Quote:
Originally Posted by HoMiPa
Off topic to the ransomware, but does it HAVE to be a Macbook? As in, is that the requirement? I only ask because I got my daughter an Alienware as her high school grad gift, because she was majoring in theatre, specifically set design. The Alienware has amazing graphics capabilities, because it is designed for hardcore gamers. She graduated this past spring, and the Alienware served her very well. Not only is it built like a tank (she's dropped it down entire flights of stairs, while open, and running, with nary a hiccup), but I can't count the number of times she was the ONLY one in some of her classes that could even do the work while in class. Her Alienware would chew right through the graphics programs and spit out her design, while everyone else's computers would be slogging through the work at a snail's pace. There were even times when the school's desktop computers couldn't handle the 3D graphics design work, and students would spend hours just sitting, waiting..... If you can swing an Alienware, there isn't anything that can come close to how well it handles graphics.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Padgett
As to Alienware (or gaming computers in general), they can be very good graphics systems for a good price but if peer pressure is forcing an Apple (a Macbook Pro is $2k+ and they want full retail for a '15 model), I'd take a look at the refurbished store.
Personally I do not care for them (a $2k notebook without a touch screen ?) and Apple is famous for stopping upgrades after 8 or so years even if capable but have friends who will have nothing else.
Bottom line: Moore's Law hit a periodic plateau about 2014 and the only real improvement since than has been inexpensive SSDs (I have a hot-rodded 11" 2in1 with four-core Atom processor, a 500GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM that can outrun an i7 with a rotating drive. And has a touch screen). |
The requirement for the MacBook Pro comes from the College of Architecture/Design. It's not peer pressure.
And this on top of already paying a $2000 premium per semester for design classes. Auburn's College of Architecture must be "special". We are looking into refurbished. Just have to see how it compares to the student discount. Or maybe apply the discount to a refurb unit.
OP, My husband is currently in the process of using an Avast program to unencrypt my files. Go to Avast website and look for malware programs. You have to know what your malware is named. Mine is "Global" or something like that. The idea is you create a copy of a good file. Then let the ransomware encrypt that file. Then you upload a copy of both the good file and the encrypted file to the Avast program. The program will take hours to figure out the encryption, but this is supposed to do the trick. (((Fingers crossed)))
UPDATE: Avast didn't work. So I've lost all my files. Nothing to be done at this point. Factory reset for me.