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huhwhat posted:Well, this Y520 configuration is exclusive to lovely third world countries. Comes with a 1050 (non-Ti) with a piddly 2GB VRAM. My reasoning for cheaping out was that the money saved will go towards a new machine when the Y520 becomes obsolete/dies 2-3 years down the line. I'm sad to tell you this, but a nicely spec'd Y520 with the i7 (quad-core) and 1050 Ti 4 GB (in addition to 8-16 GB of RAM) probably would have been worth it both for the performance and the money spent, particularly in that it should easily last at least 2-3 years, probably more. As far as your memory situation is concerned, it's a universal thing. You want as much of the fastest type of memory as possible, because when you run out of that the system goes to the next, slower level and you lose performance. If the CPU doesn't find what it needs in L1 cache, it goes to L2, then to L3, then to the system RAM, etc. If you don't have enough system RAM, Windows uses the page file on the HDD/SSD. Similarly, if you don't have enough VRAM it dips into system RAM, etc. That's why having excess RAM is a waste of money, but having enough is vital. As an example, I looked at that wolfgang guy's Crysis 3 video: at 1080P that game uses almost 2 GB of VRAM (to the point where you'd want either a 1060 3 GB or a 1050 4 GB to be safe) but over 4 GB of system RAM. At the same resolution, Hitman uses close to 3 GB VRAM but well over 5 GB of RAM. Overwatch uses just under 2 GB VRAM, and around 6 GB RAM. Witcher 3 uses under 2 GB VRAM, over 6 GB RAM at 1080P, but at 1440P is crosses the 2 GB VRAM threshold at times and system RAM usage varies wildly from under 7 GB to over 9 GB (some of the results are inconsistent and I'm not sure why.) The Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark consumes over 3 GB VRAM, showing the limitation of a 2 GB 1050 or 3 GB 1060, and can use well over 7 GB RAM. Battlefield 1 is similar to the last one in that it uses over 3 GB VRAM and approaches the 8 GB system RAM mark. Ultimately, while you can adjust the settings to make games fit your system, benchmarks like these illustrate the typical resource usage of modern games. You generally want 4 GB of VRAM (which is very attainable in something as cheap as a 1050 Ti) and a minimum of 8 GB system RAM in a gaming system, and should seriously consider approaching 16 GB depending on what you intend to run. Ophidia posted:My exact model is ASUS Convertible UX360UAK-C4222T Yeesh, I looked that up and it's a pain in the rear end finding published details about it. It appears to be a Euro-specific model, and has one HDMI port. That fact, in addition to the lack of details about the Alt Modes that the USB 3.1 Type C implementation may or may not possess suggest that it doesn't have any, otherwise I'd expect that to be advertised somewhere. You'd have to contact Asus and ask them directly, but I'm inferring that that system is limited to video out over the HDMI port and the Type C is for data only, no video or power delivery (that is, no powering the laptop through it.) Now your first post said you were looking for a laptop, but then you said you already have this one? If you have such a system with only one proper video output but need a second, and are running a Linux distro, you could consider a DisplayLink monitor (or adapter.) They have drivers for Ubuntu, at the very least. As a random example, here is such a monitor and this is a docking station that would allow you to connect any monitor (as well as other devices.) I can't confirm Linux support but the driver exists and it's pretty much your only option without built-in hardware support in the form of multiple onboard video outputs. Stitecin posted:I need a new laptop. I use Excel and would like to be able to watch Netflix or display streamed rugby and hockey games on my TV, but most use will be dealing with photos and videos of my family or random internet time wasting. No macs. I don't mean to be flippant, but I don't really know how else to describe what I am after. How about a Chromebook? It'll handle office work, Web browsing and video streaming. I don't see any current deals on Amazon, but these devices are generally reasonably priced and there are durable options. If you have any requirements, like portability, display size, etc., we could narrow down the recommendations. Also, you can test right now if ChromeOS is for you by loading Chrome on a current device and see if you can do everything you need to do within the browser. You can use Google Docs and/or office.com, Netflix and other streaming services no problem, so you'd be looking for anything with no Chrome equivalent. RiggenBlaque posted:What are people's opinions on the Lenovo Yoga 720? I see one of the deals Lenovo has on it right now has the IPS display/8gb ram/256 SSD/i5-7200 model going for $730 which sounds pretty respectable for me if the reputation for the model is okay. I don't really use my laptops as my main machine so I think I'm okay with an IPS display - I mainly use it for watching tv shows when i'm cooking dinner and some light browsing here and there, so I guess fairly loud speakers are important to me. Let me leave you with Lon Seidman's playlist for the Yoga 720, he reviewed both the 13" & 15" models in detail. I like his tech reviews in general and I think he goes into enough detail on both models to help you