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isndl posted:Do these coats come with a laptop compartment? Of course. I got the wrong thread, not the wrong website
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Nov 10, 2018 18:28
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McSlaughter posted:Wish more conventional laptops in this modern market came with CD drives so I don't have to purchase crummy, second-rate external CD readers for burning, etc. This is why I am thinking of giving my Mom my old Toshiba Satellite L645-S4104 (i3-380M) after upgrading the RAM (to eight GB) and HDD (to an SSD with a fresh Win10 install). She has a massive CD collection and doesn't really want to rip any of them.
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Nov 10, 2018 20:27
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The Milkman posted:Of course. I got the wrong thread, not the wrong website i was trying to figure out what sort of media went into a coat drive 
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Nov 10, 2018 21:31
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Statutory Ape posted:Just ask the cd burner megathread which one to buy Is that a real thing I literally cannot remember the last time I saw a physical CD or DVD, anywhere, probably some time in 2014 I've probably seen an optical disk in a case for sale at like Walmart or something, but haven't actually seen a physical disk in forever. Honestly curious what people are using CDs for in 2019. Wireless battery powered bluetooth adapters with like 10 hours play time are under $15, I have one on my bedside radio and another on my boat. Any device needing a physical data cd is probably so old that it could be replaced with a raspberry pi and SD card, unless that device is some piece of hospital equipment or industrial control device, in which case what are you doing in the laptop thread.
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Nov 10, 2018 22:45
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MH Knights posted:This is why I am thinking of giving my Mom my old Toshiba Satellite L645-S4104 (i3-380M) after upgrading the RAM (to eight GB) and HDD (to an SSD with a fresh Win10 install). She has a massive CD collection and doesn't really want to rip any of them. What, audio CDs? Does she not have a stereo system to play them on?
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Nov 10, 2018 23:09
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McSlaughter posted:Wish more conventional laptops in this modern market came with CD drives so I don't have to purchase crummy, second-rate external CD readers for burning, etc. Yeah, so, those external drives are basically just enclosures for the same drives that you'd find built into some laptops. An external drive is infinitely more flexible, because for as often as you might need one anymore, you can swap it between systems and then your laptops don't have to carry around added weight and bulk for the 90% of the time where you don't need an optical drive. MH Knights posted:This is why I am thinking of giving my Mom my old Toshiba Satellite L645-S4104 (i3-380M) after upgrading the RAM (to eight GB) and HDD (to an SSD with a fresh Win10 install). She has a massive CD collection and doesn't really want to rip any of them. You should insist on her ripping those CDs (music? software?) because they're not necessarily going to last as long as she thinks. I haven't read on optical disc stability in a while, but from what I recall, commercial audio CDs, especially the early ones (starting in 1982!!!) started to degrade after 10-20 years even though they were predicted to last like 100. Hadlock posted:Is that a real thing Yeah, video DVDs are one thing (not all video content is available for streaming) but CDs have been replaced by streaming audio for years now. I started using Slacker Radio a decade ago. My last car, which was from 2005, came not only with a CD changer but a cassette deck, which was as useless then as it is now (like 40-50 years after the audio mini cassette tape debuted.) 
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Nov 10, 2018 23:15
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Hadlock posted:Is that a real thing I can't imagine wanting a laptop with a cd drive in it or even caring whether a desktop comes with one in 2018.
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Nov 11, 2018 00:01
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mystes posted:When I bought Turbotax last tax season (I hate supporting their lobbying to prevent the government from making filing taxes easier, but it's just too much of a pain doing it manually) it unfortunately came on a cd so I had to buy a usb cd drive for it. Hopefully if I ever need the cd drive again I'll be able to remember where I put it. Turbotax is neither the only available tax preparation software ( ) nor could you not have simply downloaded it from their site in TYOOL 2017!!! () You literally didn't need to go through any of what you typed! 
