Carmine6

CPUs have vastly improved in the last 4 years. However, it's much less noticeable than it used to be since even older mid range laptops and PCs get the job done for most people. I was going through the same process early this year and was assuming I could get a comparable laptop to my 4 year old one for half the price. Turns out the CPU benchmarks at that price range were worse than the CPU I have, since I'd gone with an almost top of the line I7 back then.

So I went even cheaper and got a Win 8.1 tablet with an Atom processor. Though it benchmarks around the same as an older laptop of mine running XP, the performance is significantly better. There are many new things I can not even run on that old laptop, like many flash based games on Facebook. But I can on my US$300 Win 8.1 tablet.

What makes the difference is it is running Win 8.1, it has an SSD, 2GB memory instead of 1GB, better integrated graphics, and the CPU seems much better in spite of benchmarking similar.

The CPUs you're comparing don't benchmark so close to each other. So probably you will notice a difference. Though you already have a fairly high ranked CPU. Sort this by rank:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

That I7 is ranked 92, which is pretty high if you look at some of the prices of the CPUs that rank higher.

The AMD is ranked 410, which is a respectable score given it is 4 years old. It is also still on the High End CPUs chart too. Was poking around the Staples website and current $500 - $700 models have CPU around that level.

Yes she could sue, as lawyers will take just about any case if you pay them. But sue for what? If you mean sue to have him move the visa process along, then that would likely not go anywhere. As in the suit would be filed, then thrown out of court, wasting the money on the lawyer.

Suing for financial support might be different. However, with the marriage having been done in Singapore and her never having lived in the US, it's probably going to take talking to a lawyer in the state where he lives to figure out. Since I assume the visa application was filed with proof of their marriage, he can't now pretend otherwise.

Anybody who believes Kim Jong Un killed his ex for staring in a porno and selling the DVDs and had his uncle killed

and eaten by starved dogs is a fool. Just the political ramblings of South Korean fringe newspapers who can make up

and print anything they want which then gets picked up as gospel truth by foreign news agencies like FOX News.

No corroboration, just reporting the ramblings of South Korean journalists on the same level as Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh,

and Hanity. None of the rest of the world takes those journalists seriously. Remember the bigger the lie the more believable.

The more sensational the better. Tabloid news at its best.

I am no fan of Rodman but I believe him.

You should really keep up. A Chinese paper was the source of the dog story, and that was viewed as unlikely in the days afterwards, and it was even on places like Fox that they said they did not think he was executed this way in the following days. It was North Korea itself that was the source of the stories about him being removed from his positions.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/kim-jong-uns-uncle-dragged-away-meeting-erased-documentary-f2D11715074

And, oh geez, the later story about his execution was from the North Korean news.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/very-worrisome-sign-north-korea-executes-uncle-leader-kim-jong-f2D11736135

Young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's previously powerful uncle has been executed as a traitor, the country's state-run news service said Thursday.

I guess that was a mistake from the North Korean news then??? They just accidentally reported an execution when there wasn't one.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-executed-worse-dog/story?id=21189463

The North Korean official publicly purged by Kim Jong-un was set up by his own wife and has since been executed, according to experts and the North Korean state news agency.

Rodman wouldn't know either one of these people from anyone of similar age they trotted out. He is clearly being shown the North Korea that they want him to see.

That's hilarious. They trying to use Dennis Rodman for propaganda purposes and they actually think people listen to Dennis Rodman??

Try this website as a start for cheaper travel options. Also try searching the bus and train related topics as some of those have other websites posted that are with the Thai websites directly.

http://12go.asia/

I thought there was a train to Tak, but seems there might not be.

http://www.railway.co.th/home/default.aspx?ID=〈=EN

If money is no object you could fly to Chiang Mai, then take a taxi as that is a little bit closer. Or take a taxi from Bangkok, though it'll cost a lot more than a bus. No idea how much, though it wouldn't surprise me if it were US$100 to US$200 from Bangkok. I have no recent experience with a long taxi ride, but maybe 5 or 6 years ago, a trip about 2/3 that length cost me maybe 2,500 baht, so less than $100, but with a longer trip and inflation I'd expect it to be higher.

Couple things that might help to know.

What time of day does your flight land in Bangkok?

How much luggage will you have and will it be easy to manage with public transportation like a backpack or a medium suitcase, versus several suitcases?

Is the general plan to stay in Bangkok a day or two, then head out? Or get right to some kind of transportation right from the airport?

