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by.a.teammate posted:Okay your responses makes me think I should check his laptop out first before just believing him, I didn't know if the enhanced edition had loads of new stuff which was more in line with modern games. Well the game is literally enhanced in that it has support for higher, modern resolutions and I believe it has new, nicer textures and effects, but it's still ultimately a really old game that I'd expect should run on any Intel CPU & iGPU. However, I found out that apparently Intel iGPUs do/did have performance issues due to Intel's OpenGL implementation and I'm not 100% sure if this has been resolved in the 4+ years since the EE was originally released however there may be a fix (simply updating to the latest graphics drivers from Intel.) Also, there appears to be a fix in a more recent version of the game, so the latest drivers and the latest version of the game should get this to run on his current system, although I'd still be interested in the specs of the laptop he's using. He probably doesn't have up-to-date graphics drivers from Intel, so after you get a chance to take a look at his system let us know how this turns out!
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Dec 25, 2017 09:53
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Hi, I was pricing out a business laptop for my mother and I wanted to get some input. This one has a few upgrades over the base model Thinkpad T470 but it seems pretty pricey for what you're getting, any comment on the value or features I need to add? She's mainly working from home and connecting to a remote desktop at work. But I figured the upgraded RAM, SSD, and better display were worth springing for.
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Dec 26, 2017 00:59
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Are you getting the discount in the OP? Also upgrade the RAM yourself. Lenovo charges something like 2x the normal price off Newegg for RAM.
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Dec 26, 2017 01:00
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Mu Zeta posted:Are you getting the discount in the OP? Also upgrade the RAM yourself. Lenovo charges something like 2x the normal price off Newegg for RAM. Thanks, I overlooked the discount offer. I won't be around to upgrade the RAM and I doubt my mother will be interested in doing so, even if it's pretty easy.
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Dec 26, 2017 01:06
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Edit: Cheap, refurbished, 1st-gen Surface Books, anyone?  Vivian Darkbloom posted:Thanks, I overlooked the discount offer. I won't be around to upgrade the RAM and I doubt my mother will be interested in doing so, even if it's pretty easy. Even with the discount, the system just seems so expensive for what is ultimately a basic laptop. She could get exactly the same functionality out of a similar, but used/refurb'd previous-gen Thinkpad from the same line, e.g. the first result I found, a T460 for 1/2-1/3 of the price of that new T470, with or without any discount. Or as another example, how about a T450 for $300? Atomizer fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Dec 26, 2017 |
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Dec 26, 2017 08:42
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So I got my shitass XPS 15 with the melted charging port into somewhat workable condition with a USB-C charger, but outside of basic surfing now it's slow and has weird sound issues thanks to only being able to get 65w vs 130w. Needless to say I've started scoping out replacement laptops for the new year and was looking for suggestions. My criteria are: - Nothing Dell. After the absolute hell I went through with this XPS and what I've been reading about other people having similar issues I don't trust their quality control anymore, especially for what they charge. Ditto for Lenovo. The previous Lenovo I had also developed major hardware issues after like a year. Not to mention the clickpad on that thing was a loving war crime. - I may be travelling a fair bit for my new job starting in the new year. So something relatively thin, with a discrete video card that would let me play games when I'm stuck in a hotel in the middle of nowhere for a couple weeks would be great. - A non lovely clickpad (I'll give the XPS one thing in that it's clickpad was great, when it wasn't non-functional due to battery swelling), or preferably a trackpad with buttons. - At least 512GB of space. Currently I was looking at the 14-inch Razer Blade, the Gigabyte Aero 15 (the 15 X is apparently unavailable in Canada) or the Sager NP8952. Are there any other models I should be considering? Those three are all roughly the same price up here. Now the one thing is they're all Kalby Lake, and if I'm going to drop a fair bit on a laptop would it be better to wait until more Coffee Lake models are available? I've heard it's a noticeable step up from Kalby. If I was made of money the new Coffee Lake 15-inch Surface Books would be sweet, but holy balls they're way out of what any sane person would spend on a laptop (going for $3700-$4200 CDN pre-tax  ).
