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BleedingPhoenix
Jun 3, 2019

The Flames of Disaster are closer than you may think.
So I want to get a new laptop as I pursue a career in cybersecurity. The laptop I've got rn is fine, but if I'm gonna run the big boy stuff like Kali Linux, I want some really good hardware that can run what I need with ease.

My current laptop. The most taxing thing I've ran on this thing is Doom: Eternal, which chugged along at 10fps but was still playable. As much as I enjoy gaming, though, my priority is a machine that can handle cybersecurity tasks with little issue.

Budget is around $1K. I could probably buy something higher, but I'd rather not drain all of my savings. What should I check out?

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Ugly In The Morning
Jul 1, 2010
Pillbug

BleedingPhoenix posted:

So I want to get a new laptop as I pursue a career in cybersecurity. The laptop I've got rn is fine, but if I'm gonna run the big boy stuff like Kali Linux, I want some really good hardware that can run what I need with ease.

My current laptop. The most taxing thing I've ran on this thing is Doom: Eternal, which chugged along at 10fps but was still playable. As much as I enjoy gaming, though, my priority is a machine that can handle cybersecurity tasks with little issue.

Budget is around $1K. I could probably buy something higher, but I'd rather not drain all of my savings. What should I check out?

What kind of things are most important to cyber security? CPU, GPU, RAM?

BleedingPhoenix
Jun 3, 2019

The Flames of Disaster are closer than you may think.

Ugly In The Morning posted:

What kind of things are most important to cyber security? CPU, GPU, RAM?

CPU and RAM more than anything else. A lot of memory and strong processing power is essential when running the various tools and software. Graphics are more of a plus.

Rexxed
May 1, 2010

Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

BleedingPhoenix posted:

CPU and RAM more than anything else. A lot of memory and strong processing power is essential when running the various tools and software. Graphics are more of a plus.

Kind of generic requirements, so just get a good thinkpad.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Most cyber security tools are going to run in a container or at worst on an ec2 instance, any toaster running a cpu faster than a Motorola 68000 ought to be able to run an ssh session or run kubectl

If you want something with good Linux support yeah you want a Thinkpad

Even a regular i5 from five years ago ought to compile tools written in golang sufficiently fast

BleedingPhoenix
Jun 3, 2019

The Flames of Disaster are closer than you may think.

Rexxed posted:

Kind of generic requirements, so just get a good thinkpad.

yeah sorry I'm not more specific, I don't know a lot about the hardware side of things.

Hadlock posted:

If you want something with good Linux support yeah you want a Thinkpad

I'll check out Thinkpads, thank you both for the help!

BleedingPhoenix fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Aug 28, 2020

Rinkles
Oct 24, 2010

What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?
Apparently the new XPS 17 when pushed can draw more power than its 130W power adapter supplies. So some games might can end up draining your battery a bit.

sebzilla
Mar 17, 2009

Kid's blasting everything in sight with that new-fangled musket.


Hey friends.

If I wanted to sell an old laptop (Alienware M14x R2) with some notable issues (broken screen, hosed charger cable, missing enter key) should I be stripping it for parts and selling them individually? And if so how easy is that to do for someone who's not done such a thing before.

And, any ideas of price? Either for the complete unit or for notably saleable components?



Thanks.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

sebzilla posted:

Hey friends.

If I wanted to sell an old laptop (Alienware M14x R2) with some notable issues (broken screen, hosed charger cable, missing enter key) should I be stripping it for parts and selling them individually? And if so how easy is that to do for someone who's not done such a thing before.

And, any ideas of price? Either for the complete unit or for notably saleable components?



Thanks.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fsrp=1&_sacat=0&_nkw=Alienware+M14x+R2&_from=R40&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=7000

these are the list of sold units of your model on ebay, ones that are also sold as broken for parts or repair

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Rinkles posted:

Apparently the new XPS 17 when pushed can draw more power than its 130W power adapter supplies. So some games might can end up draining your battery a bit.

