Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Thu Jan 06, 2022 12:17 pm**

Easy fix: Betters webcams and mics
...
What you can look forward to from computers in 2022 is more recycled material in laptop packaging and even power adapters, even if that's tougher to do with the laptop body itself.
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Two big forces are helping laptops and other computers move away from being so dominated by Intel chips. One is that wide adoption of Chromebooks, especially from students engaged in some level of remote learning, is opening the door to more ARM-based laptops, which were previously nonstarters in the Windows world.

Second, Apple's aggressive timeline for shifting the entire Mac lineup from Intel to its own M-series chips has shown that laptops that skip Intel or AMD chips don't have to skimp on performance. In fact, the latest M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBooks are miles faster than most of the Intel models they replace. Google is said to be prepping its own chip, specifically for Chromebooks, as well.

Posted: **Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:32 pm**

I'm going to start watching this thread because the screen of our almost six year old laptop has got a "tear" on it, a half inch high and four inches long. We've worked around the issue but I think it might be time to replace it. Shame, it's got a decent processor and memory and I replaced the original HDD with an SSD about three years ago.

Posted: **Mon Apr 25, 2022 5:14 pm**

Hey, in the market for a new laptop. Any general suggestions? Gaming wise I don't really play FPS or cutting edge graphics types games, but I would like to play role playing / strategy / assorted other games on it for at least the next few years. Beyond that it'd be nice if it wasn't crazy big or heavy. Ideally something mid-range in terms of cost.

Thoughts / suggestions?

Posted: **Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:45 am**

I have had great experience with ASUS tufbook. And if you buy last years model, its less expensive, and still a good machine. get quite a few years of good quality out of it. The couple I have survived several whacks and drops. I have a 5 year old machine now, working great as kids school computer, also used for casual gaming, and he is learning minecraft modding as well on it.

Here is a sample

Posted: **Tue Apr 26, 2022 5:40 pm**

I bought a gaming laptop last summer and the one thing I would suggest is to consider upgrading the memory yourself. Last year most laptops were using inferior memory due to supply issues and people were getting a 10% increase in performance with just changing memory. Seeing how manufacturers overcharge for an increase in memory you can come out even and with potentially greater performance if you can find a laptop with less memory than you want. Asus gaming laptops are a good value but some of their models have soldered RAM so you might not be able to do it that easily.
Two YouTube channels that I found very helpful with reviews were:
Jarrod'sTech
and
MobileTechReview

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:01 am**

Dell is having a 72 hour sale on gaming laptops. According to IGN you can use the coupon: 50OFF699 to get an additional $50 off.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:17 am**

I bought a new 2022 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 a few weeks ago and love the freaking thing. It's a re-design from the previous version with a much better screen (16:10 aspect ratio, brighter, better colors, better response time). It's probably the closest you can get on a Windows laptop to a Macbook Pro 14 and this G14 has way better graphics for gaming. The Radeon 6700s is somewhere between a laptop RTX 3060 and 3070. In turbo mode with the MUX switch set to GPU, I can get 8500 in 3dMark Timespy.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 11:30 am**

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:01 am Dell is having a 72 hour sale on gaming laptops. According to IGN you can use the coupon: 50OFF699 to get an additional $50 off.

Yeah I saw that. When do the 72 hours end?

Thinking about it I do really kind of want to get an Alienware laptop, since I have kind of lusted after them as a cool toy for awhile. Are they as good as their branding in this space? I tend to assume that I can get the same thing for less money with a less flashy brand, but don't know if I want to spend the time to figure out the right substitute.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:02 pm**

I got the email 8:00 a.m. yesterday CDT. You should at least have until tomorrow.

Like most Dell laptops, you really have to check Alienware reviews by model. Some are great, some are not. There are some many variables in a laptop (heat, weight, screen size, power, battery life, memory, and graphics horsepower) that what may be great for someone else, doesn't work for you.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 4:13 pm**

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:02 pm I got the email 8:00 a.m. yesterday CDT. You should at least have until tomorrow.

Like most Dell laptops, you really have to check Alienware reviews by model. Some are great, some are not. There are some many variables in a laptop (heat, weight, screen size, power, battery life, memory, and graphics horsepower) that what may be great for someone else, doesn't work for you.