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Dec 26, 2017 18:25
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I have an old E6330 that I "work" from. Will moving to an SSD be the best option to increase general performance?
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Dec 26, 2017 20:03
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BirdOfPlay posted:I have an old E6330 that I "work" from. Will moving to an SSD be the best option to increase general performance? Yes is always the answer to this question.
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Dec 26, 2017 20:20
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:So I got my shitass XPS 15 with the melted charging port into somewhat workable condition with a USB-C charger, but outside of basic surfing now it's slow and has weird sound issues thanks to only being able to get 65w vs 130w. How melted we talking? The DC in board on that machine is a 7 dollar part and takes about 30 minutes max to replace.
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Dec 26, 2017 20:22
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Dr. Fishopolis posted:How melted we talking? The DC in board on that machine is a 7 dollar part and takes about 30 minutes max to replace. I've considered trying to replace it but the problem is, among other issues, the non metal part of the chassis/hinge is cracked and barely holding together and I'm somewhat worried if I take it all apart and it totally fails I'll never get it back together again. I'd also like to have a replacement in mind that I can just go out and grab if it does disintegrate.
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Dec 26, 2017 21:03
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:So I got my shitass XPS 15 with the melted charging port into somewhat workable condition with a USB-C charger, but outside of basic surfing now it's slow and has weird sound issues thanks to only being able to get 65w vs 130w. Blade (maybe) or a surface book. Quality is expensive. If you can limp your XPS along wait for a refurb book to show up.
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Dec 26, 2017 21:15
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Atomizer posted:Even with the discount, the system just seems so expensive for what is ultimately a basic laptop. She could get exactly the same functionality out of a similar, but used/refurb'd previous-gen Thinkpad from the same line, e.g. the first result I found, a T460 for 1/2-1/3 of the price of that new T470, with or without any discount. Or as another example, how about a T450 for $300? I would get one of those for myself but for her purposes, it's not that money isn't an issue but she's willing to spend more for peace of mind. Those options would have no warranty and she's rather wary of anything reused or refurbished. Ultimately it's ok if we don't go with the best value option -- I understand that something like an XPS 13 would likely be a better deal, but she'll be glad to have a new Thinkpad with a good warranty.
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Dec 26, 2017 21:17
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:I've considered trying to replace it but the problem is, among other issues, the non metal part of the chassis/hinge is cracked and barely holding together and I'm somewhat worried if I take it all apart and it totally fails I'll never get it back together again. I'd also like to have a replacement in mind that I can just go out and grab if it does disintegrate. Yech, that sucks. That's still not expensive, a new topcase is like $40, but it involves transplanting the entire computer into it. While that sounds like a pleasant sunday afternoon for me, I can't imagine that's true for most people.
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Dec 26, 2017 22:46
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Ok goons, here's the use case for the laptop I'm looking for:
So I'm thinking something with good-enough CPU, integrated graphics, good RAM and probably SSD. My budget is flexible, but I'd prefer to keep it on the cheap side. I'm not sure about screen size. What's it like programming on a 13 inch screen vs 15 inch?
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Dec 27, 2017 00:57
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Depends on how good your eyes are and what resolution the panel is. Personally I’m fine with 1080p @100% on a 12.5” panel but that’s really pushing it for a lot of people.
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Dec 27, 2017 01:30
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:So I got my shitass XPS 15 with the melted charging port into somewhat workable condition with a USB-C charger, but outside of basic surfing now it's slow and has weird sound issues thanks to only being able to get 65w vs 130w. I loved the Sager/Clevos I owned first over a decade. I doubt the track pad is considered "good", but I use trackpads so seldom I'm a poor judge of them.
