Good sales & deals

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I know I had some reasons for wanting a laptop instead, but that is tempting....

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.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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.

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

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Okay, here's what I'm looking at:
:
Are there other things I should be looking at besides processor, graphics cards, and memory? I don't think I need to be too concerned about hard drive space, since I don't store a ton of stuff on it.

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

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[sovereignstar v2]

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.

[GrantDawg]

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.

[Passacaglia]

Okay, getting more convinced to get a desktop. I mean, I already have a laptop, so why get another?

[sovereignstar v2]

I have a desktop with a RTX 4090 and an 9800x3d cpu is getting delivered today.

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

[Passacaglia]

Okay sov help me out here - I am looking at pcpartpicker and I have no idea what I'm doing

[sovereignstar v2]

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?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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?

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?

[GrantDawg]

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.

[sovereignstar v2]

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?

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

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.

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.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

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.

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!

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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.

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

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Thanks! My first link was a Lenovo legion.

Is 10% off Lenovo always the case with Rakuten? We have an account, but my wife has the login, so I wasn't able to check.

I'm assuming "integrated" is something meaning basic, i.e. there's no fancy video card, is that right? Does it make that much of a difference for a game like Civ? My thinking is that it's probably more important for first-person-shooter games with a lot of graphics that move fast, but I've heard that sometimes more processing work can get moved to the video card, so I dunno, maybe it helps for everything.

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.

[Ramzavail]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Okay, here's what I'm looking at:

Computer A -- https://www.microcenter.com/product/...tion-luna-grey
Brand: Lenovo Legion 5
Price: $1500
Intel Core i7 14700HX (1.5GHz) Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Graphics Card
32GB DDR5-5600 RAM

Computer B -- Amazon.com: Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 4 Business Laptop (15.6" FHD Anti-Glare, Intel 10-Core i7-1255U, 40GB RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD), 1080p Webcam, Narrow Bezel, Fingerprint, Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet, Win 11 Pro, Grey - 2024 : Electronics
Brand: Lenovo Thinkbook
Price: $800
Intel 10-Core i7-1255U
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
40GB (8GB Soldered + 32GB SODIMM) DDR4 Memory

Computer C -- https://www.lenovo.com/us/outletus/e...tr1ww-gm0h24eg
Brand: Lenovo Thinkpad
Price: $750
AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U 3.3G 8C 16T
Integrated AMD Radeon™ 780M Graphics
32GB LPDDR5X 6400

Computer D -- https://www.microcenter.com/product/...d)-mica-silver
Brand: HP Victus
Price: $770
Intel Core i7 13700HX (1.5GHz) Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Graphics Card
32GB DDR5-4800 RAM

Computer E -- https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/lapto...tel/21hfs1dh00
Brand: Lenovo Thinkpad
Price: $1400 ($1260 if Ramzavail is right about Rakuten giving me 10% off)
13th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1370P vPro® Processor (E-cores up to 3.90 GHz P-cores up to 5.20 GHz)
NVIDIA RTX™ A500 Laptop GPU 4GB GDDR6
64 GB LPDDR5X-4800MHz (Soldered)

Computer F -- https://www.costco.com/.product.4000270759.html
Brand: Lenovo Legion
Price: $1100
14th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX (24-Core) Processor
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060, 8GB
32 GB

Are there other things I should be looking at besides processor, graphics cards, and memory? I don't think I need to be too concerned about hard drive space, since I don't store a ton of stuff on it.

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.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

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.

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"

[Edward64]

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.

For Oregon-based retailers, the rules are more complex:

Oregon businesses don't charge sales tax to Oregon residents, whether selling in-store or online.

When shipping items to addresses in states with sales tax, the Oregon seller may be required to collect and remit tax based on that state's laws.

Apparently, per below, there is a threshold limit first. I guess omcgear.com don't sell that much to GA residents.

Many states now require out-of-state online sellers to collect sales tax if they exceed certain sales or transaction thresholds. For example, under South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling, sellers with over $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions to South Dakota customers must collect SD sales tax.

In summary, give a smaller Oregon retailer a chance and you may not have to pay sales tax.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

The only monitors I have are those provided by work. So I'd probably want something better, but it's not urgent?

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".

[Ramzavail]

FYI - Rakuten is now 15% cash back on Lenovo orders.

[Ramzavail]

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

[NobodyHere]

Well I got back into streaming with the $2.99/month hulu/disney bundle.

[Edward64]

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.

[Ksyrup]

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

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

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

Integrated video. I don't know how good that is anymore, but it will be limiting on games.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

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

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.

[GrantDawg]

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.

[Atocep]

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.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

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

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.

[Ksyrup]

Thanks.

[QuikSand]

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.

[Ghost Econ]

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?

[flere-imsaho]

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.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

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.

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.

Lenovo ThinkPad P14s: Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, 14" FHD IPS, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD

Lenovo ThinkPad P14s: Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS, 14" FHD IPS, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD $709


Review of 8840HS here: Just a moment...

[Edward64]

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.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

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.

Funny you brought that up because I was just looking through my old cable drawer looking for a USB-B, and I found about 5 or 6 old phones in there. But since I already have a S23 it doesn't really apply to me. I really ought to recycle these things.

[dubb93]

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.

[Flasch186]

Anything close in laptop form?


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