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bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


Arrow keys? The keyboard has them. I guess you are talking about a numpad.

24gb vs 40gb. Basically Asus only validated up to 16gb DIMMs. 3rd party resellers tested 32gb DIMMs and found they worked (or worked well enough that they could sell the configs.) The real question is how well did they test those configs? Did they just run a memory tester for a few cycles? Did they only check to see if it posted with 40gb? Did they run any real workloads that stressed all 40gb in a real world situation? Who knows.

I'm also not sure how that would work in a warranty situation.

I know at least past Aorus's have tested well, haven't seen anything about the new model yet. Aside from Ryzen, the other differences at the same price level are 512gb on the Aorus vs 1tb on the G15 and 1080p on the Aorus vs 1440p on the G15. Also, even though it's intel, it doesn't support Thunderbolt (just in case you missed that) and no USB-C charging (G15 can do 100w) Also no adaptive sync either (G15 does freesync). But it does have a nicer RAM config.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3mjc25DPU

Seems decent. Also to note it's a plastic build instead of magnesium like the G15. Seems like there are some cuts in places to hit the pricepoint with the hardware loadout, but could be a ok compromise.

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Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

RAM can be really really finicky in some computers, less so in others

Sometimes it just works, sometimes it doesn't work at all, sometimes you have to manually go in and detune the timing by one tick down, others by 20%

:iiam:

Always run a full end to end RAM check when not using officially approved memory, even though they take forever

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

bull3964 posted:

Arrow keys? The keyboard has them. I guess you are talking about a numpad.

24gb vs 40gb. Basically Asus only validated up to 16gb DIMMs. 3rd party resellers tested 32gb DIMMs and found they worked (or worked well enough that they could sell the configs.) The real question is how well did they test those configs? Did they just run a memory tester for a few cycles? Did they only check to see if it posted with 40gb? Did they run any real workloads that stressed all 40gb in a real world situation? Who knows.

I'm also not sure how that would work in a warranty situation.

I know at least past Aorus's have tested well, haven't seen anything about the new model yet. Aside from Ryzen, the other differences at the same price level are 512gb on the Aorus vs 1tb on the G15 and 1080p on the Aorus vs 1440p on the G15. Also, even though it's intel, it doesn't support Thunderbolt (just in case you missed that) and no USB-C charging (G15 can do 100w) Also no adaptive sync either (G15 does freesync). But it does have a nicer RAM config.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3mjc25DPU

Seems decent. Also to note it's a plastic build instead of magnesium like the G15. Seems like there are some cuts in places to hit the pricepoint with the hardware loadout, but could be a ok compromise.

Ah - yeah - I see now that there are arrow keys. Just smaller.
So adding a 32 gb chip is very doable later but sounds like it would void the warranty. Well, I sorta figured anytime you open a laptop it would void the warranty.

Now I am just irritated that the G15 open box deal I had in my cart expired and the price went back from 1630 to 1800. drat. Should have pulled the trigger when I first saw the open box deal.
Looking at reddit shows me that the most common complaint is popping with the speaker. I wonder if that explains the open box deal.

Oh - incidently - the MSI GS66 Stealth my friend has can be upgraded to a max of 64gig RAM. Interesting. Although I can't imagine many would take advantage of that. At least the ram isn't soldered on to my knowledge.

As for the Gigabyte Aorus. Definitely tempting but objectively the G15 is better on most fronts. The web cam placement on the gigabyte is pretty lame but I prefer the full size SD card slot vs. the mini SD. The vents on the bottom of the Aorus are also pretty cool. However, it's just hard to argue with the G15's Ryzen's power over the intel i7.

Hopefully there will be another open box deal. Right now it looks like most of the Asus G15s are sold out completely at Best Buy. Guess I might wait a little longer after all. Didn't expec the deal to disappear out of my cart while I was writing these posts.:suicide:

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Mar 4, 2021

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


It doesn't void the warranty to open up to upgrade, I just don't know how it works for those 3rd party upgrades.

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

Oh weird. I kind of assumed if you opened something like a laptop it would void the warranty. Good to know!

