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Yeah, you get so much more bang for the buck and future upgradeability. You can build a pretty powerful desktop for 1500 bucks, so you really need to weigh if you want/need to play from the couch. Mobile GPU's are also not equal to their desktop counterparts. They are definitely nerfed in the name of power/heat. |
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Are there good black Friday deals for that kind of thing? Asking because id probably want to wait until I've shifted some furniture around to make room for a desktop, but I'm not sure if have time for a while |
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Just my opinion ... I would not consider (B) Thinkbook. I'm a Thinkpad fanboy and never had a Thinkbook, but I've read the quality is not up to par. Also, the integrated Iris Xe is not that great Things to keep in mind about laptops ... even if the specs are great, I wouldn't want one that is hot or loud. Fans come on because the CPU is pushed in a game and nothing is worse than a laptop that overheats and sounds like a jet engine. If that happens, the CPU performance is "throttled" to slow it down. So read reviews of all laptops. I go to Just a moment... Computer (F) is appealing because its from Costco and they have great returns/warranties. If you are willing to spend $1,500 on a laptop like Computer (A), you can get a really decent desktop and GPU for that budget. Unless you have a good reason for a laptop, consider a desktop as that will likely give you more CPU, more GPU, future proofing for your $ If looking at Lenovo products, try using below link for a discount (... don't ask, don't tell). I have gotten additional 5-10% discounts on new Thinkpads, never tried on Legion arrow-top |
I would think there are plenty of deals to be had. If you are potentially looking at building pcpartpicker.com is a great site to use. It gives you a nice layout, the ability to search for available parts, and find the cheapest prices while keeping compatibility in mind.
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For certain, if you are using a laptop as your main gaming system, go as high end as you can afford. A desktop would allow you more flexibility in upgrading later as needed, but the laptop gives the convenience of using it anywhere. I splurged on my desktop, and now I regret I didn't get a laptop.
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Okay, getting more convinced to get a desktop. I mean, I already have a laptop, so why get another?
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I have a desktop with a RTX 4090 and an 9800x3d cpu is getting delivered today. :D
I do game on a laptop as well though. I have a Thinkpad W530 that was the bees knees ten years ago. It has drivers for XP so I can natively play TCY and FOF7 haha |
Okay sov help me out here - I am looking at pcpartpicker and I have no idea what I'm doing
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Lol
You are down for building your own then? I am all for it and I am a believer that anyone can do it with time and patience. What is your budget? I can certainly help you nail down parts and give you brand recommendations for a case. What do you have for a monitor and what resolution does it run at? Is that something you'd be looking to upgrade as well? |
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I guess I'd think 1500 since that's the most expensive laptop I was looking at, but if that doesn't seem like enough, I'd go up to 2k. The only monitors I have are those provided by work. So I'd probably want something better, but it's not urgent? |
Come up with your specs, but before you build check Microcenter if you have one near you. My last two computers they had one with all the same parts cheaper than I could have built it myself.
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I wonder if there is a better thread for this. Maybe that laptop purchasing thread - I'll try to find that so we don't ruin Edward's thread haha.
Knowing what resolution you want to game at will help determine what GPUs we should focus on. At $1500 I'm thinking 1440p (2560 x 1440). We might run into a problem when it comes to pricing and availability of 4000 series GPU's though as the 5000 series is right around the corner (like Jan/Feb). Are you determined to get this built in Decemberish? |
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That's a good point. So they built it for you with the parts in their store? I wouldn't be against that because you would at least avoid having a pre-built shipped to you across the country and tech support wouldn't be far away. |
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I have two of them near me - that's where I got my last 2-3 laptops. I looked there a little for bundles, but again didn't know what I was doing! |
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Good call - to bring it back to Black Friday stuff, I just got this Smart Mug for my wife - I got her one three years ago, and it never worked well, and now it's broken. Hopefully this one works better. Ember Mug 2 Black Friday deal: The only offer I will splurge on - Android Authority |
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No, it varies throughout the year. Right now, its 10% and its cash back (not "off). You get a check in the mail a few weeks after your order is placed for 10% of the purchase price. Yes, very basic. I can't speak so much about that, but I just wanted to highlighted that the specific machine you didn't have a legit video card. |
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Without a doubt, I would go with A and I would try to find that same laptop on sale through the lenovo website with the funnel from Rakuten. So you'll get a BF discount at Lenovo and an extra 10% cash back. I'm using a Legion 5 right now that I've had for 3+ years and I'll probably end up upgrading soon, maybe even tomorrow, but this laptop has been worth every penny and the screen, like I said, is life altering. You won't realized how awesome it is until you use it. I'm also partial to AMD processors, FWIW. |
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Hey, welcome to stay, and glad to see you and @Passacaglia working together. Definitely no gatekeeping from me, not my style FWIW, will offer up that Dell Alienware has pretty good desktop deals in the $1,200+ range. They are more geared towards the gamer enthusiast Slickdeals: Searching for "dell desktop" |
Semi pro-tip (?) save on sales tax
I bought something from an Oregon store Attention Required! | Cloudflare When going through the on-line checkout, there was no sales tax added. Normally, I would expect the company to charge a sales tax based on where it shipped to. I live in GA so expected a 4+% charge. But Venture X notified me the amount charged and there was definitely no sales tax. I thought I got lucky with a system glitch but felt bad. So read up on it. Found this interesting passage 404, page not found — Numeral. Quote:
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In summary, give a smaller Oregon retailer a chance and you may not have to pay sales tax. |
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If you want a gaming monitor, now through Cyber Monday is great time to buy. There are good deals right now I've been eying this one (lots of thumbs up). 27" Dell G2724D 2560x1440 QHD 1ms 165Hz IPS LED Edgelight Thin Bezel Gaming Monitor $149.99 + Free Shipping via Dell I'm using a basic Dell 27" monitor and it works for Civ 6. But since you're going to get a nice GPU, consider upgrading the monitor for a better experience. Also, monitor functionality tend to last longer than a desktop/laptop, so "pay once, cry once". |
FYI - Rakuten is now 15% cash back on Lenovo orders.
