Sadly, nothing is really WSIWYG.

A realization that ranks up there with "Life isn't fair" and "There is no Santa Clause."

And below that of "Often, good TV shows get canceled."

Am I correct that it's better to get more memory (say, 2GB) than a better processor (say, AMD vs. Intel), all things being equal?

I build quite a few machines and more memory is always the way to go. However, check when you are doing your pricing because memory is pretty cheap to buy now, so getting a machine with 1 GB of RAM and then adding the additional memory aftermarket can be quite cheap.

Also, while AMD used to consistently lead in the processor raw speed wars, I haven't found it to be the case lately in real world applications. Also, I've had significantly fewer compatibility issues with Intel processors and chipsets than I have had with AMD processors and things like VIA chipset motherboards. Most of the laptops that are getting rated at the top of the speed rankings are currently running Intel Core 2 Due processors.

Sorry, that's a lot of geek speak.

while AMD used to consistently lead in the processor raw speed wars,

From what I've read/remembered, Intel sorta' stumbled a bit and for a while AMD had the best processors, but now Intel has the best again.

Yeah, that's pretty much what has played out. Intel slipped, AMD jumped in for a bit, now Intel is back on top. Also, a lot of the AMD speed demon machines were tweaked to the limit to perform really well on the standard benchmark tests, but in real world applications they had compatibility and stability issues that slowed them down.

Sadly, nothing is really WSIWYG.

I am completely and totally chastened over my naivete about no tool being as wygy as it promises. I can go back and forth, smoothing most things out.

I'm STILL completely flummoxed about the placement of graphics.

eta: Holy crap. It only took me about 7 hours, but I finally got the signup box to the right of the page.

I wish I could say I knew what I did but I just don't. My method was simply...poke, redo, poke, redo, rinse, lather, repeat.

Now I'd like to wrap the text so I don't have that big gap to the left of the box.

Any hints?

I HATE mkv files - 1) they usually are of poorer video/sound quality than avi and 2) they are ALWAYS bigger. Goodness.

Odd. Neither MKV or AVI are actually video formats per se, they're just container formats that connect the video to the audio and provide for things like seeking and subtitles and stuff. Apple's MOV is a container format as well. You can make MKV and AVI files using the exact same XviD or H.264 or whatever video streams, and they should look/sound exactly the same. I played around with them a lot in college. MKV files are awesome for anime because multiple audio and subtitle tracks can be included directly in the file, without any hacks or anything.

Anyway. I wonder why the ones on the webs tend to be lower quality than equivalent AVIs. Strange.

Gris,

maybe I'm getting the wrong mkv, but I avoid them like the plague if I have a choice.

Bonny, I would try two things. It looks like the div that surrounds your subscription box isn't defined. I would define its width and I would tell it to float right instead of align right.

Insent in a minute.

Bless you Deena.

backflung

So, um, my office Mac won't turn on.

More specifically, the monitor won't turn on. I can't tell if the actual computer is working or not, because, well, no monitor!

I've toggled all the cables and turned the whole thing off and on again several times in several different ways. (Holding the power button down, turning the power strip off, unplugging it...) I've even pressed that utterly useless on/off button on the side of the monitor a few times. Nada.

Any ideas? I'm about to swap out this monitor with the one from the other Mac to see if it's the monitor or maybe the monitor's power brick.

This would be an extremely shitty time for this machine to break.

....