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I haven't had a proper 'new' computer in over 10 years now, so I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to hardware. I've been limping along with a Chromebook and janitoring my ancient desktop which is just functioning as a file server currently. I picked up this the other day: https://www.costco.ca/hp-envy-x360-15-ed1003ca-2-in-1-laptop-bundle%2c-i7-1165g7.product.100710193.html and so far it's been great, but there's a 90 day return policy on it so I wanted to make sure there's not any gotchas that I haven't considered. At a glance, the specs seem really good at that price, with an 11th gen i7. It's primarily for productivity, but with some gaming on the side. It plays the Binding of Isaac without breaking a sweat, which isn't surprising, it ran fine on my ancient laptop as well, but it also seems to run the Sims 4 without a hitch at 1080p, which my wife is happy about. I see that it has some newfangled 'Iris XE' integrated graphics, and it seems surprisingly good for being integrated, but am I shooting myself in the foot by not getting a dedicated GPU at this point? I've also been reading up on eGPUs, what's the consensus on those? It looks like those require a Thunderbolt port, which this laptop lacks anyways, but at first glance the versatility of being able to hook up a cable to convert a laptop into a competent gaming PC is appealing, barring any major caveats.
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Apr 19, 2021 18:06
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FWIW, re: gaming laptops and USB-C PD, you're probably gonna end up starving whatever machine you end up with only powering it with USB-C PD for gaming. PD is specced out at 100w delivery and I would be shocked to see much below the ~150-200 range in gaming laptops, meaning to actually get it to perform with the DGPU, you'd want to use whatever included barrel connector. Even my laptop with a 1650 comes with a 130w barrel plug. I can actually get it to game pretty well off of PD though since I undervolted the gpu, but that card is significantly weaker than the ones linked in that dell array, and theoretically the CPU is capped at a very low turbo and low mhz threshold, though frankly since plundervolt idk if that functionality even works anymore.
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Apr 19, 2021 18:16
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Stockwell posted:I haven't had a proper 'new' computer in over 10 years now, so I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to hardware. I've been limping along with a Chromebook and janitoring my ancient desktop which is just functioning as a file server currently. I picked up this the other day: https://www.costco.ca/hp-envy-x360-15-ed1003ca-2-in-1-laptop-bundle%2c-i7-1165g7.product.100710193.html and so far it's been great, but there's a 90 day return policy on it so I wanted to make sure there's not any gotchas that I haven't considered. At a glance, the specs seem really good at that price, with an 11th gen i7. It's primarily for productivity, but with some gaming on the side. It plays the Binding of Isaac without breaking a sweat, which isn't surprising, it ran fine on my ancient laptop as well, but it also seems to run the Sims 4 without a hitch at 1080p, which my wife is happy about. I see that it has some newfangled 'Iris XE' integrated graphics, and it seems surprisingly good for being integrated, but am I shooting myself in the foot by not getting a dedicated GPU at this point? Your choices for 2 in 1s and dedicated graphics is slim. The Ryzen integrated graphics are a step up, but then you need to go with something like the Surface Book to get a 1660ti which is very good for gaming, but that's a lot more money. If you don't care about 2 in 1s, then $1300 could get you a great gaming laptop.
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Apr 19, 2021 18:38
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Lockback posted:Your choices for 2 in 1s and dedicated graphics is slim. The Ryzen integrated graphics are a step up, but then you need to go with something like the Surface Book to get a 1660ti which is very good for gaming, but that's a lot more money. Any specific recommendations? 2 in 1 wasn't really a selling point. I suppose it's a nice bonus, but definitely not necessary. I'm in Canada, if that makes a difference at all.
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Apr 19, 2021 18:46
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My 2021 G15 Strix came in the mail and I love this rainbow little thing a lot. Fan is a little loud sometimes but eh, I can deal. 10/10, would recommend
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Apr 19, 2021 19:20
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https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...650-ti/14583635 Is this the model that's been getting the hype in this thread? It is cheaper, but aside from the GPU it appears inferior in every way to the HP Envy. Not to mention, it's kinda fugly. I'm assuming it'd still perform better for gaming despite that? How's the build quality https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-rog-zephyrus-g15-15-6-gaming-laptop-grey-amd-ryzen-9-5900hs-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram-rtx-3060-eng/15264484 This one appears to be a newer model, and looks much nicer, but $700 more, and isn't available. I see there's the G14 for $1500 as well. Stockwell fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 19:32
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Statutory Ape posted:FWIW, re: gaming laptops and USB-C PD, you're probably gonna end up starving whatever machine you end up with only powering it with USB-C PD for gaming. PD is specced out at 100w delivery and i would be shocked to see much below the ~150-200 range in gaming laptops, meaning to actually get it to perform with the DGPU, you'd want to use whatever included barrel connector. The G15 performs basically at full speed on battery/USB-C connection (very slight dip in performance). When utilizing everything on a high demand game, it drains the battery at a decent, but not unmanageable clip for shorter gaming sessions on USB-C power. You should easily be able to get 3 hours or so of high performance gaming on 100w USB-C if you start from a full battery and your performance really isn't going to suffer much noticably.
