Atomizer posted:Nah, get this Acer because it's equal to or better than that MSI in every way that counts plus it's only like $160 more but the better components it has are worth more than that. The 1050 2 GB is probably close to half the performance of the 1060 6 GB, and worth about $160 right there (per the price difference of the desktop parts.) The MSI has an HDD, but that's basically worth the difference between its 128 GB SSD and the Acer's 256 GB one. The RAM upgrade is probably $80-100 right there. The Acer also might go on sale Monday, maybe? Is this a good buy if I don't play like AAA first person shooters? I haven't bought a computer in almost a decade and mine finally gave up the ghost. I'd pretty much be using it for browsing, Netflix and playing stuff like Fallout: Whatever, XCOM 2, stuff like that.
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Nov 27, 2017 20:03
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runchild posted:
Where'd you find this price?
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Mar 4, 2018 19:11
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I'm in the market for a Windows 10 tablet, and I'm hoping for some advice I recently went into business for myself doing field service and sales of industrial equipment, and I'm wanting to get a work computer to use instead of my Dell gaming laptop, to better compartmentalize work/personal life, and be more efficient in field / close more deals on sales calls I have a small home office setup in guest room, and will eventually have a small office/shop space rented inside of an existing business' shop. Most of my work will be in the field, with administrative tasks being done at home / shop spaces I'm curently leaning toward getting one piece of PC hardware for now, and having some combo of docking stations / monitors / keyboards at home/shop I'll be doing normal business poo poo (Office 365 suite, Quickbooks online, etc) and some design/drafting work (drawings for pulling permits, vector files for CNC CAM poo poo, and some light graphic design [I've outsourced most of that thankfully]). Plus video conferences, and having subcontractor engineers remote in to make programming changes in machines etc. In the field I'll primarily be taking / marking up photos, reading schematics, and building quotes / invoices Anyway, that's prob more than enough context about my situation. Following is what I've been looking at, as well as where I think I need guidance: Right now I'm looking at the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme line (7220 in particular) and Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 My biggest priorities are it does what I need it to do, has mobile data, holds up to rough use, and lasts at least two years without being completely obsolete. I need to be able to get a vendor to fix it if it breaks. I'd also like to minimize up front cost to whatever extent I can Which CPUs are the most "future proof" right now? Are all 4G data cards created the same? Does Dell vs Panasonic matter all other things being equal? Who are good outfits to buy refurbished tablet PCs from? Who's good at fixing them when they break? And are there crackerjack phone carriers (like Mint mobile) I can do the laptop data through? Basically, how do I buy tablet PC? In the impenetrable alphabet soup of optional features, what matters and what doesnt? Any help is super appreciated, thanks
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Mar 22, 2021 04:51
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Hadlock posted:CPUs have not really moved the needle in 5 years. Just make sure whatever you get has at least 8gb ram. Maybe consider Intel so you have access to thunderbolt 3 stuff, if you want it later. That would probably push you into an i5 type Intel processor Cool, thanks for that insight Lockback posted:You're going to have a tough time doing 3D drafting on any of those, but you'll be ok I think just viewing drawings. Lockback posted:You sure you need a rugged line? Hadlock posted:Panasonic Tough* line is directed and marketed towards the building contractor manager field engineer market, that's where I would look first. The Electronaut posted:Concur about the ruggedness of the Toughbooks, especially the extreme versions. Regularly worked on them a decade ago in a war zone , they’d come in covered with dust and other stuff, would take them outside and hit them with water, they were regularly dropped and tossed around like it was no big deal. Now that I've looked into it further, the Dell offerings seem cool and nice, but the sheer availability of parts and information and accessories for the Toughbooks has made me decide that's the route I'm going Hadlock posted:So, Intel i5, 8+gb ram, 256+ ssd Lockback posted:Get a i5 and on the Dell it's probably worth $150 to step up to the i7. For that money I'd really like 16GB of RAM but 8 is probably all you need. So, I just got off the phone with a vendor in Delaware called Bob Johnson's Computer Stuff who sells refurb Toughbooks, and I've mostly decided on the Toughbook CF-19 to start. The woman I spoke with at Bob Johnson's