decide. They seem nice, but this type of device only really makes sense if you will actively use the convertible/touchscreen features regularly, otherwise you're just paying extra for a bulkier device than you could be using. IPS (which is an LCD technology rather than a reference to the outer surface) displays are generally well-regarded, because while there are pros and cons to each display technology you could do worse than going with the one that has great viewing angles, color fidelity and black levels be damned. Laptop speakers are generally poor to OK at best, so if the included ones don't cut it you can just add an external Bluetooth one. As far as the display surface goes, glossy has better clarity but more glare, and matte softens both the pixels and glare. It's kind of a personal preference, but also depends how/where you use your device; if you have something with a matte finish you could compare it to your phone, which should have a glossy display. (Also there are generally screen protectors available for various devices in both glossy and matte versions, so you could buy both to test them out before committing to a more expensive laptop purchase.) huhwhat posted:IPS is generally the nicer (better viewing angles, color reproduction) LCD tech compared to TFT. Glossy/matte display surface has nothing to do with a display being IPS or TFT. A glossy display coating is applied for more intense color and deeper blacks at the cost of being reflective nightmares compared to matte. You mean TN here instead of TFT. Pissingintowind posted:I have a real first-world dilemma - trying to decide which fancy laptop to take at my new job. These are the configurations they offer: I'm not an Apple fan, so can't give you a recommendation there, but I will point out that option 2 has the clearly better CPU, an actual quad-core i7, while option 3 has an ULV one that should still be powerful enough but with better battery life. You're not going to notice the difference in display resolutions, but display size and consequently overall device size & weight are considerations, so this would be influenced on how often you lug it around (if this is an every day thing, between home & work then over time you'd appreciate a smaller/lighter device.) I'm not going to compare those GPUs because I'm not that familiar with that Iris in the first place and less so regarding the Radeon Pro. Suffice it to say that gaming performance will probably be modest with either option, and you'd have to install Windows for the greatest flexibility. At this point I've addressed some of your questions indirectly, so I'll go into more detail. CPU generation doesn't really matter here; Kaby Lake is just going to be a little faster, and a little more power-efficient, with some added support for like HEVC and VP9 hardware decoding, none of which should make CPU generation influence your decision. 15" notebooks do indeed feel large nowadays, even though 17" and larger ones are still available. The fact that you can get a small but powerful 13" (or thereabouts) laptop should cause consumers to seriously consider the smaller option. Also note that a smaller device will have a less-capacious battery and that a smaller display won't be as easy to see, but these are reasonable tradeoffs. Again, the more you carry this device around the more portable it should be. I've found that Windows 10 and most 3rd-party applications work well with high resolutions (e.g. 4k Razer Blade Stealth) with individual applications (I think it was Origin) being problematic, but that's their fault rather than MS. Getting to the Windows devices: the XPS 15 is easily the more powerful device, but it's a shame that's not a 1050 Ti. I think the XPS 13 has Thunderbolt over the Type-C connection (albeit only 2 lanes IIRC) so it's at least possible to buy & hook up an eGPU if you're up for the additional expense (several hundred bucks.) You're not going to care about the display resolution or RAM differences, but again there's a huge portability difference between the two. Ultimately the XPS 15 has the best gaming capability by far (but not at that native resolution!,) so the kind of gaming you plan to do should influence your decision the most. The XPS 13 only has modest gaming performance, and if this was my decision I'd go with the XPS 15 if it was my primary gaming machine, otherwise I'd take the XPS 13 since I have other, better gaming hardware.
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Jul 12, 2017 08:33
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Opened up my XPS 15 9550 a few weeks ago because it seemed like the trackpad was popping out and I figured a screw needed tightening. Welp, it's actually happening because my battery has swollen so much it's pushing the trackpad out as well as slowly separating the case itself along the right forward corner. Googling around I see this is a common problem for XPS owners, and, of course, Dell no longer sells the 84whr battery I need to replace it with... Am I risking bathing my genitals in heavy metals and lithium one day as I haplessly play videogames and the battery suddenly goes 'pop'? I'm assuming the laptop will cease working before that happens as the battery continues to push against the other components. I'm already having a lot of instability and crashes to reboot already. So much for thin-and-light for gaming. I'm going back to Lenovo when this finally dies.