Well - in the time I wrote the last post ANOTHER open box G15 appeared on Best Buy for a bit less money. However this one is excellent vs. ceritified excellent. I think I am going to roll the dice.

***

WTF?!? It happened twice. This time when I went to enter the payment info, I get told it is no longer available. How long do they give you to type in the info before it gets yanked from the cart?? This is getting kind of silly.

"ASUS - ROG Zephyrus 15.6" QHD Gaming Laptop - AMD Ryzen 9 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 - 1TB SSD - Eclipse Grey - Eclipse Grey is no longer available for shipping.
Sorry about that! You still might be able to get it if you check nearby stores for availability."

Super weird. I think I might just go and visit Best Buy in person one last time. Who knows ... maybe one will actually appear in store ... (?)

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Mar 4, 2021

great big cardboard tube
Sep 3, 2003


sigma 6 posted:

or are the G15 3080's underpowered and not worth the jump in price?

Everything else in your posts has been answered but to address this: yes. In the Dave2D review of the new g15 he shows well less than 10% fps difference between the 3070 and 3080 model and both are severely underperforming higher TDP versions of those cards.

The gap between the 3070 and 3080 widens the higher the TDP is. Looking at the MSI ge76 and other high TDP machines it's a much bigger difference.

Honestly not sure why they didn't push a 3060 model of the g15 because at that wattage and target market it makes a lot more sense to me than a gimped 3080.

Maybe I'm being cynical but the answer I've arrived at is they know they can get away with it and by not offering a 3060 and soldering an 8gb stick of ram with the 3070 they have a much easier job upselling you an unnecessary and underpowered 3080.

great big cardboard tube fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Mar 4, 2021

ilkhan
Oct 7, 2004

I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

sigma 6 posted:

Thank you for all the help!!

The Best Buy one is what I have in the cart right now ... I don't understand the 24gig bit. Does it not recognize all 40gigs of RAM if you max it out? Only 24? I plan on getting the 16gig variant from Best Buy and popping in 32 gig chip like Xotic did. Sounds like it isn't too hard. What is the SSD HD max? 4 TB?

Did some research and the Gigabyte AORUS was what was rated as the G15's primary competitor for what I do.
32 gig RAM, full SD card slot and the same price as the G15 but I am reading that in most ways the G15 is better. Notably that Ryzen.
Not gonna lie. I like my arrow keys and it looks like the G15 doesn't have them (?)
Also - wait - there is no print screen key on the G15 ?!?
... What? I actually use that daily. Ugh.

Last whim is this MSI i9 refurb.
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-P65-Creator-654-Productivity-Thunderbolt/dp/B07QP4Y176/ref=sr_1_21
It is cheaper than the G15 and better in some ways... but the i9 doesn't seem to rate as well as the Ryzen and of course it is the 2070 instead of the 3070.

I suppose if I buy the G15 from Best Buy I can always return it in 15 days, as is their policy. Hmm.
8GB is soldered plus there's one slot. So 8+32 is 40gb. Or 8+16 is 24gb.

wolrah
May 8, 2006
what?

sigma 6 posted:

Oh weird. I kind of assumed if you opened something like a laptop it would void the warranty. Good to know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty_Act

As a general rule anything that says you can't open it at all without voiding the warranty is straight up illegal. Aftermarket parts can be used as a reason for denial of warranty claims if there's reason to believe they're at fault, and obviously they're not covered, but if you upgrade the RAM and the SSD later fails the warranty still has to cover it.

Sniep
Mar 28, 2004

All I needed was that fatty blunt...



King of Breakfast

Sniep posted:

gently caress it, i tried for the ryzen 7 / 3070 with 16gb upgrade... let's see!

Welp; this was cancelled this morning. RIP.

Lockback
Sep 3, 2006

All days are nights to see till I see thee; and nights bright days when dreams do show me thee.

Sniep posted:

Welp; this was cancelled this morning. RIP.

Yeah, I figured. Worth the shot though.

Cheese Thief
Oct 30, 2020


I have a dock. T470 just keeps chugging along. Never have I had a problem with it, so it's really too good to replace. 2 big batteries, and I like the weight good enough. I actually carried around Thailand for a month just in a single backpack full of all my poo poo and the Thinkpad is I figure 4 lyfe.