That's a very interesting website. Have you used it much? Just curious as to how reliable it is. As you know, transport options here change a lot and some you only find when you get to the bus station! LOL!

It does show a bus to Mae Sot. But doesn't show any to Pattaya! ?????

OP: I'd recommend you contact your employer. Many accommodation options are never listed on the internet, at least on ones in English. And if they are, they tend to be the expensive ones.

Have a great time! Hope you enjoy Thailand.

I have not used that site, though it does list the direct website links for the providers which is more relevant. Whenever I've used a bus, it has always been from searching for the specific route I wanted and then hunting down the specific bus line or government bus websites. Someone posted a very nice website that had better information, but I can't recall what the topic was and couldn't find it. I just happened to have bookmarked this website at some point.

Try this website as a start for cheaper travel options. Also try searching the bus and train related topics as some of those have other websites posted that are with the Thai websites directly.

http://12go.asia/

I thought there was a train to Tak, but seems there might not be.

http://www.railway.co.th/home/default.aspx?ID=〈=EN

If money is no object you could fly to Chiang Mai, then take a taxi as that is a little bit closer. Or take a taxi from Bangkok, though it'll cost a lot more than a bus. No idea how much, though it wouldn't surprise me if it were US$100 to US$200 from Bangkok. I have no recent experience with a long taxi ride, but maybe 5 or 6 years ago, a trip about 2/3 that length cost me maybe 2,500 baht, so less than $100, but with a longer trip and inflation I'd expect it to be higher.

Couple things that might help to know.

What time of day does your flight land in Bangkok?

How much luggage will you have and will it be easy to manage with public transportation like a backpack or a medium suitcase, versus several suitcases?

Is the general plan to stay in Bangkok a day or two, then head out? Or get right to some kind of transportation right from the airport?

Just tried on Win 8.1 and can confirm it also works on this.

Then your obviously using a different version of 8.1 update 1 than I am, briar the one I use starts up fast but them u have to wait 5 mins for all the services to load before you can start web browsing.

It's a bold statement to say it's the most stable version yet, I'm sure co and win 7 is a lot more stable in fact I know it is

There were complaints from some users about increased start up time after the 8.1 update came out. Not sure how people resolved them as I've never had problems, like others here. Maybe check around for how people dealt with it from those old posts. If you have stability problems as well, it seems like something went wrong on the install or maybe there's a hardware issue.

My laptop will get to desktop in maybe 30 seconds. And I mean button press to desktop, even with me entering a password in between. My tablet, which has an SSD will get to desktop in under 25 seconds, even with me having to enter a pin, and having to get from Metro to the desktop. From sleep, it'll do it in 3 seconds, with pin entry included.

Pure publicity stunt to get him attention. That's why a source "close to Affleck" released it and not someone who had witnessed it or some other third party.

Does this really sound like something a security guard would say to him? It wouldn't be the security guard booting him out of the high stakes area, it'd be someone a whole lot higher up the chain.

"You are too good," a security guard told the Oscar-winning star Monday night, the source said.

Do you actually believe the stuff you make up? Affleck is one of the best know, well paid movie stars in the world. He doesn't need to pull stupid publicity stunts to get attention. And where in the story does it say that the security guard made the decision to boot him out?

I could be wrong, but yes I do believe it. A list stars plant stories all the time, or spin situations all the time. It's a huge non-secret. This guy is trying to get a reputation as a poker player and those stories have been leaking out for years as well.

And I never said the security guard made the decision to boot him out. I mean you would never have a security guard boot out an A list actor from a high stakes area, you have someone else do the talking, and escorting out.

TrueMove H now gives 30 days, accumulated, for any top-up value. You can accumulate up to 365 days. You can use a top-up machine, outside many 7/11's, and add twelve top-ups of 10 baht each. With the 2 baht fee, you would get 360 days for 144 baht.

DTAC does have the Day Giveaway promotion: http://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/services/freeday.html

There are many ways to request/activate; IVR, USSD, web-site, mobile app; no need to call.

No they dont !! They started doing it and I managed as you say from 18th March by topping up daily to get 4 months in advance and then it was withdrawn !!

Reverted to just one day advance on any top up

That can't be right. Throw xxx baht on, sign up for a 30 day data plan, and a day later your account goes dead?

The 60 day method advanced 1 day at a time, because it was from date of last usage. Was this instead some kind of change to that method again?

Apolgies I could have been much clearer. First top takes you 30 days forward but subsequent top ups have now reverted to just one day advance.

