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I am looking at buying a laptop and have a question; is it possible or even reasonable to buy a new machine with Win 7 on it? In my limited exposure to Win 8 I found it annoying and don't have any desire for a laptop to have a touchscreen. I am still of two minds over what "type" of laptop I want (either a cheap/simple one to do email and Excel on, or something that could run Vectorworks or CAD) and figuring out if I need to accept Win 8 will give me somewhere to start.
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Mar 29, 2015 23:36
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bunnielab posted:I am looking at buying a laptop and have a question; is it possible or even reasonable to buy a new machine with Win 7 on it? In my limited exposure to Win 8 I found it annoying and don't have any desire for a laptop to have a touchscreen. I am still of two minds over what "type" of laptop I want (either a cheap/simple one to do email and Excel on, or something that could run Vectorworks or CAD) and figuring out if I need to accept Win 8 will give me somewhere to start. Business class laptops often still come with 7. A consumer class laptop with 7 is old stock.
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Mar 29, 2015 23:44
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Boiled Water posted:Steam in home streaming is also a great opportunity to stash that big black monolith in a closet somewhere. I think most people just keep it in the nightstand.
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Mar 30, 2015 01:24
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MaxxBot posted:I just got the midrange model with the 256GB SSD, I've been pretty happy with it so far. You can upgrade the SSD yourself but I chose to just pay extra for the 256GB model because it has one of the best performing SSDs out there. I'm dual booting with Windows 10 technical preview and I've had surprisingly few issues, just trouble running some games but that's probably to be expected. Cheers, trigger pulled!
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Mar 30, 2015 01:43
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bunnielab posted:I am looking at buying a laptop and have a question; is it possible or even reasonable to buy a new machine with Win 7 on it? In my limited exposure to Win 8 I found it annoying and don't have any desire for a laptop to have a touchscreen. I am still of two minds over what "type" of laptop I want (either a cheap/simple one to do email and Excel on, or something that could run Vectorworks or CAD) and figuring out if I need to accept Win 8 will give me somewhere to start. Windows 8.1 improved things for non touch users a bit, if your only experience was with 8 immediately after release (or not at all) you might not have much of a problem. For the most part, you never have to experience the Modern interface except for the start screen. If you're a keyboard kind of person, you don't even need to see the whole start screen to search for programs, settings, or files. You can bring up a search pane for those specific things with Win + Q, Win + W, and Win + F respectively. If you really need a start menu like in 7, there are a few programs you can install that will give you one.
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Mar 30, 2015 02:17
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I think you can purchase "downgrade rights" with Win 8.1 pro and enterprise Unless you have a very specific software requirements, 8.1 with Classic STart is a loving fantastic OS, it's incredibly fast and responsive on an SSD with modern hardware, hell, it runs on what's effectively a Chromebook. My x230 has Win7 Pro on it and I'm considering upgrading to Win 8.1 Pro whenever I have time. At this rate it will probably be Win 10 Pro. When Win 10 comes out in October this year you'll be 2 versions behind running an OS that was designed in 2006 and released six years ago 
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Mar 30, 2015 02:59
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I think downgrade rights are only available through Open License stuff.
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Mar 30, 2015 03:16
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Lenovo and HP both still ship 7 on their corporate lines. Despite my bitching in the W10 thread I don't thing it's worth seeking out Windows 7 now though - it limits your choices too much.
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Mar 30, 2015 06:24
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Ambihelical Hexnut posted:RE: laptop graphics Thank you! I can't believe I forgot about that feature. This will make buying a new laptop so, so much easier (and cheaper). I don't use laptops for my main gaming but do have reasons its nice, and this solves virtually all my problems.
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Mar 30, 2015 08:55
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Speaking of, what are the (preferably free) alternatives for streaming your game to your laptop. I have ~10ms ping from work to home and I'd like to try it, but steam wants me to run a vpn to do it and that's 
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Mar 30, 2015 09:19
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Are PNY drives garbage? I was thinking of getting a small one for my slowly fading M330 core laptop.
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Mar 30, 2015 14:57
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ZenVulgarity posted:Are PNY drives garbage? I was thinking of getting a small one for my slowly fading M330 core laptop. XLR8: meh Optima: garbage Thus sayeth the SSD megathread OP.