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

Cheese Thief posted:



I have a dock. T470 just keeps chugging along. Never have I had a problem with it, so it's really too good to replace. 2 big batteries, and I like the weight good enough. I actually carried around Thailand for a month just in a single backpack full of all my poo poo and the Thinkpad is I figure 4 lyfe.

Thinkpads have always been legendary for build quality... and that little red nub / mouse thingie.

wolrah: TIL more about warranties. I just always assumed that cracking open a laptop would void the warranty because that's true with a lot of electronics as a whole.

ilkhan: I knew that 8gig was soldered onto the Asus G15 16 gb model. I want 32 or more so that's another reason why I am leaning towards the MSI GS66 Stealth - because I can upgrade to 2x 32gig sticks of ram and assumedly get better performance than I would with 40 gigs in the Asus G15. Easy math there.

great big cardboard tube: Great name BTW. Sorry about the repetition. The jump to 32gig and to 3080 is one I can't afford even if I could find it. The real problem is how rare these G15s seem to be. I have been to 4 Best Buys and I am about to go to a 5th right now. The only G series I have seen in store has been the G14. I tried to buy a G15 from the best buy site and it's either sold out, or not available in my area. The website tells me there is a display model about an hour away so I am getting in the car to go now.

At the point of frustration where if I don't see the G15 in store, I am just going to get that MSI GS66 which is definitely in store and cheaper than the G15 by about 300 bucks. Also, it has a webcam, thunderbolt port, upgradeable to 64gig RAM and a better screen! Soooo... although I want the raw power the G15 offers, I have to settle with a cheaper, more well rounded option, if it simply isn't available anywhere to buy.

I guess I could settle for last year's G15 model for uh
https://www.amazon.com/Zephyrus-Gaming-GeForce-Windows-GA502IV-XS76/dp/B08QV7KMQZ/
... 500 bucks less... but I don't want to wait for shipping and the MSI stealth specs look better for what I can buy right now in store. Except of course for that Ryzen chip. Just wish there more laptops using the Ryzen 5900HS and that they were more available.

Here is a comparison video but I would be getting the MSI stealth with the 2070 RTX AFAIK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4My3U_9aKE The difference in screen quality is considerable.

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Mar 6, 2021

Memento
Aug 25, 2009


Bleak Gremlin
Starting a Master's degree next week. If I want an i5/8g/512ssd laptop, what's the current good option for those as far as build quality, keyboard quality (very important that I can type thousands of words on it, but I don't need a keypad) and screen quality? I don't want a Mac because I've never used one and while it would probably be trivial to get used to it I can't be bothered, I definitely don't need a dedicated GPU, and my budget is $1,200 Australian. If that only gets me like, i5/8g/256 or the AMD equivalent that's fine, but last time I bought a laptop was 2009 and I have no idea what's good these days.

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

Trip report:

According to the Best Buy rep I talked to tonight: "No Best Buys have any RTX 30* series stuff and won't for the foreseeable future." I don't think there was a single laptop with this year's RTX 30* gpu in the entire store, which backs up what the guy said. No workstations either.

Judging by what I see on BnH and Adorama, this is across the board.

The rep did offer to order me a Asus Strix but noted it would take about a week and the price would be over $2200.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...p?skuId=6409456

I did get a chance to look at the MSI Stealth and the MSI Raider a little closer. Didn't realise the Raider had ports in the back. So did the Alienware and the Razer Blade. The Razer's 4k screen looked impressive but the RGB keyboard was glitching out badly on the display model.

Amazon has some G15 RTX3070s but they all appear to be over 2k.
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Zephyru...15095814&sr=8-4
Same with Newegg
https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000N-03N15

Hell - they are going for over 2k on Ebay at this point too. Ugh.

What exactly is the difference between the MaxQ and Super RTX cards? Super is better but the Max Q is ... overclockable? A little confused at the difference but I can tell you the Raider was 300+ more than the Stealth and had the 2070 Super and 32g of RAM. A quick look at the Best Buy website shows me that all their 3070 MSI Raiders are sold out, of course.

