[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

I got a Toshiba Tecra thats more than 6 years old and it runs perfectly fine on linux, the only thing that failed so far is the CD drive and it was only temporary. Definitely well build IMO.
 
 
 
Looks like theres going to be a lot more Beats around this holiday 

 
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150356985704176.371302.7727784175&type=3
 
 

Unfortunate but i give up on convincing people that they are over priced.
 

 

[Magedark]

I have suceeded once in convincing someone to not buy Beats. He bought Denon DJ HP-1000 instead.

Thankfully I haven't been called out yet, but I think it's a matter of time...

 

[scott111184]

I have to admit but I recently went to an apple store, listened to the Beats Studio and was shocked how "great" they sounded!
 
Went home and done some research and being on a budget ordered some Sony XB-500's. Love them even thought the mids and highs are lacking but it all depends on what you are listening to....
 
... than my curiosity got the best of me and started doing more research and just ordered some AKG Q701's on a whim. Yes I do realize the Q's have little to no difference from the K's but to be honest, I like the green! Sadly the Fiio E5 I had running the XB-500's dont push the Q701's. lol
 
I work retail and we sell Beats. I try so hard to not tell customers to not buy them but I cant.
 
 
 

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

Beats Audio actually actively sabotages the EQ when it's not activated. Without BA enabled, the EQ is flat right? After enabling BA (boosting treble and bass slightly) and then disabling it, instead of going back to flat the EQ has reduced bass and treble, leading to a hollowed sound.
All this just to scam users A/Bing Beats Audio to the normal settings that Beats Audio 'magically' makes the sound better :<

There's a youtube video of someone demonstrating that actually, although I can't find it at the moment.
 

 

[ac500]

5 hours on extended battery is horrible battery life. HP doesn't seem to make good laptops currently compared to the competition. Look at the Vaio Z, the Toshiba line, some nicer Asus models, etc. Almost everyone is getting super light AND fast AND impressive battery life without massive batteries sticking out the back. Apple is at the very least, and has been for quite some time. I could get 10 hours of battery life listening to music out of my MacBook Pro.
 
Anyway I have a question for bassheads here... how much bass do you like? For example, Sony XB500 from a macbook out? More/less? I ask because I tried an XB500 briefly and found it to have actually less bass than when equalizing the bass up of my Sennheiser HD650's. Not only did XB500 have less bass, but it was far less impactful, articulate, etc. than the HD650 and of course the HD650 blew away the mids/highs of the XB500.

 

[scott111184]

Quote:

5 hours on extended battery is horrible battery life. HP doesn't seem to make good laptops currently compared to the competition. Look at the Vaio Z, the Toshiba line, some nicer Asus models, etc. Almost everyone is getting super light AND fast AND impressive battery life without massive batteries sticking out the back. Apple is at the very least, and has been for quite some time. I could get 10 hours of battery life listening to music out of my MacBook Pro.
 
Anyway I have a question for bassheads here... how much bass do you like? For example, Sony XB500 from a macbook out? More/less? I ask because I tried an XB500 briefly and found it to have actually less bass than when equalizing the bass up of my Sennheiser HD650's. Not only did XB500 have less bass, but it was far less impactful, articulate, etc. than the HD650 and of course the HD650 blew away the mids/highs of the XB500.

I'm new to the HP world but the XB-500's do not lack in the bass department in my view. Paired with a Fiio E5 and your phone/mp3 player you're golden. They are very easy to drive and given the price tag (which is a bargain) I think they are a great headphone depending on the type of music you listen to.

 

[MorbidToaster]

I love the entire XB line. They all offer something different (300 - portable, 500 - attack, 700 - subwoofer, 1000 - the ultimate subwoofer). They're all easy to power (no amp needed except the 1000) so they all make good 'portables' or starter cans. They're cheap (again except the 1000, but they're in another league) as in all under 100 USD street price. 
 
They are my goto cans for just having fun when I list to EDM. They get no head time at home, but if anyone has seen my portable set up it works great. Fubar > Netbook HO > XB700. All fits perfectly in a camera bag. 
 