Yeah, I'm remembering the parts of laptop shopping that drive me nuts. Different models within a brand, then a bunch of different variations within each model. And the reviews are of some specific variation set up for that computer, so you have to assess whether that site is reviewing a model that you'd be interested in.

And even assessing savings from a sale isn't straightforward because the site will give you discount off of the MSRP, but no one's ever selling the laptop for the MSRP, so you essentially have to judge the sale by percentage off of the average market price, which can only be figured out by searching across different stores.

Sigh.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 4:34 pm**

You really need to research laptops a bit because they can vary a lot even with the same specs. A 3070 laptop GPU can have a Total Graphics Power(TGP) rating of anywhere from 85 to 140, that's a big difference. It usually comes down to how good the cooling is in the laptop, hence Alienware laptops>Dell gaming laptops. Find an ASUS gaming laptop that fits your budget and watch some reviews on it, they'll almost always compare it to a similarly priced laptop. You can get Alienware laptops at a good price under the right sale conditions. I ended up with an R5 Ryzen Edition for the same price as the comparable ASUS model and I got a better screen.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:29 pm**

This article from The Verge might help at least narrow down some of the features you're looking for.

Posted: **Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:24 pm**

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 5:29 pm This article from The Verge might help at least narrow down some of the features you're looking for.

Yeah, this is helpful. Leaning towards maybe this. Thinking about it some more the main things I'd like are enough gaming power to play a broad range of games for the next few years + a good screen and decent sound (for watching movies and the like) + not crazy heavy + a decent battery. Seems like this has those.

Posted: **Thu Apr 28, 2022 12:40 pm**

FWIW my household has had two ROG laptops over the last couple of years (I have one with a 2070 Max-Q) and my wife has one with a 2060. They've been excellent values and performers. Mine is still good for anything but the latest titles when I want something a little more portable.

Posted: **Thu Apr 28, 2022 2:43 pm**

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 12:40 pm FWIW my household has had two ROG laptops over the last couple of years (I have one with a 2070 Max-Q) and my wife has one with a 2060. They've been excellent values and performers. Mine is still good for anything but the latest titles when I want something a little more portable.

How much better is the 2080 vs. the 2070 vs. the 2060? I'm leaning towards the ROG laptop, but then there's a secondary decision about whether to pony up for the 2080. I think the 2070 should be fine for me, but just curious if the 2080 is worth it.

Posted: **Thu Apr 28, 2022 2:46 pm**

The 2080 to 2060 difference is fairly dramatic. I think it's like 15-20% better. That said, I think you're looking at 3xxx series which are another 20% better on top. Unless you hook it up to an external 4K I don't think the difference from 3080 to 3070 to 3060 is going to be worth the squeeze. I'd more focus on the memory/space aspects personally.

Posted: **Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:35 pm**

It looks like there is a 2022 model of that Zephyrus. It's something to keep in mind when comparing prices. I don't understand the lack of a webcam in the zoom/streaming age, but otherwise it looks great.

I'm impressed that malchior had the restraint to not to say, avoid purchasing from Best Buy at all costs.

Posted: **Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:04 am**

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:35 pm It looks like there is a 2022 model of that Zephyrus. It's something to keep in mind when comparing prices. I don't understand the lack of a webcam in the zoom/streaming age, but otherwise it looks great.

I'm impressed that malchior had the restraint to not to say, avoid purchasing from Best Buy at all costs.

Is the 2022 version out yet? Googling suggests yes, but not 100% clear on that.

And yeah, I very much have the Best Buy story in mind here.

Posted: **Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:05 am**

I mean buy from Best Buy but definitely pick it up. Mail order *is* *not* *safe*. I mean it should be. The law is clear. Everyone is pretending that the law doesn't matter. That whole affair is getting more absurd even if I haven't updated it yet.

(I can't help but laugh about how absurd this has become)

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:35 pm I don't understand the lack of a webcam in the zoom/streaming age, but otherwise it looks great.

It's a little strange but probably comes down to the form factor. I suspect that they'd have to put the webcam at the bottom of the screen. Having used webcams at the bottom of the screen...it's bad. Really bad. You end up using an external web cam anyway.

Posted: **Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:36 pm**

I've always wanted to steal a UPS truck and go through all the boxes.

Posted: **Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:11 am**

Effing Windows is trying to push Edge on me in the search window.

Octopus Overlords

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