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Jul 12, 2017 13:12
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The Bramble posted:Am I risking bathing my genitals in heavy metals and lithium one day as I haplessly play videogames and the battery suddenly goes 'pop'? I'm assuming the laptop will cease working before that happens as the battery continues to push against the other components. I'm already having a lot of instability and crashes to reboot already. "Containment failures" like that are rare. A more likely scenario is that its internal failures continue to create more and more heat until one day it catches on fire and burns your genitals! In all seriousness, a swelling battery is indicative of a seriously failed battery that is at risk of catastrophic failure. If it's swelling enough to be causing physical warping of the case, you should stop using it. It's a legit safety risk at this point. If you can't get replacements from Dell, you can likely find them on eBay. Just be careful with Chinese knockoffs.
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Jul 12, 2017 13:40
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Atomizer posted:
I hadn't considered a Chromebook, but I am not opposed to the idea. I guess I'm just more used to Windows. My work laptop is a MacBook Pro and I hate that the PC keyboard shortcuts don't work in Excel, and I'm a little worried about another Operating System's effect on documents that are shared between MacBook and PC users in my office. I don't really have any portability requirements, it'll be a home laptop that will mostly only move from the couch to the desk. It will occasionally fly with us, but I think any computer that can survive my son can survive being carry on. (He's not a particularly destructive kid, and won't be using it. I'm just worried about him playing with it and it getting dropped.)
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Jul 12, 2017 19:52
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Atomizer posted:
You say I'd be paying extra for a bulkier device but at $730 I'm not sure I've seen any other competitive options for something that small and light. The XPS 13 seems to start around $800 and the Asus Zenbook is $700 but is less aesthetically pleasing. Are there similar models at that price point I'm not aware of? Also as a general question to the thread, I'm starting to look into a new laptop to replace my parents aging T570 (or some older variant, maybe). I want to get them something with an i3 or i5, 8GB ram, 15" screen and maybe even an SSD although honestly I don't think they need that. They mainly use it for Netflix and web browsing, so I'm really looking for things that are built to last (they use them all day every day). I'm leaning towards recommending them another T570 or an XPS15 if they are looking for something fancier looking and lighter. Does anyone have any other solid recommendations? It's so hard to sort through what laptops are actually decent build quality and which are complete poo poo.
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Jul 12, 2017 20:36
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Atomizer posted:I'm sad to tell you this, but a nicely spec'd Y520 with the i7 (quad-core) and 1050 Ti 4 GB (in addition to 8-16 GB of RAM) probably would have been worth it both for the performance and the money spent, particularly in that it should easily last at least 2-3 years, probably more. Thanks for the awesome, thorough reply. I ended up going with the MBP 15" - they actually have the 2017 models now; the info sheet was just dated. Looks like the AMD 560 is on par with the NVIDIA 1050, so dead even there. Chose the 15" screen because I think the extra real estate will come in handy for messing with big spreadsheets/decks, and it's only an extra pound with a minimally larger footprint.
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Jul 12, 2017 21:26
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The Bramble posted:So much for thin-and-light for gaming. I'm going back to Lenovo when this finally dies. Everyone uses the same battery technology, you're not going to avoid this issue by switching manufacturers. You should really replace it as soon as possible, and if you can afford to be without your laptop I would suggest taking it out until your replacement arrives. Swollen batteries are not really that dangerous by themselves, but they will wreck your case and likely everything else if you let it expand more. Dell may not sell the battery anymore but there are a ton on ebay around $80, and if you want to keep the laptop, you should really replace it asap.
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Jul 12, 2017 21:33
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The Bramble posted:Opened up my XPS 15 9550 a few weeks ago because it seemed like the trackpad was popping out and I figured a screw needed tightening. Welp, it's actually happening because my battery has swollen so much it's pushing the trackpad out as well as slowly separating the case itself along the right forward corner. Googling around I see this is a common problem for XPS owners, and, of course, Dell no longer sells the 84whr battery I need to replace it with... Your battery is actively failing, it's contained in an air-tight balloon to prevent toxic gases from getting out while it fails. While it's unlikely that the containment balloon will fail in the next week, you should contact Dell about getting your laptop serviced. All manufacturers have batteries that fail; just like buying a lexus, there's a 1-in-20,000 chance that the engine will blow up before the 30,000 mile mark due to manufacturing defects, batteries have the same problem. Due to the volume and quality control of the XPS series, you're actually more likely to have another battery failure with another manufacturer. Another example, you get in an accident in a Honda Civic, so you say "welp, hondas are totally unsafe, never buying one of these again!" and then go out and buy a Yugo which is a direct downgrade in reliability and quality simply because it's not a honda civic. Contact Dell and see what they can do for you, you will probably be able to buy a battery from them.