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Apr 19, 2021 19:34
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Stockwell posted:Any specific recommendations? 2 in 1 wasn't really a selling point. I suppose it's a nice bonus, but definitely not necessary. I'm in Canada, if that makes a difference at all. At that price point, can you get this without paying a ton of fees and stuff? https://www.ebay.com/itm/194026500389 Basically look for something with a 2060 (3060 would be great but you won't find in stock at that price) or a 2070 if you want better performance but less portability/battery. Stay away from Acer, and I generally don't like Dell's home stuff. Stockwell posted:https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...650-ti/14583635 Yeah first one is a good value and a lot better than Iris (but not as good as the 2060). The G15 3060 is an amazing laptop but I assume out of your price range. The first one is last year's, low end model. Not the one people are pimping here. And the rest of the specs (aside from maybe memory) are inferior but won't matter. The Envy you have will get bottlenecked by Iris Graphics in games LLLLOOOOONNNNGGGGG before anything else matters. The 2nd one is an amazing laptop but I assume out of your range. Lockback fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 19:51
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Lockback posted:At that price point, can you get this without paying a ton of fees and stuff? Yeah $2k is a bit steep. This one appears to be on sale rn, and is actually in stock. Would it be a fairly acceptable compromise with the others? https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...0ti-en/14575596 edit: actually it looks like the one from Bestbuy is the same from the eBay one you linked, and appears to be about the same price, taking exchange rate into account. I'll have to seriously consider it. Seems like an extra $200 is a no-brainer to be able to play basically anything recent.
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Apr 19, 2021 19:59
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Stockwell posted:Yeah $2k is a bit steep. This one appears to be on sale rn, and is actually in stock. Would it be a fairly acceptable compromise with the others? I feel like that's a high price for what it is, but I don't know Canadian market very well. The 1650ti might be a better value if you're mostly playing lower-demanding games, that one will be considerably nicer/faster though. If "Playing Games" is on the table then yes, it's much better value than the Envy.
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Apr 19, 2021 20:02
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Lockback posted:I feel like that's a high price for what it is, but I don't know Canadian market very well. The 1650ti might be a better value if you're mostly playing lower-demanding games, that one will be considerably nicer/faster though. Yeah I don't know wth is going on with the prices in Canada. The exact same one you posted from eBay is $650 more on Amazon.ca after taking exchange rate into account: https://www.amazon.ca/ASUS-Zephyrus-Gaming-GeForce-Moonlight/dp/B088PDB63Z Would this one be a significant step up from the Ryzen 7/1660ti? https://www.amazon.ca/Zephyrus-Gami...nics,221&sr=1-1 Stockwell fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 20:10
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Stockwell posted:Yeah I don't know wth is going on with the prices in Canada. The exact same one you posted from eBay is $650 more on Amazon.ca after taking exchange rate into account: It always amazes me that there isn't an Uber for "electronic mules" One person flying from US to London or Paris, Schiphol etc can mule three business laptops for the cost of a transatlantic ticket, maybe even just two laptops Yeah it's technically illegal but the penalties are merely civil, and the risk is almost zero. A college student could pay for their trip abroad + a months worth of living expenses for muling four laptops and a GPU A guy I know in denmark goes to visit his girlfriend stateside and always comes back with 2000-3000 worth of boat equipment in his luggage because it's half the cost of what it would cost to buy it in denmark
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Apr 19, 2021 20:25
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check out MIA at any time, it's also big with whitegoods
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Apr 19, 2021 22:25
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Upon further reflection, I really don't do any AAA gaming these days, I tend to stick to indies, for instance my latest obsessions have been the Binding of Isaac, Two-Point Hospital, and Subnautica. I was really wanting to play Amid Evil and Dusk, and both of those are retro-styled and play fine at High settings at a good framerate from initial tests, same with Subnautica, already looks and performs a hell of a lot better than it does on PS4. Would I still see benefit from getting something with even a 1660 ti? The one thing that other vendors definitely can't really compete with is the automatic 3 year warranty through Costco, and the additional insurance covers accidents, which is good with young kids. There's not much there for gaming laptops though, best I could see is a Dell G3. Appears to have good specs, but from pictures online the build quality doesn't look as nice, and I've noticed a lot of gaming laptops lack numpads.