Also - is it any harder to upgrade RAM on a MSI vs. Asus? Is the MSI Creator any better or worse than the Raider or Stealth? The specs to this MSI Creator look very similar to the MSI Raider at Best Buy but with a better screen and about the same price.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DHY3VF6

sigma 6 fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Mar 7, 2021

Rexxed
May 1, 2010

Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

Memento posted:

Starting a Master's degree next week. If I want an i5/8g/512ssd laptop, what's the current good option for those as far as build quality, keyboard quality (very important that I can type thousands of words on it, but I don't need a keypad) and screen quality? I don't want a Mac because I've never used one and while it would probably be trivial to get used to it I can't be bothered, I definitely don't need a dedicated GPU, and my budget is $1,200 Australian. If that only gets me like, i5/8g/256 or the AMD equivalent that's fine, but last time I bought a laptop was 2009 and I have no idea what's good these days.

For a solid build quality that will last a while I'd always suggest a Thinkpad, probably the T series. The new ones have better screens than they used to. I don't know the Aussie pricing but a configuration like that is available for around $1000 in the US so I'd imagine it's doable. Their keyboards aren't as nice as they used to be but they're a lot better than the Acer and HP laptops I've set up recently. Your main choices are going to be 14" or 15", with the latter often having a num pad and the former won't. They're priced about the same. The main issues right now is that they'll have a few prebuilt configurations that can ship fast but anything custom is very slow since covid. That said your choices seem straight forward so I'd imagine there's a config that will work.

Well, I looked on Lenovo's Australian sales site and prices are higher than I thought, but they do have the T495 for around $1250:
https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-t-series/T495/p/22TP2TTT495

I don't know if there's a Barnes and Noble gold link for Australia like there is for the US to get slightly lower prices but the other models I'd look at are HP or Dell's Business line. It was my impression that Dell wasn't as big outside of the US as Lenovo, though.

Lockback
Sep 3, 2006

All days are nights to see till I see thee; and nights bright days when dreams do show me thee.

Why are you going to stores and not just using the websites that show you stock?

Super: Is the refresh line of the 2000 series. So the 2070 Super is better than the 2070 and came out about a year after the 2000 series. They are pretty much just straight upgrades, but the perf difference isn't gigantic, especially for mobile users.

MaxQ: Max Quiet. This isn't a replacement for super. It's a special designation for mobile parts where the performance is moderately less for a very large decrease in heat & power consumption. This is vs MaxP, which means a full speed card. Usually full speed cards are not very mobile friendly and will frequently hit thermal limits before they are at full speed.

Those two designations are not replacements for each other. You can have a 2070 MQ or a 2070S MQ, btu some combinations are rarer than others.

Swapping RAM in any laptop is easy, go find youtube guides for specific models. You just need a screwdriver with a small philips head and occasionally a torque head. I have a $10 "PC Repair" kit I got off amazon years ago and it makes life much easier.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


Lockback posted:


Swapping RAM in any laptop is easy

Some manufacturers like MSI have been known to use a flipped motherboard in some models that makes upgrades significantly more difficult. So, it's worth it to seek out upgrade instructions before you purchase.

ilkhan
Oct 7, 2004

I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.
Or soldered to the mobo. Definitely seek out info before buying if you intend to upgrade.

Numlock
May 19, 2007

The simplest seppo on the forums
So I've been looking at most of the same laptops that Sigma 6 is, but I think I have a slightly higher budget than he does at ~$2000-$2500 (So stuff like the Asus Zephyrus G15 with RTX 3060/3070/3080). While researching what is available and what I want I've seen these laptops come into and then very quickly go out of stock. I don't have a deadline or a serious need to upgrade right now so I've resisted buying something immediately.

My main question is if I need to f5 the hell out of the product pages for these laptops like they are PS5's or since they are massively more expensive than consoles that I can just wait around to see what other offerings hit the market over the next few months?

wemgo
Feb 15, 2007
Been using g15 for a week now. Dual boot win10 works well and this thing has handled everything i’ve thrown at it. Mic setup was kinda screwy and required me to dig through windows settings to make myself audible. Screen brightness is a non-issue for me and i never use the speakers so I cannot comment on them.