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Jul 12, 2017 21:45
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I have had absolutely horrible luck with batteries from random aftermarket companies. Is there a brand that (re?) manufactures good-quality replacements with decent cells, like StirlingTek does for camera batteries? I am after a 9-cell battery for a Thinkpad W510 (Lenovo FRU 0A36303). I've gotten an average of like 6 months on the cheapo crap on ebay/Amazon before the cells start to go pretty unbalanced and it starts dropping out at 30-50% battery. At this point I'm just about ready to suck it up and buy the official Lenovo part (so I know the electronics are decent) and then just re-cell it with decent stuff when necessary. Amazon (ships and sold by) has it at $78, that's less eye-watering than the usual $140... My fiance and I both have W510s and I'm thinking about getting another for Windows so I could turn this one into a dedicated Linux dev laptop. Something like a T520 or T530 with switchable graphics should be nice for regular usage, and they are cheap as hell. These things are loving champs, we have abused the poo poo out of them and they have taken it all. I accidentally stepped on the screen of mine at one point, only damage was the bezel now pops a little bit sometimes if you flex the screen. I get big mileage out of our parts commonality too (keyboards, batteries, drive caddies etc). Being able to share adapters with each other is super nice, I actually would dislike a newer version that changed the plug/voltage. I would love a modern update with a quad-core i7 and decent cooling, Thunderbolt 3, a 3K/4K screen, a good keyboard, and a 10-series GPU (mobile GSync and external gsync too while we're at it), but Lenovo is stuck on Maxwell. I'm mostly a cheapskate (mine was $400 4 years ago, hers was $250 2 years ago) but the feature increment is actually pretty huge right now to the extent I'd probably ante up and buy a serious loaded 15.6" workstation laptop. None of this ultrabook poo poo, just try to keep it below desktop-replacement weight if you can. Paul MaudDib fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 01:22
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Only buy official batteries Replaced the battery on my 2012 x230 near the end of 2015, new battery still gets ~4.5 hours. I bought mine through Amazon from Lenovo official. There's so many garbage batteries out there on ebay it's just not worth it. A single 2500mah samsung 18650 battery (aka R25 cell) is about $4.50, so for a 9-cell battery you're looking at $40 just for the raw parts, plus the casing, circuit board, labor, shipping, profit, etc etc Amazon has your battery for 76 dollars, shipped, given the fact that the cells alone are $40, $76 seems pretty reasonable.
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Jul 13, 2017 02:15
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Hadlock posted:Only buy official batteries Thanks. Yeah that's my take at this point. I can re-cell it if it comes down to it, I don't mind a couple hours work. One note though, that's a Fulfilled By Amazon, which is third party stock (so that could easily be a fraud). Here's the Sold By Amazon item.
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Jul 13, 2017 02:40
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Atomizer posted:You mean TN here instead of TFT.  mode too strong. Atomizer posted:I'm sad to tell you this, but a nicely spec'd Y520 with the i7 (quad-core) and 1050 Ti 4 GB (in addition to 8-16 GB of RAM) probably would have been worth it both for the performance and the money spent, particularly in that it should easily last at least 2-3 years, probably more. Eh, it might not have been worth it in my case. I reasoned that if I sock away a month's rent each year for 2 years, I'd get myself a new laptop. My Lenovo cost me $680, and the extra 8GB stick of RAM pushed it to $750. For a nicely spec'd Y520, I'd have to pay $1,170 (8GB of RAM only but it comes with a 128GB SSD), which means I'd have to save an extra month's worth of rent money and an extra year of waiting for an upgrade. With all the thermal stress it experiences, a gaming laptop shouldn't be expected to last longer than 2-3 years anyways, even with regular cleaning/maintenance. Also, an equivalent budget gaming laptop in 2015 would have a 860M, and checking Notebookcheck's Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark, a 1050 pushes almost double the framerate of an 860M, so I'm okay with the 2-year upgrade cycle. The new 4k-capable PS4 and Xbox One aren't seeing massive adoption so I'm expecting my Y520 can still run mainstream games released in the next 1 year or so on lower settings. I'm not planning to do 4k gaming and intend to stick with my laptop's 15" 1080p screen. Getting a 4k monitor means extra stuff to pack come moving day, and the reason I got a gaming laptop as opposed to a desktop in the first place is that I expect to be changing accommodations a fair bit.
