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Yeah most of the smaller laptops are very low budget/educational market focused. Plastic, under resourced, and can be thrown around by kids.
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Mar 25, 2024 21:15
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waffle iron posted:Yeah most of the smaller laptops are very low budget/educational market focused. Plastic, under resourced, and can be thrown around by kids. Hmm, kinda sounds (and looks) like my best option is the HP Chromebook x2 I already have, then. Heh.
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Mar 25, 2024 23:26
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cruft posted:I think it's finally time to replace my OG Pixelbook. I have a Pixelbook, and it is hands down my favorite laptop ever. I keep trying to find something to replace it, and I can't find anything that is a 1-to-1 match for it. Nothing has the same feature set. The Dragonfly comes the closest, but it is not fanless. I would also like something with more memory just to future proof it. When my daughter dropped my Pixelbook and the trackpad went out, the replacement I went for was....another Pixelbook. I went from a i5 Pixelbook to a i7 one. I didn't think the extra memory and processor bump would do anything, but it seems snappier than my old Pixelbook when I do a side-by-side comparison. I don't recommend anyone else do this unless you are crazy like me. Since you say that you are happy with the performance of your Pixelbook, why not try to ride it out until AUE? Google granted the Pixelbook another 3 years of support, so I would say ride it out until the end. That's what I am going to do - and pray that Google reconsiders making a true in-house successor.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:55
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Xiphas posted:I have a Pixelbook, and it is hands down my favorite laptop ever. I keep trying to find something to replace it, and I can't find anything that is a 1-to-1 match for it. Nothing has the same feature set. The Dragonfly comes the closest, but it is not fanless. I would also like something with more memory just to future proof it. yeah that's a thought. I would have to replace the battery, but that appears to be documented and doesn't look more difficult than a cell phone... Hmmm... It feels so gigantic compared to this x2 though. And the camera is crap by comparison. I guess I already have my ideal Chromebook right here. cruft fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 02:14
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cruft posted:yeah that's a thought. I would have to replace the battery, but that appears to be documented and doesn't look more difficult than a cell phone... Hmmm... Yes, the Pixelbook camera is crap. If you use it regularly, then I would consider another device. I've never replaced the Pixelbook battery, but one thing I've heard is that the silicone pads on the bottom will not go back nicely no matter what technique you used to get them off since they were glued on. If you care about aesthetics, that's something to keep in mind. It was definitely not designed to be repairable. I was tempted by the Framework Chromebook because of its repairability a few years ago, but like every device that tries to come close to the Pixelbook, it is missing a critical feature. In the case of the Framework, it's not fanless, it is not a 2-in-1, and is missing a touchscreen.
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Mar 26, 2024 02:34
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Xiphas posted:I was tempted by the Framework Chromebook because of its repairability a few years ago, but like every device that tries to come close to the Pixelbook, it is missing a critical feature. In the case of the Framework, it's not fanless, it is not a 2-in-1, and is missing a touchscreen. The Framework CB is my current device, and of course I'm typing on it right now. The only thing I'd agree that's missing from it is the touchscreen, which I've previously used on occasion, but it's not a huge omission. Other than that, the display itself is great, despite the funky resolution. I specifically like that it is actively cooled however: I've used fanless devices like the HP CB 13, and they just get hot (i.e. uncomfortably so) and throttle their performance. I would never go back to a fanless device, especially considering this thing is capable of gaming now. Other than that, the customizable ports, user-replaceable RAM, SSD, and especially the battery (which now has a higher-capacity option) are exactly what I want in any laptop. No ragerts! (I like this thing so much, I even recently bought one of those $500 "factory seconds" laptops of the first gen version, so now my CB has a Windows-based twin!)
