Help me understand Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Wikipedia has a confusing chart that seems to indicate matching processor to the RAM is more important than the actual specs of the RAM or processor. [more inside]
posted by brenton on Apr 8, 2009 - 15 answers

Laptopfilter: I'm curious about how CPU usage, noise level, and being able to go to standby/hibernation and shut down properly are related. For a long time (over a year, I think) my HP laptop(running Windows XP) was at 100% CPU usage all the time, ran loudly, and wouldn't go to standby or hibernation or shut down all the way. There's a lot [more inside]
posted by sleeplessunderwater on Jan 31, 2007 - 11 answers

Shopping for a cheap used laptop: What are the minimum specs I should be looking for with respect to CPU, RAM, HD? I'm planning to use WinXP (maybe I'll settle for 2K), Open Office, and FireFox (including some AJAX-heavy web sites such as gmail, Google Docs, del.icio.us), with a wifi card. And not much else. I want to avoid "I'm always waiting for this stupid slow computer!" but not spend much more than the minimum needed to avoid that.
posted by Leonard of Vince on Dec 18, 2006 - 24 answers

Winxp laptop: Blue screen, unrequested reboots and mysterious problems. Please help me connect the dots and figure out what's wrong with my computer. [more inside]
posted by miniape on Feb 5, 2006 - 6 answers

Is it a bad idea to run the Folding@Home client on a laptop? [more inside]
posted by knave on Apr 19, 2005 - 11 answers

Why do certain Windows applications eat up 100% of my CPU processing capacity, and what can I do about it? This just happened when I started up Zelda Classic, and happens with my SNES emulator. Additional clues and oddities under the fold, Cartalk-style. [more inside]
posted by Saucy Intruder on Mar 22, 2005 - 14 answers

My laptop has taken to switching itself off at random intervals, but only at my parents or in-laws houses. The general consensus is that these houses are hotter than my own and it may be just enough to upset my system.

Can anyone recommend a good freeware (pref OpenSource) program to check up on the internal temperatures of the system? I'm running WinXP.
posted by twine42 on Jan 21, 2004 - 8 answers