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Turds in magma posted:So then I guess the question is, am I going to be happier with: If you're spending that much cash, maybe consider the Asus Flow X13 2023. Very compact for travel with lots of power under the hood and a gorgeous display, though availability is still a little rough depending on your region. I do like the keyboard feel a lot more than the XPS 15 though.
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# ? May 27, 2024 02:50 |
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Sylphosaurus posted:EDIT: Due to an ongoing campaign the 4070 is actually 50 Euro cheaper than the 4060, so unless the 4070 laptop will turn into a miniature bonfire every time I play games that are a bit more demanding IŽll go with that one. Yes, as mentioned the 4070 is BETTER than the 4060, it's just the 4060 is really good so the 4070 is not the kind of jump you usually see, so it's not worth the same premium it has in previous generations (though the 3070 was kinda crap too, the 3070ti was the actual step up). Noteable the 4080 is also a really good mobile GPU. Also noteable, the laptop SKUs are basically totally different than the desktop SKUs this generation, so don't take any desktop performance or value and try to apply it across.
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Lockback posted:Also noteable, the laptop SKUs are basically totally different than the desktop SKUs this generation, so don't take any desktop performance or value and try to apply it across. In fairness, this is usually the case every generation.
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Helter Skelter posted:In fairness, this is usually the case every generation. True, but its gotten worse every generation since Pascal and since this generation is kinda funky anyway the difference is pretty severe.
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A few days ago someone posted that Best Buy open box deal for like $600 for a super decent computer. It was the HP Omen, but I missed out. ![]() I'm looking for something around that price, that offers various things. Gaming on it isn't super important but I would like to get into music or video production, even just for fun. Battery life and responsiveness are probably the most important aspects, but it would be cool to play a game every now and then. Any other sick deals in that $6-700 range?
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Wilkins Micawber posted:A few days ago someone posted that Best Buy open box deal for like $600 for a super decent computer. It was the HP Omen, but I missed out. Bad for gaming, good for everything else: https://slickdeals.net/f/16849133-l...shipping-lenovo Otherwise....not really. However, if you troll slickdeals there's usually stuff that pops up. You'd want 16GB of RAM and something with a 3060 or 4050+ at that price if you want something that is a decent gaming machine, maybe a 3050ti or 2060. Any maybe look up into the $800s too if you can.
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Thanks for the heads-up. I had a Yoga tablet that I really liked but it won't boot because of the battery. I might not get that laptop in particular. I'll keep an eye on Slickdeals in general.
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Thanks for all the info re: sleep mode. I will probably give it some time to see if any updates sort it out. I am still getting new updates daily even though every time I check it says up to date. If that doesn't work I will try ghelper or learn to live with it.
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:Saw this Zenbook 14 OLED at Best Buy for $600 and almost bought it to replace my current lovely chromebook as my "shitpost and watch videos in bed" device but balked because $600 is still a bit much to me for that type of device. Are these things any good? I might try to find a deal on a refurb or used one if so. This has been $500 at best buy the last few days so I'm picking one up. I know 8GB of memory is cringe, but my demands for my laptops are light and $500 seems like a good price, especially given the 2.8K OLED screen, which is the main thing I'm interested in. And 16GB models seem to start at $1000 for some stupid reason.
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:This has been $500 at best buy the last few days so I'm picking one up. I know 8GB of memory is cringe, but my demands for my laptops are light and $500 seems like a good price, especially given the 2.8K OLED screen, which is the main thing I'm interested in. And 16GB models seem to start at $1000 for some stupid reason. I have 8 gigs in my Lenovo Yoga 7i and it's honestly not terrible or anything. Not like the olden days when you knew your machine was low on memory as stuff got swapped to a spinning hard disk and things began to ground to a halt. The most I demand of it is probably loading up a dozen tabs in Edge, which is a perfectly fine browser and seems to do a good job of putting tabs to sleep if you haven't used them for a while, and reloads them quickly. For basic use though, I find it adequate. There may even be some startup programs that probably don't need to be running all the time that you can disable if you want a little more breathing room.
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I've stopped recommending 8GB laptops for anything but the lowest end, but that said if you are somewhat cognizant of what you need and how to keep your environment lean then sure, 8GB will probably be ok. It's important to note, Chrome DOESN'T actually need all the RAM it reserves. It sits there and keeps compiled JSPs in memory of webpages you've visited 6 months ago JUST IN CASE you decide to go back one day. It will slim itself down if the resources are constrained. I mean, it still used an absurd amount of memory but it isn't as bad as it reports.