Build quality is very good, but i worry about stuff getting into the chassis via the holes on the bottom. We’ll see!

Lockback
Sep 3, 2006

All days are nights to see till I see thee; and nights bright days when dreams do show me thee.

Numlock posted:

So I've been looking at most of the same laptops that Sigma 6 is, but I think I have a slightly higher budget than he does at ~$2000-$2500 (So stuff like the Asus Zephyrus G15 with RTX 3060/3070/3080). While researching what is available and what I want I've seen these laptops come into and then very quickly go out of stock. I don't have a deadline or a serious need to upgrade right now so I've resisted buying something immediately.

My main question is if I need to f5 the hell out of the product pages for these laptops like they are PS5's or since they are massively more expensive than consoles that I can just wait around to see what other offerings hit the market over the next few months?

I think it's a matter of "Set your budget then move fast when one's available", but you don't need to like sit in a discord or anything. I've seen the G15 pop up now and then and be available for a while. You also can probably order one that will be delivered after a few weeks.

The 3060 G14 is available in 2-3 weeks by me:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...p?skuId=6452913
I think this one is a great sweet spot for portable gaming.

The G15s are harder to find but if you maybe setup some nowinstock alerts or something I bet you can find something in the next few weeks. Unless production really has ground to a halt.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


Semiconductor manufacturing is hosed right now. Severely supply constrained. If your see a tech thing you want to buy in stock, don't hesitate, buy. It may be months until you have another opportunity.

Just don't pay above MSRP.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


Just in case anyone was interested, I played around this morning gaming running my G15 exclusively off a USB-PD supply. Specifically this Anker 100w one (https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Chargi...15143787&sr=8-3)

As far as I could tell, performance was the same as if I was plugged into a normal supply. As expected the battery drained while doing it. Drain rate playing BL3 was about 50% per hour.

I may try it again to see timings with a 60w supply as this adapter is what I have in my charger go bag (https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Anker-PowerPort-MacBook-Galaxy/dp/B086YGHRNP/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=anker+65w&qid=1615143960&sr=8-3). I suspect it's not going to be hugely different.

This pleases me as it means I can game for limited intervals without relocating the full power brick. Now, the notebook's Turbo mode is still locked out when using USB-PD so there's likely some performance still left on the table with some games, but I wasn't able to discern much of a FPS difference in BL3. I was worried that the notebook would only run in severely reduced battery performance mode when connected with USB-C and I'm glad to be wrong.

sigma 6
Nov 27, 2004

the mirror would do well to reflect further

Lockback posted:

Why are you going to stores and not just using the websites that show you stock?

Super: Is the refresh line of the 2000 series. So the 2070 Super is better than the 2070 and came out about a year after the 2000 series. They are pretty much just straight upgrades, but the perf difference isn't gigantic, especially for mobile users.

MaxQ: Max Quiet. This isn't a replacement for super. It's a special designation for mobile parts where the performance is moderately less for a very large decrease in heat & power consumption. This is vs MaxP, which means a full speed card. Usually full speed cards are not very mobile friendly and will frequently hit thermal limits before they are at full speed.

Those two designations are not replacements for each other. You can have a 2070 MQ or a 2070S MQ, btu some combinations are rarer than others.

Swapping RAM in any laptop is easy, go find youtube guides for specific models. You just need a screwdriver with a small philips head and occasionally a torque head. I have a $10 "PC Repair" kit I got off amazon years ago and it makes life much easier.

"Why are you going to stores and not just using the websites that show you stock?"

I was hoping to take advantage of Best Buy's return policy in case there were problems. Such as the speakers on the G15, which I have been reading sometimes pop. Also - when the G15 was in stock it was 1800, which is cheaper than I can find it almost anywhere else.

Interesting info about Max Q. That makes sense it is Max Quiet vs. Super. Notably the MSI Raider was Super and the MSI Stealth was Max Q ... which makes sense because well ... the stealth IS pretty quiet on full load and the Raider was noticeably larger and bulkier. Just wish they put ports on the back of the Stealth as well as the Raider.