was super helpful and it sounds like they'll be easy enough to work with, so I've decided to use them for the base PC for sure Here's Panasonic's sell sheet for the CF-19 There are various configurations of these things obviously, and as an electronics remanufacturer their inventory is kind of dependent on what units/parts they have on the shelf Seems like the main thing here is going to be the CPU and HDD. Future upgrades (RAM, data card, GPS, etc.) look easy enough and can be done when I determine I need them, which is cool The refurb CF-19s they've got listed on website have HDDs, and it's just +$79 to upgrade to a 240GB SSD, and there are larger capacity SSD upgrades for increasing price. Seems like an SSD is a big enough QOL upgrade that I ought to just do it. I might go for the 480GB SSD @ $129 just because I plan to be running at least one VM (don't want someone remoting into my host that has, like, all my financials etc.) and I feel like that'll give me a better disk space buffer Far as the CPUs go, this is what they've got listed on their website right now: - "Intel Core i5 2520M 2.5GHz dual-core (Sandy Bridge)" (base price of computer $550) - "Intel Core i5 3320M 2.6GHz dual-core" (base price of computer $650) - "Intel Core i5-3340M 2.70GHz" (base price $750) - "Intel Core i5-3610ME 2.70GHz" (base price $800) I know the jump from the first to second on that list is a jump from i5 2nd gen to i5 3rd gen, so I'm guessing further returns are diminishing One thing I still need to sort out is that the i5 3340M they have listed on their website has the Multi Touch touch screen standard ($100 to add it to the i5 3320M model). If you guys tell me i5 3rd gen isn't worth $100 more than 2nd gen, I'll probably follow up with Bob Johnson's to see if that Multi Touch display is available on the 2nd gen model (they told me they can find out about specific configurations / options not available on their website). Still haven't decided if I'll want "Multi Touch" (not exactly sure what it is) but if it means I can use 2 fingers on the tablet to scroll, then yeah--I'll pay $100 for that For display / graphics, the Panasonic literature calls that they have "Intel® HD Graphics 4000" and the laptop is natively 1024 x 768. A question I still have re: displays is if I'll be able to run two remote monitors. There is only 1 VGA port (no HDMI) so I expect I would need a USB to VGA/HDMI adapter. I also am not clear on if I'll be able to do anything better than 1024 x 768 (1920 x 1200 would be sick) on the remote monitor(s). Panasonic literature says it supports 2 monitors, but idk if that's laptop + 2 or laptop + 1 I am also still sort of considering the CF-20 (Panasonic sell sheet here) but those start at $1300 at Bob Johnson's, and based on my conversations with the employee there, it sounds like they don't get too many of them, so availability of refurb/used parts/accessories is limited, making it a more expensive setup to run. That one has 2 HDMI and the Panasonic literature says it supports 4 monitors. Native 1920 x 1200, and 6th gen Intel m5-6y57 1.10 GHz on what Bob Johnson's shows on their website. Pretty cool the tablet disconnects from the keyboard, but I'm very much leaning toward the CF-19 unless I find out I straight up can't run dual remote monitors on it At this point, I'm not even looking at the Toughpad FZ-G1. The accessory keyboard is pretty expensive and seems really crackerjack. I need this thing to be a PC more than I need it to be a tablet, but I still need it to be a tablet too Thanks again for your help so far gang
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Mar 22, 2021 21:46
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Lockback posted:So those are 8+ year old CPUs in there dude. Difference in speeds is not much though the 3000 does have a better dGPU. But, yeah that stuff is old and slow. The m5-6Y57 is newer, but slower. It's thing is a better battery life. I wouldn't want to run VMs on these, much less VMs are viewing 2D CAD drawings. And trying to run your business in office and remotely on these? I would not envy you. I honestly don't need to do any CAD work any time soon. I have vendors I can lean on for that, and like you say do it on a different computer. Or I could literally chicken scratch it on a piece of paper and send it to the city to pull permits. That's what a ton of contractors do (the ones who actually pull permits, anyway) If it won't run a VM, that sucks. But I can also just not let vendors / contractors remote into machines through my laptop (I can sell the customer the hardware for it instead) Lockback posted:Which brings up a good question, how is the battery life on these Laptops from Obama's first term? I'd assume they'll be questionable. Yeah, that's something I'm concerned about. Something I'll be asking about when I email for more information / a quote request Lockback posted:I think a better solution would be a cheap home base machine and portable tablets/all-in-1s that will just break more often and just pull what data you need from your home office. Yeah, that might be what I have to do. I could always use my current Dell