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Apr 19, 2021 22:26
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Stockwell posted:Upon further reflection, I really don't do any AAA gaming these days, I tend to stick to indies, for instance my latest obsessions have been the Binding of Isaac, Two-Point Hospital, and Subnautica. I was really wanting to play Amid Evil and Dusk, and both of those are retro-styled and play fine at High settings at a good framerate from initial tests, same with Subnautica, already looks and performs a hell of a lot better than it does on PS4. Would I still see benefit from getting something with even a 1660 ti? The one thing that other vendors definitely can't really compete with is the automatic 3 year warranty through Costco, and the additional insurance covers accidents, which is good with young kids. Even a 1650 will play literally any game out there if you're ok with adjusting settings, which, based on the games you listed, would still end up looking better than most of what you play anyway. Some shadow/anti aliasing/resolution fuckery and you're playing the latest modern warfare. Even the better integrated stuff will manage to pull call of duty these days, albeit, on OG xb1 looking settings A very good n easy tactic i use to gauge these things would be youtubing a game i want to play with the hardware i'm interested in. So, a search for like, "star citizen benchmark GTX 1060 and i7 8700k" would give great intel on what kind of performance at what settings i could look forward to e; no i do not want to play star citizen Worf fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 23:50
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bull3964 posted:The G15 performs basically at full speed on battery/USB-C connection (very slight dip in performance). When utilizing everything on a high demand game, it drains the battery at a decent, but not unmanageable clip for shorter gaming sessions on USB-C power. You should easily be able to get 3 hours or so of high performance gaming on 100w USB-C if you start from a full battery and your performance really isn't going to suffer much noticably. so, essentially, yeah, be very aware that traveling with only a USB-C cord will net you a dead battery if you plan on being away longer than a fraction of a day  sitting there plugged in with a 3 hour battery life is bad for you and probably not great for your battery cycles
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Apr 19, 2021 23:53
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Statutory Ape posted:so, essentially, yeah, be very aware that traveling with only a USB-C cord will net you a dead battery if you plan on being away longer than a fraction of a day Only if you are gaming. Otherwise it's a 9 hour notebook on battery and the c charging has no trouble keeping up.
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Apr 20, 2021 00:05
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Stockwell posted:Upon further reflection, I really don't do any AAA gaming these days, I tend to stick to indies, for instance my latest obsessions have been the Binding of Isaac, Two-Point Hospital, and Subnautica. I was really wanting to play Amid Evil and Dusk, and both of those are retro-styled and play fine at High settings at a good framerate from initial tests, same with Subnautica, already looks and performs a hell of a lot better than it does on PS4. Would I still see benefit from getting something with even a 1660 ti? The one thing that other vendors definitely can't really compete with is the automatic 3 year warranty through Costco, and the additional insurance covers accidents, which is good with young kids. I mean, yes you will still see benefit especially with games like Subnautica. A mobile 2060 isn't like a AAA-only GPU, it's firmly "Midrange". But a 1650ti or a 1660ti is going to probably be a lot better. Do you go over into the states at all? Taking some USD into a best buy will probably be the best option. Again, since you're asking about gaming I still wouldn't try to go the distance on that Iris though.
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Apr 20, 2021 00:30
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Statutory Ape posted:Even a 1650 will play literally any game out there if you're ok with adjusting settings, Yeah this is me If there's some AAA game out there that I need to play at 60fps I will borrow a PlayStation or something
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Apr 20, 2021 01:07
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:check out MIA at any time, it's also big with whitegoods MIA?
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Apr 20, 2021 11:11
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Miami International Airport. Big hub for international flights to Latin America and the islands, many of which have restrictive import tariffs on things like iPhones, computers, TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, etc. You see people checking in with like an entire Kenmore dishwasher as a checked luggage item.
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Apr 20, 2021 21:45
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A friend once told me about a moroccan coworker, who on trips back home would have his suitcases full of Oras faucets and bidet showers.
