Tech Review: Windows 7 Ultimate

Hey guys, it's rare I do a tech review on this site but for once I have something to contribute in this area. Two weeks ago I had nabbed a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for sixteen dollars as a student of Stony Brook University. Lucky me.

I'll be honest, my computer is not 100 percent compatible with Windows 7. I may have a wonderfully working NVIDIA 8800M GTS Graphics Card, but it doesn't quite work with some of the media and visual features of Windows 7. I am also not tech savvy, so some features have gone unused and I am basically going for a performance review.

I own a Gateway P series FX with a 250 GB hard drive, 3 GB of Memory RAM, and a miserable 1.66 GHz Intel Core Two Duo Processor. So on the processing side my computer might seem weak, but it turns out that it worked well with Vista Premium and works FANTASTIC with Windows 7.

With Vista Premium, page loading time on Google Chrome took two point seven seconds on average. With Windows 7, it takes one point four seconds. That, is a very big speed increase, and my computer scored big on the windows index test.

Granted be, the thing scores one out of seven because my Gateway laptop lacks video capabilities for some of the features. But if you take the video parts out of this loophole for the scoring, my computer scores a four point five out of seven. On Vista, my computer had scored a five point five out of ten. So scoring four point five out of seven is very very good, the performance of this computer with Windows Seven is remarkable. The CPU meter shows only a fourteen percent use of my CPU and twenty percent of my memory. Vista used a little more than twice as much for both, so my computer is literally on steroids with Windows 7.

In terms of compatibility I will say this, update your drivers because video and audio seemed a bit clunky until I went to the Gateway website and re-downloaded them (With the help of fellow author Mark). Programs that worked for Vista WILL work for Windows 7, but my Adobe Premier Elements Four program is not working correctly. I bought that in December 2007, so it could be too old to use. It might be that my project was done in Vista and I just have to start over too. Every other program converted to Windows 7 just fine.

Power management has many customizable features. Be a bit careful in this area because it allows control of cooling, cut offs for hard disk and battery level, and yet it doesn't have the screen brightness settings available in Power Management. I messed up the first time doing the settings, and had a weird result. Keep tabs on how your power management behaves and adjust it occasionally. There isn't MUCH of a battery life improvement, but it certainly can be lengthened in this version of Windows better than Vista.

Unlike Windows Vista, the bottom icons fit all the different windows into one icon on the task bar instead of mashing together in seven to eight different three inch windows just for Google Chrome. This provided much less hassle for me, and I also have an easier time limiting the amount of icons on the task bar that can provide notifications for its program.

Having heaped all this praise, it was a pain to put on and I don't recommend it for two year old computers, Windows Vista was not so bad. I kind of wish I had stayed with Vista since my Adobe editing program doesn't work that great with Windows 7 for an unexplained reason other than it could be too old. If you are so inclined to do it anyway like I did, you will have a decent upgrade of power on your computer.

Remember, I am no expert on tech. I merely did this because it was such a bargain to go from Vista Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate for sixteen dollars. I applaud Microsoft for their latest Operating System.

Merry Christmas to all

As we approach a treasured holiday, everyone here at Geeksquisite is busy wrapping gifts and preparing for the holiday. So please excuse our lack of posting in general, we will be back to report on the world of gaming the day after Christmas.

This is Geeksquisite's first christmas, and I am thankful to be a part of this contributing team.

We will absolutely do our best to have a podcast for all you listeners next week on Avatar the movie.

We apologize for our lack of posting, but stress the importance of our work in the outside world pressuring us towards the November/December months.

Once again, thank you our readers for taking a minute to read our thoughts in the world of gaming.

FUCK MOTHER NATURE: AVATAR SO CLOSE YET SO FAR

Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while do to college craziness. I feel like i have something to say though. FUCK MOTHER NATURE!!! I should be sitting in a warm toasty screening of Avatar in IMAX as we speak the trailers are about to roll. And guess what I'm sitting at home typing this up instead. The snow has played some wicked tricks on me before but this is just cruel. It couldn't blizzard when New Moon came out or when Alvin and the Chipmunks hit theaters but on the FUCKING OPENING WEEKEND OF AVATAR. I'm so miserable right now that it hurts. I have in my hands 3 beautiful IMAX tickets for the epic 14 years in the making world changing AVATAR and i'm typing this. That is All.

Iron Man 2 Trailer

The Movie Blog recently put up this Iron Man 2 trailer, speaking of which I am glad that site will still exist even without John Campea. Anyway, here's the trailer:



At first the trailer was great until Whiplash started his monolouge, where I couldn't understand Mickey Rourke and had to replay it.

Otherwise, this trailer is sick. I finally got to see Rhodes in his War Machine costume, and damn did he look good. I also thought Whiplash looked cool and menacing, despite my earlier comment about being unable to understand him at first. Swing those whips!