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Dec 27, 2017 01:32
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:
If you're looking at 14" too, check out the Aero 14 and Aorus X3 - both relatively thin with GTX 1060s. In the 15" space thin+light, you can also look at the MSI GS63VR if gaming bling designs don't bother you. Aorus is Gigabyte, basically. I think that the Aero 15 is about as close as a direct competitor you can get to the XPS15. It's not quite as premium looking or feeling, but the tradeoff is more power, I suppose. Build-quality concerns reviews often mention are based off the error that the chassis is mostly plastic; it's mostly aluminum. On top of that, the 'build quality' concerns reviewers parrot also doesn't make much sense as hard plastic can be very durable and have less give than a thin sheet of metal anyway. What reviewers mean is that it doesn't feel premium or obvious, which is true, but AFAIK the only plastic on the laptop is the trim around the edge, the bottom panel, and the lid panel. The main body is metal. Keep in mind, the Aero 15 -- all units -- will have very slight to moderate light bleed along the bottom bezel, depending on how lucky you get. On the Aero 15, you can hack Windows Precision drivers onto the trackpad which makes it much better than the pedestrian Elan drivers that come with the pad. Presumably similar hacks are around for other laptop models. You should probably also keep in mind when considering the Razer Blade that their customer support has a terrible reputation and the Blades themselves have been, in the past, hit or miss. Either you get a perfect one, or somehow, it's bogged down with multiple issues. Razer CS is supposed to be improving, but I'd probably recommend reading some of the megathreads on their forums, and doing a search for Razer on various laptop subreddits or forums like Notebookreview to see the kind of process you can expect to get into should you need an RMA. I was considering a Blade but ultimately opted not to as in my part of the world, Razer CS is supposed to be abysmal. It might be different to how it works in Canada. Shrimp or Shrimps fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Dec 27, 2017 |
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Dec 27, 2017 01:33
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Ynglaur posted:I loved the Sager/Clevos I owned first over a decade. I doubt the track pad is considered "good", but I use trackpads so seldom I'm a poor judge of them. I quite like trackpads normally, and I've been lamenting the spread of trackpads without physical buttons, but if this is what you get now when you have a trackpad with buttons, I'd take a loving no-buttons one. (Of course, I'd rather take the Lenovo X1 trackpad and GH-nub and buttons, which doesn't have any of these bullshit behaviors.)
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Dec 27, 2017 01:39
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Quixzlizx posted:I just wanted to let the thread know that SwissArmyDruid's RAM arrived yesterday, and I installed it in my new Dell 7577 this morning, along with a 1TB Firecuda drive. I panicked for a bit when I turned it on and got a black screen, but 15 seconds later I got a screen warning me that the amount of recognized RAM had changed from the last boot up. I got the other stick today! Despite SwissArmyDruid's efforts, a cross-country delivery was a bit too much for the mail to get in before the 25th, but thanks for the incredibly swift response between payment and mailing it anyhow. + rep A+++++ seller would buy from again etc. But seriously, thanks a bunch SADruid. And thank you, Quixzlizx, for sparing me a heart-attack by describing how your laptop hung up for a bit while detecting the new memory.
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Dec 27, 2017 03:59
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roomforthetuna posted:
Thing is it isn't exactly rocket science. My work HP system has a crummy screen but the trackpad is top notch - it has proper buttons, a nice fixed surface, precision drivers and is large enough to work well without being Apple huge. It's also centered on the keyboard rather than the chassis which is getting unfortunately rare these days.
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Dec 27, 2017 05:08
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Tuxedo Ted posted:I got the other stick today! Despite SwissArmyDruid's efforts, a cross-country delivery was a bit too much for the mail to get in before the 25th, but thanks for the incredibly swift response between payment and mailing it anyhow. + rep A+++++ seller would buy from again etc. But seriously, thanks a bunch SADruid. It's weird how that worked. You were both in the same time zone, but at opposite ends of the country, (essentially equidistant as the crow flies) and yet despite one being picked up by Ron, our usual postman, and then sitting in his truck as he did the rest of his rounds, and me taking the second one straight to the post office, the one that Ron picked up got there the 23rd, the other didn't. =T Anyways, I know you two were talking about how 16 GB is a luxury and all that.... it really isn't. You two should be seeing a significant (as in appreciably measurable) improvement in minimum frames in going to 16 GB, and overall usability from going from single-channel to dual channel. SwissArmyDruid fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Dec 27, 2017 |
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Dec 27, 2017 05:27
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dissss posted:My work HP system has a crummy screen but the trackpad is top notch - it has proper buttons, a nice fixed surface, precision drivers and is large enough to work well without being Apple huge. It's also centered on the keyboard rather than the chassis which is getting unfortunately rare these days. And it's not like the poo poo behavior is incompatibility with the precision drivers, the stock drivers had all the same issues and you couldn't change the scroll direction or various other settings. The precision drivers were entirely an improvement, just not enough of one.