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Mar 30, 2015 15:06
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-15-6-A...rc=1&rmvSB=true This seems like a pretty decent all arounder for $300
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Mar 30, 2015 20:04
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ZenVulgarity posted:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-15-6-A...rc=1&rmvSB=true For a low end laptop it's got okay specs but I was able to get a refurbished Thinkpad T420 for less that had a 1600x900 screen with the same 8GB of RAM. The acer would be better at gaming but for work I'd prefer the Thinkpad. The thinkpad will probably also not fall apart in a couple of years.
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Mar 30, 2015 22:09
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So I think I'm gonna pull the trigger and get the Y50 for 829 (plus tax) from the B&N link. I'm a bit confused though - all the reviews mentioning the monitor being terrible seem to suggest it is TN, but the Lenovo site says IPS. Should I assume that the screen has been improved since those reviews? And would IPS fix the main problems mentioned, which were low brightness/contrast and poor color correction. Also, for anyone that has the Y50-70, are there any big issues with the keyboard/trackpad? The Lenovo I have isn't great on that end, but unless it's truly terrible I don't really care much. Alternatively, does anyone have a suggestion for a similarly powerful (processor, don't care about gpu) laptop within that price range? Most of the ones in the OP seem to use a 5200u which if cpu benchmark is correct, is actually worse than my 2-3 year old laptop. I am an accountant and often deal with spreadsheets that have hundreds of thousands of lines and/or many calculations, so the extra boost is helpful, although I do most of my work on a desktop.
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Mar 31, 2015 11:39
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Gzuz-Kriced posted:Also, for anyone that has the Y50-70, are there any big issues with the keyboard/trackpad? The Lenovo I have isn't great on that end, but unless it's truly terrible I don't really care much.
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Mar 31, 2015 13:40
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There's a new Surface 3 in play now. Gone are the ARM versions of non-Pros, this one is Cherry Trail ( x7-Z8700 ), so it runs full Windows. 10.8" 1920×1280 3:2 screen. It's quite a bit cheaper than the Surface Pro 3, but this isn't a budget Windows convertible either. The 2GB/64GB unit will retail for $499. The 4GB/128GB version will cost $599. Keyboard cover will still be the same $120 that it costs on the SP3. It supports the same digitizer as the SP3, but you have to buy the pen separately for $50. Charges via micro-usb. You will also be able to get this in an LTE variant for $100 premium. It's pricey for the on paper specs compared to what you can get elsewhere, but the hardware design and build quality are top notch and you'll be getting support directly from Microsoft which is great by all accounts. It'll be interesting to see how the reviews shake out. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/microsoft-unveils-the-surface-3-mostly-armless-a-whole-lot-x86ier/
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Mar 31, 2015 15:39
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Those are the iPad price points so I think that's a comfortable range for a lot of people. I assume that's what the commercials will be focusing on too.
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Mar 31, 2015 15:49
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Device price itself is OK, but the accessory prices are pretty out of line. $120 for the keyboard cover needs at least $40 knocked off of it. $200 for the dock is just completely fantasy land. Make both accessories have an MSRP under $100 each and things become a lot more compelling. I say $79 for the keyboard cover, $79 for the dock, and $39 for the pen. Then offer a bundle that includes all 3 for a 10% discount. Suddenly, the S3 becomes the perfect college device. In class note taking with OneNote and the pen. Portable typing for writing papers in the library. Docked with full keyboard, mouse and 2nd monitor when back at the room.
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Mar 31, 2015 16:03
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That $599 surface sounds pretty good, if it has the same quality IPS screen as the Surface Pro 3. I agree that keyboard is too pricy, $50-70 is more reasonable. I don't care how good it is, a keyboard that costs 20% of the base unit's price is absurd. I was on board with it until I saw the keyboard price. Does it work with their new universal keyboard? That thing is pretty cool.
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Mar 31, 2015 16:35
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Hadlock posted:That $599 surface sounds pretty good, if it has the same quality IPS screen as the Surface Pro 3. I agree that keyboard is too pricy, $50-70 is more reasonable. I don't care how good it is, a keyboard that costs 20% of the base unit's price is absurd. I was on board with it until I saw the keyboard price. Does it work with their new universal keyboard? That thing is pretty cool. You also have to buy the pen, which really sucks. By the time you got the keyboard and pen it's $770. They're going to need some education pricing on it if they want to get it to students, you can get the i5/128GB Surface Pro 3 with a Pen for $900 all day long with education pricing.