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Jul 13, 2017 03:05
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Gotta say im quite impressed with the x1 tablet. It had some serious heat issues before all the bios updates and stuff. It can play diablo 3 with integrated graphics at the default 2k resolution at about 30ish fps on medium and low settings. Overall very happy with it so far
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Jul 13, 2017 03:18
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huhwhat posted:Oops. It's usually a bad idea to buy a laptop with a mystery SSD in it anyway, so buying the cheaper unit worked out for you here. It's cheaper to install your own and you can buy a known good one. When you get around to putting one in (and if your machine seems sluggish at some point you should do it) it will be a massive improvement.
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Jul 13, 2017 03:27
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Stitecin posted:I hadn't considered a Chromebook, but I am not opposed to the idea. I guess I'm just more used to Windows. My work laptop is a MacBook Pro and I hate that the PC keyboard shortcuts don't work in Excel, and I'm a little worried about another Operating System's effect on documents that are shared between MacBook and PC users in my office. Well do the thing where you try to get everything done in Chrome on your Mac to see if you can live with ChromeOS. There are generally alternatives to every common application, you're just trying to make sure there isn't something you can't live without that only runs on another OS. Also, use office.com to manipulate your documents; that'll show you exactly how it'll work on ChromeOS, if you don't want to use Google Docs. As far as recommendations go, there's everything from the Acer 15 that we've talked about recently (this being the largest CB if you want the biggest display you can get,) to 11" models (even the original Asus Flip at 10".) There's the Acer 14 which has a nice build & feature set with a very reasonable price to match somewhat modest hardware. Then there's the Asus C301 which is basically Asus' version of the aforementioned Acer 14, except this one's got a 13" display. Otherwise the hardware is pretty much the same, and that's a great deal for $200 (don't worry about it being a refurb.) Chromebooks are generally durable as they often have no moving parts, with some having a single fan. As long as you don't drop it off a building or run over it with your car, it should hold together and last a long time. There are more durable models like the Acer 14 for Work or the Thinkpad 13, though. RiggenBlaque posted:You say I'd be paying extra for a bulkier device but at $730 I'm not sure I've seen any other competitive options for something that small and light. The XPS 13 seems to start around $800 and the Asus Zenbook is $700 but is less aesthetically pleasing. Are there similar models at that price point I'm not aware of? Part of the situation is that there's a whole class of Windows devices, i.e. Ultrabooks, that are made to be thin & light but with good performance, however you've got a pretty modest use case there, i.e. videos & browsing. Basically any device that you could buy will satisfy your requirements, so anything above a few hundred bucks seems like a waste; you could get that $350 laptop that I've been recommending, and while it's not as nice as the Lenovo it's half the price and does the same thing. You could get that $200 Chromebook that I just linked above. Don't get me wrong, if you like the Yoga then go for it; you don't have to go for the absolute cheapest device possible. And you just may end up using it as a tablet, and/or using the touchscreen in any mode even if you didn't intend to in the first place. You'd definitely like using the tent mode for playing videos, especially if you're doing something in the kitchen simultaneously like you mentioned. I didn't mean to dissuade you from buying it in the first place, don't get me wrong. For your parents, unless they have some OS-specific software I'd definitely suggest a Chromebook. It'll handle all the browsing and video streaming they can throw at it while being cheap with no tech support necessary from you. The aforementioned Acer 15 would work since you want a 15" display; here's one of many listings. There's even an i3 version, although it's totally not necessary; the 3205U one is just fine, just avoid the updated version with an N3060. If you do want a Windows device, your specs are pretty solid, although an ULV i3 is easily powerful enough for them. 8 GB RAM will be plenty, but definitely get an SSD as the system drive one way or the other (i.e. through an upgrade if necessary;) SSDs are both worth it for their performance and for their durability. This is the cheap Acer I keep talking about, just add an SSD, clone the drive, and add 4 GB of RAM. huhwhat posted:Eh, it might not have been worth it in my case. The only thing is that Pascal is so much more powerful and energy-efficient than previous architectures that it legitimately has more longevity. Rexxed posted:It's usually a bad idea to buy a laptop with a mystery SSD in it anyway, so buying the cheaper unit worked out for you here. It's cheaper to install your own and you can buy a known good one. When you get around to putting one in (and if your machine seems sluggish at some point you should do it) it will be a massive improvement. OEMs do tend to add those cheaper OEM-specific SSDs, however they're still fine if your alternative is an HDD as the system drive. I got a CM871a for $50, which was the cheapest thing I could find for my application, and even though it's a poor man's 850 Evo it's a waaaayyy better option than keeping the OS on an HDD.