laptop as my home office computer as well as a stopgap. Would have the added benefit of keeping me from loving around on it and gaming So, I guess my question now is: if all I'm going to be using it for is emails, filling out paperwork/forms, using Quickbooks Online, downloading/reading PDFs, and updating Quote templates, Excel spreadsheets, etc. over OneDrive, how miserable am I going to be running Windows 10 on one of these? I'm pretty "analog" when it comes to organization / notes / appointment keeping, and ultimately most of my business is done in person, over the phone or email, and I really don't need much from a computer. The reason I asked about remote monitors is that just makes it easier to use a computer when I'm sitting at a desk If it's like, actually a bad idea to get something like this, then I won't do it. But right now I'd rather buy something older and durable and not have to think about it again for a year (provided it works) than spend the same money on something newer that I'll probably destroy. Since I'm in "start up" mode, I'd like to just check the box as cheap/easy as possible and move onto the next thing But if it's going to actually interfere with my ability to do basic computer poo poo, I'll just have to come to terms with the fact I need to look at newer, more expensive (or more off-brand) solutions eighty-four merc fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Mar 23, 2021 |
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Mar 23, 2021 01:13
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Lockback posted:I mean, it'll run email and word forms and whatever fine. Won't be fast but it'll be fine. That's different than Running VMs/CAD/etc. So it depends on what you want to do. You said you wanted 2 years before its obsolete but I'd generally call these on the other side of obsolete, but what you linked to is approaching E-waste. Got it. Again, that's the kind of feedback I'm after, I appreciate it And yeah, I guess to me, "obsolete" is when it stops working or I'm not allowed to use it anymore (my current work truck came from the factory without airbags, as an example) I did some more digging and there's a larger, non-big-tablet-mode-having CF-31 that vendor has listed available with an i5 5300U 2.30GHz I guess in later generations of the CF-31, they went all the way up to i5 7300U and i7 7600U Are those going to be potentially less dogshit? How's a 3rd vs 5th vs 7th gen i5 compared to 7th gen i7, in terms of being close to eWaste? I understand that a ton of the other hardware is 1st-term Obama era, I'm just trying to narrow my focus a little bit more before I call the vendor again tomorrow to determine what they've got that will work for situation and if it's at a price point I can stomach vs seriously considering disposable, off-brand, etc. options
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Mar 23, 2021 01:54
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The 5300 unit is ~$1000 base price. I'd have to call about pricing & availability on the 7000s It's a "MK5" and it looks like the current 7000 series models are "MK6" (and really expensive based on my cursory googling but I can't seem to find refurb price immediately) Ofc I'd prob want a battery and the SSD, and I'll need to dig a little deeper into other minutiae when I get them on the phone, as well as evaluate what I think about the increased size and weight (holy cow it's almost twice as heavy). But hey the screen's 13" instead of 10" (still 1024x768 tho lol) It also has 3 monitor support, as well as 1 x HDMI in addition to 1 x VGA, so I'm less worried about that if I decide to do the workshop dock But like I was saying before, I don't need to do the other upgrades right away which is nice, so I could actually prioritize those based on my experiences using it, theoretically Thanks again for all your help narrowing my focus on this
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Mar 23, 2021 03:32
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Oh yeah, there's absolutely better solutions. I've just got limited funds until June, and I'm in a new state/county/city sorting out, well, everything. So I'm trying to stick to simple solutions involving stuff I'm familiar enough with, and like I said before I want to get it done enough to move on for a while before circling back to it Part of it too is I'm a dumbass and a low key Luddite. I use a paper planner for my calendar. And I haven't really been thinking about business solutions involving my phone because when my iPhone gets paid off next month I'm planning to get rid of it and switch to a dumb phone, and adding a second dumb phone line for work Too many "open" items that need closed right now for me to really think about complicating my situation more than I need to, hence the theme of "which one of these cheap tablet PCs can I get away with?" I do really appreciate the help I've gotten from yall so far. I'm pretty optimistic I'll be able to cross this off the list this week
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Mar 23, 2021 06:33
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