I know the MS Surface with discrete graphics had a similar issue since it was only rated for 100W max and during gaming the power would go over 100W.

Article on the issue, Dell shipped a 130W special USB-C for the new XPS 17:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3566107/the-dell-xps-17-9700-has-a-charging-problem.html

Apparently the issue is even the Dell custom adapter can go up 130W for some reason in same it cases it defaults down to the PD max standard which is 100W.

Running apps that go over 100W therefore lead to battery drain over time even when plugged.

etalian fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Aug 28, 2020

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

sebzilla posted:

Hey friends.

If I wanted to sell an old laptop (Alienware M14x R2) with some notable issues (broken screen, hosed charger cable, missing enter key) should I be stripping it for parts and selling them individually? And if so how easy is that to do for someone who's not done such a thing before.

And, any ideas of price? Either for the complete unit or for notably saleable components?



Thanks.

Shipping costs will eat up any profit from selling parts individually and you may not sell anything for months because you're waiting for a very specific buyer who is looking for a very specific part. If you look at people selling laptop parts on eBay they have listings up for a year or more until stuff sells.

Just sell it as-is/for parts and let more experienced recyclers do the hard part for you.

Canned Sunshine
Nov 20, 2005

CAUTION: POST QUALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION



etalian posted:

I know the MS Surface with discrete graphics had a similar issue since it was only rated for 100W max and during gaming the power would go over 100W.

Article on the issue, Dell shipped a 130W special USB-C for the new XPS 17:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3566107/the-dell-xps-17-9700-has-a-charging-problem.html

Apparently the issue is even the Dell custom adapter can go up 130W for some reason in same it cases it defaults down to the PD max standard which is 100W.

Running apps that go over 100W therefore lead to battery drain over time even when plugged.

Note that it only appears to affect the XPS 17. The XPS 15 is able to use the 130W USB-C charger just fine at 130W max, and I've confirmed that my Vostro 15 7500, which isn't even advertised to support the 130W charter, can use it up to 130W also from the wall.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

SourKraut posted:

Note that it only appears to affect the XPS 17. The XPS 15 is able to use the 130W USB-C charger just fine at 130W max, and I've confirmed that my Vostro 15 7500, which isn't even advertised to support the 130W charter, can use it up to 130W also from the wall.

Most likely some sort of XPS17 BIOS / Firmware issue I'm guessing since the behavior seems to be defaulting to the PD max power spec.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

FCKGW posted:

Shipping costs will eat up any profit from selling parts individually and you may not sell anything for months because you're waiting for a very specific buyer who is looking for a very specific part. If you look at people selling laptop parts on eBay they have listings up for a year or more until stuff sells.

Just sell it as-is/for parts and let more experienced recyclers do the hard part for you.

Yeah exactly

There are people who specialize in parting out obscure electronics, they operate on very thin margins and spend their entire waking hours doing it. There's probably six people worldwide looking for a specific part that you're selling, spread out across two years. These aren't chrome trim parts for a classic car or some other collectable semi durable good.

I had to help my wife clear out her office due to covid, we probably threw out stuff that new probably cost $1500 or more, but after 10 years of sitting in boxes wasn't worth the time to put up on eBay to make $50 plus the hassle of packing and shipping it

Instant Grat
Jul 31, 2009

Just add
NERD RAAAAAAGE
Quick question: I got a laptop with a 4600H and a single 8GB stick of 3200MHz CL22 RAM. I have a couple of matched 8GB 2400MHz CL17 sticks lying around. Am I correct in assuming that, despite the lower speed, using the matched pair would actually be faster 'cause of dual channel (on top of doubling the capacity)?

SwissArmyDruid
Feb 14, 2014

by sebmojo
*Could* be better, I don't think anyone can actually tell you 100%.

Ryzen still is Ryzen, though, and because of how IF works, benefits significantly more from fast memory than an equivalent Intel part. You could theoretically overclock that memory to bridge the gap between the two.