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Jul 13, 2017 08:19
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After checking it out in person I went ahead and bought the Razer Blade a few days ago. Everything about it seemed fine only for it to brick last night. Knowing about quality control issues this is why I bought it from a brick & mortar Microsoft store in the first place and will be taking it in to exchange today. Only problem is I'm now genuinely concerned about this thing and am worried by &2k+ laptop may just go bust at any moment- probably a day after the warranty expires. If I demand a free extended warranty from either Razer or Microsoft is there a chance they'll give it to me? I've been on Apple for a long time now and for my first foray back into PCs this experience is giving me cold feet.
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Jul 13, 2017 13:57
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Rex-Goliath posted:After checking it out in person I went ahead and bought the Razer Blade a few days ago. Everything about it seemed fine only for it to brick last night. Knowing about quality control issues this is why I bought it from a brick & mortar Microsoft store in the first place and will be taking it in to exchange today. Only problem is I'm now genuinely concerned about this thing and am worried by &2k+ laptop may just go bust at any moment- probably a day after the warranty expires. I haven't had an experience with an MS store, but I wouldn't expect anyone to just give away an extended warranty. I suppose they could offer a discount. What exactly happened to the Blade?
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Jul 13, 2017 17:19
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Rex-Goliath posted:If I demand a free extended warranty from either Razer or Microsoft is there a chance they'll give it to me? I've been on Apple for a long time now and for my first foray back into PCs this experience is giving me cold feet. Zero chance. You wouldn't get one from Apple, either.
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Jul 13, 2017 17:21
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Atomizer posted:What exactly happened to the Blade? Was watching YouTube last night and the screen flickered then went black- all sound cut out as well. Keyboard was still lit up and the machine was still on but nothing I did could get the screen back on. I did a hard shut down and the Blade has been bricked ever since. Pressing the power button gets zero response. I tried that 30 second - 5 second thing and still no response.
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Jul 13, 2017 17:22
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Rex-Goliath posted:If I demand a free extended warranty from either Razer or Microsoft is there a chance they'll give it to me? I've been on Apple for a long time now and for my first foray back into PCs this experience is giving me cold feet. I used to work in tech retail. If a sales person came up to me and said "I've got a customer with a DOA laptop who's demanding a free warranty", I would tell said customer, as kindly as humanly possible, to get lost. If they said "Hey I've got a customer who's new to PCs and his laptop crapped out two days after getting it home. I'm going to swap it within the return policy but he asked if we could give him a break on an extended warranty since he's a bit freaked out by the experience", I'd approve it immediately. Don't demand anything. Ask nicely and maybe. I hope it works out for you because I'm switching as well and the Blade looks like the perfect machine for me. Would love to hear your thoughts on it, especially if you're a Premiere user.
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Jul 13, 2017 19:40
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I was overall really impressed with the build quality. It handled the stress tests I threw at it fine and I think the noise issue with the fans to be overblown. ( ) My only gripes are that the function symbols don't light up and that the trackpad isn't as good as Apple's. The former I can live with and the latter I knew was something I was just going to have to accept. Speakers sounded good, keyboard felt great, the total lack of bloat ware at the get go was a real breath of fresh air. And yeah I used to work retail so I know how to ask for those sorts of things without being a dick. I just realized that my credit card automatically tacks a year on to manufacturer warranty though so the point is moot anyways. Just gonna take another stab at it because I'd really like to have this thing work.
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Jul 13, 2017 20:08
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Rushputin posted:Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll look around for university sales or something, but I'm pretty sure I will reconsider what kind of machine I need in the first place. I was going for a good all-arounder (preferably with a numpad, but you can't have everything), but considering I still have a decent desktop PC and don't usually spend extended amounts of time in other locations I will probably focus more on a mix of portability and having the right ports and non-annoying keyboard layouts. Apologies for being a lazy infrequent poster but I'm sure there are both DE Lenovo and Dell outlet sites. The UK Lenovo outlet closed but I thought the euro ones continued. fake edit: I can't make it work from here in the UK but Dell at least must have an outlet. You can get a decent business class lapentoppen for €600, get a 7000 series something
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Jul 13, 2017 22:09
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Alright take 2 seemed alright- there was even zero backbleed in the screen so I was feeling pretty positive heading back to the hotel that this one would work out. The loving AC cable wouldn't fit into the power adapter. The wall cable- the thing you plug into the wall- doesn't fit into the power adapter. I'm done with this. Stopping at the Microsoft store on my way to the airport tomorrow to get my money back. Jesus Christ.