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Nov 11, 2018 00:18
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if you have simple enough taxes to file you can do it fast and free at creditkarma.com btw E: you know, while i have a post in here that isnt laptop related, let me ask this question: is there anything out there that will make chrome boot up the same tabs in the same locations every time PC starts/reboots?
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Nov 11, 2018 00:21
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Atomizer posted:Turbotax is neither the only available tax preparation software ( Statutory Ape posted:if you have simple enough taxes to file you can do it fast and free at creditkarma.com btw mystes fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Nov 11, 2018 |
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Nov 11, 2018 00:32
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Statutory Ape posted:E: you know, while i have a post in here that isnt laptop related, let me ask this question: is there anything out there that will make chrome boot up the same tabs in the same locations every time PC starts/reboots? There's a Chrome thread, but I'll try to understand your request here. When you say "same tabs in the same locations" do you mean the tabs are loading out of order or something? When I launch Chrome it loads my windows with the same tabs every time, so I'm not sure what else you're requesting. mystes posted:It was cheaper to buy it from amazon on cd (even with the added cost of a cd drive) because it was on sale in that format. I guess I could have paid more to avoid the inconvenience of waiting a few days though, so it's true that this was self inflicted and I didn't need to go through the cruel and unusual torture of optical media. Right but you're buying a license to use the software, so you could've purchased the physical medium and then still downloaded & installed the most current version from their site. Similarly, once in a while you might find a good deal on a PC game, and it'll come in a box with a disc and a license key; you can ignore the disc and just input the key in Steam or wherever. I've been using H&R Block's software to file my federal returns for free for over a decade; while that's free they want to charge for the state return so I do that for free on my state's site.
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Nov 11, 2018 00:52
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Atomizer posted:There's a Chrome thread, but I'll try to understand your request here. When you say "same tabs in the same locations" do you mean the tabs are loading out of order or something? When I launch Chrome it loads my windows with the same tabs every time, so I'm not sure what else you're requesting. so right now i have 6 separate chrome windows across 3 monitors that i use the same tabs on every time i boot id like those 6 windows to be in the same locations with the same tabs every time i boot... if possible lol
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Nov 11, 2018 01:41
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Atomizer posted:Right but you're buying a license to use the software, so you could've purchased the physical medium and then still downloaded & installed the most current version from their site. Similarly, once in a while you might find a good deal on a PC game, and it'll come in a box with a disc and a license key; you can ignore the disc and just input the key in Steam or wherever. Also, part of the reason I'm using it is that I really don't want to do taxes for multiple states manually, although at least it's not an issue where I moved during the year now (I'm just working in a different state than I live) so I guess it probably wouldn't be that complicated. For a while I was just using excel1040 for my 1040 which isn't bad and does all the calculations for you but you still have to make sure you understand a lot of stuff on the forms correctly and then either have to mail it in (not bad in itself but it's nicer to efile and no immediately whether it was ok rather than risking forgetting a form or something) or recreate it for the horrible "Free File Fillable Forms" site (everything about the site is terrible and lol that it doesn't even do any math for you, but it will at least give you send you cryptic error messages after you try to submit the forms if there's a problem).r
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Nov 11, 2018 01:55
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mystes posted:Unfortunately I don't think most of the free things will work unless you can use 1040-EZ and only need one state, neither of which applied to me for my 2017 taxes.
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Nov 11, 2018 02:06
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roomforthetuna posted:creditkarma's tax thing is definitely not limited to 1040-EZ, though it might be limited to only one state per filing (or might not, I just didn't try!)
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Nov 11, 2018 02:14
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Statutory Ape posted:so right now i have 6 separate chrome windows across 3 monitors that i use the same tabs on every time i boot Ok, I'm not sure if it's a Chrome thing or a Windows thing: Windows has the ability to remember window location, but it sometimes fails to do that. If it's the responsibility of Chrome, however, then Chrome itself may simply not remember windows locations and simply open your windows on the primary display every time. Your best bet would be to inquire within the Chrome thread. mystes posted:It didn't come with a serial number or I would have tried that. I looked into it now and apparently you can contact support and send them a copy of your receipt and they'll add a download to your account or something, though. All I'm really getting at is that, aside from the fact that there's other tax prep software, there has to be a way to download the software even if you bought it on a disc.