At this point Amazon seems to actually have the G15 GA503QM with the 3060. I can't find it anywhere else. I really wanted to get the 3070 variant from Best Buy but it just doesn't look like it's in the cards.

bull3964 posted:

Some manufacturers like MSI have been known to use a flipped motherboard in some models that makes upgrades significantly more difficult. So, it's worth it to seek out upgrade instructions before you purchase.

This is very interesting. I was going to possibly go with the stealth because there are two RAM slots available to push the max to 64gigs. Seems like the way to go for upgrading and I am sure the Raider is similar. The fact that Asus solders there chips is really a deterrent if you want to keep DDR. Now I want to look up how easy it is to upgrade the Raider. The Strix and Raider are interesting but I am not a big fan of the RGB aesthetic. Even the Creator series is interesting for the screen. What is holding me back are the older I7s vs. that Ryzen in the Asus. Otherwise the MSI machines look pretty good to me. Especially the upgradeablility, the webcams, thunderbolt and of course screen refresh rate.

ilkhan
Oct 7, 2004

I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.
I'm pretty much still waiting on a refreshed XPS15. Tiger-lake-H 8c and a(n unannounced) 3050 would be fine with me.

Cheese Thief
Oct 30, 2020
I think everyone needs 1 Mac, 1 Linux, and 1 Windows. I'd never ever use Windows on a laptop, god help you poor folks posting from a nice laptop running Windows 10.

shrike82
Jun 11, 2005

i mean anyone getting a laptop with a beefy videocard is going to be gaming in Windows and you can run linux from Windows using WSL
i tried running steam games using proton in linux and while it worked for the most part, it's still not worth the performance hit

The Electronaut
May 10, 2009

Lockback posted:

Why are you going to stores and not just using the websites that show you stock?

Super: Is the refresh line of the 2000 series. So the 2070 Super is better than the 2070 and came out about a year after the 2000 series. They are pretty much just straight upgrades, but the perf difference isn't gigantic, especially for mobile users.

MaxQ: Max Quiet. This isn't a replacement for super. It's a special designation for mobile parts where the performance is moderately less for a very large decrease in heat & power consumption. This is vs MaxP, which means a full speed card. Usually full speed cards are not very mobile friendly and will frequently hit thermal limits before they are at full speed.

Those two designations are not replacements for each other. You can have a 2070 MQ or a 2070S MQ, btu some combinations are rarer than others.

Swapping RAM in any laptop is easy, go find youtube guides for specific models. You just need a screwdriver with a small philips head and occasionally a torque head. I have a $10 "PC Repair" kit I got off amazon years ago and it makes life much easier.

Quoting off the back of this to add, look for reviews of what you’re buying. Nvidia is forcing manufacturers to list the TDP of their implementations are for good reason. There’s benchmarks showing a high watt 3060 outperforming a low watt 3070 handily.

Cheese Thief
Oct 30, 2020

shrike82 posted:

i mean anyone getting a laptop with a beefy videocard is going to be gaming in Windows and you can run linux from Windows using WSL
i tried running steam games using proton in linux and while it worked for the most part, it's still not worth the performance hit

Yeeaa gaming on a laptop does not sound ideal. Gaming on linux is totally not worth it, either btw.

Cheese Thief
Oct 30, 2020
I have a Toshiba Chromebook 2, has an i3 processor. that I flashed the firmware with seaBIOS, changed out the ssd. After I got a new laptop, I used the old one to play with. So I tried to install Slackware, but I forgot or can't get in the root login, and I can't get into the bios anymore for some reason. Thus the laptop is just unaccessible, which is a shame. I tried to do a Linux from Scratch on it, which went as expected (I couldn't get gcc to compile). Those were really usable laptops for broke college students, great screen. Way better than Lenovo's crap.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Cheese Thief posted:

I think everyone needs 1 Mac, 1 Linux, and 1 Windows. I'd never ever use Windows on a laptop, god help you poor folks posting from a nice laptop running Windows 10.