SpaceCadetBob
Dec 27, 2012
My wife is looking for a decent laptop to allow her to do web and msoffice stuff without being relegated to the office desktop now that the kids are getting old enough that she can do some work, but still wants to be in the same room as them.

Since its really just app/productivity stuff im sure the hardware doesn’t need to be very bleeding edge. Instead we care more about comfort, durability, and a decent keyboard.

We definitely don’t want to blow a grand on this, so at the moment the midrange model i have in mind is the hp envy x360 ryzen. Which i think I can get for $600 ish.

Any other comparable devices I should look at before I pull the trigger on this?

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

you chose well imo

SwissArmyDruid
Feb 14, 2014

by sebmojo
Now printing...

SwissArmyDruid fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Aug 31, 2020

Quixzlizx
Jan 7, 2007
I posted this in the display megathread but didn't really get any responses, so I'm wondering if this would be a better place.

Are there any attachable portable laptop screens out there that are less than $250? I see a bunch in the $150 range, but they all seem to be kickstand-only.

This is the type of device I'm talking about, although I have no idea how good this one is because Google doesn't really seem to have much information on any of them:

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Portable...ps%2C159&sr=8-4

My current laptop is a Dell Gaming Inspiron 7577, if that matters.

Shrimp or Shrimps
Feb 14, 2012


Quixzlizx posted:

I posted this in the display megathread but didn't really get any responses, so I'm wondering if this would be a better place.

Are there any attachable portable laptop screens out there that are less than $250? I see a bunch in the $150 range, but they all seem to be kickstand-only.

This is the type of device I'm talking about, although I have no idea how good this one is because Google doesn't really seem to have much information on any of them:

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Portable...ps%2C159&sr=8-4

My current laptop is a Dell Gaming Inspiron 7577, if that matters.

Do you mean attachable to the top of the laptop's monitor? Like so it'll sit on top of the laptop and presumably fold back onto the laptop's lid?

Or do you mean attachable to the side of the laptop's monitor? So that you get 'ultrawide'?

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Statutory Ape posted:

you chose well imo

2020 is a good year for sub-$1000 laptops due the whole Ryzen CPU line refresh and AMD playing hard ball for price points ($150 - 200 cheap than similar Intel model).

I think most users who only need light 3D game performance would also be happy with the results from the latest Vega integrated graphics.

Quixzlizx
Jan 7, 2007

Shrimp or Shrimps posted:

Do you mean attachable to the top of the laptop's monitor? Like so it'll sit on top of the laptop and presumably fold back onto the laptop's lid?

Or do you mean attachable to the side of the laptop's monitor? So that you get 'ultrawide'?

To the side, like in the link. Basically to get a dual-monitor situation with a laptop.

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

etalian posted:

2020 is a good year for sub-$1000 laptops due the whole Ryzen CPU line refresh and AMD playing hard ball for price points ($150 - 200 cheap than similar Intel model).

I think most users who only need light 3D game performance would also be happy with the results from the latest Vega integrated graphics.

Next year is going to be pretty solid for laptops too I think. I think laptop dGPUs are going to have a jump similar to what we saw going from maxwell to pascal. I suspect that a laptop with a 3060 in it is going to be somewhere between a 1080-1080ti, with the benefit of RTX. We should be seeing those in light weight/tightly designed 14-15 inch models again i'd imagine.

This is ideal for me because I am an 'occasional 4k TV livingroom gamer' and I would rather just use a laptop and dock than a desktop PC hooked into a TV for that, and just take it with me when I wanted to bounce.

Also, truly sadly, the pandemic kind of killed my LAN group anyway so having 3-4 computers that can play modern games became redundant and I've been donating most of the extra hardware.


Altho smartly i'm donating the hardware to people I think at least have a high chance of playing games with me, maybe..

