Let's see your computer stats!!

[pcbrainbuster]

Exactly... Your computer shows the user values while the shop shows the professional way...

When I bought my 300GB-HD it had writing on it saying its 320GB but ended up 300GB...

[djr33]

There are two factors that make that the case:
1. There is needed formatting information, and space for extra partitions. This is usually minimal, but takes a bit of space. (also, if you do not consider system files, such as the OS, as part of 'your space', this will contribute to a much smaller hard drive. A laptop might claim to have 120gb space, but once you install two OS's and partition them, account for the 1000 to 1024 conversion... you could end up with 70 or 80gb to use.)
2. Advertising claims 1000=1024, so they claim it's higher than it really is. So, yes, it ends up actually being 1024, which is why it has been said that 1gb ACTUALLY equals 1024mb... etc.

The root "kilo" means 1,000, and the other measurements are just further multiples of this. A kilometer is not 1,024 meters, but just 1000. The only reason that computers do this is that 1024 is 2^10... 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512... 1,024. These numbers may seem strange to us, but that is because we operate in base-10, whereas computers operate in base 2. This means that when advertising "1000 megabytes!"... is right. But it's really more like 950-computer-megabytes.
In fact, this can be compounded by all of the levels, to where the number of bytes is like 1,100,000,000 and it is still only 1.0gb, according to this binary system.

To think more about base systems with numbers, think about time. That is base-60 (and base-24, at the hour level, or even base-7, for weeks, etc.).
base generally means when the cycle repeats itself. Though we do not have 60 unique symbols, this repeats itself by adding 1 to the next column, like base-10 numbers, but as the "hours", or "minutes"... seperated by a colon.
binary is far more simple.... a 1 or 0 represents that place, then the next number is represented, in the next column. It repeats itself with every representation, so that a number that is small in base-10 can be much longer in binary.... 1010101 = 85.

[Twey]

There's another factor involved here: the difference between gigabytes and gibibytes. The word "kilobyte" was becoming ambiguous (is it 1,024 bytes or 1,000 bytes? People used it to mean both), and so a new system of measurement was brought in in 2000: kibibytes, mebibytes, gibibytes, &c. These refer explicitly to the binary values, based on intervals of 1024. Software uses these, but hardware manufacturers always advertise their products in base-10-based units, because there are more of them in a given capacity. So, one gigabyte according to your manufacturer is not one gigabyte according to pretty much everything else that's ever existed.

[djr33]

Quite true.
I just realized that advertisers should start using gigabits to sell their products. That would go across well... 160gigabit hard drive, for $20!

[nwalton]

Mac G5 PowerPC
Dual 1.8 Ghz processors
3GB RAM
Mac OSX v10.4.9
250 GB Hard Drive
Apple 20" cinema display

[pcbrainbuster]

You lot are lucky (some of you), have jobs and $MON-AY$

[boxxertrumps]

i have...
1240x1024 monitor
512Mb ram ati x1300 vid card
512ddr ram
2.8GHz without the 5% overclock
80GB HDD
Stock asus motherboard, intergrated graphics.
zboard, optical mouse.

About 1300$ worth of hardware.

[lainlives]

FC2? You're only four/five releases behind there

again my laziness
and is fc6/7 any better really because i just might get off my lazy rump and download it (it takes like 2 hrs)

and i need to know where i can buy a DVD burner $cheap$ because i AM NOT downloading all /what 24?/ disks to debian!

[boogyman]

tigerdirect.com
brand names for cheap, and I believe they ship internationally but dont quote me on that

[lainlives]

thank you everyone with a low-end system
it makes me fell so much better that i got a bad system


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...5525&CatId=482
only if these were SCSI