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Apr 20, 2021 22:09
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Miami International Airport. Big hub for international flights to Latin America and the islands, many of which have restrictive import tariffs on things like iPhones, computers, TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, etc. You see people checking in with like an entire Kenmore dishwasher as a checked luggage item.  What? A dishwasher as luggage on a plane?
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Apr 21, 2021 08:37
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Bofast posted:
Well it would be awkward if we served the dishwasher meals and gave it a seat
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Apr 21, 2021 10:41
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Bofast posted:
not in the cabin but yeah, pay the oversize/overweight bag fee and they'll stick it in the bottom of the plane for you. this ends up being a better deal for the passenger's cousin who wants a dishwasher than paying say, the Nicaraguan tariff to buy a dishwasher in Nicaragua. The airlines are very used to this, it's a common practice. It's more common with smaller electronics now because those are higher value and more expensive and don't incur the same transport costs from the airline. Statutory Ape posted:Well it would be awkward if we served the dishwasher meals and gave it a seat look washing dishes is a perfectly respectable job, we'll have none of these classist attitudes from you
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Apr 21, 2021 12:18
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Hey, I’m kind of looking for something in the neighbourhood of the Zephyrus G15 or the Blade Advanced. The G15 has a few things I’m just not super into (power port placement, no webcam, all those little holes…) and the Blade I’d be interested in (the QHD/240Hz screen) seems to be consistently out of stock from Canadian retailers. I’d really like to have something in hand by the end of May. What else should I be looking at in this price/spec range? Ideally at least i7, 3000-series, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, QHD / 120 Hz.
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Apr 21, 2021 23:14
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I know surface have mixed reactions but I like them. Either way screaming deal on Surface pro 7+s for under $700 https://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=833026&CatId=11945 mayday mayday posted:Hey, I’m kind of looking for something in the neighbourhood of the Zephyrus G15 or the Blade Advanced. The G15 has a few things I’m just not super into (power port placement, no webcam, all those little holes…) and the Blade I’d be interested in (the QHD/240Hz screen) seems to be consistently out of stock from Canadian retailers. I’d really like to have something in hand by the end of May. Maybe the HPs? Lower cost but generally lower quality. There isn't much that is like the G15/Blade other than those. MSI is also alright, but tend to run much hotter and have generally a cheaper feel. But stock will be tight everywhere.
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Apr 22, 2021 14:49
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For sure—just want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Thanks!
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Apr 22, 2021 17:15
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Lockback posted:I know surface have mixed reactions but I like them. Either way screaming deal on Surface pro 7+s for under $700 drat, this is super tempting. I wish they had a sale on on the 16gb RAM model(s), though. been looking for a 2-in-1 or tablet ever since I got into goofy mechanical keyboards and stopped wanting to use laptop keyboards, but I do web development using WSL2, which as a VM requires a pretty hefty chunk of reserved RAM. unsurprisingly, the intersection of "well-rated 2-in-1/tablet, 16 gigs of RAM, and below $1000" seems to have zero devices in it.
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Apr 22, 2021 17:38
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i recently got a used 12" tablet on the cheap (600 euros) with a really nice 3:2 screen (looks pretty much the same as my now-sadly-dead chomebook pixel), and it turns out it's actualy i7-7600U, 16gb ram, and 512gb ssd, a 2-in-1 thing. dmidecode says hp elite x2 g2 something anyway, i was gonna buy a real laptop for work for a couple hundred bux and use the nice screen on the tablet as an extra if ever i needed it, but considering the amount of ram/ssd in this thing i don't think i want/need one however, while the tablet itself is p. great, the detachable keyboard/touchpad it came with is terrible garbage. keyboard is just barely passable, (but then what new laptop's isn't  ) but touchpad only supports 2 fingers (on a $2000+ 2017 2-in-1??), which is just no. also it doesn't work wirelessly and isn't the most comfortable to work with. are there any decent bluetooth keyboard+touchpad combos out there? i think a $30-50 wireless keyboard+touchpad combo would be a much better solution than another laptop
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Apr 22, 2021 21:14
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I bought a new HP Envy 14 to replace my old Lenovo from 2014 this week. I'm gonna test it out this weekend and maybe return it and buy the 2021 Zephyrus G14 instead if it can't run the art software I want it to, I'm not sure. The screen is really nice, and I didn't even realise it was a touchscreen. Has anyone bought the ROG Flow 13? I had zero interest in it until this HP showed up, but now I've actually tried a laptop with a touchscreen for the first time in my life, I kind of want the dumb 2-in-1 baby ROG laptop. It looks pretty solid aside from the battery life. Is there any future in the proprietary port they're using to hook it up to the external graphics card? Or is it going to be made redundant in a year or two by improved thunderbolt ports?