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Mar 31, 2015 16:38
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Haha soz not loving paying that much for a keyboard
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Mar 31, 2015 17:19
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The device itself looks cool but ~170 in what are basically mandatory accessories is a bit of a gently caress you
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Mar 31, 2015 17:38
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Gzuz-Kriced posted:the Y50 Please let us know how you like it, a Y50 is on my short list to use as a drafting laptop.
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Mar 31, 2015 18:08
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Fetus Tree posted:The device itself looks cool but ~170 in what are basically mandatory accessories is a bit of a gently caress you Yeah it's basically a way for them to advertise it as cheaper than it is at this point.
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Mar 31, 2015 18:22
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Fetus Tree posted:The device itself looks cool but ~170 in what are basically mandatory accessories is a bit of a gently caress you i hear windows 8 touch apps and games are really catching on!!!!!
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Mar 31, 2015 18:23
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bull3964 posted:Device price itself is OK, but the accessory prices are pretty out of line. A Lenovo dock is something like $200+, so I don't think it's entirely unreasonable though I wish it were less. I agree about the keyboard and pen, however.
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Mar 31, 2015 18:25
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On the flipside, the Asus X205T i got through the MS store per this threads recommendation has been working perfectly for me, so good on MS for that Battery life on this thing is bananas. Fly from boston to vegas and then had a 2.5 hour car ride into the middle of the desert and i was still at like 70% battery or some crazy poo poo
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Mar 31, 2015 18:56
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TopherCStone posted:A Lenovo dock is something like $200+, so I don't think it's entirely unreasonable though I wish it were less. I agree about the keyboard and pen, however. I think the key different there is the Lenovo dock is something that's pointed at business whereas this device is in the consumer space.
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Mar 31, 2015 19:00
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The y50's trackpad is garbage. The machine itself, keyboard, monitor (4k touch here), and (surprisingly!) speakers/woofer are AMAZING. The thing gets barely warm sitting on my lap playing cities:skylines for hours at a time. The trackpad is mostly awful because its buttons aren't really there. I very often left click when I want to right click and sometimes do windows 8 gestures when I just want to click a button. Overall? Totally worth it. The machine owns, and the trackpad works well enough to play my turn-based strategy games / navigate menus / browse Internet. Anything more intense than that will 100% need a mouse or other pointer device plugged in, though.
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Mar 31, 2015 19:00
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bull3964 posted:I think the key different there is the Lenovo dock is something that's pointed at business whereas this device is in the consumer space. Also a ThinkPad or EliteBook dock isn't going to be attached to a $599 system.
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Mar 31, 2015 19:26
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DNK posted:The y50's trackpad is garbage. Sounds good. Still slightly worried about the monitor (since I'm not going with the touch version), but I'll hope that the IPS screen is at least better than my current laptop, where I have to jack up the brightness/contrast to ridiculous levels just to see details in dark games, which of course makes all other computer use look completely washed out. Trackpad sounds the same as the one on the p580, which is atrocious, but also the thing I care about least. Thanks again for all the info, I'll give a review once I get it...assuming I don't chicken out and not buy it at the last second.
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Mar 31, 2015 19:52
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Gzuz-Kriced posted:So I think I'm gonna pull the trigger and get the Y50 for 829 (plus tax) from the B&N link. I'm a bit confused though - all the reviews mentioning the monitor being terrible seem to suggest it is TN, but the Lenovo site says IPS. Should I assume that the screen has been improved since those reviews? And would IPS fix the main problems mentioned, which were low brightness/contrast and poor color correction. Newer Y50s all have IPS panels. If it has the HM87 chipset and/or 960M graphics, then it's IPS. Otherwise, it's most likely TN. If you want to double check, look up your model number in the PSREF: http://psref.lenovo.com/Product/67
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Mar 31, 2015 20:02
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Google just announced two new Chromebooks, both $150 from two Chinese brands I've never heard of before. Asus has a new $179 Chromebook and also a Yoga style flip over convertible Chromebook for $250. Also apparently now they have a Chromecast format/looking chromebook device called the Chromebit for $100 that plugs directly in to your TVs HDMI port and it's about the size of a stick of gum. Apparently most if not all of these new models use the Rockchip A12/A17 ARM CPU (no Intel, no x86 compatibility) but packs a pretty solid GPU that can decode more than one 1080p video steam at once in real time. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Mar 31, 2015 |
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Mar 31, 2015 20:24
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Just bought a refurbed Thinkpad X220 on eBay for $250 (i5 2.5gb sandybridge). I also picked up a Crucial SSD and RAM upgrade, and it should all be here by the end of the week. I've heard they're good machines and I've looking for a decent, upgrade-friendly laptop for school and such. I've heard iffy things about the trackpad though, but I'm mostly a mouse user anyway so I'm sure I'll deal.
