PC Tech Thread

Cool, thanks for the advice 👍

Need new computer. Would build one but tbh, I feel like I need the flexibility of a laptop/monitor setup. Will be using it for work but also games.

Does anyone have any recent experience with gaming laptops? Am looking at an Acer Helios 300 with i7-9750 2.6GHz, 16GB Ram, 256GB SSD and 1660 Ti... its $979 after tax. Reviews and gaming performance is good.

I run a similar setup, 1650 instead of 1660ti and 32gb ram. enough for medium cad, reasonably fast cpu rendering and csgo, wouldn't really wanna try anything too graphics heavy though.

1660 Ti

You may not be able to run highest settings on the very newest games but you'll get close at HD size. This will happy do you until proper 4k gaming becomes possible.

Yeah, I think that should be okay tbh. I mostly just want to replay things like New Vegas, potentially play the new CoD and definitely play R6 Siege again. Probably the only game I miss playing having gotten rid of my Xbox.

65% keybaord.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/key­tron/keychron-k6-a-compact-65-wireless-m­echanical-keyboard?ref=section-homepage-­view-more-recommendations-p1

Is there any benefit to optical switches for normal use?

Optical switches will never start to double click over time

Thanks.

What Sumo says... I just buy these things because they look nice... :-P

By the way, if you are after a full sized keyboard with the number pad, they had a KS few month back for that and it might be available on their website by now...

eGPU?

Just treated myself to a Louqe Ghost, RYZEN 3600 and an RX 5700XT... Pubg in 4K is fun.

Was waiting for you to suggest that :-P

But no, the whole eGPU, whilst valid, doesn't really appeal to me to be honest. Doesn't seem that cost effective? Happy to stand corrected, though.

Ha. To be honest in your case prob not. That laptop sounds decent enough spec. If you wanted ultra portable and/or high end graphics then it can be a good solution but you’re in a comfortable middle ground.

Well, that escalated quickly. I wanted this to be at least slightly future proof.

I got an email from Dell's Outlet with a code for 12% off all refurbished gaming machines...

Took a look and there was an Alienware m15 with: 1TB 7200rpm HD w/ 8GB flash, 512GB M.2 SSD, 16GB 2667 MHz, i7-9750H, RTX 2060, Killer 1650x WiFi and a 15.6" 1080p 300 nits anti-glare sRGB 100% colour gamut panel. It was $1310 with 12% off, which after tax was $1253.67.

Never really desired an Alienware but they're pretty toned down now in the grand scheme of things and the price was unbeatable. Everything else with those specs was far more expensive. I just configured the same machine from Dell, brand new and it was $1,866 so that's a nice saving.

Torn.

Looking at laptops and I'm just going around in circles it seems.

I want something that will happily carry out my photography duties, namely lighroom, capture one or alien skin. As well as blogging - something which I'm guessing all laptops are up to now a days. The other requirement is somewhat decent battery life.

I thought I had narrowed my choices down and found the huawei matebook. The i7 with 8gb ram and 512SSD for around £900.

Will I find a better suited laptop for the price?

Oh I'd just like to add I looked at the macbook air and quickly found I didn't think it was up to the job. Then the macbook pro is quite a jump.

Good deal! That'll do you for a good few years.

Lol. Yeah I know right. Except they oversold the only unit they had so cancelled my order....

Probably for the best - I was in a rush so didn't realllyyy read many reviews. The first iteration of the m15 apparently has very poor thermals and was like a hot plate. Was also over budget in reality.

Will probably just build a desktop tbh. Can always use my MBA if I really need to work away from home.

This is the kind of thing to compare it to.

15", double the RAM, better processor, better graphics card, no touchscreen, £150 cheaper

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdXnXHYhcjhLRf8AsCr5RuAktX0qs7WWHSwjsxwOvL%2fV6xE%2b7dNIQwEXqz3iI7KpjYXtUX8Saalp%2f6tICPXDmZ0Ui12Wa8rtQlZUzvtZ8fR9TczvXGEvZpdmu1uYmN0FqnxxAdBAaWWRqhhJ%2fMHAeW5T1BdT5OBCB6jAqJnXe0j5rW9Bo5zZ2mekv23ax%2fLJpHlQ2OpGoF2FuqAZnQ3yuEerbVv%2fl0tg4VguVdC9safUb

13", double the RAM, better processor, touchscreen, similar price

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdVh19QpKeYq29Rcx9DmFDAUSmEJ7fGheKZq1uZfmbKMPBK8Tu9azhQeTIL6Qvs01JlJw%2ba%2bC1ZLIa9ytyA1DO8VJJZLSlcVMmJo1slfdgscqU3pV7hLAapLVfMocB9ltCCarf%2feyWwj9WtERjnwlYhQCzxOi4m3g01%2bDPHc1OTY26DTd8Ohmi3wwuQKSaooNNKik8dcR75%2bOsExlfoiNOLaHF9I4jsdXujPiCbUQOJX7

Battery life may not be quite as good if you're needing a full day without charging. (Although with USB C charging there are a fair few external battery packs out there now.)

Second hand MBP

Something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-MacBook-Pro-13-3-inch-2016-Touch-Bar-2-9-Ghz-Core-i5-16-GB-512-GB-Silver/174069464393?hash=item2887593d49:g:FgEAAOSwBxddqe-y.

16gb ram, 500gb hard drive, not bottom spec CPU.

That second one is rather attractive!

Still a lot of money though!

13", double the RAM, better processor, touchscreen, similar price

https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/Seco­ndaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1­&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7Ud­Vh19QpKeYq29Rcx9DmFDAUSmEJ7fGheKZq1uZfmb­KMPBK8Tu9azhQeTIL6Qvs01JlJw%2ba%2bC1ZLIa­9ytyA1DO8VJJZLSlcVMmJo1slfdgscqU3pV7hLAa­pLVfMocB9ltCCarf%2feyWwj9WtERjnwlYhQCzxO­i4m3g01%2bDPHc1OTY26DTd8Ohmi3wwuQKSaooNN­Kik8dcR75%2bOsExlfoiNOLaHF9I4jsdXujPiCbU­QOJX7

Battery life may not be quite as good if you're needing a full day without charging. (Although with USB C charging there are a fair few external battery packs out there now.)

@spenceey

That's exactly the laptop I bought a month or two ago. Very pleased with it. Couple of teething problems with the hinge thinking that I was using it in tablet mode when I was using it on my lap, and the fingerprint reader being crap, but driver updates seem to have sorted both of those out and it's been reliable since.
Haven't tried to use it for a full day without charging but I suspect it'd be fine (at least a full work day).
It's very quick. Not quite as flash as the XPS, but it's about 2/3 the price.

Yeah but in 5 years it'll still be running like the day you bought it, unlike a Dell which will be lucky to still have the screen attached.

somewhat decent battery life

Don't almost all laptops do at least 5hrs nowadays? Or do you need more?

5 years

My 10-12yo midrange Samsung would disagree. As would my OH's 7yo budget Acer.

The Mac thread seems to be permanently full of people complaining about shit breaking or going wrong. Granted there's some sampling bias, but still the idea that Apple still make premium quality products doesn't ring as true as it did in the 00s.