As mentioned they were advancing by 30 days for a few days after True sent SMS detailing that they would but they must have revoked as it only lasted 4 days in my case

I had a friend top my account on April 25th and received 5 months of time for 5 top ups of 10 baht each at a machine. If yours started doing the 1 day thing way back in March, you may want to contact them and see what's going on. Their website still says 30 days per top up, though that wouldn't necessarily mean they haven't changed something.

At the time of the top ups on the 25th, I received the message saying 30 days per top up after each balance message.

I was on Win 7 Ultimate. Very nice OS, but I went to Win 8, now 8.1, and I would not go back. Much faster to boot up and more stable. It also does cloud type stuff much better such as making Skydrive, now Onedrive, actually useful. I boot straight to desktop, which is just a check box in settings.

I don't like the Win 8 "start" menu for doing many things, but there are many programs to bring the old start menu back. The weird thing is though I have the Classic Shell program to put the regular start menu back, I find myself going to Metro to open programs rather than the start menu. The old start menu is much better for things like getting to the printers and settings, but I've gotten used to launching programs from Metro since it is easier to do a mouse over to the right side or lower left corner, pull the metro interface up and click an icon, than navigating the small text in the start menu. Partly that's because my monitor seems to be getting farther away the older I get.

When I bought a Win 8 tablet, all I had to do was login with the same account as on my laptop and it created a home network between the computers. Browser bookmarks synced without me having to do anything, and I installed programs straight from my laptops drive over the network rather than having to even copy install programs over. Threw data files onto Skydrive and synced over to the tablet and I just moved them to my documents folder, or just left some on Skydrive.

Memory management seems much better on Win 8. I used to get memory warnings once in a while and I never get them anymore. I also have hardly any instances where I open a huge spreadsheet/database and have Excel freeze for so long I have to shut it down. Used to have that happen all the time on Win 7.

Pure publicity stunt to get him attention. That's why a source "close to Affleck" released it and not someone who had witnessed it or some other third party.

Does this really sound like something a security guard would say to him? It wouldn't be the security guard booting him out of the high stakes area, it'd be someone a whole lot higher up the chain.

"You are too good," a security guard told the Oscar-winning star Monday night, the source said.

TrueMove H now gives 30 days, accumulated, for any top-up value. You can accumulate up to 365 days. You can use a top-up machine, outside many 7/11's, and add twelve top-ups of 10 baht each. With the 2 baht fee, you would get 360 days for 144 baht.

DTAC does have the Day Giveaway promotion: http://www.dtac.co.th/en/prepaid/services/freeday.html

There are many ways to request/activate; IVR, USSD, web-site, mobile app; no need to call.

No they dont !! They started doing it and I managed as you say from 18th March by topping up daily to get 4 months in advance and then it was withdrawn !!

Reverted to just one day advance on any top up

That can't be right. Throw xxx baht on, sign up for a 30 day data plan, and a day later your account goes dead?

The 60 day method advanced 1 day at a time, because it was from date of last usage. Was this instead some kind of change to that method again?

apple miles in front in build qaulity alone... samsungs for people who cant afford apple end off

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Truly the most astute observation regarding patent lawsuits ever. If you're not a lawyer already, maybe consider taking it up.

I'm so glad Steve Jobs is dead. Perhaps now Apple can start innovating again instead of litigating like a spoiled brat.

I really don't know enough about the case to have a reasonably informed opinion as to the verdict, but...

Why should Apple (or anybody else) bother to "innovate" anything if people like you would just as soon they give it all away and not be able to defend what they've created when someone tries to copy, i.e., steal it? Do you think they do it solely for the satisfaction of a job well done? Are you in the habit of turning back YOUR paychecks for that reason?

I know, I know. Any excuse to take a swipe at those evil, no-good, greedy, non-progressive korpurashuns...

They haven't given anything away. Apple are basically patent trolls these days.

http://gizmodo.com/5958762/apple-finally-patents-the-round-cornered-rectangle

Lol. Nice try Player One. 'Don't think the Samsung lawsuit was over rounded corners. What, you thought no one would follow your link? (Which WAS, btw, totally irrelevant to the Samsung case. No one really should bother.)

The first trial where they were awarded $1 billion (later reduced) did include the rounded corner patent as one of the infringed patents. Though if I recall, only a small portion of the $1 billion was for that as the "infringing" phone was not a good selling model. Was a big topic of discussion that the patent had been awarded in the first place.