Now onto the battery issue. IMO there's not a single laptop out there that can manage battery life better than the others. They all use practically the same batteries and it's all up to you how quickly it dies (ie. brightness, etc). Very few laptops now a days include larger batteries, and the option is always there to buy one. If I ever listen on a laptop I set it to 'Do Nothing' when I close it and it massively extends the battery life as all it's doing it playing music. Macs are an exception because of the way they manager things running in the background, but you pay a premium for that better battery life. (Not up for debate, this thread has seen way to many Mac vs PC debates already).
 
Now, from a bass head's perspective...I take what bass I am given. I own headphone with various levels of bass so I know what I'm getting into with each one. When I'm out and about with my XB700s if I'm listening I just want to have fun, so they're great and have tons of bass. My 598 and LCD 2 have less but boy do they sound better over all. I don't EQ bass in or out of headphones anymore...I just pick the right can for the job.
 
Quote:

I'm new to the HP world but the XB-500's do not lack in the bass department in my view. Paired with a Fiio E5 and your phone/mp3 player you're golden. They are very easy to drive and given the price tag (which is a bargain) I think they are a great headphone depending on the type of music you listen to.

     Quote:

5 hours on extended battery is horrible battery life. HP doesn't seem to make good laptops currently compared to the competition. Look at the Vaio Z, the Toshiba line, some nicer Asus models, etc. Almost everyone is getting super light AND fast AND impressive battery life without massive batteries sticking out the back. Apple is at the very least, and has been for quite some time. I could get 10 hours of battery life listening to music out of my MacBook Pro.
 
Anyway I have a question for bassheads here... how much bass do you like? For example, Sony XB500 from a macbook out? More/less? I ask because I tried an XB500 briefly and found it to have actually less bass than when equalizing the bass up of my Sennheiser HD650's. Not only did XB500 have less bass, but it was far less impactful, articulate, etc. than the HD650 and of course the HD650 blew away the mids/highs of the XB500.

 
 

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
Running pretty smoothly actually. No real issues except for the battery dying. And that was remedied quickly with a nice extended battery that makes the thing last longer than a MacBook. 5-6 hours of constantly playing music. The built in 10-band EQ is pretty nice too, IDT Audio actually works for the most part. I might go and also toss in Kubuntu for good measure. If you'll recall though with the EQ...

omg awesome wallpaper!!!
 
anyway you could send me a link to it!!? that purple color is so pretty!

 

[ac500]

Actually a correction - they were XB700's, not 500's. As to EQ'ing bass in to HD650s... honestly I'm glad I did. Because my HD650's bass is superior in every way to the XB700, and you don't miss out on beautiful mids and highs either. I mean... why not? It gives stunningly crisp, impactful, musical bass, and you still get great mids and highs. It's nice too because if I want to listen to bassy music I don't need to switch to another headphone, I just push a button.
 
> Now onto the battery issue. IMO there's not a single laptop out there that can manage battery life better than the others. They all use practically the same batteries and it's all up to you how quickly it dies (ie. brightness, etc). 
 
That's actually not true for a number of points. There are many things that go into the battery life, and I'll list some of the most significant ones:
 
- Screen (that backlight takes a lot of power, and not all backlights are the same efficiency) and other components (hard drive, RAM, etc.) - all can have a range of power efficiencies
 
- Battery - Makes a big difference, and there are different battery designs / configurations, believe it or not
 
- Peripherals - USB, Bluetooth, optical drive, ports, etc. etc. etc.
 
- Internal circuit design and power management - In addition to the actual chips used inside and the efficiencies of various components, the power from the battery itself has to be controlled and regulated. DC power sources are far from perfect and need additional circuitry not only for charging systems but also for running the laptop at various levels of power consumption.
 
- Device Drivers - Even independent of operating system, good device drivers could make or break battery life. Particularly power management for the CPU, but other components like Bluetooth, Wifi, and CD drive can be power-leveled and turned on and off intelligently. 
 
- Operating System - An efficient operating system helps of course as you mentioned, but probably isn't as important as drivers. Linux is an extremely efficient operating system yet often gets terrible battery life compared to Windows, due to poor drivers.
 
In short, yes, some laptops have terrible battery life for the performance. Others have incredible battery life for the performance. Ultimately the fact is I have a laptop that runs for 7+ hours when I'm browsing the web, and there are many competing models in the same performance/weight/etc. class but none of them match up.
 
Computers are not some magical black box with nothing but CPU/RAM/HDD... there's a lot more going on, especially in laptops (where each one has custom motherboards and circuitry from each company).