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Nov 11, 2018 03:10
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Tl;dr: will I regret buying this laptop? https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/outletus/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-11e-laptops-and-chromebooks/ThinkPad-Yoga-11e-5th-Gen/p/20LNS08K00 I basically want a small couch computer that I can chuck in my bag sometimes. Definitely want something in an 11" screen size. I was gonna get a Chromebook, but there are a few Windows things I'd like to use (basic image editing/resizing, syncing with OneDrive, recording music from my turn table with Audacity through a USB input once or twice a year). Plus, I could play RPGs on the couch and not locked in my office like a nerd. It doesn't need to be fast, but I don't want to wait for Windows or Firefox to boot like they do on my old laptop (which also has a non-functional battery). Looks like the Thinkpad has USB-C charging, which is a definite bonus. The HP Stream seems great, but I'm worried I'll be mad at its performance and hard drive size.
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Nov 11, 2018 21:46
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Hadlock posted:Is that a real thing Come join us in federal / military employment, where were are generally blanket banned from using flash media for anything, ever. The lack of CD drives on newer laptops is legit obnoxious for the people in my organization because every time we want to move stuff around that can't be emailed (hahahah 10MB limit kill me) we have to go dig around for an external drive. Though why we have laptops in the first place--considering they never move and, in fact, will lock themselves down if they detect that they have been moved, is an interesting question. Speaking of offenses against technology, how the hell is it that there are external burners that still require TWO USB ports?
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Nov 12, 2018 14:37
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Hadlock posted:Honestly curious what people are using CDs for in 2019. Wireless battery powered bluetooth adapters with like 10 hours play time are under $15, I have one on my bedside radio and another on my boat. I buy cds from bands at local shows if they don't have vinyl available. Rip the disc to mp3 and never actually listen to it.
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Nov 12, 2018 16:00
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DrDork posted:Come join us in federal / military employment, where were are generally blanket banned from using flash media for anything, ever. The lack of CD drives on newer laptops is legit obnoxious for the people in my organization because every time we want to move stuff around that can't be emailed (hahahah 10MB limit kill me) we have to go dig around for an external drive. Though why we have laptops in the first place--considering they never move and, in fact, will lock themselves down if they detect that they have been moved, is an interesting question. that your org is purchasing you the wrong tool for the job isnt the fault of the tool
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Nov 12, 2018 17:31
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Uthor posted:Tl;dr: will I regret buying this laptop? I think it'd be fine for most of those things but which RPGs are you wanting to play on it? If you're talking Baldurs Gate and Fallout 1 + 2 you'll be fine but if you're talking anything modern you really should look up benchmarks for that intel gpu because I don't think it'll handle things well.
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Nov 12, 2018 17:44
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I just started playing Baldur's Gate 2.  Anything modern, I play with a controller on my TV. I'm fine doing Steam streaming, besides.
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Nov 12, 2018 17:48
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Statutory Ape posted:that your org is purchasing you the wrong tool for the job isnt the fault of the tool In that they're purchasing laptops for some unfathomable reason instead of small desktops, yes, I agree. I have some pretty strong opinions about the wisdom of many of our purchases (See: special ordering 19" 1440x900 TN screens for $50/ea more than a 24" 1080p readily available from the same vendor). But it's hardly the org's fault that CD drives have largely disappeared from modern laptops; they had them on the ones we had a generation or two ago, even though CDs fell out of favor a good while ago. It's just finally catching up to institutional buyers, where getting a laptop with a CD drive is now more expensive (generally) than getting one without and just buying an external or two for the office to share.