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15% cash back was too much to pass up.
Legion Pro 5i Gen 9 Intel (16") with RTX™ 4070 $1,499.99 Saving $920.00 (38%) 26176126994_LegionPro5iG9RGB_IMG_20231113031452.PNG Part Number: 83DF00AQUS Get it by Wed. Dec 04 Qty 1 Instant Savings - $920.00 Hide Specs System Specs: : Processor : 14th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX Processor (E-cores up to 4.10 GHz P-cores up to 5.80 GHz) Operating System : Windows 11 Home 64 Graphic Card : NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6 Memory : 32 GB DDR5-5600MHz (SODIMM) - (2 x 16 GB) Storage : 2 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC (2 x 1 TB) Display : 16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 400, 100%DCI-P3, 500 nits, 240Hz, Low Blue Light Camera : 1080P FHD with Electronic Privacy Shutter and Microphone Keyboard : 4zone RGB Backlit, Black - English (US) WIFI : Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.1 or above Warranty : 1 Year Courier or Carry-in Color : Onyx Grey Operating System Language : EN:English |
Well I got back into streaming with the $2.99/month hulu/disney bundle.
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Bought wife an AirPods Pro 2 for $155. She's happy with her Shokz for running but the Pro 2 is for the (24 x 2) hours of flying next year.
FWIW, when I fly nowadays, I really appreciate the active noise cancellation feature. |
Are these HP laptop offers as good a deal as they appear? Also, what kind of graphics cards are these - decent? Will they run games OK?
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp...ishing+Limited https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp...-b29xtua-aba-1 |
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They're integrated graphics on the CPU rather than a dedicated card. Those have improved over the years but you're still not going to run anything modern decently. |
Basically, you are going to want to find a system that has dedicated memory for the graphics cards. They have some gaming systems on there, but they roughly a couple hundred dollars more. They do have a cheaper ones that have a 3050 rtx card at $579-$699. That is a dated video card, but it would be better than the integrated one.
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Based on my experience, MSI tends to be the best mix of quality and value for gaming. I saw Best Buy has one for $750 that has a 4060.
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Specifically about HP laptops, no recent experience in terms of quality or heat management. But the AMD 7840U integrated graphics is decent for basic stuff. I have that in my X13 and it runs Civ 6, Starfield, X-Com and similar. But I read you should get 32GB RAM with it because the integrated graphics use the RAM. So don't expect great graphics, but it'll run stuff. |
Thanks.
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So, I have apparently been well-diagnosed by the algorithm for pop-up ads on iOS games. This year I have broken down and purchased a set of mystery-themed jigsaw puzzles, a bunch of Huel meal replacement stuff, some Immi ramen, and a pair of these "dress sneaker" shoes, all pimped to me via iOA advertisements.
Early returns on the Huel stuff are mild positive - taste is generally fine, and they don't upset my stomach the way that some protein-heavy products can. But even at a discount their pricing around $5/serving is pretty aggressive. |
My wife texted that all the parents at the swim meet were saying a Tiger Rice cooker was the must have kitchen item. She asked if I wanted one for Christmas. I told her we already have a small one I got for like $10. She asked if I'm sure.
I asked if she eats much rice, she said no. I asked if our daughter eats much rice, she said no. Do we ever serve rice to guests, she said no. So I said I'm the only one who eats rice and it's literally set and forget, why do I need a 6 cup rice cooker? That costs $80 to make half a cup of rice? |
That sounds like someone who is out of ideas as to what to give you for Christmas, so time to start dropping hints or just tell the kids what you want so it can get back to Mom.