Federal Information processing standard sounds strange, maybe this is something Microsoft added for the NSA?

Again, the local service providers here in Thailand do not monitor internet sharing/tethering, do not disable it, do not charge extra for it and do not care how you consume your data.

Oops. That's probably something where they said, "Just call it that for now and we'll change the name later."

In the U.S. there are tons of post-paid and pre-paid plans, and skads of MVNOs. I think it is easier to find providers which offer free, or some complementary volume, tethering/mobile hot-spot than in the past.

The reasons for extra fees in the U.S. are a bit complicated, and a legacy from the early days of truly unlimited/uncapped plans.

Thanks to Tmobile's new plans, the other US carriers are having to improve their plans. Tmobile's plans are unlimited with tethering, but speed throttled after the selected full speed volume.

AT&T includes tethering in their Mobile Share Value plans now, which start out at $45/month for unlimited talk and text including texts to international numbers, and 300MB data. Think that started in March 2014 as they allowed everyone to switch plans starting in March, even on a 2 year contract.

Verizon may offer tethering included now, though they were forced to allow the use of 3rd party tethering apps back in 2012 in a settlement. They've also reduced prices as well.

http://www.cnet.com/news/what-verizons-fcc-tethering-settlement-means-to-you-faq/

I saw an article recently stating that a recent Google update reports tethered data differently to non tethered data.

The article also offered a fix for rooted phones. Sorry I cannot find the link at the moment as I am mobile.

For the record I agree that if I have paid for the download it should not matter on what device I view it.

Edit. Link added

http://danielpocock.com/android-betrays-tethering-data

sent from my Internet aware non fruity mobile device

OEM ROMs have always shown tethered data different from data the phone is using. This guy is using Cyanogenmod, so probably CM had been coded to remove it, and it then was put back in some other way by Google. I know that for US models, the custom ROMs will add tethering capability back in when the carrier will not allow it with the plan the user is on. Though I hadn't heard that they disguised the ip address.

In the US, AT&T used to go through the trouble of identifying people who were tethering, mainly because the tethering plans started about $30/month higher than base data plans.

I am looking to buy an I-mobile phone.

My concern is will I be able to use the phone on an up coming business trip to the United States?

Are there any compatibility problems?

Just poking around, looks like there's an issue. The US uses GSM 850 MHz and/or 1900 MHz depending on carrier and area. These phones, from the specs in the manuals, only seem to use GSM 900 1800 MHz.

I'm not sure, but I think if the GSM frequency isn't compatible, it wouldn't make a difference if the 3G frequency happens to line up.

All the i-mobile smart phones use 3g. Some are 900/2100.some are 850/2100 and some are 850/900/2100. You need to check the models .. all are 900/1800 2g. None as yet are LTE (as far as I know)

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Will the phone work as a phone if the 3G frequencies line up, but not the GSM frequencies?

I am looking to buy an I-mobile phone.

My concern is will I be able to use the phone on an up coming business trip to the United States?

Are there any compatibility problems?

Just poking around, looks like there's an issue. The US uses GSM 850 MHz and/or 1900 MHz depending on carrier and area. These phones, from the specs in the manuals, only seem to use GSM 900 1800 MHz.

I'm not sure, but I think if the GSM frequency isn't compatible, it wouldn't make a difference if the 3G frequency happens to line up.

Interesting quote in this article about security now in Kuala Lumpur.

http://news.yahoo.com/mh370-carried-440-pounds-danger-224000552--politics.html

There are also some worrying questions about security in the boarding area of the Kuala Lumpur terminal. Paul Miller, a resident of Singapore, wrote to the Financial Times last week describing his experience boarding Flight MH360 recently. Miller has a large metal ball in his left hip “that lights up airport metal detectors the world over…”

The security scanning at Kuala Lumpur failed to register anything. Miller, alarmed, pointed this out. The security officer was amused until he realized Miller was serious, and promised to find the head of security. Twenty minutes later, with the airline pressing him to board, Miller had still seen no response.

It doesn't seem to have been an accident that those two Iranians flew out of Malaysia. The tickets were bought in Thailand, and the passports were stolen in Thailand, yet they flew through Malaysia. I assumed they would have tightened things up a bit, but perhaps they only have done the things highlighted by that, rather than trying to re-assess everything they do.