 

[MorbidToaster]

Maybe I cast my net a little too wide with that one, but I still stand by most of it. For the most part the laptops you see for 300-500 bucks (the bulk of what you see on store shelves) will have roughly the same battery life. This is from personal experience with both my computers and many other peoples (whether they're old or right out of the box). You will always pay a premium for more efficient computers, and they'll advertise them as such because it's just not the norm. 
 
You get what you pay for really reins true when it comes to laptops...
 
Quote:

 
> Now onto the battery issue. IMO there's not a single laptop out there that can manage battery life better than the others. They all use practically the same batteries and it's all up to you how quickly it dies (ie. brightness, etc). 
 
That's actually not true for a number of points. There are many things that go into the battery life, and I'll list some of the most significant ones:
 
- Screen (that backlight takes a lot of power, and not all backlights are the same efficiency) and other components (hard drive, RAM, etc.) - all can have a range of power efficiencies
 
- Battery - Makes a big difference, and there are different battery designs / configurations, believe it or not
 
- Peripherals - USB, Bluetooth, optical drive, ports, etc. etc. etc.
 
- Internal circuit design and power management - In addition to the actual chips used inside and the efficiencies of various components, the power from the battery itself has to be controlled and regulated. DC power sources are far from perfect and need additional circuitry not only for charging systems but also for running the laptop at various levels of power consumption.
 
- Device Drivers - Even independent of operating system, good device drivers could make or break battery life. Particularly power management for the CPU, but other components like Bluetooth, Wifi, and CD drive can be power-leveled and turned on and off intelligently. 
 
- Operating System - An efficient operating system helps of course as you mentioned, but probably isn't as important as drivers. Linux is an extremely efficient operating system yet often gets terrible battery life compared to Windows, due to poor drivers.
 
In short, yes, some laptops have terrible battery life for the performance. Others have incredible battery life for the performance. Ultimately the fact is I have a laptop that runs for 7+ hours when I'm browsing the web, and there are many competing models in the same performance/weight/etc. class but none of them match up.
 
Computers are not some magical black box with nothing but CPU/RAM/HDD... there's a lot more going on, especially in laptops (where each one has custom motherboards and circuitry from each company).

 
 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Maybe I cast my net a little too wide with that one, but I still stand by most of it. For the most part the laptops you see for 300-500 bucks (the bulk of what you see on store shelves) will have roughly the same battery life. This is from personal experience with both my computers and many other peoples (whether they're old or right out of the box). You will always pay a premium for more efficient computers, and they'll advertise them as such because it's just not the norm. 
 
You get what you pay for really reins true when it comes to laptops... 
 
 

I get 2.5 hours out of my acer aspire 5742. It's a 6 cell battery. I get the same battery life out of my toshiba with a 6 cell battery. My netbook had a 3 cell battery and it lasted for 1.5 hours.
 

 

[Byakushiki]

Question is, how large is the screen? Mine's a good 15 inches I think. 5 hours isn't terrible for keeping the thing on constantly. Battery life will probably improve if I toss on ubuntu or something rather than win7.

 

[MorbidToaster]

What the hell were you doing on them? I've never seen a laptop get battery life that bad...my nethook with a 6 cell gets about 7 hours of browser use and 10 on music only. 
 
I could see that on highest brightness and constant use I guess...
Quote:

I get 2.5 hours out of my acer aspire 5742. It's a 6 cell battery. I get the same battery life out of my toshiba with a 6 cell battery. My netbook had a 3 cell battery and it lasted for 1.5 hours.
 

 
 

 

[Raguvian]

Quote:

Question is, how large is the screen? Mine's a good 15 inches I think. 5 hours isn't terrible for keeping the thing on constantly. Battery life will probably improve if I toss on ubuntu or something rather than win7.

Not sure about the newer releases but I always got worse battery life with Linux...
 
And I find 5 hours of battery life to be quite good actually. The hard part is not letting the battery lose capacity over time. That's why as soon as it's done charging I pull the battery out from the laptop and run the laptop off the charger, or pull the charger off and run the battery down.
 

 

[WoahReQQuiem]

Since we're talking about laptop batteries, I'll chime in with mine.
My Samsung R530 gets 30-60 minutes of battery life.