Nobody Uses That Anymore

Whenever I’m feeling confident that I’m successfully contributing to raising five children, my 13-year old daughter does something to jolt me back to reality. That the was the case this week as I sat in the car and gently honked the horn as a reminder she was going to be late for dance practice.

Stop Directly Comparing CPU Specs

Every time a new generation of CPUs is announced, I see a number of people writing about how they think it will be faster (or slower) than current technology because of the advertised specifications. CPU specs alone don’t tell the whole story, though, and comparing core count and clock speed across different brands or generations of processors is extremely misleading. Stop doing it!

Dear Bitplane and Imaris Users

Due to the extraordinary amount of time and effort that goes into one of our Recommended Systems we will no longer be able to maintain and update our Recommended System for Imaris.

Tesla Builds More Than a Supercharger

I got in line at the Starbucks’ drive-thru yesterday for my iced caramel macciato. While waiting, I noticed a familiar scene play out. This is a scene I’ve watched dozens of times since Tesla placed a Supercharger station in the Starbuck’s parking lot:

Tesla owners chatting with each other.

ANSYS Mechanical – Balancing Performance and Licensing Costs

We test a lot of software here at Puget Systems, and in most cases what we are looking for is what hardware lets a given program run the fastest – or in some cases, what is the most cost effective. If you can get 95% of the best possible performance for half the price that it would cost to get a full 100%, for example, that is often a compelling way to go. However, ANSYS Mechanical (and FLUENT) present a different challenge: how can you get the best performance within the limitations of the ANSYS licensing model?

The Best Service for Sharing Large Files

Over the past few years, customers have asked us to recommend a service for sharing large files. In the past I’ve recommended Dropbox to those sending files under 2GB. But what if you need to send a really large file, say a 50GB file? And what if you need to send that 50GB file to five people in different locations?

Have a problem? Don’t Wait!

I was recently having some issues with my cable internet and TV. At first, the cable box would periodically freeze and we’d be unable to change the channel. About the same time, the internet would cut out as well too. At first, it was only happening a couple of times a week. Eventually, it started happening a couple times a day.

The First Five

There’s nothing quite like a fresh install of Windows.

It takes time. It takes patience. And, at least once during the process, I want to strangle someone at Microsoft.

Once I’ve updated all my device drivers and let Windows Update do its thing, I launch into a fresh, unadulterated Windows desktop. it’s the equivalent to that new car smell. You know it’s not going to last more than a week or two, but you might as well enjoy it while it lasts!

In Search of the Best Slideshow Software

I didn’t realize what I’d got myself into when I volunteered to put a slideshow together for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. I asked my father to send me some of his earliest pictures so I could scan them. A few days later two large manilla envelopes full of old Polaroids arrived. When I asked if he could send a few recent pictures, he sent a USB stick that contained over 10,000 pictures.

Intel & AMD: The 2017 CPU Wars

AMD is releasing a whole spectrum of new CPUs this year, from the consumer oriented Ryzen to the server-class Epyc. In response, Intel has accelerated their normal processor release cadence and is putting out new products across the board as well. We are here to explain a bit about what is going on, what to look forward to, and whether it is worth waiting for.