Yeah this is very relatable. I’d love to have a nice decently powerful workstation for playing with Linux but a vm running on a win 10 gaming computer is close

AgentCow007
May 20, 2004
TITLE TEXT

Cheese Thief posted:

I think everyone needs 1 Mac, 1 Linux, and 1 Windows. I'd never ever use Windows on a laptop, god help you poor folks posting from a nice laptop running Windows 10.

I don't get it... the laptop should be Mac? Linux on laptops is abhorrent. Most distros still don't do fractional scaling, and the hacky fixes break things I find irreplaceable like Youtube playback... not to mention how difficult it is to get support for all the proprietary hardware they shovel in these days.

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy

AgentCow007 posted:

I don't get it... the laptop should be Mac? Linux on laptops is abhorrent. Most distros still don't do fractional scaling, and the hacky fixes break things I find irreplaceable like Youtube playback... not to mention how difficult it is to get support for all the proprietary hardware they shovel in these days.

2021 will be the year of Linux on the Laptop

In all seriousness I'm considering setting up a linux partition on my laptop only because I think it might have a chance at streaming my desktop over Moonlight with slightly less latency than windows.

Levin
Jun 28, 2005


Still looking for the right 2-in-1 laptop for my studies. I have roughly $22000 CAD to spend on it. The hope is it will encourage me to keep working when I'm sick of sitting at my desk or in laptop mode by using tablet mode. Given this I think I want something that supports a good stylus. I would like to get a 3-year warranty and a carrying case. I will be using it primarily for Office programs, browsing, multimedia viewing, It would be good if it works with my existing Dell DisplayLink adapter that I am using for my dual monitor setup which uses USB-A.

I have been doing research and the criteria I think I need to be looking at are: keyboard (travel and backlighting), weight, stylus, audio, ports, wi-fi, thunderbolt, battery life, screen size (aspect ratio) and trackpad.

The brands/models I see getting the most attention are:
HP x360s
Dell XPS and Inspirion
Microsoft Surface Go, Pro and Book
Lenovo Yoga, IdeaPad Flex
LG Gram

I have had Lenovo laptops in the past. I like their keyboards and found them to be very reliable. Still leaning towards a Microsoft Surface Book or Lenovo Yoga but interested in input.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

AgentCow007 posted:

I don't get it... the laptop should be Mac?

Yeah the M1s are insanely good value.

Cheese Thief
Oct 30, 2020

tuyop posted:

Yeah the M1s are insanely good value.

Yea. a Macbook Pro and a well supported Thinkpad or XPS + Linux. It works really well, for me at least. I'm very happy with my computers. But I'm not so into video games that I have to drag a laptop around with me just to get one more round in, or whatever.

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

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


The M1 Macs may be good value, but I struggle to think of what I would do with one beyond just using a browser. So I might as well just use a Chromebook.

I'm not a creator/youtuber/podcasting/vloger with a side coding business.

I mostly only sit down at a computer to use the internet if I want to use a real keyboard for something. Otherwise, computer is just another gaming machine.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

AgentCow007 posted:

Linux on laptops is abhorrent. Most distros still don't do fractional scaling, and the hacky fixes break things I find irreplaceable like Youtube playback... not to mention how difficult it is to get support for all the proprietary hardware they shovel in these days.

Lol what

Other than 4k scaling what issues are you running into

Linux on a 1080p laptop is a dream, I have a windows laptop for what little gaming I have time for now, but my last three primary laptops (thinkpad) all run some variant of ubuntu long term support with no issues. Ubuntu 20.04 actually automatically updated my laptops' loving firmware as a routine system update. I was so stunned I took a picture

shrike82
Jun 11, 2005

Suspend support is still iffy - could never get it to work on my Razer gaming laptop

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Nitrousoxide
May 30, 2011

do not buy a oneplus phone



Yeah, Linux has gotten a lot better in the last four or five years. I actually use it on my desktop PC now. Though I don't use Ubuntu like the poster above but instead use Manjaro.

I do have a virtual machine set up on the computer that can run Windows if I occasionally need to run some windows only applications. But I only need to start it up rarely for some work stuff.

Now if you need to use office 365 heavily then Linux may not be for you because Microsoft has not put that out there outside of teams.

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