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Nov 12, 2018 17:53
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DrDork posted:But it's hardly the org's fault that CD drives have largely disappeared from modern laptops you are absolutely correct in this but theres no place to put a CD drive in a business laptop with the size theyre at- and the size that most buyers will buy them at- anymore is a CD somehow inherently more secure than a flash drive i dont understand the hesitation (besides obviously price, but ultimately this is a penny wise: pound foolish scenario imo)
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Nov 12, 2018 18:00
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You are right, of course. I was just saying that there are still (fairly massive) organizations out there for whom CDs are Still A Thing, for one reason or another. As to why CDs instead of flash/thumb drives......well, the verbiage in the rationalization letters and whatnot read very much like "We got burned by a flash drive once so we're implementing a knee-jerk NEVER AGAIN solution" versus anything particularly well thought out or reasoned. I mean, we also have to purchase external hard drives from specifically blessed vendors because apparently their supply chain of sealed, retail chanel, same-as-you'd-find-on-a-Best-Buy-shelf drives are magically more secure than Best Buy. Even though some of said blessed vendors also have normal retail outlets. There's a lot of involved.
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Nov 12, 2018 18:08
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Uthor posted:I just started playing Baldur's Gate 2. Hah I just started BG1 this weekend. Must be something in the air.
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Nov 12, 2018 18:10
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Statutory Ape posted:is a CD somehow inherently more secure than a flash drive i dont understand the hesitation (besides obviously price, but ultimately this is a penny wise: pound foolish scenario imo) Sort of... USB devices can be anything, like a rubber ducky. I don't particularly understand why anyone would want optical in a laptop though. Are you going to pull out your CD wallet at Starbucks? I have an older Thinkpad that had an optical drive which I replaced with a hard drive caddy, but I haven't put a drive in the caddy yet. "Empty hole where HD might go someday" > "Optical drive" AgentCow007 fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Nov 12, 2018 |
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Nov 12, 2018 18:18
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DrDork posted:Come join us in federal / military employment, where were are generally blanket banned from using flash media for anything, ever. The lack of CD drives on newer laptops is legit obnoxious for the people in my organization because every time we want to move stuff around that can't be emailed (hahahah 10MB limit kill me) we have to go dig around for an external drive. Though why we have laptops in the first place--considering they never move and, in fact, will lock themselves down if they detect that they have been moved, is an interesting question. Banning USB flash drives but allowing USB CD drives is funny because you're still vulnerable to attacks that falsify the USB self-identification. Guess it cuts down on the accidental viruses from people using unsanitized sticks though. I can see deploying laptops much simpler in terms of asset management (only have to tag one item, don't need to track the keyboard/monitor, don't need space for the tower and only need one outlet per machine, etc.). CD burners that still need two USB ports is probably a realization that anyone who still needs to use CDs is probably in an environment where there's good odds that they don't have USB 3.0 for single port.
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Nov 12, 2018 18:19
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How do I get the point across to Dell support that I have a hardware issue with a dedicated GPU on an Inspiron 15 7577? I ordered it from Amazon Warehouse (technically used, so I can only return it, not replace it for the same price), and it arrived doing this every time I run a game or benchmark while plugged in: Rocket League starting screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KsJqSA6p90 Heaven benchmark. At 1:08 Windows forces it to use the CPU's graphics, which results in it running without any graphical issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-xtcFTKJpY I've called in twice now, and both times have ended up with their software support team which wants $100+ to troubleshoot software errors because while it technically runs Windows just fine (CPU graphics), that means that it must be a software issue, rather than a consistently failing dedicated GPU that has never been able to handle running anything. I've sent the support team both of those videos, but it seems like they either haven't looked, or don't know how to interpret it. I'm beyond frustrated in what I've heard to be a great customer service process, but maybe that's just high-priced monitors. If no one knows of a better way to get the hardware replacement that I think I need, please recommend me something similar to that laptop from another brand that has real tech support, and can get me a laptop with a 1060 GPU for under $1000. I guess I could go with a 1050 ti if I really had to, but I was really hoping to have a portable VR-capable laptop.
