for them to apply. I do hope the government don't forget to lift this law if Scotland ever gains independance though, it could get messy

Inglorious Basterds 9/10 Bloody fantastic! Funny, gripping and brutally gory. My only complaint is i didn't think there was quite enough of the Basterds in it. Could have done with seeing em knock over a couple of Nazi patrols, maybe even letting Stiglitz fire off that bloody big gun of his.

One of the shops in town was selling this today for... £45! I'd have put my money down if it was £40 but at that price i'll just wait til Friday and pick it up from work. I didn't order off the net because there seems to be a lot of confusion with the PC version's release date, some shops are saying this Friday, others 18/9/09. If it's out on PC this week then i'll pick up the PC version, it'll be a good tenner cheaper Soooooo jealous of all of yoos who are playing it now

Assuming it is only 12. I'm sure Microsoft are perfectly capable of breaking their own rules if they think it's necessary. It'll need a full game worth of achievements really. Anyone got any idea on a release date? Is it this year?

Read through this; http://www.custompc.co.uk/handsonguides/2166/and-number-01/ Custom PC rate the original as the hardest PC game ever made mostly because it's so damn frightening and tense to play through. I've got a feeling the new one will play out in a very similar way but with updated visuals (which might actually make it even worse for fear factor). Finally the good games are mounting up again, this year's been a little sparse so far (imo).

I've had the opposite experience, bought a PCI card and it was a nightmare to install. You had to install part of the drivers, power down the PC, install the hardware, reboot and then finish installing the drivers. Not too hard. The problems came when i'd reinstall the OS and forget to take the card out before hand. As soon as you do this the drivers won't work and i'd find myself reinstalling the OS. Not fun when you're trying to keep up with Win7 Beta builds. The best networking solutions are Homeplugs, really can't be beaten for simplicity. No hassle, you just plug em in and forget about it

Might be worth spec'ing that up at DinoPC, PCOption and PC Specialist too. My brother recently bought a PC from Dino and it worked out quite a bit cheaper than Mesh (as did the other two, but Dino were the cheapest).

What are we talking then? A 9/10 for you? Well hyped for this, not long now! Not been this excited over a game release since Street Fighter IV (and believe me, i was bouncing off the walls on the days running up to it).

I thought it was just in the US that they were cutting the price? They already cut it here to £199 (or was it £219.99? I can't remember) a few months ago. In the US the price just dropped to $299 to compete with the PS3 at $299. In the UK they don't have that problem, the 360 Elite is already cheaper.

That looks amazing! Really wasn't expecting it to look that good!

I thought the Evergreen cards were going to be more energy efficient, down the lines of the 4770? Might be wrong, but if they are then a good 400W PSU should be fine for all except maybe the top of the line card. I'm currently running a 4850 on a 350W PSU, have been since i upgraded in May and i've had no trouble. The IGP on the 785G is definitely enough for HD video btw. ATi haven't done a card or chip in years that won't deal with HD video

I used a 360 controller along with the mouse for a while last year when i sliced my finger open at work. Was pretty good, tho it took a bit of getting used to and the 360 controller is a bit big to hold in one hand. I'd imaging a Wii Nunchuck would work quite nicely, though you might be a bit lacking in buttons.

Well that could be arranged if you really, really want

No? Care to place a bet on that? Infractions issued, users banned from thread. Can we do this at a reasonable hour next time please? I was just going to bed when the reported post emails came through EDIT: Hmm, it seems i've either forgotten how to ban people from threads or the option just isn't there anymore I hate doing this shit on a phone, it's not easy!

I missed the preorders. Not too fussed though, waiting for details of the "Family Pack" to come out. If it's a reasonable price at launch (£100-£150) then i'll get that instead. By launch time we'll have 2 PCs, one MAC, one server and 4 laptops, i'll need as many liscences as i can as cheaply as i can buy them.

Wait... When was the last time a Fireman visited a school to give a safety talk to then be found in the boys toilets bending little Johnny over a sink? Anyone?