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Mar 26, 2024 07:14
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I'm in the same trap. Pixelbook was kinda dying so I started hunting replacements, and last year ended up grabbing an Acer CP713. Same rough feature set as the pixelbook, but yeah not fanless. The first one that turned up had some kind of faulty connector, if I tried to rotate the screen past a certain point it would cut out. Had to send it back (stupid acer store didn't do replacements). Still was set on getting it so ordered another one, which arrived in working condition. The fans on this thing.. are so irritating, and go off completely at random it feels like. It's nice being able to run heavier workloads on this that the pixelbook would throttle all to hell, but I'm not sure if I ever want to take the trade again of having this thing whistling away at me. I'm torn on whether to try and go fanless again next time (though options are slim on the ground). Also, I've only had it for a year and a half and the thing is absolutely falling apart already. Over the course of a year the two little rubber bits that act to lift the screen off of a surface when you are in "laptop" mode both came loose and fell off, and now the casing on the screen side has started coming loose near the hinge. Doesn't seem to be breaking the operation of anything exactly, but makes some horrible crunchy noises if I move the screen from one of the corners. So now I'm idly looking for a replacement for this before it falls all the way apart, and just can't seem to find anything that matches what I want - and is actually available to purchase in the UK (and preferably comes with the UK layout keyboard, but that's often hard to tell cos everyone just uses stock photography of these things which all feature the US keyboard even when you're actually buying something with a UK keyboard). Really wish I'd jumped on the framework CB, cos it too seems to be discontinued now? Or just never launched in the UK. Half considering just going back to my old shelved pixelbook. It was still working, just a bit slow.
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Mar 26, 2024 08:06
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How is the Acer Chromebook 315 for my mom for internet/facebook browsing and a bit of streaming? It'll always be plugged in so battery life isn't an issue. I know there's probably more powerful non-Chromebook options for around the same price but she's been using a Chromebook for the last ~5 years and is pretty used to the OS EDIT: location is Canada RatHat fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Apr 8, 2024 |
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Apr 8, 2024 14:10
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RatHat posted:How is the Acer Chromebook 315 That looks like it has really bad specs (dual core and 4GB ram) and a bad screen. If you're ok with refurbished, something like this Acer Plus 515 has better specs, is cheaper, and will get Chrome updates for 3 years longer.
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Apr 8, 2024 14:35
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Inept posted:That looks like it has really bad specs (dual core and 4GB ram) and a bad screen. If you're ok with refurbished, something like this Acer Plus 515 has better specs, is cheaper, and will get Chrome updates for 3 years longer. Note I’m Canadian so that’s actually around the same price when converted to CAD, and sadly they don’t ship to Canada
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Apr 8, 2024 15:07
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Really looking forward to the next release of ChromeOS, so I don't have to open crosh and run "vmc stop arcvm" after every resume from sleep.
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Apr 10, 2024 03:38
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Crossposting from the tablet thread - My wife wants a device to replace her existing old laptop. We were thinking tablet plus a peripheral keyboard because she honestly doesn't do much: -watch streams (both from websites and via apps) -web surfing (reddit etc, nothing that requires exceptional processing power but you know how the internet is in 2024) -document writing/the occasional spreadsheet (google docs is sufficient, no need for Actual Excel or whatever, think cover letters and to-do lists and such) -built-in camera for job interviews/virtual doctor appointments (headphone jack nice but not mandatory, especially if it takes usb-c headphones already) and verbatim from her: "I don't like change, so I want something that will be similar in layout and functionality to what I already have" Had been thinking just get an iPad and a dock to plug usb keyboard/mouse into, is there a reason to go full Chromebook ("cheaper" is definitely a reason, mind you) or any pitfalls that she - a lifetime Windows/Chrome user - would have to worry about? I assume not but I have to ask.
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Apr 18, 2024 18:53
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Crossposting from the tablet thread - My wife wants a device to replace her existing old laptop. We were thinking tablet plus a peripheral keyboard because she honestly doesn't do much: A Chromebook will get software updates for longer than an Android tablet, and if your needs are limited to what you stated, will save you a fair chunk of change over an iPad. It also has the advantage of self-updating, and those updates are seriously no big deal: no waiting around for things to happen or scheduled reboots, you just get a little notice saying there's a new version ready, and next time you reboot, you're on the new version. No having to wait for updates before you can use your stuff, it's instant. Ms Cruft moved from Windows to ChromeOS about 10 years ago and the adjustment period was maybe 30 minutes.