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I mean yeah, I've been using 4GB chromebooks. It's actually fine as long as you aren't doing anything beyond very basic web browsing/youtube watching/discord chatting. And also as long as you fully reboot the machine every so often. It's just a bit sluggish sometimes, and it can't keep too many tabs loaded in memory. I also had to clean out my extensions, which is annoying since Google syncs your extensions between devices. Anyway, my main reason for buying it is the OLED screen. I've done a lot of comparison shopping, and the only other laptop with an OLED screen this cheap is a Lenovo Yoga 7i. It's still has just 8GB of RAM though, has a lower-res screen (1200p vs 1800p), and a lower-spec processor (i5-1335U vs i5-13500H), and it's 16 inches which is probably bigger than I want. For some reason, 16GB seems to come at a ridiculous premium when looking for OLED laptops. I'll just be doing the aforementioned activities on this thing, as well as opening the occasional word doc or spreadhseet. I may dabble with game streaming on it too. (as in, streaming games to it). Anything serious will be done with my ridiculously overbuilt desktop.
Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Aug 12, 2023 |
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Honestly, I've been eyeing that Best Buy link since you posted it but I absolutely do not need another laptop. I bet that screen is gorgeous. I almost bought a very similar machine last year when the 12th gen Intels were the latest. Probably spent an hour at BB going back and forth between the Asus and 14in Yoga 7i. At the time the Asus was full price and the Lenovo was on sale so they were at price parity. The Lenovo had a few details that just barely put it ahead of the Asus for me, but it was very very close. I think you'll enjoy that machine.
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Update: The screen is indeed gorgeous. I inaugurated it with some Dorktown. It does all the OLED things, everything is incredibly sharp and detailed thanks to the high resolution, and it's even 120hz. My one nitpick is something I've heard some people say about laptop OLEDs before, but I honestly forgot about--there's a faint graininess to really bright, solid colors. Like you can almost see the pixel grid or something, despite how dense it is. I have to sort of look for it to notice it though. Overall, it's an excellent screen for the money, and the computer parts it comes with are good too. The chassis is well-built, and it feels good to use. The out-of-the-box software configuration is surprisingly clean, though Asus' control software unsurprisingly is the least smooth part of the system. If I had one other nitpick, it's that I'm not the biggest fan of down-firing speakers, but they're not too bad here. The audio was a bit muffled out of the box, but switching from their default "Music" EQ (some terrible v-shaped or bass-boosted config) to a flat EQ improved that quite a bit. I've yet to work the machine very hard, but I've installed a few programs and such and haven't heard the fans get loud at all yet. It's virtually silent most of the time. Anyway, that's my mini review of the Zenbook 14X OLED after 5 hours of use. I'm honestly surprised this thing is $500. It very much seems worth it as long as you're someone who's use case is tolerant of 8GB of unupgradable system memory. That's a pretty big caveat though, I know. Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Aug 14, 2023 |
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Okay this is going to be the dumbest poo poo: I want to play multiplayer Baldur's Gate 3, it doesn't have to look great. Turns out this game is not technically released yet on ARM macs and so the different versions prevent me from playing with my PC-owning friend. No guarantee that multiplayer between M1 mac and PC will work even after the official ARM release. So. I'm uh, looking for a windows laptop that will play this game. What's the cheapest I can reasonably find this?
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Here's a thought: Can you use something like Geforce Now to play the Windows version on your Mac while waiting for a proper Mac port? I believe Geforce Now syncs with your Steam Cloud saves so you can switch to and from it without losing your saves. It would be a lot cheaper than buying a whole windows laptop just for BG3, at least.
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:Here's a thought: Can you use something like Geforce Now to play the Windows version on your Mac while waiting for a proper Mac port? I believe Geforce Now syncs with your Steam Cloud saves so you can switch to and from it without losing your saves. It would be a lot cheaper than buying a whole windows laptop just for BG3, at least. Wow that worked remarkably well. Thanks dude!
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The M1 version will almost certainly work when it's released, the beta did. It's just the 1.0 version isn't out yet for Mac so that's why it didn't work. There are ways to make it work via translation if you look online, but gfn is a really good solution.
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Friend's old laptop just died, and he's looking for an oddball set of features, if anybody knows of a laptop with the following: Two NVME slots a 2.5" bay (he just bought an 8tb drive that he was going to use with his newly dead laptop so he's pretty dead set on using it) graphics card (3060 or higher) high refresh rate display numpad (I guess this is his only "negotiable" requirement)
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can't he just get a 2.5" external enclosure?
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That's the obvious solution. He's just really wanting this mystical laptop to exist.
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explain sunk cost fallacy to your friend. there's no reason for a 2.5 bay to exist in a modern laptop
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I think HP still sells budget oriented 17 inch machines with 2.5 drive support, and m.2 storage, but only 1 slot I believe. They're incredibly mediocre in most aspects though; as in you can't even get a backlit keyboard or a decent GPU and only low power processors. Edit: Your friend really missed out on the golden transitional phase between 2.5in and m.2 storage. My 2015 MSI has a 2.5in bay and three SATA m.2 slots. Optical drive too. ![]() Mental Hospitality fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Aug 14, 2023 |
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He will probably have to spend like an extra $500-$1000 to get a laptop with a 3060+ and a 2.5" bay, probably looking at Lenovo workstation laptops or something. Even a couple years ago (2000 series GPUs) you could find it with the MSI Raider or I think even one of the Strix had 2.5 but as far as I can see they aren't there anymore.