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FWIW, if you are looking for a solid work laptop that can play many FPS games on lower settings, below is a pretty good deal for $709. The 8840HS is very similar to the 7840U that I have. Quote:
Review of 8840HS here: Just a moment... |
Have a really old smartphone that you never upgraded/traded-in and now sitting in your drawer hopelessly outdated and never to be used again? Samsung has a min $350 trade-in for any models for their reburbished Galaxy S21-S23.
Galaxy S21 came out in 2021. You can get it for $100 = $450 - $350 with your old smartphone. Refurbished: 128GB Samsung Galaxy S23 w/ Any Smartphone Trade-in $269 + Free Shipping Pretty good deal if you are that use case. |
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The deal on this PC just keeps getting better the closer we get to Christmas:
Great PC Deal I honestly don’t think you could buy the parts and assemble it yourself for the price that it is down to. It’s got a 4070 from NVIDIA, Ryzen 7-7700 which means it’s the AM5 chipset so you can upgrade in the future without needing a motherboard. You are at $800 for those alone at Newegg and then it comes with a 1tb SSD and DDR5 Ram on top of that. |
Anything close in laptop form?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Finally got my 98" TV. It'll be delivered next Thu so plenty of time for SuperBowl.
Found below TCL QM7 98" from BB for $2,300. I checked Amazon and they had exact same model for $2,000. I called up BB and they agreed to price match. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tcl-98-...?skuId=6580694 And pretty good reviews from RTINGS TCL QM7/QM751G QLED Review (55QM751G, 65QM751G, 75QM751G, 85QM751G, 98QM751G) - RTINGS.com The BB benefit over Amazon was free install (... it is 130lbs+, but I had to buy the mount for $160). And also, I can make sure TV works, no bad pixels etc. in real-time after they install. For the $300 savings, I went ahead and got a 1 year Geek Squad for $180 and got them to move my current 85" down into basement for $60 (the haul away fee). So about $2,520 + taxes. A tad more than I wanted to spend but wife okayed with "buy once, cry once". Interestingly, the QM7 on Amazon is no longer $2,000 but now $2,500. I don't know if it was coincidence or some sort of BB bitching to (aka collusion with) Amazon? |
My wife said "Is it a man who bought it? Then it is probably closer to 64". :D
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You jinxed me.
I frakking got a BB email saying they won't match it because they can no longer find it on Amazon at that $1,999 price (true, it went up to $2,499). I basically said I want to escalate & speak to an US onshore supervisor. I know this works sometimes from my Dell/Lenovo experiences. I told him that he was BB #4, that I spoke to BB #1-3 and they said BB will price match (e.g. I know at least 2 of them went into the Amazon link to check for themselves). Unfortunately, I did not take a screenshot myself (but why would I, BB #1-3 said BB will price match). So, we'll see what his response is. |
Say hello to newest member of the family. Got the 83" version
LG B4 OLED Review (OLED48B4PUA, OLED55B4PUA, OLED65B4PUA, OLED77B4PUA, OLED83B4PUA) - RTINGS.com Long story short, BB never responded so I cancelled the order and bought the OLED from Costco. Watched it last night. I haven't googled on the optimal settings yet. But out of the box, definitely an upgrade over the Bravia. I could see reflection on the TV but once the show started, the B4 did a great job of "overpowering/hiding" (?) the reflection. Obviously, not as good as in a dark room but best we've seen. An added, unexpected bonus was the TV sound. It was nice and loud. Quote:
Yeah. Told the missus we paid more, about 15" of less screensize than the cancelled 98", but that image quality would be best ever. After watching TV last night, she agreed. May have to get her the Switch 2 for Valentines so she can play Mario Kart on it. |
Nice! Rtings probably has a page that can help you tweak a few settings though default is usually good enough. The big thing would be don't use the vivid or other inaccurate picture modes, especially the ones that have motion smoothing on (soap opera effect).
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Yeah, nice tv Edward. I think BB may have done you a favor by not matching and moving you on to an LG. ;)
I bought a LG C4 55" OLED (best size for my room) from Costco in October. I moved up from a very nice 8 year old Samsung (dreaded white circle appeared on the screen), and the picture difference was stunning. I told my son when he visited that while the picture was so much better it would, of course, soon become the new normal. I'd get used to it and it wouldn't be so noticeable. I was wrong. After 4 months of watching this tv it is as impressive as the day I bought it. :cool: |
You guys need to stop being OLED salesmen. I am easily persuaded.
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GD, maybe you need a flexible 42" OLED gaming monitor? Look up the LG Flex
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I picked one up for $1k. Obviously still expensive but it's an incredible piece of technology. Microcenter is where I found the deal, but Amazon ran the deal for a few days as well last month. |
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