Cartoon Man
Jan 31, 2004


Amazon deal of the day:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08842D7JS/

$999 (regular $1,199)

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Hadlock posted:

Most cyber security tools are going to run in a container or at worst on an ec2 instance, any toaster running a cpu faster than a Motorola 68000 ought to be able to run an ssh session or run kubectl

If you want something with good Linux support yeah you want a Thinkpad

Even a regular i5 from five years ago ought to compile tools written in golang sufficiently fast

Seconding this, as someone who has worked in that space. The only thing I'll add is it is useful to be able to run VMs well, so 32GB of RAM can be helpful (many laptops let you add RAM yourself after--do this, because it's MUCH cheaper than buying more RAM straight from the factory).

Otherwise, yeah, ThinkPads are great and an i5 or i7 will be fine. No need for an i9 or whatever. A lot of your tools will be limited by something else (disk access, network access, etc.) far before the CPU gets maxed out. For real work, as Hadlock noted, you probably won't be running things locally in the first place.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Statutory Ape posted:

Next year is going to be pretty solid for laptops too I think. I think laptop dGPUs are going to have a jump similar to what we saw going from maxwell to pascal. I suspect that a laptop with a 3060 in it is going to be somewhere between a 1080-1080ti, with the benefit of RTX. We should be seeing those in light weight/tightly designed 14-15 inch models again i'd imagine.

I'd say for 2021:
-Nvidia Ampere Line refresh for laptops (Turing was big leap in finally making laptop gaming practical and also less embarrassing)
-Intel / AMD CPU wars, Intel's next big laptop refreshes are focusing on changes such improvements for iGPU performance
-Sub $1000 value laptop competition
-Roll-out of additional port standardization like USB4
-More GaN options to help shrink down power brick size
-Apple shaking things up by ditching Intel for in-house SoCs for their Macbook laptop lines

Edmond Dantes
Sep 12, 2007

Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL
Hi everyone. Time for my yearly annoying post. Gonna quote myself from last year:

Edmond Dantes posted:

In the market for an all-rounder; I've got a desktop set up at home which will be seeing most use, but I want to have something I can take with me and get some stuff done on if I need to.

I log into a VDI when I do remote work, but I'll probably be doing some coding of my own and the usual browsing/media/light gaming. I'd want to run FF14 on it (not expecting 60fps at max everything, but not barely 30 at 320p either) anything else, game-wise, is just a bonus.

I was thinking 14-15", 1080p and... that's about it.

I'm thinking a ~1200 USD budget, can probably go a bit higher for an price/quality outlier.

Here's the big caveat: I need the computer to be available in amazon.co.uk, amazon.de or amazon.it, since I live in Argentina and they're the only ones who do international shipping over here that I know for a fact actually get here.

I got some responses last year with folks suggesting grabbing something with a 1650 (is this still the go-to, or is the 1660 the base now?) in it and the usual 16gb/ssd recommendations; with that in mind I've been poking around a bit and found this Acer Nitro 5 for ~1220 which looks good? Only downside would be no 144 panel as a couple people here suggested last time I asked.

Any comments on that one/other suggestions to keep an eye on with all of this in mind? =/

Cenen
Apr 7, 2011
It’s Labor Day and I have a new Amex platinum card so I figure now is as good a time as any to buy a new laptop. I’m currently using the cheapest HP I could find in 2014 with an i3 core and a graphics processor that can’t even handle old strategy games.

Absolute necessity is a decent camera since this is mainly going to be used for school and a solid chassis would be nice since this plastic piece of poo poo is cracked, broken, bent, and warped. That this computer functions at all is a miracle having travelled around the world and now gets tossed into a backpack that gets tossed into a backseat.

Main focus is on something that is reliable and fairly quick, I’ve seen this thing take 10+ minutes to boot up but being able to play strategy games on decent settings would be a plus. I’m aiming for $2000 but can go a little higher if something is a really good value. I can also possibly tack on a student discount or veteran discount if possible.

Also wouldn’t mind it being a 4K screen but being touchscreen is a major preference for me at this point.

If there is anything else you guys need please let me know!

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

Dell XPS would be a good candidate, seems to tick most of your boxes.