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Nov 12, 2018 19:56
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isndl posted:Banning USB flash drives but allowing USB CD drives is funny because you're still vulnerable to attacks that falsify the USB self-identification. Guess it cuts down on the accidental viruses from people using unsanitized sticks though.  isndl posted:I can see deploying laptops much simpler in terms of asset management (only have to tag one item, don't need to track the keyboard/monitor, don't need space for the tower and only need one outlet per machine, etc.). It would make sense...except we all use external monitors, keyboards, mice, card readers, etc., etc. Being a laptop buys us exactly nothing except lower specs for the price. It's real fun to run full-disk encryption on a 5400RPM laptop HDD. It's a giant mess of pointlessness due to broken acquisition processes and an IT department that struggles with managing not to choke themselves on their own spittle half the time.
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Nov 12, 2018 21:01
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Drunk Badger posted:I'm beyond frustrated in what I've heard to be a great customer service process, but maybe that's just high-priced monitors. If no one knows of a better way to get the hardware replacement that I think I need, please recommend me something similar to that laptop from another brand that has real tech support, and can get me a laptop with a 1060 GPU for under $1000. I guess I could go with a 1050 ti if I really had to, but I was really hoping to have a portable VR-capable laptop. Just return it. At work I've seen too many times where a tech will come out to replace the motherboard (which is what yours would need) and either the motherboard be DOA or the same laptop repeatedly keep having issues even after repair. As for what to get instead I hear the Acer Helios 300 is good or you can roll the dice on the dell outlet site and try for a G5/G7. The outlet does have a 1 year mail in service warranty but I've never dealt with it.
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Nov 12, 2018 21:40
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CFox posted:Just return it. At work I've seen too many times where a tech will come out to replace the motherboard (which is what yours would need) and either the motherboard be DOA or the same laptop repeatedly keep having issues even after repair. I'm on the phone with Dell support for the third time and got someone from the warranty department to get me a repair. I can return it to Amazon any time before Jan 31st, so if it goes out again or comes back DOA I'll just do that. I'm just hoping I get it back before I leave for a trip in 16 business days (they quoted me 10-12)
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Nov 12, 2018 21:57
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I could use a gaming laptop recommendation for  Canada , where electronics are baseline expenses, then more expenses because of the exchange rate, and then even more expensive because of tariffs or some poo poo. That said, I could go up to $3500 if it's worth it, but I suspect it won't be (would like to avoid spending a ton for only marginal performance gains).
I'm basically imagining like an early 90s-era laptop (you know, more or less just a small desktop turned sideways, with a flatscreen and only a token battery), but for the modern age, and gaming oriented.