There wasn't too much on the Scarlet Widow, but Johannson will probably do great. I did find the fact that Tony Stark disrobed his Ironman armor on stage in front of everyone kind of weird. In the beginning a court demands that Tony Stark hands over the Ironman technology, so wouldn't he want to avoid keeping it under a stage.

That's a nitpick, so don't think about it too hard unless the movie overlooks that fact when we all get to see it.

I have to wonder how Whiplash could figure out the Ironman technology for the power source, i'm sure the film will explain that too.

I'm looking forward to this movie VERY VERY MUCH, it could even be better than the first.

Halo Reach Trailer Impressions

It's long overdue, but I felt that better quality videos of this trailer needed to seed youtube before I actually posted one. So before you even consider my opinions on this matter, check out the trailer:



When viewing this trailer, I was pretty excited. The graphics/visuals are good, and Bungie stressed the importance of the cinematic scenes being on the in-game graphics capabilities. Good idea Bungie.

Visuals are all nice and everything, but among the ODST soldiers I did not see a single Spartan. True, Spartans like to act alone but seeing one would have been nice. Having said that, the encounters with the characters were entertaining at the very least. I noticed how different each ODST was dressed, i'm a fan of more customization for your character during online matches.

(rant)The helicopters in the trailer excited me, but for a different reason. Many Halo fans wish to drive the pelican, but i'm willing to forgo this in favor of aerial firing. It would be really satisfying to have a mission, where thousands of covenant litter a valley. Your Spartan/ODST would have to "spray" the field, then get down there and finish all of the rest. That is wishful thinking by me, and merely a rant.

For the most part the trailer was good, but there are clearly dissenting people who think the trailer was nothing special. Sure I would like to see gameplay, but it's quite unnecessary since we are getting a beta in Spring 2010 (at least that is what I have heard).

The Halo franchise brought me into gaming, Halo: Combat Evolved was the very first game I played on Xbox. So this early adoption of the Halo franchise makes me biased in many ways, and I get into arguments regarding Halo 3 and Halo: ODST many many times. Halo Reach is going back to the beginning of the fight, the brutes that dominated Halo 3 don't work with the covenant quite yet. So we're going to get more elite combat action, something I feel the lack of made Halo 3 and Halo: ODST disappointing.

So maybe the franchise has fallen in popularity with some, but would gamers truly consider a Bungie made game bad? No, they are a company who has made good games. We can hope Halo Reach is truly magnificent as a game, but we need to calm down when analyzing the trailer. It is just a trailer.

Ed's Top Five Recommended Christmas Specials

Christmas is upon us, and one of the things we love about the holiday is the barrage of Christmas special movies. Christmas specials are entwined within our hearts and part of memories with our familes, a tradition we pass along to our future families. So many movies around the sentimentality of Christmas are made, and here are five I hold in high regard

1. A Christmas Story
Did you honestly believe I wouldn't put this movie first? Not only is it highly regarded but it has some really genuine moments we can all relate to. The narration is SO good in this movie, and it even has some good laughs. The blatantly unrealistic moments in Ralphie's imagination when he has his BB gun are priceless to watch.

2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The live action one with Jim Carrey is crap, it seriously fails in it's cheap gags to even be close to sentimental. The animated 1966 movie however is a classic. It's a perfect movie for those trying to find the Christmas spirit, even when it seems the Grinch is going to steal Christmas; the Whos prove him wrong. There's something magical about the singing of "Fahoo Forays" that really gets to me every time I watch it.

3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Everyone knows who Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is, he's in songs and he is in movies. his movie is his origin story of Rudolph and a story of his unintended journey to save Christmas. The musical numbers are pretty entertaining, especially the "Misfits" bit. Burl Ives, a man known for his timeless Christmas numbers narrates this timeless adventure.

4. Olive the Other Reindeer
This movie is not as high on the list for most people, but I personally recommend it. It seems to be my favorite one for some reason, maybe its because the drive of Olive the Dog is mishearing that Santa needed all of the other reindeer, which she heard as Olive, the Other Reindeer. That is a good chuckle that will stay with you throughout the whole movie. While the animation is nothing spectacular, the imagination of the animators as Santa delivers gifts around the world is pretty entertaining.

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Always been a Peanuts fan, really enjoyed their take on Christmas. Fans of the Peanuts gang debate over Charlie Brown and his redeeming values, many viewers will say "good grief" in this Christmas special. This movie even with all the issues of Christmas still holds true to the meaning of Christmas. Regardless of difficulties at Christmas, the arrival of the holiday brings peace in your heart and a willingness to stand together to enjoy the holiday. Nothing says that more than the touching way this film progresses and ends.

So those are my top five Christmas specials, some are typical and some will not appeal to you as much as others. That is completely fine, in the end its all about the magic, hope, heart and meaning of the upcoming wonderful holiday.

We Bought Modern Warfare 2

Wow! Big surprise here, we all bought Modern Warfare 2 on release day.
We also caught it all on camera! Watch all of the drama and action of our night, along with some interesting conversations about the game.