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There was this time where you could buy a caddy to replace an optical drive with a hard drive. Don't know if that's helpful now though.
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A bunch of modern Dells fit a 2.5" drive if you only get the small-capacity battery option. I'm not going to be helpful and find you one that meets all those criteria though, because browsing through all Dell's models is painful at best.
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At this point an external optical drive is the normal route. They are pretty cheap too.
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Your friend is dumb and stubborn sorry If anyone knows of a new construction* laptop that comes with an honest to god 2.5" bay in the year of our lord 2023 please link it here, I'd love to see what that ol' dinosaur looks like ![]() *Not new old stock from like 2014
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When I was looking into 15.6" laptops last year (laptops with 3060s, so not super-old models), there was at least one that had a hybrid m.2/2.5" slot, but none with two m.2 slots plus another slot just for 2.5".
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So, if someone too young to know better left a laptop out and opened on the front porch where it got rained on for a few minutes, is it likely to be salvageable if left upside down in a dry room with a desk fan pointed at it for a week? Is there anything better than that a person with nowhere near expertise to dismantle it can do? The good news is it was powered down at the time. It's old and I actually just ordered its replacement a couple days ago, so not a huge deal if it's dead. Not worth paying a professional to rescue really. Would be nice to still have it though and be able to get some data off it.
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I wouldn't trust hardware that's taken a bath, but hopefully you can recover the data. An air conditioner or dehumidifer might also help.
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I've recovered more than 1 laptop that had similar experiences, but it's not a guarantee. If you need to, it's likely the HDD still works if you need to pull stuff off of it though, even if the rest is cooked.
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Hadlock posted:Your friend is dumb and stubborn sorry Listen, if you have a better way to make sure 4TB of hentai wasn't going to end up being misplaced I'd like to hear it.
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Sandisk sells a "SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO" for $150 seems like a pretty good option If the laptop wasn't powered on, yeah give it a week and it should turn right on like nothing ever happened. The fans might fail here in a couple of months but electronics tend to bounce back from exposure to water. If you super like the laptop, maybe leave it out in the sun for two weeks to be absolutely sure.
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Eric the Mauve posted:So, if someone too young to know better left a laptop out and opened on the front porch where it got rained on for a few minutes, is it likely to be salvageable if left upside down in a dry room with a desk fan pointed at it for a week? Is there anything better than that a person with nowhere near expertise to dismantle it can do? It's possible that water can get into tight spaces that can't be easily dried out without taking it apart, but if you're willing to let it dry for a full week or more that will give it its best chance. The main thing is don't try to start it up after a couple of days just to see how it's doing (which is a common thing people do), since it could still short and it can really take a while. Don't bother with rice or anything if you can leave it being blown on, often that is just a way to get low humidity in the area where the wet thing is. My dad's jeep sunroof drains got clogged and the passenger and driver's side carpets were sopping wet. After shop vaccing the water from the top I had to pull the trim and peel the carpeting back to get some small fans in there behind it and leave them on for a week or so just to get all the padding dry, it was surprising how long it took even with the windows open in February when it's not very humid (it is cold, though, so that didn't help).
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If you REALLY want to salvage it, a very common reason water wrecks electronics that aren't powered on is due to deposits left by the water. Taking it apart and using alcohol (NOT something like mineral spirits) to clean up any residue. Memory connectors are a common one as the water can pool there.
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Thanks for the help. On the 3 to 18 scale my mechanical aptitude is about a -5, I struggle to change the oil on my car without destroying it, so opening up a laptop is 100% not an option for me. If it were new and valuable I'd pay a professional but it is not. I'll keep it in a warm room with a dehumidifier and a fan for a week or two and then roll the dice.
Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Aug 15, 2023 |
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Yeah if you had submerged it in saltwater and left it to dry over weeks allowing salt crusts to form then that'd be an issue. It's possible the rain liquefied the cheetos dust and it made its way onto the motherboard, but seems unlikely to short anything out. 5 minutes in the rain barely registers as a yellow flag to me
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Hadlock posted:Sandisk sells a "SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO" for $150 seems like a pretty good option SanDisk external SSDs are dying left and right even after SanDisk claims to have fixed them with firmware. At this point, it's probably better just to roll your own external SSD.
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# ? May 27, 2024 02:50 |
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If you're worried about getting authentic SanDisk products with all their defects, you can just order counterfeits from Amazon
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