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Nov 13, 2018 02:16
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Mr. Wynand posted:Bed-laptop
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Nov 13, 2018 02:38
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Drunk Badger posted:I'm on the phone with Dell support for the third time and got someone from the warranty department to get me a repair. I can return it to Amazon any time before Jan 31st, so if it goes out again or comes back DOA I'll just do that. I'm just hoping I get it back before I leave for a trip in 16 business days (they quoted me 10-12) If you need it soon just return that laptop and get this Dell G5 from Walmart for $900. All tech support from the major vendors will be poo poo; there's no avoiding it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-G5-...NT&oid=223073.1
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Nov 13, 2018 03:53
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DrDork posted:Speaking of offenses against technology, how the hell is it that there are external burners that still require TWO USB ports? This shouldn't be a thing anymore; pre-USB3 the PD spec was limited to 2.5 W per port (5 V @ 0.5 W) but now everything should run off a single USB3+ port. Uthor posted:I just started playing Baldur's Gate 2. BG2 and some of the other Infinity Engine games are available on Android/iOS now BTW.  Statutory Ape posted:you are absolutely correct in this but theres no place to put a CD drive in a business laptop with the size theyre at- and the size that most buyers will buy them at- anymore I agree with this - most people don't use optical drives anymore, and for as often as you might want to use a disc it still makes more sense to get an external drive and then have a laptop that's as small/portable as possible without an internal drive. DrDork posted:As to why CDs instead of flash/thumb drives......well, the verbiage in the rationalization letters and whatnot read very much like "We got burned by a flash drive once so we're implementing a knee-jerk NEVER AGAIN solution" versus anything particularly well thought out or reasoned. I mean, we also have to purchase external hard drives from specifically blessed vendors because apparently their supply chain of sealed, retail chanel, same-as-you'd-find-on-a-Best-Buy-shelf drives are magically more secure than Best Buy. Even though some of said blessed vendors also have normal retail outlets. There's a lot of Didn't [Chelsea] Manning burn them with CD-RWs though?!? AgentCow007 posted:I have an older Thinkpad that had an optical drive which I replaced with a hard drive caddy, but I haven't put a drive in the caddy yet. "Empty hole where HD might go someday" > "Optical drive" I still have my old Ideapad whose multi-purpose bay could accommodate an optical drive, 2.5" HDD, empty/dummy/weight-/space-saver, etc., but instead it comes with... a 2nd GPU for SLI!  (They're both 650M, but still....)DrDork posted:Yeah, but it's still fairly easy to pick up viruses and such via CD-R/W media. Bonus: external hard drives are still allowed. But only if they're spinning rust. Security! This doesn't even make any sense. It'd be one thing to restrict your users to read-only media, but allowing HDDs as USB MSC r/w devices makes it meaningless to prohibit flash storage!
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Nov 13, 2018 05:11
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Atomizer posted:This doesn't even make any sense. It'd be one thing to restrict your users to read-only media, but allowing HDDs as USB MSC r/w devices makes it meaningless to prohibit flash storage! Edit: Though if that's the thing then prohibiting flash storage is meaningless because you can sneak it through their detection lol.
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Nov 13, 2018 05:12
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roomforthetuna posted:I like a bed-laptop myself, but just in case it's a better idea for your use-case, have you considered using a desktop, a wall-mount monitor arm and a wired keyboard/mouse/gamepad? Yeah, playing games (especially new ones) is gonna involve a lot of heat, which means the keyboard might be unpleasantly warm, the fans will be cranked and she might have hot air in her face. The fan noise alone will probably mean she needs to wear headphones the whole time, it's not gonna be the best experience. Especially if her eyesight isn't great and she needs to get close to the screen If you don't have this ^^^ setup with the arm (although I'd go with wireless peripherals all the way) and want a laptop that can go anywhere, it still might be worth making a gaming PC and connecting to it through a basic laptop, through something like Steam In-Home Streaming. That way the PC is doing all the work, the laptop runs nice and quiet and can be whatever spec you want. Although it's less likely to look  if it's thin and light. Plus it's cheaper to have a lot of storage for massive modern games in a PC instead of worrying about space on a laptop(I've used a Steam Link like this and it's great so long as your connection is decent, obviously using Ethernet cables is better but the laptop might be on WiFi instead, so that needs a good signal. But there can be occasional issues where you need to sort something out on the host pc, like click something or maximise a window, which would be a problem if someone can't physically get to it. It's rare but it's not perfect, so it needs mentioning)
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Nov 13, 2018 06:11
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If she's comfortable with fps as low as 30 (I am too, that's not a judgement) then I think wireless input devices would probably also be fine? Wires are a pain in the rear end as soon as you leave a desk. I agree that if you don't care about mobility, just comfort, your money is better spent on a lap desk, wireless keyboard & mouse, and a large mounted monitor/tv/projector for the gaming rig she already has. Then you can continue to upgrade that as needed
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Nov 13, 2018 14:04
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E;wrong thread
Ulio fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Nov 13, 2018 |
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Nov 13, 2018 14:57
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