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Mar 31, 2015 20:42
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shyduck posted:Just bought a refurbed Thinkpad X220 on eBay for $250 (i5 2.5gb sandybridge). I also picked up a Crucial SSD and RAM upgrade, and it should all be here by the end of the week. I've heard they're good machines and I've looking for a decent, upgrade-friendly laptop for school and such. I've heard iffy things about the trackpad though, but I'm mostly a mouse user anyway so I'm sure I'll deal. The trackpad has an annoying texture that will rub your finger uncomfortably. However, the trackpoint is good. If the laptop will get knocked around a lot in the bag, consider filing down the little plastic nipples on the edges/corners of the screen bezel as they will put pressure on the corresponding parts of the palm rest and cause them to break (the X220 is from the awkward initial phase of Lenovo trying to figure out how to make Thinkpads differently from IBM, but apart from these two issues it's good).
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Mar 31, 2015 21:36
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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shyduck posted:Just bought a refurbed Thinkpad X220 on eBay for $250 (i5 2.5gb sandybridge). I also picked up a Crucial SSD and RAM upgrade, and it should all be here by the end of the week. I've heard they're good machines and I've looking for a decent, upgrade-friendly laptop for school and such. I've heard iffy things about the trackpad though, but I'm mostly a mouse user anyway so I'm sure I'll deal. Disable the trackpad immediately in my opinion. Use Trackpoint or external mouse only to avoid frustration.
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Mar 31, 2015 22:25
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Gzuz-Kriced posted:Sounds good. Still slightly worried about the monitor (since I'm not going with the touch version), but I'll hope that the IPS screen is at least better than my current laptop, where I have to jack up the brightness/contrast to ridiculous levels just to see details in dark games, which of course makes all other computer use look completely washed out. Trackpad sounds the same as the one on the p580, which is atrocious, but also the thing I care about least. Thanks again for all the info, I'll give a review once I get it...assuming I don't chicken out and not buy it at the last second. As long as you double check that you're getting an IPS screen, don't worry. I recently bought the non-touch, non 4k IPS with an 860m gpu and the screen is fantastic. Agree about the trackpad though. It tracks finger movements and gestures well enough for me, but button clicks are completely useless. I use my mouse 99% of the time, and the other 1% of the time I tap to select instead of clicking. I'm used to spreading out across spacious desktop keyboards, so the key placement is taking some getting used to (especially the scrunched up arrow and shift keys near the numpad), but otherwise the keyboard is great (and probably won't be an issue at all if you're used to laptop keyboards).
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Apr 1, 2015 03:05
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shyduck posted:Just bought a refurbed Thinkpad X220 on eBay for $250 (i5 2.5gb sandybridge). I also picked up a Crucial SSD and RAM upgrade, and it should all be here by the end of the week. I've heard they're good machines and I've looking for a decent, upgrade-friendly laptop for school and such. I've heard iffy things about the trackpad though, but I'm mostly a mouse user anyway so I'm sure I'll deal. Is this a 2.5" SSD or an mSATA SSD? I remember there being heat problems (that would make some part eventually break) if you use an mSATA SSD on the X220.
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Apr 1, 2015 04:23
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Posting from my new XPS 13... man this thing is sweet. The cheapo screen is beautiful, and I can't imagine why anyone would even want more than 1080p on a 13" screen. I kind of wish it had a touch screen, but I'll live. My only gripe so far is that for some reason, two-finger scrolling SUUUUCKS. I want so much to love this trackpad... it feels absolutely fantastic... much better than Macs or anything else I've tried... but when I try to scroll, it takes about half the swipe just to register that I have two fingers down before it starts scrolling. I don't get it... it works great when I use two fingers to side-swipe in the Metro interface... but scrolling down forums, news, or facebook is just miserable. Any suggestions? edit: there was a trackpad firmware update, but that didn't help Also, does anyone know why, for example, when I try to two-finger scroll in my skype chat log, it just kind of jiggles the whole app window up and down instead of scrolling the chat like a regular mouse wheel? Does that have some function I'm not aware of? I haven't had a proper laptop in a long time. AgentCow007 fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Apr 1, 2015 |
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Apr 1, 2015 08:15
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