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Jul 14, 2017 03:33
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are you sure that's not user error because getting a plug that's not the right size is pretty unlikely since i doubt you have a bunch of different socket types where you live
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Jul 14, 2017 03:40
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:are you sure that's not user error because getting a plug that's not the right size is pretty unlikely since i doubt you have a bunch of different socket types where you live It sounds more like the extension cable is the wrong one. A lot of power adapters are two parts: a detachable cable that goes from the wall to the brick, and then the brick and connected cable that goes to the laptop. Not sure how you manage to give a customer the wrong cable (since normally they're stored as a rubber banded or tied up unit with the associated brick), so that's pretty dumb on their part.
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Jul 14, 2017 03:47
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Oh okay phoneposting. Originally I read it as the cord from the adapter into the wall didn't fit and I was confused. That's weird. Mine came rubber banded together, yeah. Letting some line employee who doesn't get paid enough to give a poo poo make you return your entire laptop is weird though.
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Jul 14, 2017 03:48
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No the plastic/rubber parts fit fine and they're definitely meant for each other. The metal prong in the adapter is straight up way too large to fit into the cable that plugs into the wall. I passed it around the hotel bar- several people tried and no one could force them together. This is beyond ridiculous
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Jul 14, 2017 03:49
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Rex-Goliath posted:Was watching YouTube last night and the screen flickered then went black- all sound cut out as well. Keyboard was still lit up and the machine was still on but nothing I did could get the screen back on. I did a hard shut down and the Blade has been bricked ever since. Pressing the power button gets zero response. I tried that 30 second - 5 second thing and still no response. Ok this...this sounds like something we couldn't quite help you with over the Internet, except it's not something I'd want to have to deal with myself in person because it sounds like a pretty bad hardware failure!  Rex-Goliath posted:Alright take 2 seemed alright- there was even zero backbleed in the screen so I was feeling pretty positive heading back to the hotel that this one would work out. Rex-Goliath posted:No the plastic/rubber parts fit fine and they're definitely meant for each other. The metal prong in the adapter is straight up way too large to fit into the cable that plugs into the wall. I passed it around the hotel bar- several people tried and no one could force them together. Can you show us photos of this? I believe you, but I'm having a hard time visualizing which parts you're talking about. In any case it's a shame you can't go back to the MS store and tell them to swap out the wrong adapter/cable/whatever with the one from the laptop you returned.
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Jul 14, 2017 08:58
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Atomizer posted:Can you show us photos of this? I believe you, but I'm having a hard time visualizing which parts you're talking about. In any case it's a shame you can't go back to the MS store and tell them to swap out the wrong adapter/cable/whatever with the one from the laptop you returned.  I'm going to stop by on the way to the airport and ask for exactly that. This is razer's last chance
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Jul 14, 2017 12:45
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It looks like the cable is the wrong shape, rather than the AC adapter itself. Fwiw...
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Jul 14, 2017 13:23
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Nah the cable itself fits into the adapter fine. It makes it in about half a centimeter and you can feel sudden resistance as the center prong in the adapter won't fit into the cable. Pushing it with all your strength and it won't budge any further.
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Jul 14, 2017 13:30
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Honestly, this is why I buy used and get squaretrade warranties. I've had a better time dealing with squaretrade than some of the manufacturers I've tried to get RMAs with, there's little chance of a lemon, and I save a bunch of cash. edit: of course I don't recommend this if you can't do your own minor repairs and/or don't have a backup machine, but that's sort of par for the course in general.