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) ― Senior officials from Malaysia, Australia and China will meet early next week to decide on the next step in the search for the Malaysia Airlines jet, while expressing confidence Friday that the hunt was on the right track despite no wreckage being found so far.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140502001167

Australia and China have some interest in the plane being found. So they might be willing to spend some money on ongoing efforts. Not sure Malaysia has so much interest in the plane being found versus the story just fading away. Seems far more likely any blame falls their direction if it is found versus towards Boeing or some other possible cause. Either it was MAS crew, or someone let through security, or maybe something put on board versus some mechanical failure.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/flight-mh370-search--malaysian-jet-s-tail--found-near-vietnam-by-british-marine-archaeologist-131717611.html#yR3UqF1

British marine archaeologist claims he's found MH370 debris off Vietnam coast - 3,000 miles from search area Tim Akers, 56, believes he has identified a section of what he thinks is a tail of the missing jet off the coast of Vietnam - around 1,000 miles from where the plane took off in Kuala Lumpur

His claims may be more credible than you’d think - in 2006 Mr Akers said he’d found HMAS Sydney, despite 60 years of government and international searches.

His claim was then seemingly verified in March 2008 when the wreck was discovered by American marine scientist David Mearns, near the same location Mr Akers predicted off the coast of Australia.

So they didn't spot it from the ship then?

His claim is there's something sinister not being told to the public. He claims that some ships appear to have collected the things he's identified. His website link below. The somewhat crazy part is this is all located right off the Vietnamese coast.

Map from his site showing the location of all this activity attached. There would have been all kinds of floating debris that fishermen and others would have picked up.

http://www.australias-titanic.com/malaysian-flight-mh370/

The 'crash site' is way east of where the aircraft was seen, on radar, to turn almost 180 degrees.

Bad news doesn't get better with time, so if there is any truth in this report, and I doubt it, a cover up by the authorities (Malaysia government) would be received even worse by other governments, particularly the Australian, who it is claimed has sunk $60 Million into the search so far.

Additionally, there would be debris right along the coast, and in what I'd suggest may be relatively shallow water fished heavily, so hundreds, if not thousands, of fishing vessels to pick up and report debris. You can't keep everybody quiet for long.

Yeah, to be clear it's not a believable scenario. Wouldn't really be Malaysia, but Vietnam hiding things or at least in collusion, unless they have no issue with foreign ships pulling up to collect debris right off the coast in broad daylight. The Chinese were looking in this area also, via satellite at minimum, and there were probably several country's ships around as well. Not necessarily right in this area, but this wouldn't only be 3 pieces of floating debris in a tiny area.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/flight-mh370-search--malaysian-jet-s-tail--found-near-vietnam-by-british-marine-archaeologist-131717611.html#yR3UqF1

British marine archaeologist claims he's found MH370 debris off Vietnam coast - 3,000 miles from search area Tim Akers, 56, believes he has identified a section of what he thinks is a tail of the missing jet off the coast of Vietnam - around 1,000 miles from where the plane took off in Kuala Lumpur

His claims may be more credible than you’d think - in 2006 Mr Akers said he’d found HMAS Sydney, despite 60 years of government and international searches.

His claim was then seemingly verified in March 2008 when the wreck was discovered by American marine scientist David Mearns, near the same location Mr Akers predicted off the coast of Australia.

So they didn't spot it from the ship then?

His claim is there's something sinister not being told to the public. He claims that some ships appear to have collected the things he's identified. His website link below. The somewhat crazy part is this is all located right off the Vietnamese coast.

Map from his site showing the location of all this activity attached. There would have been all kinds of floating debris that fishermen and others would have picked up.

http://www.australias-titanic.com/malaysian-flight-mh370/

My Win 8 tablet drive is bitlocked, so theoretically the drive shouldn't be readable if put into another computer or an enclosure. No idea if that is the case. However if I copy files off to a usb drive, they are un-encrypted. I can encrypt them, and then when copied to a usb drive, they are encrypted. Takes the encryption certificate to open them, or a long code that can be printed out. Same process as in other versions of Windows to encrypt. Right click, Properties, Advanced button, check the Encrypt contents to secure data box.

On my laptop with Win 8, I just encrypt certain folders/files. The drive itself is not encrypted as it doesn't have a TPM, so when my motherboard died I was able to pull all the un-encrypted files off the drive and keep working until the replacement motherboard arrived. That's why I have most files un-encrypted, and it worked when it mattered. The encrypted files could not be opened as I had not backed up the certificate at that point. So it secured those files as I wanted, other than I could never have opened them.