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Apr 23, 2021 19:18
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I have a Lenovo Legion Y520 that's about 4 years old. Last night it decided it would not turn on. I think this is actually a button issue as opposed to "internals reduced to smoking ash" because normally the power button has an audible/tactile click and it wasn't doing that. I took it to a shop to see if it can be fixed. If it can't, what's a decent replacement? I liked the Lenovo quite a bit, so I'm looking to get another one. I do most of my gaming on console, but there are some pc-only games I play. I also do LP's so some video editing but nothing super-intensive. Looking to spend around a grand. I can go somewhat higher but not interested in shelling out 2k. And it's ok if it's a bit heavier/clunkier since I don't drag it everywhere with me. Don't want a desktop because I do all my poo poo in my small living room and need space.
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Apr 24, 2021 00:21
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Best value is too try to stretch your budget to this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...-gray/6451627.p You can also get the 2020 g14 with a 2060 for around 1200, that's not a bad deal either but mostly because it's so portable. If you hunt around you can find MSIs or others with a 1660ti all the way to a 2070 for 900-1200, most of them would probably need a memory or ssd upgrade though if you feel comfortable with that.
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Apr 24, 2021 06:22
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drat i really wish there was a PC equivalent to Apple's M1 chip. Everyone would be flipping out if AMD had made something like it.
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Apr 24, 2021 08:08
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Mu Zeta posted:drat i really wish there was a PC equivalent to Apple's M1 chip. Everyone would be flipping out if AMD had made something like it. Redmond, start your photocopiers.
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Apr 24, 2021 08:19
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Where is Samsung at with that AMD GPU silicon, anyways?Sniep posted:Redmond, start your photocopiers. Well, they have the tooling for a chassis already, it's called the Surface Pro X. Microsoft hasn't come out with a new Surface in over a year now, probably because they're trying to figure out whether the next one is going to use Intel 14nm++++++++++++++++++++++ parts, not being able to get enough chips from AMD to cover their SKUs, or if Windows-on-ARM is gonna poo poo the bed again. edit: Or, I suppose, if they wait, they can finally get some 10nm Intel silicon, some of those 5000-series APUs that just got announced, and Windows-on-ARM poo poo the bed again. edit 2: Didn't know there were Surface Pro 8 rumors and leaks. Looks like they might have Tiger Lake (10nm) silicon. Thank god, finally. SwissArmyDruid fucked around with this message at 13:11 on Apr 24, 2021 |
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Apr 24, 2021 13:02
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The surface laptop 4 got announced a few days ago. Tiger lake or zen 2, and no goddam thunderbolt. Still. MS makes the dumbest loving choices.
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Apr 24, 2021 13:18
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ilkhan posted:The surface laptop 4 got announced a few days ago. Tiger lake or zen 2, and no goddam thunderbolt. Still. MS makes the dumbest loving choices. I was looking into that because people from work were talking about it and there's some even more bananas choices in SKU segmentation like no 32GB RAM on a AMD CPU.
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Apr 24, 2021 13:22
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Mu Zeta posted:drat i really wish there was a PC equivalent to Apple's M1 chip. Everyone would be flipping out if AMD had made something like it. For joe-consumer the M1 is amazing but there are still some gaps with compilers and I think some encoders that won't run yet on M1. This isn't a big deal in Apple's ecosystem but in the PC world this would be a frickin nightmare to own. A chip with M1-like performance but good-enough golden handcuffs is a tall order.
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Apr 24, 2021 14:27
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Mu Zeta posted:drat i really wish there was a PC equivalent to Apple's M1 chip. Everyone would be flipping out if AMD had made something like it. AMD did make an ARM-based chip for the server market a few years ago, the Opteron A series. IIRC it was supposed to be drop-in compatible with existing motherboards after a firmware update. I don't recall it ever going further than a few dev boards though. Also the M1 is great for a lot of consumer use cases but runs in to a brick wall hard with its 16GB RAM limit. No matter how many ways Apple tries to pretend that's not an issue, slapping the "Pro" name on a computer that can't have at least 32-64GB of RAM is loving stupid.
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Apr 24, 2021 17:03
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