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Jul 14, 2017 17:34
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In his case it sounds like he had the most common type of warranty issue - failure within 30 days. Probably a capacitor was on the fence of failing, and your stress tests did it in. Some high end custom manufacturers, like the pre-Dell Alienware used to do a 24 hour "burn in" on the hardware at 100% CPU/GPU use to prevent these kinds of issues. My experience in the past has been that computers either: 1. pop within a month or two due to statistical chance, 2. get trashed by the owner(s family - perhaps the most common), or 3. if you're lucky, slowly grind to a halt 3-7 years after purchase. If you're a single dude not living with your family there's a good chance that you're in category #3 and your laptop will likely outlive your cat or dog, especially if it has an SSD. You shouldn't buy insurance for your devices (probably) A lot of people live in crowded households, or they're just plain clumsy and if you've killed a laptop before, you're statistically likely to do it again and you should definitely consider the cost of insurance In situation #1 you're covered by all kinds of state and national laws regarding product warranties, plus the store will usually allow you to exchange/return without issue, no reason to buy insurance in this case. Once a laptop has been in use for 30-60 days, anything that was going to fail, likely would have already, or is exhibiting strange behavior that you should have checked out.
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Jul 14, 2017 19:10
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Yeah Microsoft provides a 90 day 'no questions asked' policy with no restocking fees. After that the card I'm using gives me an effective 2-year warranty which if I make it that far I'm probably in the clear until a standard issue mechanical failure which is mostly luck.
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Jul 14, 2017 19:25
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What does the thread think of this thing: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Helios-GeForce-G3-571-77QK/dp/B06Y4GZS9C Anything better with a 1060 for cheaper?
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Jul 14, 2017 23:00
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Rex-Goliath posted:
Do you have a higher-resolution photo?  I mean as far as I can tell, and from what you've stated, it sounds like the cable and adapter fit, but there's resistance at the actual contacts due to mis-alignment. The first thing I'd do is wiggle them around to see if I could get the mis-aligned pin to center in its socket. That's something that was particularly common with those 4-pin Molex power connectors.Hadlock posted:In situation #1 you're covered by all kinds of state and national laws regarding product warranties, plus the store will usually allow you to exchange/return without issue, no reason to buy insurance in this case. Once a laptop has been in use for 30-60 days, anything that was going to fail, likely would have already, or is exhibiting strange behavior that you should have checked out. This. Extended warranties on any type of product (appliances, cars, etc.) are usually a bad idea because most failures occur within the manufacturer's warranty period, and the likelihood of long-term issues (and expensive ones, at that) is low enough where you're usually just wasting money that could've either more than covered a minor repair, or gone towards the purchase of a new product (because by the time the original one starts having issues you're ready to upgrade anyway.) Also there's the issue of how restrictive the extended warranty is; they could be useful if you can essentially exchange the item down the line for any reason, no questions asked (i.e. if it "breaks" and you can get a newer model as a replacement,) particularly if the item is known to be unreliable. Tsyni posted:What does the thread think of this thing: I've posted that here before and it seems like a great deal. It's the cheapest 1060/6 laptop, period, and it's even got the i7 and 16 GB of RAM. You don't even have to do a HDD-SSD upgrade because it comes with the latter, although you should do the reverse and add an HDD for game storage space. It's around the price of similarly-equipped 1050 Ti laptops, so it's a no brainer if you're considering something at that price point (at least until the 1050s can be purchased significantly cheaper.)
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Jul 15, 2017 00:50
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He just put in the super tiny link from imgur, the picture's 3k x 4k pixels (click for big): The ground pin is sticking too far out so the other pins won't seat correctly. It's just a badly made power brick.
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Jul 15, 2017 03:07
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Ok, that's better. It still looks like it would work but I understand if there actually is a manufacturing defect preventing the parts from mating properly. The ground pin isn't necessarily the issue there; on many electrical connectors the ground is designed to be engaged first before the actual connections are made. USB connectors are one such example (the external metal sheath is grounded and makes first contact) as are these common ones:  
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Jul 15, 2017 05:58
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Atomizer posted:If you have such a system with only one proper video output but need a second, and are running a Linux distro, you could consider a DisplayLink monitor (or adapter.) They have drivers for Ubuntu, at the very least. As a random example, here is such a monitor and this is a docking station that would allow you to connect any monitor (as well as other devices.) I can't confirm Linux support but the driver exists and it's pretty much your only option without built-in hardware support in the form of multiple onboard video outputs. Thank you so much! I will try that!
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Jul 15, 2017 14:11
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| # ? May 16, 2024 00:46 |
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Got a burgundy Surface Laptop for the Wife. It is cool and and good. Paid like $1169 for it with my old .edu address discount. Well the second one is. The first one the box had questionable signs of abuse by UPS and one of the internal microphones just put out static. Found the only loving in stock one in the 6 million person DFW metroplex and exchanged it.
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Jul 15, 2017 14:34
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