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Apr 18, 2024 19:25
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Crossposting from the tablet thread - My wife wants a device to replace her existing old laptop. We were thinking tablet plus a peripheral keyboard because she honestly doesn't do much: If this list is ordered by priority, she'll be fine. The web browsing experience on a Chromebook is better than an Android\iOS tablet by miles. You can't really compare stripped down mobile browsers with full, fat Chrome. Video streaming on the web is great, but I would double check that any critical mobile apps she uses for streaming are supported on Chromebooks. I've found that some Android streaming apps have more limitations when run on Chrome OS compared to real Android, and the developer might have disabled Chrome OS support completely for...reasons? Always go for the web app version over the Android version if it exists. It is always a better experience on Chrome OS. Google Docs is Google Docs, and is obviously a great experience on Chromebooks. You'll be fine there. If she is doing a lot of typing on her lap, I would consider a 2-in-1 instead of a tablet. You can fold it back when you don't need the keyboard, and the 2-in-1 keyboards are always better than a tablet keyboard. The Chrome OS tablet keyboards I have used are really cramped and you can't type very fast on them. One thing to keep in mind about Chromebooks and video conferencing is that a lot of the cameras you find on the tablet Chromebooks are truly terrible in my experience. With Chromebook Plus, they are getting better, but I don't think there is a Chromebook Plus tablet yet? Also, if you are using more obscure video conferencing software there might not be a Chromebook application for that service. Common stuff like Zoom and MS Teams are covered on Chromebooks if that's what you mainly use. If you dock the device to a hub, then you can use a USB webcam to mitigate a crappy built-in camera.
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Apr 19, 2024 01:07
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Is there any tools out there for Chromebooks that let me see what's using all my memory? I've got a 4GB Lenovo brand Chromebook and I've barely had it a year it feels like everything just chugs. I literally only use it to have a couple Google docs open for when I run RPGs and it still feels like it sucks at that task.
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May 7, 2024 18:53
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Based on my experience, with 4Gb you're going to suffer. Chrome and ChromeOS are memory pigs and the majority of chromebooks cheap out with minnniaml memeory. I've got a 16Gb chromebook and things still occasionally quit or stutter.
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May 7, 2024 19:25
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Yeah I kind of noticed. Everything runs through chrome it seems. Are there any good extensions that can help manage that stuff? Doing a bit of digging I've found that I could try installing Chrome OS flex instead but I have no idea if that's going to be an improvement or not
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May 7, 2024 19:29
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DarkAvenger211 posted:Yeah I kind of noticed. Everything runs through chrome it seems. Are there any good extensions that can help manage that stuff? There's not much to be done here: adding more software is unlikely to help with a limited RAM situation. If anything, removing extensions would help.
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May 7, 2024 19:31
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cruft posted:There's not much to be done here: adding more software is unlikely to help with a limited RAM situation. If anything, removing extensions would help. Was afraid of that. I've got almost nothing running on this thing other than what it came with. I just need it to keep a text doc open while letting me scroll through a (relatively small sized) pdf without hanging.
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May 7, 2024 19:34
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DarkAvenger211 posted:I literally only use it to have a couple Google docs open for when I run RPGs and it still feels like it sucks at that task. If you can use a simple text editor instead of Google Docs, you're likely to see a massive improvement. text is a pretty lightweight option.
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May 7, 2024 19:34
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DarkAvenger211 posted:Is there any tools out there for Chromebooks that let me see what's using all my memory? I've got a 4GB Lenovo brand Chromebook and I've barely had it a year it feels like everything just chugs. I literally only use it to have a couple Google docs open for when I run RPGs and it still feels like it sucks at that task. Do you have Android and/or Linux enabled? On a 4gb Chromebook you basically have to disable the Android VM for it to be usable these days.
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May 7, 2024 20:18
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RichterIX posted:Do you have Android and/or Linux enabled? I haven't turned it off manually so I'm guessing I do. I'll look at that next, not sure how to do this yet
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May 7, 2024 20:40
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Any tips for how to do this? I'm having trouble actually finding a guide for this
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May 7, 2024 21:07
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DarkAvenger211 posted:Any tips for how to do this? I'm having trouble actually finding a guide for this I think under settings you're looking for a setting to disable the Play Store. Keep in mind this will remove all your existing Android apps so if there's anything you use regularly I wouldn't do it.
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May 8, 2024 00:55
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DarkAvenger211 posted:Is there any tools out there for Chromebooks that let me see what's using all my memory? I've got a 4GB Lenovo brand Chromebook and I've barely had it a year it feels like everything just chugs. I literally only use it to have a couple Google docs open for when I run RPGs and it still feels like it sucks at that task. You can try going to More Tools -> Task Manager to see in-use RAM, but in my experience I found that 4 GB (in what is likely a similar Lenovo CB to yours,) is basically entirely consumed by whatever my profile loads by default (which must be more or less entirely extensions, because that's before I have any tabs open!) For reference, the Framework CB that I'm using right now has a bunch of tabs in several windows that are mostly dormant, and what I do have active is consuming 12-14 GB at the moment. You could uninstall as many unnecessary extensions and close any superfluous tabs and see if that system runs better (alternately, you can temporarily log into a new account with no customization whatsoever to get a baseline for how much RAM it uses) but the Lenovo CB referenced above (with a Mediatek SoC) is very sluggish even with a few tabs open (like a Google spreadsheet or two) just like you described.