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Dec 27, 2017 07:23
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I would get one of those for myself but for her purposes, it's not that money isn't an issue but she's willing to spend more for peace of mind. Those options would have no warranty and she's rather wary of anything reused or refurbished. Ultimately it's ok if we don't go with the best value option -- I understand that something like an XPS 13 would likely be a better deal, but she'll be glad to have a new Thinkpad with a good warranty. Well it's certainly her money, but it's a lot of unnecessary money for peace of mind. I mean she could buy two or three recent, used Thinkpads for the price of a new one, and then she'd have a backup (or two....) Haystack posted:Ok goons, here's the use case for the laptop I'm looking for: Cheap, but good value, with integrated graphics? Here you go: Atomizer posted:This is my standard recommendation although you need to do a m.2 SSD upgrade yourself and adding another 4 GB of RAM is also a good idea. Add whatever SSD you want; it has a free m.2 SATA slot, and the HDD could just be replaced with another 2.5" SATA SSD if you'd like. It comes with 1 of 2 DIMM slots occupied with a 4 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM, so add/replace as desired. All of the aforementioned are easily accessible through a single hatch on the bottom. I'd suggest just hooking up something like a Chromecast to the TV and then using the laptop to cast to that, but whatever works for you.
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Dec 27, 2017 10:12
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Mr Luxury Yacht posted:If I was made of money the new Coffee Lake 15-inch Surface Books would be sweet, but holy balls they're way out of what any sane person would spend on a laptop (going for $3700-$4200 CDN pre-tax Lol we got one of those for a new sysadmin at work and the thing bluescreens every time it tries to update windows, even via WSUS  Think we paid like 3 grand for it but that's enterprise pricing. Nice machine otherwise I suppose.
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Dec 27, 2017 11:39
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Cat Army 
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So I just bought a T570 to replace my lovely Toshiba Satellite because I have a new job to go to in a couple of weeks, and if I need to take a laptop then this thing is gonna be an embarrassment. Mind you, it cost under £200 about 3 years ago and it's been worth the money. Are there any niggles with the T570 I should be looking out for? I went with the i5-7200U and 1080p screen one with integrated graphics. I read a review that said screen brightness wasn't all that, but it can't be too bad, can it?
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Dec 27, 2017 14:12
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apropos man posted:So I just bought a T570 to replace my lovely Toshiba Satellite because I have a new job to go to in a couple of weeks, and if I need to take a laptop then this thing is gonna be an embarrassment. Mind you, it cost under £200 about 3 years ago and it's been worth the money. I ended up getting a T570 for my boss, yea the screen isn't super bright but I thought it looked fine.. no real issues, just use the ethernet connection if you can during initial windows setup when you first turn it on, because I didn't, and the wireless was not working so I had to download the drivers on another computer then install them from usb stick.
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Dec 27, 2017 16:49
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Cool. The review I read was rather scathing about the screen brightness and I was a bit concerned because everything else looks just right for my use case. I thought "Yeah, the screen can't be that bad since it's a Thinkpad. It wouldn't have passed quality if it was atrocious". Looking forward to getting it now. :-)
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Dec 27, 2017 17:15
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apropos man posted:I thought "Yeah, the screen can't be that bad since it's a Thinkpad. It wouldn't have passed quality if it was atrocious". CopperHound posted:Not sure if it matters, but turns out it is actually a T430.
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Dec 27, 2017 19:36
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Thankfully the t570 fhd display is a pretty decent ips panel. Don't ever buy a thinkpad for the display though, at least not without doing a lot of research and being very picky about it. Hell, right now you can buy a brand new t470 with the same 768p TN dumpster display as a netbook from 2006.
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Dec 27, 2017 19:46
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Yeah, the review I read said that blacks and colours were OK and it was an improvement on the T560, it just wasn't as bright as the competition. The competition being a Macbook Pro and an XPS 15.