Laptop webcams are all universally pretty mediocre, everyone seems to use the same 720p cam for the past 10 years. If it’s a real dealbreaker budget a few bucks for a high quality Logitech cam you can carry with you.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

FCKGW posted:

Laptop webcams are all universally pretty mediocre, everyone seems to use the same 720p cam for the past 10 years. If it’s a real dealbreaker budget a few bucks for a high quality Logitech cam you can carry with you.

Yeah, with a few exceptions, Apple laptops seem to have the only reliably good webcam

If you have a PC laptop and plan on doing zoom stuff, you're better off getting a third party camera and dedicated USB mic, otherwise you end up running the risk of looking and sounding potato

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

Hadlock posted:

If you have a PC laptop and plan on doing zoom stuff, you're better off getting a third party camera and dedicated USB mic, otherwise you end up running the risk of looking and sounding potato

pretty sad statement to have to make tbh.

Canned Sunshine
Nov 20, 2005

CAUTION: POST QUALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION



Hadlock posted:

Yeah, with a few exceptions, Apple laptops seem to have the only reliably good webcam

If you have a PC laptop and plan on doing zoom stuff, you're better off getting a third party camera and dedicated USB mic, otherwise you end up running the risk of looking and sounding potato

The camera on my XPS 13 2-in-1 seems to be pretty good. I think it's still just 720p also, but it atleast has come across clear and with good colors in all the video calls I've done that I used it for.

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

Statutory Ape posted:

pretty sad statement to have to make tbh.

The bright side is that everyone else in the zoom meeting is using the same crappy laptop cameras too

Cenen
Apr 7, 2011
Ok so I may have grossly confused when Labor Day actually is. Still thank you for the advice, I may have made it seem like webcam quality itself was the biggest need but as long as it has one and is decent that’s enough. While some kids on Zoom are markedly clearer than others I am easily the most potato looking and sounding in pretty much every chat.

Will probably end up spending the money on an XPS, just looking at this as an investment to get me reliably through grad school and for a little bit wherever I end up after that and the XPS seems to be about as good quality as you can get for the price point.

Might pick up an eGPU in the far future especially with Nvidia’s announcement.

Edmond Dantes
Sep 12, 2007

Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL
How does this look for ~1182 dollars?

https://www.amazon.es/Lenovo-Y540-15IRH-PG0-Ordenador-port%C3%A1til-i7-9750HF/dp/B084N5HVX7?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

15.6" FullHD (60hz)
Intel Core i7-9750HF
16GB RAM
1TB HDD + 512GB SSD
GTX 1650-4GB GDDR5


There's also a version with 8gb ram and only the ssd, and another one with a 6GB 2060. I can always get more ram and another drive in the future I guess.

Intel Core i5-9300H , 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 ~950 USD
Intel Core i5-9300H , 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 ~1182 USD

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Cenen posted:

I am easily the most potato looking and sounding in pretty much every chat.

Will probably end up spending the money on an XPS, just looking at this as an investment to get me reliably through grad school and for a little bit wherever I end up after that and the XPS seems to be about as good quality as you can get for the price point.

Do a quick Google on "XPS camera placement"

Some (most older models) have the camera placed about half an inch above the keyboard, near your left pinky finger. I think the latest models have fixed this and the camera is in the traditional top location. If you care about potato might be worth looking into

Also do a Google image search for "XPS nostril cam"

Edit: please be enjoy the gooniest looking journalist working for ars Technica

Hadlock fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Sep 2, 2020

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


To be fair, until recently literally no one gave a poo poo about computer webcams.

You either used it once every 6 months for some random video chat or you were a youtuber with a pro video setup.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Hadlock posted:

Some (most older models) have the camera placed about half an inch above the keyboard, near your left pinky finger. I think the latest models have fixed this and the camera is in the traditional top location. If you care about potato might be worth looking into

They fixed this about a year ago IIRC. The nose-cams were, indeed, terrible. They're gone now, though.

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Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

DrDork posted:

They fixed this about a year ago IIRC. The nose-cams were, indeed, terrible. They're gone now, though.

Strong agree, however, on the off chance that guy attempts to save some money by buying last year's refurbished model,

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