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May 8, 2024 08:24
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disabling the play store gave me back a whole GB so it's definitely feeling a bit lighter now. I never used any apps on this anyway.
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May 8, 2024 16:56
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DarkAvenger211 posted:disabling the play store gave me back a whole GB so it's definitely feeling a bit lighter now.  25% is great!
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May 8, 2024 18:01
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DarkAvenger211 posted:disabling the play store gave me back a whole GB so it's definitely feeling a bit lighter now. It's nuts, I have a Lenovo Duet and it worked perfectly fine before they switched the Android environment to arcvm or whatever it is now. They keep touting how long the support tail is on these devices but it feels disingenuous when they make software changes that make them nearly unusable. It's my fault I guess for using a device with 4gb of RAM but in my defense it worked great when I bought it!
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May 8, 2024 18:36
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Is it easy to swap the OS on a chromebook to something else? I'd be tempted to try out Ubuntu on that.
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May 8, 2024 20:55
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god please help me posted:Is it easy to swap the OS on a chromebook to something else? I'd be tempted to try out Ubuntu on that. strong username/post energy here
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May 8, 2024 23:45
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god please help me posted:Is it easy to swap the OS on a chromebook to something else? I'd be tempted to try out Ubuntu on that. Support varies depending on your model, you'll want to check the master list and read the caveats carefully. As for how easy it is, I thought it was pretty easy to do on my lenovo n22, but I've also unfortunately been installing linux on things for a while  Speaking of, I've had reason to resurrect this n22, originally purchased refurbished in Jan 2017 and well-loved in the intervening time. The case has broken apart pretty significantly, and I have to use a USB antenna if I want wifi, but dammit it's hanging in there with the latest xubuntu minimal. Though I desperately wish the storage were upgradable.
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May 9, 2024 02:47
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cruft posted:strong username/post energy here darn it, I'm never escaping this username. Manky posted:Support varies depending on your model, you'll want to check the master list and read the caveats carefully. As for how easy it is, I thought it was pretty easy to do on my lenovo n22, but I've also unfortunately been installing linux on things for a while Ah thank you for the response! I guess it may not be worth it yet to buy a Samsung chromebook just to put Linux on it, even if I think the chromebook is pretty as hell.  Or at least if I can tell if chromebooks can take decent classroom notes even without an internet connection. Godspeed, n22. o7
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May 9, 2024 07:11
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god please help me posted:darn it, I'm never escaping this username. The Chromebooks I've owned have, generally, been much prettier than the non-Chromebook laptops I've owned. Not sure why, maybe because they can cut back on parts. But I totally understand wanting to run Linux on one. If I could convince myself to replace the battery on this OG Pixelbook I might just look into Linuxing it up.
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May 9, 2024 16:24
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cruft posted:The Chromebooks I've owned have, generally, been much prettier than the non-Chromebook laptops I've owned. Not sure why, maybe because they can cut back on parts. But I totally understand wanting to run Linux on one. If I could convince myself to replace the battery on this OG Pixelbook I might just look into Linuxing it up. I ran Linux on my Pixelbook for a couple of months last year when I started getting worried that Chrome's Manifest v3 would screw up all my extensions. It was a decent experience except for audio. Audio was a nightmare. Many kernels were bugged and wouldn't work with the firmware .bin files you have to use to get audio support to work (at the time, I tried the 5.15, 6.1, 6.2 series). 5.15 was the only kernel that would work, but then I would get a kernel update and the audio would suddenly stop working. It just wasn't worth it in the end. The whole point of Chromebooks is that you don't have to computer janitor, so why subject yourself to that if you aren't at AUE?
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May 10, 2024 01:20
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Linux on a chromebook appeals to me because I like the idea of being able to keep using my laptop even after it starts to be outdated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA5EsBtNXAk
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May 10, 2024 02:13
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god please help me posted:darn it, I'm never escaping this username. cool
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May 10, 2024 09:39
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Tankakern posted:cool 
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May 10, 2024 10:22
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May 10, 2024 12:58
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Sorry, thought you were being sarcastic...
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May 11, 2024 05:55
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we havent had a cool laptop since lenovo yoga 2, so i'm glad samsung got one running
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May 11, 2024 14:33
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