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Dec 27, 2017 19:54
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Nah, the T series competitors are the Latitude 7000 (although they don't do a 15" version) and EliteBook 850 Dell does sell the XPS15 with Quadros as a Precision but that ain't fooling anyone
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Dec 27, 2017 22:03
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Bought a 15" Surface Book 2 (512gig). Microsoft Complete was on sale for $189 too, so that's nice ($49 no questions asked replacement 2x over 2 yrs...I'm going to break this screen at some point...it's huge). For something over $3k, having an accidental damage warranty is basically required IMO. Jesus this thing is magnificent. I honestly don't know if I've ever been so happy with a purchase. Returned my Pixelbook and Dell 7577 (from the Costco deal) to ~help~ with the cost of this outrageously expensive thing. Yes a gaming laptop and Chromebook to this...WTF? Well, I reasoned that I could consolidate down to one machine for home/travel and game on it in my spare time (this was a bonus). Oddly enough it runs Forza absolutely silky smooth at high framerates (60? not sure). What's really odd is the Dell 7577 seemed to struggle with Forza, even after adding 8gigs of RAM (16 total). i5 vs i7 I guess? Both have the Nvidia 1060. The fans on the Dell were like a jet engine and ran all the time while gaming, whereas this SB2 doesn't spin up the fans unless I've been playing for a while. They aren't that loud either. It has built-in support for the Xbox controller too, so no fiddly wire or adapter. For anyone who is on the fence about the 15" SB2, I can recommend it without reservation, even at the rapey price. Perhaps a little frustration that the USB-C isn't TB3, but Microsoft will live and die by the Surface connector I guess. Thanks for reading my post.
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Dec 28, 2017 05:37
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Give it some time before making a judgement - past Surface gear has really not aged gracefully
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Dec 28, 2017 06:11
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I want the SB2 pretty bad. Definitely jealous. Enjoy the purchase. Is the warranty plan really good?
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Dec 28, 2017 06:35
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Last year CES was Jan 4 with a couple of manufacturers announcing before the holiday weekend their new line up. Lenovo announced their 2017 lineup on Dec 30 2016. This year CES starts Jan 9, if they follow suit we can expect the T480, X280 etc to be announced perhaps Jan 2 2018. X280 chassis was last updated with the X240 nearly 4 years ago (oldest chassis in the Thinkpad lineup, twice as old as the T series), pretty excited to see if they go the XPS13 infinity bezel route with it. Lenovo has been total (TOTAL) radio blackout about their 2018 lineup and CPU thermals have dropped pretty significantly in the last couple of years allowing for a thinner chassis or larger battery. Should be interesting.
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Dec 28, 2017 10:22
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I'm guessing u still are working with that x230 huh?
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Dec 28, 2017 11:30
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I bought and returned a 15 (too big) and a 13.5" (still too expensive). Maybe they'll do a complete redesign with TB3 and a Volta GPU. Or I'll grab a refurbished in a bit. Money is just too tight right this moment. I'll stick with my book 1. But yeah, the book is gorgeous.
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Dec 28, 2017 14:59
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Not sure whether I should be looking here or the SFF/mITX thread but I'm looking to replace my mITX system that I assembled almost five years ago (i5-3570K, 8 GB DDR3, 660 Ti 2 GB) with either a SFF/UCFF system or a desktop replacement laptop, in either case with an eye towards VR support and around a $1000 price, so as far as laptops I'm mainly looking at either the Acer Predator Helios 300 15.6 inch version for US$999.99 at Amazon or, because it's also US$999.99 through December 31st at Microcenter, the Dell Inspiron 15 7577.
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Dec 28, 2017 22:15
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Wife needs a laptop (because of space issues not for portability) recommendation. She uses a chromebook extensively, but her Cricut craft cutter requires Windows. Since she has to buy something anyway she'd like something that can play some games, but she doesn't know which games. She doesn't really like the looks of thinkpads  . Anything for less than $750? Something used is perfectly fine.
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Dec 28, 2017 23:13
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Depends entirely on which games.
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Dec 28, 2017 23:33
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