What hardware are you using?

Discussion of hardware related issues
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by tlmiller »

I've already grown tired of the gaming laptop I bought. My chest (ok, my boob) hurt for several days after using it at night with it propped on my chest.
wove
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by wove »

About a week ago I picked up a 2010 17 inch Macbook Pro. (yeah I can really resist temptation). It is a custom build to order with all the bells and whistles. A nice thing about buying used highend gear is that the original purchaser typically keeps the machines in pristine condition and that is true for machine. As an upgrade to my 17" 2008 MBP this one is a half inch thinner and 2.2 pounds lighter. At 6lbs 4ozs it is still not light weight.

It has an i7 2.66GHzprocessor (Arendale) which I think is first generation i7. It also has 8GB RAM (the max it can handle). It has Intel HD graphics and an Nvidia discrete video processor. It came with a 750GB 7.2K-rpm hard drive. Manufactures and OS developers could pick up a lot of good habits from Apple. I installed MacOS Catalina on it via USB. On first boot it asked if I wanted to transfer my data from another machine or a TimeMachine backup. I set it up from a TimeMachine backup. That took about an hour and after a reboot I was asked to log into my Apple account, and after about another 15 minutes, I had an identical replacement to my 2008 machine.

I wish that MS and Linux could make things that easy. I restored from the most recent backup, but it would have been no more difficult to restore the system to its state in June of 2019. This works by simply setting an external drive as a TimeMachine Drive, and from then on it backs up automatically whenever it is plugged in. Restore is just about as easy. The default is most recent backup, but it also shows you dates of all times back ups have been made and you can pick a date. The backups are indexed, so you can search for individual files if you are looking for something specific, say a letter you wrote your sister in 2008 you can grab just that.
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by crosscourt »

Looking at where to go with my laptops. Ignoring Windows I can still use my laptops for quite awhile but the most recent laptops are only 6th gen cpus.
Leaning towards getting something a bit newer that can run Win11 and Linux if I so desire. Will need to look thru Dells lineup to see whats available that I can get used at a good price. Suggestions welcome and if anyone has something to sell, let me know.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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The Latitude 5420 I just bought is pretty good for the price. 11th gen so very much supported, was right around $400 for an i7 w/ 16GB ram and a 256 NVMe SSD. I threw in another 16GB for 32GB (was surprised it was 1x16, not 2x8) and swapped in one of my 1TB spares, but would still run absolutely without issue with the stock parts.

And of course if you can find it for a good price, the Lenovo Thinkpad T495 isn't bad. Dual NVMe SSD's capable (1xm.2 2280, 1xm.2 2242 in WWAN), supported by Win11 (3500u or 3700U), dual DIMM so up to 32GB ram, can get it with 1080P 14" LCD's, great keyboards, quad core CPU's and Zen10 if you go Ryzen 7, which is the largest mobile Vega ever made.

Another Lenovo that's piqued my curiosity is the K14. I've never HEARD of it until last night. It's on Lenovo's sight, $600 brand new. Ryzen 5650U, 8GB ram (according to my research it has 2 DIMMs so can upgrade), 256 GB NVMe SSD, 1080P 14". Basically a Thinkpad L14 for DRASTICALLY less money.

That's my short list of laptops that I'd be intrigued by right now if I was looking for something newer that won't break the bank.

If you wanted a gaming laptop, my G5 SE is for sale too (4600H, 32GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe, 512GB NVMe, Killer 1650 which is just a restickered Intel AX200, 1080P 15")
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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How much for the G5?
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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It's listed @ $650, which sounds like a lot for a used $900 laptop if you don't consider it had 8GB ram stock (now 32GB), and a single 512GB SSD (now 1TB SSD + 512 GB SSD) compared to how it's specc'd now. It's got a GARGANTUAN 240-watt power supply with it, so it's definitely not ultra-portable, but it actually will last >4 hours on battery, which is REALLY good for a gaming-oriented laptop.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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My impusliveness is killing me. I REALLLY wanna buy the K14 to replace the T495 I have, but I really don't wanna spend that much $$ so soon after purchasing something. I hate being impulsive. :(
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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G5 is too pricey as I already have my Alienware so dont really need a gaming laptop. Im impulsive all the time but try to consider my purchases as much as possible.
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Traded for a Dell E6440 as I already have one but really love these laptops for Linux and distro testing. Their easy to pull out hard drive design and nice features is ideal.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by tlmiller »

Well, Lenovo killed my desire for a K14 AMD. I talked with them this morning, and they told me the keyboard is a Thinkpad keyboard minus the trackpoint. Yay! Then when I said I'd take one, they said it wouldn't ship for over a month. Blargh *sad trombone noises*. Nevermind, I don't want it after all.
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